Mark 7:31-37 [Pentecost 16]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Benson/Vail, AZ
September 12, 2021
HE HAS DONE ALL THINGS WELL Healing Our Suffering Dear Friends in Christ, Maybe it has happened to you as you have read your Bible or heard a Bible reading in worship. You ran across that genealogy—you know, “ so-and-so was the father of soand-so, who was the father of so-and-so…” Or if you’re a King James fan: “so-and-so lived so many years and begat so-and-so…who begat so-and-so…” And you briefly wondered why that needed to be there, then skipped through to the real stuff. And it’s not just genealogies, it’s geography too. So many cities and countries—“That’s not really important. What happened there—that’s important! Skip the ancient rural city names and get me to what Jesus did!” That would all be fine and good except—those things are God’s Word too! He recorded them for a reason! Let’s take the region and cities and sea in our lesson for today. They provide the backdrop for something incredible that Jesus did. We might not all be up to speed enough on biblical Israel and the surrounding countries to truly capture all of our quick geography lesson, but some of you can picture much of this and hopefully all of us can get some. If you can, picture where Jerusalem is, follow the Jordan River (just to the east side of Jerusalem) up to the Sea of Galilee in the north. You may remember that Jesus grew up in that area and that he conducted a lot of his ministry around that body of water, even collecting disciples from there. If you were to go north of there and along the Mediterranean Sea coast, you would find the cites of Tyre and Sidon, the two most important cities of Phoenicia (a Gentile country), which is modern day Lebanon. Jesus had been in that foreign area, trying to get away for some down time with his disciples. His popularity though caused him to be found there and that resulted in him healing a demon-possessed girl. He then left for the area just to the south and east of the Sea of Galilee, an area called the Decapolis, which means 10 cities—so named because…yes, there were ten cities. It’s kind of interesting that these formed a federation of Greco-Roman cities, filled with Gentiles. This is modern day Jordan. In this area, lots of people found Jesus again (because he had been there before, driving demons into a herd of pigs). So he performed many miracles there, including the one in our lesson today. All that shows that, although Jesus was sent to the Jews who would have the ability to recognize him from what the Scriptures said the Messiah would be like, he also travelled into Gentile regions. AND his love and compassion for them reminds us that he is the Savior of all people. We get to see him heal the suffering of not only his fellow Jews, but of non-Jewish people in non-Jewish regions. This explains why people would be excited when they heard he was in the area, why large crowds followed him in the area of the Decapolis, and why the crowd begged Jesus to relieve this man of his
suffering. The ability to communicate was this man’s struggle—he was deaf and had difficulty speaking in a way that he could be understood. So, it was not surprising that Jesus was in the area with his disciples. It was not surprising that the people would bring someone to Jesus for healing. It was not surprising that Jesus answered their call to help the man. What was surprising is the way Jesus healed the man. Unlike some self-aggrandizing TV preacher, Jesus chose to take the man aside to heal him, in private—not in front of the crowds. For the man there was no distraction, only eyes riveted on Jesus as he was about to help him. What a detailed account we get here! It’s interesting, isn’t it? In a way, Jesus used sign language to show the man who couldn’t hear, what he was about to do. And then he invades the man’s personal space! Honestly, it is a little different, isn’t it? And maybe a little gross-sounding to us. Jesus showed the man his fingers, which he was about to use to open his ears to hear. Then he put his fingers into the man’s ears, an outward symbol of the internal opening of his ears to hear. He drew attention to his mouth by spitting and then touched the man’s tongue. Normally you wouldn’t let someone do these things to you. But if it is Jesus, the one who heals—and you need healing—you do. Ephphatha! was the command of Jesus to the ears—“Be opened!”—and they were. Ephphatha! was the command for the mouth as well—and it opened with a loosened tongue and clear speech. The looking up to heaven demonstrated the heavenly power Jesus had to heal, and the sympathetic sigh because of the effects of sin that cause this man’s difficulty. Powerful, loving expressions of the Messiah, who came to overcome the damaging effects of sin over body and soul. Can you imagine the man hearing for the first time birds chirping and donkeys braying, the crunch of dirt and stones under his sandals, and the voices of people—so many people there! And to finally be able to verbalize his thoughts and be understood! What an incredible thing Jesus had done for him! What had been done privately was not hidden after they heard the man speaking as he never had before. Why the order to not tell anyone though? Jesus had just given the man the ability to speak in an understandable way for the first time—and he tells him and everyone else not to say anything!? Excited crowds had seen him do other miracles in the area as well—it is why they brought their friend to Jesus! Why not tell people about it?! There is this possibility: The Jewish people were already looking for a Messiah who would take care of only worldly concerns. This is something that would appeal even to Gentiles. Perhaps Jesus did not want to fan the flames of that idea. Certainly, he wanted them to focus on what he taught and to see the miracles as signs that he was true God and their Savior from sin—just the thing he taught everywhere. Another thought is that maybe, just as at other times, Jesus did not want to draw more attention
to himself because of opposition from the Jewish leaders and their wish to kill him— and his time for laying down his life had not yet come. He was still a few months away from the appointed time for his death. Whatever the exact reason, he kept telling them to not broadcast this. But the people did what they wanted, despite the wishes of Jesus. They would not stop telling people what Jesus had done because they were astonished—amazed beyond measure, Mark tells us. The man’s deficiencies were an outward sign of the deficiency we all have. Adam and Eve and their children and those after them should have never dealt with deafness or the inability to speak clearly or blindness or physical abnormalities. Humanity would have never encountered any of these things if sin had not entered the world through their disobedience to God. But it did, and so here we are contending with sin—on the inside, first and foremost. In our hearts and minds. As a result, we have this sinful nature that destines our souls for hell. Sin causes us to be deaf to the Word of God. Sin ties up our tongues so that there can be no prayers and praise to the Lord. The outward effects of sin that are seen in this man’s condition came from the sin that lives inside us all. The people said that Jesus did everything well. The same cannot be said of us or anyone else, can it? We haven’t done everything well. When it comes to our standing before God and being in any way deserving of living with him eternally, we have done nothing well. Jesus used his divine healing powers for that sin that afflicts us all. He did everything well—perfectly well—during his entire life. He suffered perfectly well, not giving in to pain and torture by lashing out as his tormentors and abandoning his Messianic mission. He died perfectly well, offering himself on the cross for a sin-afflicted world of people. The sins of all were paid for then. He did it well—perfectly well. And we are forgiven through it. The other massive blessing that Jesus has given to spiritually deaf people was to send his Holy Spirit through the gospel to open ears that were closed to him because of sin. He has given the miracle of faith to trust all of these things he did. He has given the miraculous gift of Baptism, as we saw today—a gift that washes away sin and creates saving faith. Our response to this is like everyone’s response to that man’s physical healing, isn’t it? Our tongues are set free to proclaim the good things Jesus has done! We can’t stop talking about it! It happens in our everyday speaking with Christian friends and family. It happens in our prayers and praise to God. It happens in the songs we sing. It happens when we tell other people so that they too can look to Jesus for the healing of this most pressing problem.
It is true that our loving Savior also sighs over our physical afflictions too, because our ills of body and mind are also caused by sin. Jesus is aware of those things. He sees them in your life. He cares for you, and he address these things for you too. Oh, it’s not usually as dramatic as it was for this man. Jesus typically works through the means he has given to the world for those things—nurses, physicians, surgeons, medicines and machines, nutrition, rehabilitation, counseling, and more. Can you see the miraculous cure he sometimes gives? Well, not the way this man did. Can you sense it in the background because of the prognosis and then what actually happened? Sometimes. Can you even know what worse things the Lord may have kept from you? Never. But faith knows these things are in God’s hands. Faith knows that anything is possible with God. Faith speaks to God saying, “Your will be done,” acknowledging that he could choose to heal that particular thing, or leave it in our lives for a specific purpose. Faith accepts whatever answer the Lord gives—miracle or no miracle—because it trusts in his love and his promise that all things will work for the individual Christian’s good. That last thing is critical to trust and easy to see with this man who was brought to Jesus. How personal it was! How individual! It was just Jesus and that man. Alone and with focused attention, Jesus addressed his specific needs. Alone with Jesus, the man could focus on what Jesus was doing for him. Spend some alone time with Jesus when you are seeking his help and it just might help you to focus on him and whatever he chooses to do for you. And you can be certain that since he has healed your biggest illness, he is focused on your other needs too. Trust that He has done everything well for you—and continues to do so. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
31
Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. 33 Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) 35 Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly. 36 Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it. 37 They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”