HE DOES ALL THINGS WELL (Mark 7:31-37)

INTRODUCTION:

            Multiple times in the creation account found in Genesis one after God had created something it says, “…and God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:25b, NASB95)[1]  At the very end of the creation account it says in verse 31, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31, NASB95)[2]  God does not create bad things, and when He finished creating at the end of the sixth day His creation was perfect, and He could say that it was very good.  In the same way, as God Incarnate, Jesus Christ never only partially healed a person, or did not make a deformed or impaired person only partially whole.  Jesus Christ, our Creator, completely and perfectly healed those who came to Him.  He could have said of each and every miracle that He performed that it was very good.  The greatest miracle that ever occurred for any person was the miracle of salvation, when a defiled and corrupt heart was made clean and whole again.  This miracle could also be described as very good.  The apostle Paul speaking of the salvation experience in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)[3]  This morning we will see again that Jesus does all things well, just as He has done since the creation of the universe.  Let’s pray and then look again at Mark seven, finishing it up this morning.

--PRAY--

SCRIPTURE:

            Turn in your Bibles this morning to Mark 7:31-37, the final verses of this chapter.  Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

     Mark 7:31-37,

            “Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’  that is, ‘Be opened!’  And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. They were utterly astonished, saying, ‘He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’ ” (Mark 7:31–37, NASB95)[4]

FROM TYRE TO THE DECAPOLIS (Mark 7:31)

            For more than a year Jesus had been ministering in the villages and towns and along the shore of the region of Galilee.  Last Sunday we read how Jesus took His disciples away for a time of private instruction and for rest.  They journeyed northwest out of Galilee and into the land of ancient Phonecia, the Gentile country of Syria in Jesus’ day and the present-day country of Lebanon.  Jesus and the twelve spent some time in or in the vicinity of Tyre.  Remember that the disciples had just recently proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God who alone spoke words of eternal life.  Since the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus was not that far off, the time had come for Jesus to focus His attention on preparing the Twelve for their ministry after His death and resurrection.  He would be preparing them to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.  To do this Jesus took them out of Galilee and into the Gentile area of Tyre, but even there Jesus could not go unnoticed as we saw last week when Jesus had an encounter with a Gentile woman who displayed great faith in coming to Jesus.  This woman’s humble persistence provided the disciples with a clear demonstration of their future missionary work.  It would not be long before they would see this faith displayed by many Gentiles as they came to salvation in Christ as the gospel spread outside the borders of Israel to all nations.

            As there time in Tyre ended, and we have no indication as to how long they were there, Mark tells of their route and where they ended up.  He writes, “Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis.” (Mark 7:31, NASB95)[5]  Mark tells us of the circuitous route that Jesus and the Twelve took avoiding going back into Galilee.  First, they went about 20 miles north to the city of Sidon, another seaport city, from Sidon, they traveled east and made their way across the Jordan to the north of the Sea of Galilee and then turned south and came to the southeastern shores of the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis.

            The Decapolis was on the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee, and it was populated by Gentiles and outside the territory ruled by Herod Antipas.  The Decapolis retained their independence under the Roman governor of the province of Syria where Jesus had just journeyed from, a route of about 120 miles from Sidon to the Decapolis.  This region had ten Gentile city-states, hence the name Decapolis which is the Greek word for ten cities.  Archeological work in this area has discovered that these towns or cities were centers of Greek paganism, they have found many idols honoring pagan deities such as Zeus, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Dionysus.  It is unclear if Jesus’ intent was to minister in this Gentile region, but just like in Tyre, He could not go unnoticed.  By traveling here Jesus returned the vicinity of Gerasa where He had earlier delivered the man from the legion of demons.  Through this man’s witness and others who had traveled to see Jesus when He was ministering in Galilee, the news of Jesus arrival quickly spread through the region.  And unlike the earlier time that He had been there, and they had asked Him to leave, the crowds from the ten cities flocked to Him.  The time for instructing His disciples was ended as the massive crowds gathered around Him once again.  The parallel passage in Matthew 15:29-31 gives us an overview of what took place when Jesus arrived.  Matthew writes, “Departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:29–31, NASB95)[6]  Though these Gentiles were idol worshipers, they had heard about Jesus from the liberated demoniac and others who had seen His power demonstrated in Galilee.  They understood that Jesus’ power could do what their pagan deities had never done.  When they heard that Jesus was again in their region, they rushed with all who were sick or physically disabled and brought them to Jesus.  And He healed them, immediately and completely.  And they were in awe at what they witnessed, and they began to glorify the true God.  In contrast, the Jewish religious leaders who saw Jesus perform similar healings, rejected Jesus, accusing Him of using the power of Satan to heal people, the Gentile pagans of the Decapolis recognized that His supernatural power was from God.  And in that moment, they turned from their pagan idols and offered praise to the God of Israel.

            It is in this context that our passage in Mark 7 takes place.  Matthew’s account provides an overview of Jesus’ miracles, Mark singles out one man and the encounter that Jesus had with him and the miraculous healing that took place.  Mark is the only Gospel writer to include this miracle, so it must have had an impact on Peter for it to be included here.

FROM IMPAIRMENT TO COMPLETENESS (Mark 7:32-35)

            Mark informs us that some family or friends brought to Jesus a man who was deaf and who spoke with difficulty.  This man was either born deaf or had gone deaf at a young age, without being able to hear as a child, he was not able to learn how to talk, which we are told resulted in a severe speech impediment.  There are many opportunities for deaf mute people today, to learn sign language and have interpreters, but that was not true in Jesus’ day.  Those who had these types of impairments were ostracized by society.  This was even true in Israel, the deaf and mute were considered mentally handicapped.   Making it worse, Jews believed that disabilities like deafness and blindness were the direct result of God’s judgment for sin.  The fact that this man was a Gentile and lived in a pagan society most likely meant that he had suffered ill treatment and disdain that was even worse than what it was like in Israel for the hearing impaired.

            This man did have some family or friends that cared enough about him to bring him to Jesus. And they implored Jesus to lay His hand on him.  This word implored in this context means that they begged or entreated Jesus to heal him.  These friends or family pled with Jesus on behalf of this man, who could not speak for himself.  We have seen in this Gospel that Jesus often laid hands on those He healed, though it certainly was not necessary as in the case of the demon possessed girl last week.  But by laying His hands on those whom He healed it showed His compassion for them as well a visually and tangibly demonstrating His power to those whom He healed.  Unlike the Pharisees and scribes, who considered themselves to be above the common people, and God forbid that they would touch someone who was unclean and become defiled themselves; Jesus on the other hand, regularly and gladly mingled with the crowds and willingly and compassionately extended His touch toward those in need.  Jesus touch also demonstrated that He was not afraid of ceremonial defilement, Jesus was never defiled by those whom He touched—whether it was a leper, a woman with a hemorrhage of blood, a dead body, or a Gentile man who suffered from deafness.  Rather than being defiled by them, they were cleansed and restored by Jesus.

            As Jesus begins to care for this man, we again see His great compassion.  He took the man aside from the crowd by himself.  In the midst of this throng of people, with many others waiting to be healed, the Lord Jesus gave His attention to one desperate man who had without doubt been ignored and neglected throughout his life.  This man knew nothing but being scorned, ostracized, and despised.  But in that moment as Jesus led him aside from the crowd, he received the undivided attention and compassion of the Creator Himself.

            Jesus showing the lovingkindness of God began to communicate with this man by using gestures and non-verbal signals, a sort of sign language.  Jesus used four specific signs to let this man know that He understood his impairment and that He was going to heal him.  First, Jesus put His fingers in the man’s ears to indicate to the man that He understood His physical impairment.  Jesus understood that the man was not mentally handicapped or possessed by a demon as some may have thought, he simply could not hear.  Jesus used this simple symbolic gesture to show the man that He understood what his need was.  Second, Jesus spit, and after spitting He touched the man’s tongue with His saliva.  Jesus used this gesture to identify that man’s speech impediment.  Though Jesus used His saliva in His healings on two other occasions, it obviously had no power.  There was a general belief that saliva had healing properties.  The man would have understood that Jesus’ use of saliva meant that He intended to heal him.  Jesus third gesture was to look up to heaven.  This was to show the man that the creative power that he had to heal the man came from God.  Even as a Gentile pagan, the man would have understood what Jesus meant by looking up toward heaven.  Fourth, Jesus sighed deeply, this was to indicate to the man a sincere sympathy for the agonies that this man suffered due to his disability.  An honest and visible groaning displayed pain and heart ache on the man’s behalf.  Through this nonverbal communication Jesus taught this man about both God’s power and God’s compassion.  The Son of God, the Creator, would heal Him by God’s power from above, and He would do so because He cared deeply about him.

            Those two truths must have filled the man’s heart and mind as the miraculous happened.  Jesus said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is “Be opened!”  Ephphatha is an Aramaic term that was a direct quote of what Jesus said, this was the language which Jesus spoke.  Mark immediately gives his readers the Greek translation, “Be opened.”  With this command from the incarnate Creator this man’s hearing organs were healed, and his tongue was loosed to speak.  Mark explains it this way, “And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.” (Mark 7:35, NASB95)[7]  The word that is translated “impediment” is from a Greek word that means “bond” or “chains.”  In other words, it was like his tongue and his speech had been chained and bound in the dungeon of deafness.  When Jesus said, “Be opened!” he was immediately set free and able to hear perfectly and speak plainly.

            I want you to understand that this miracle went far beyond just simply repairing this man’s physical disabilities.  He was given the ability of miraculous language acquisition.  What do I mean by this?  This man had regained his hearing so now he could hear sounds, but not only was he hearing, he could understand what was being said, and he could speak plainly without needing any speech therapy, without needing to learn the language.  The word translated "plainly” come from a Greek word that means “straight” or “right.”  So, in a moment of time, the One who created the world, the One who upholds it with the “word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3) supernaturally and miraculously enabled this man to hear and speak perfectly and fluently.  Just like every miracle Jesus did, this healing was an act of creative energy through His word, the same way He created the universe in the beginning.

FROM UTTERLY ASTONISHED TO GLORIFYING GOD (Mark 7:36-37)

            Can you even imagine this man’s reaction to what just happened to him?  It had to be an eruption of exuberant joy.  The result would be that He would want to tell everyone what Jesus had done for him.  But Jesus instructed this man, those who had brought him to Jesus, and those who had witnessed the miracle to tell no one.  To keep quiet was an immense restraint in light of what happened and for a man who had just gained the ability to speak plainly.  Mark says that Jesus gave them orders to not tell anyone.  The word “orders” refer to a command.  This may seem strange to us that Jesus commanded this man whose speech He had just restored to not speak, especially when He had told the man from whom He had cast the legion of demons to do the exact opposite, to tell the people what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.  That was exactly what the man did, proclaiming all over the Decapolis.  So why a different command to each?  There was an important difference.  Remember that when He healed the demoniac the people had asked Jesus to leave their region.  The healed demoniac became the first missionary to that Gentile area.  But because of his witness, Jesus’ power to heal and cast out demons was well-known throughout the Decapolis.  This resulted in widespread excitement.  With Jesus arrival in this region again the unwieldy crowds had swelled to huge proportions, and as in Galilee, Jesus had no desire to add fuel to the fire of their materialistic and political expectations about Him.  This was not the only time that Jesus commanded silence on what He had miraculously done, because this only amplified the enthusiasm of the crowds which hindered His ministry.  But the main reason for this order not to tell anyone was because Jesus did not want to be simply known as a miracle-worker, and He knew the truth about Him would not be known until His death and resurrection.  A message that only highlighted Jesus as a miracle worker would be inadequate.  The full message about Him must include the truth that Christ died according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

            Those who were commanded to keep quiet could and would not, and Jesus repeated His command.  But the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.  In spite of His repeated commands, the man and his friends and family, unable to contain their joy, were disobedient to Jesus’ command.  Because of this the news about His miraculous power continued to be proclaimed and as people heard, and witnessed His healing the people were utterly amazed and began to proclaim, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”  The people were proclaiming the perfection of Jesus’ miracles.  When He healed someone, the results were immediate, and the healing was complete.  The miracles of Jesus never failed; just as in creation they were perfect every time.

CONCLUSION:

            Mark uses an unusual word in this passage to describe this man’s condition.  In verse 32 Mark used the phrase “spoke with difficulty” which is translated from a Greek word that is only used twice in the Bible.  This is the only place that it is used in the New Testament, and it is used one time in the Septuagint, which is the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, the one place that it is used is Isaiah 35, our Scripture reading for this morning.  In this prophetic passage of Scripture, Isaiah describes the wonders of the future millennial kingdom when Jesus Christ returns to reign on the earth.  The chapter opens speaking of the desert blooming and Israel and the surrounding nations seeing the glory of God, the exhausted will be encouraged, the feeble will be strengthened, and God’s enemies will be judged and the righteous saved.  Then Isaiah writes in verses 5-6, “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.” (Isaiah 35:5–6, NASB95)[8] The word mute is the same Greek word that Mark used in Mark 7:32.  By using this same rare term, Mark connected his account with the prophecy of Isaiah 35.  The miracles Jesus performed, like the healing of the deaf man with a severe speech impediment, were previews of the glories of the future messianic kingdom, when death and disease will be greatly diminished.  Isaiah 35:8-10 continues its description of the millennial kingdom with a beautiful picture of the redeemed who dwell there: “A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, And the ransomed of the Lord will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (Isaiah 35:8–10, NASB95)[9]  The people healed by Jesus during His first advent were right to rejoice, but their momentary joy and enthusiasm cannot even begin to compare to the eternal joys that await those whom the Lord Jesus Christ has saved spiritually and to whom He has promised eternal glorified bodies.  During the millennial kingdom and then forever on the new earth, the redeemed will exalt in the wonder of their completed salvation.

            As stated before, the purpose of Jesus healing sickness and disabilities was to point people to something greater, the hope of eternal life.  Jesus Christ was so much more than a miracle worker and great teacher; He is the only Savior who died to pay the penalty for sin and rose victoriously to demonstrate His power over Satan, sin, and death.  Through Him, forgiveness from sin, and reconciliation with God are readily available to everyone who believes the gospel, whether Jew or Gentile.  Those who repent and believe in Jesus Christ will receive salvation and will experience our Savior’s life-giving power for all eternity.  At the moment that we repent and believe in the Lord Jesus our sinful hearts are spiritually cleansed.  Physically our bodies will one day be resurrected or changed (if we are still alive at His return), never to experience disease or decay again.  In the state of glorified perfection, free from both sin and the affects of sin, we will forever worship our Redeemer and King!  Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[3]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.