Jesus Does All Things Well Series

Introduction:

A. I’m sure you have heard of the saying, “Jack of all trades and master of none.”

1. I wasn’t familiar with this version that says: “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” I can see how that could be true.

2. I thought you would get a kick out of this picture.

a. In many respects, the smart phone is the jack of all trades and has replaced so many of our other devices: snail mail, cameras, calculators, radios, calendars, alarm clocks and phones.

B. In our text for today from the Gospel of Mark, Mark reports to us what the people were saying about Jesus: “He has done everything well.”

1. Jesus was, and is, truly the “Jack of All Trades” and the “Master of all Trades”!

2. The more we learn about Jesus, the more it becomes clear that He can do all things well.

3. The two stories that Mark relates to us today, show Jesus encountering people and ministering to them in unique and marvelous ways; showing that He does all things well.

I. Story #1: Jesus and a Gentile Mother with a Demon-possessed Daughter (Mark 7:24-30)

A. Mark began this story with these words: He got up and departed from there to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but he could not escape notice. (Mk. 7:24)

1. After reporting about Jesus’ many activities in and around the region of the Sea of Galilee, Mark reports that Jesus decided to move north into Gentile territory.

a. Perhaps He was looking for an opportunity to rest, or perhaps it was to escape the danger of mounting opposition from the Jewish leaders.

2. Beyond the numerous times we read about Jesus’ travels into the area of the Decapolis on the Eastside of the Sea of Galilee, this trip to the North may have been the only time Jesus left His native land during His ministry.

a. Tyre was about 25 miles South of Sidon and about 50 miles North of Nazareth.

b. The area called “Phoenicia” was Northwest of Galilee and ran about 150 miles along the Mediterranean Sea.

c. Tyre had been a leading seaport of the world in the days of King David and King Solomon.

3. Because Mark wrote his Gospel for a Gentile audience, he was careful to highlight the fact that the message of salvation wasn’t limited to Israel, but was intended for the whole world.

4. Also, keep in mind that in Jesus’ last teaching opportunity, He had declared that the distinctions between clean and unclean were being removed and cast aside (Mark 7:14-23).

a. And so Jesus ventured into Gentile territory and presumably entered the house of a Gentle reaffirming that He had rejected the “clean and unclean” standard.

B. Upon Jesus’ arrival in Tyre, He went into a house, apparently planning to spend some time there in quiet freedom and anonymity, but Jesus’ popularity had preceded Him and somehow the news had gotten out that He had come to town.

1. Mark wrote: 25 Instead, immediately after hearing about him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she was asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter. (Mk. 7:25-26)

2. A Gentile woman, who had somehow become a believer in Jesus, heard that He was in town and she made her way directly and boldly to Jesus.

a. How did she know about Jesus? How had she heard about His power and ministry?

b. Let me remind you that Mark has already reported to us that the people of Tyre had heard about Jesus.

c. Back in Mark chapter 3, Mark reported: 7 Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, and a large crowd followed from Judea, 8 Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to him because they heard about everything he was doing. (Mk. 3:7-8)

3. This Gentile woman knew that she had none of the religious, moral, or cultural credentials necessary to approach a Jewish rabbi – she was a Phoenician, a Gentile, a pagan, a woman, and her daughter had an unclean spirit – but she didn’t care.

4. She entered the house without an invitation, fell down at Jesus’ feet, and begged Jesus to exorcise the demon from her daughter.

5. The word that is translated “was begging” or “asking him” is in the present progressive form which means that she kept on asking or kept on begging - nothing and no one could stop her.