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.
6. In the parallel account in Matthew’s Gospel, the disciples urged Jesus to send her away because of her excessive pleading, because she wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.
7. We all can understand why she had such boldness and steadfastness – she was a parent and her child was in need.
a. People can fall into several categories: cowards, regular people, heroes, and parents.
b. A parent will do anything to save their child, without any thought to convention or for themselves.
c. So it is not surprising what this desperate mother was willing to do for her daughter.
C. So, how did Jesus respond to this Gentile mother’s desperate demand?
1. Mark wrote: He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, because it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” (Mk. 7:27)
2. If you are like me, then your reaction to Jesus’ words is shock and horror, right?
a. What Jesus said to her seems to be so offensive and insulting, right?
3. We live in a canine-loving society, but in the New Testament times most dogs were scavengers – they were wild and dirty.
a. In that day the Jews often called the Gentiles dogs because they considered them unclean.
4. But was Jesus trying to be cruel and insulting? I don’t think so.
a. Many commentators have concluded that Jesus was speaking to her in a way that was parabolic – He was using a metaphor.
b. One of the keys to understanding what Jesus said is the fact that Jesus used a very unusual word for “dogs” here – He used a term that means “puppies.”
c. Remember, this woman was a mother, and what Jesus was saying was: “You know how families eat: first the children eat at the table, and afterward their pets eat too, but it’s not right to violate that order. The puppies must not eat food from the table before the children do.”
5. Matthew gives us a longer version of Jesus’ answer where Jesus explains His meaning: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
a. We can clearly see that Jesus concentrated His ministry on Israel.
b. He was sent to show Israel that He was the fulfillment of all the OT promises.
6. And so, His words are not the insult that they appear to be, because what Jesus was saying was: “Please understand, there’s an order here. I’m going to Israel first, then the Gentiles (the other nations) later.”
D. Here’s the amazing thing: this Gentile woman got the point of what Jesus was saying and came back at Him with an astonishing reply.
1. Mark wrote: But she replied to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” (Mk. 7:28)
2. The woman replied, “Yes, Lord, I get it, but the puppies eat from that table too, and I’m here for mine.”
a. Commentators point out that wealthy people in that day wiped their hands on chunks of bread and then threw them under the table for the dogs.
3. Jesus had told her a parable in which He gave her something that was a challenge and an offer, and she got it.
a. She responded to the challenge: “Okay, I understand. I am not from Israel, I do not worship the God that the Israelites worship. Therefore, I don’t have a place at the table. I accept that.”
b. Isn’t that amazing? She didn’t take offense and she didn’t try to stand on her rights.
c. Then she accepted the offer by saying: “All right, I may not have a place at the table, but there’s more than enough on that table for everyone in the world, and I need mine now – I’ll take my place under the table and be satisfied with the scraps.”
d. Do you see how remarkable it is that she recognized and accepted both the challenge and the offer hidden within it?
E. Let’s notice the conclusion of the story: Mark wrote: 29 Then he told her, “Because of this reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” 30 When she went back to her home, she found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone. (Mk. 7:29-30)
1. This Gentile mother had displayed wisdom, humility, and faith, and therefore, Jesus was so pleased by her response that He granted her request.
2. When Jesus said, “Because of this reply,” He was praising her reply, like a good teacher saying: “Wonderful answer; incredible answer.”
3. It’s amazing that God’s chosen people were often so slow to get it, but not so for the Gentiles.
4. In the Gospels, when Jesus complimented someone for their faith, they were more likely a Gentile than a Jew, like we see here with the Gentile mother, and the centurion in Matthew 8.
5. One commentator wrote: What an irony! Jesus seeks desperately to teach his chosen disciples – yet they are dull and uncomprehending; Jesus is reluctant to even speak to a walk-on pagan woman – and after one sentence she understands his mission and receives his unambiguous commendation…that she answers Jesus from “within” the parable, that is, in thee terms by which Jesus addressed her, indicates that she is the first person in the Gospel to hear the word of Jesus to her. (James Edwards)
6. Similarly, Martin Luther was amazed and moved by this encounter, because he saw the Gospel in it.
a. This woman understood the Gospel – which declares that you’re more wicked than you ever believed, but at the same time more loved and accepted than you ever dared to hope.
b. On the one hand, she was not too proud to accept what the gospel said about her unworthiness, but on the other hand, she was not too insulted or discouraged to take up God’s offer.
7. See, there are two ways to fail to allow Jesus to be your Savior.
a. One is by being too proud, having a superiority complex that says: I’m so good and self-sufficient that I don’t need a Savior.
b. The other is by having an inferiority complex that says: I’m so awful, God can’t love me.
8. No one is so good that they don’t need God, and no one is so bad that God doesn’t want them.
a. This woman understood her need and understood God’s offer.
9. Can you imagine the grand homecoming when this Gentile mother returned home to find her little daughter freed from the demon, and was whole and healthy again?
a. Can you imagine her powerful testimony as she told others about the Jewish rabbi who exorcised the demon from her daughter with a word and without even being present?
b. And He did it for a foreign, pagan, Gentile.
c. Jesus, indeed, does all things well!
10. What is your testimony about what God has freed you from?
a. What is your testimony about how God loved you and called you in your lost and unworthy state?
II. Story #2: Jesus and a Gentile Man Who is Deaf (Mark 7:31-37)
A. John MacArthur begins his commentary on this second story with a riddle: Who is permitted to
speak, but is not able, and able to speak, but is not permitted? Answer: the deaf man in this story.
1. Mark wrote: 31 Again, leaving the region of Tyre, he went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking and begged Jesus to lay his hand on him. (Mk. 7:31-32)
2. Mark tells us that Jesus left the region of Tyre and went North through Sidon, but then made the journey Southeast back to the region of the Decapolis.
a. Some people speculate that this whole journey may have taken as much as eight months.
b. Mark doesn’t tell us why Jesus went that way and doesn’t tell us about anything that happened as Jesus and His disciples traveled to Sidon and then to the Decapolis.
3. You will recall that Jesus had been to the Decapolis before and that He exorcised a legion of demons from a man and sent them into the herd of pigs who rushed to their death.
a. The people who witnessed his transformation begged Jesus to leave their region.
b. The restored man wanted to leave with Jesus, but Jesus ordered him to stay and tell everyone what God had done for him.
B. When Jesus arrived in the Decapolis this time, He received a whole different reception, perhaps the preaching of the formerly demon-possessed man had produced the fruit of faith in many people.
1. Mark tells us that “they” brought to Jesus a deaf man who had difficulty speaking.
2. Who “they” are is not described – they may have been friends or family of the man who needed healing – but they were certainly people who believed that Jesus could make a difference.
a. Just like the Gentile woman in the previous story, these Gentile people also begged Jesus for help.
3. The man who needed healing is described as “deaf,” it is a term that can mean deaf, mute, or both – this man was certainly deaf, but wasn’t completely mute, although his deafness made it very difficult for him to speak, as it often does.
C. How did Jesus respond to their request? Mark wrote: 33 So he took him away from the crowd in private. After putting his fingers in the man’s ears and spitting, he touched his tongue. 34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”). (Mk. 7:33-34)
1. Let’s explore this story by asking some questions.
2. Why did Jesus take the deaf man away from the crowd?
a. Perhaps to avoid the confusion and shock that would likely take place when the man was suddenly able to hear all the sounds around him.
b. Or perhaps Jesus wanted to protect his privacy, knowing that this man had always been a spectacle with people making fun of him because he couldn’t hear and spoke so strangely.
c. Showing compassion, perhaps Jesus didn’t want to make a spectacle of him now.
3. Why did Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears and spit and then touch the man’s tongue?
a. We know it wasn’t because Jesus was doing some kind of hocus pocus or miracle worker incantation, because Jesus never did that kind of thing while performing miracles.
b. Perhaps Jesus was doing a rudimentary sign language to explain what he was going to do and to prepare the man for what was coming.
c. Can you picture Jesus trying to communicate: “Let’s go over here; don’t be afraid. I’m going to do something about your ears and your tongue. Let’s look to God for help.”
4. Why did Jesus spit? Good question!
a. Some people believe that Jesus spat onto His own fingers and touched the man’s tongue with His saliva covered fingers.
b. As gross as that sounds to us, that may be what happened because people of that day believed that salvia had healing powers.
c. The text only says that Jesus spit but doesn’t say where the spital ended up.
5. Why did Jesus look toward heaven and sigh deeply?
a. Jesus knew that this man had spent his life reading people’s facial expression and body language.
b. By looking up, Jesus wanted the man to know that the help was coming from God.
1. Whatever help or ministry that we give to others should always be done in a way that God gets the credit and the glory.
c. By giving a deep sigh, Jesus communicated that He understood how monumental had been this man’s struggle.
d. A better translation of “sighed deeply” might be “he groaned” or “he moaned.”
e. A moan is an expression of pain – Jesus identified with this man’s alienation and isolation.
6. Finally, we notice that Jesus uttered a single word that changed that man’s life – “Ephphatha!”
a. It’s an Aramaic word that means “be opened.”
b. Aramaic was the mother tongue of Jesus and it may also have been of this man.
D. What was the result of Jesus’ command “be opened?” Mark wrote: 35 Immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. 36 He ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more they proclaimed it. (Mk. 7:35-36)
1. As soon as Jesus spoke the word, immediately his ears were opened and the impediment of his tongue was removed.
2. I wonder of the first word he heard was Jesus’ word as He commanded: “Be opened.”
3. The fact that the formerly deaf man could now speak plainly shows a double miracle.
4. Even today, if someone who was deaf can now suddenly hear because of a Cochlear implant, then they are not able to speak clearly immediately, and they may always have a speech impediment.
5. But when Jesus does a miracle, the results are instantaneous and comprehensive.
6. How ironic that the man who could finally now speak was told not to, and yet it was beyond human ability not to tell about such a good and miraculous thing.
a. No matter how much our government or culture tells us to be quiet about Jesus, we cannot and must not be silenced.
b. Later in Acts the apostles will declare, “We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)
7. Jesus had given that command in an attempt to control the direction of His ministry – He didn’t only want to be known as a miracle worker, since His mission was much greater than that.
E. Mark concluded this story with these words: They were extremely astonished and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mk. 7:37)
1. After casting out the demons from the man in Mark 5, the people had urged Jesus to leave.
2. But now, after this great and wonderful healing, the people correctly and properly said: “He has done all things well.”
3. Jesus certainly did everything well, right, and good, and Jesus continues to do the same for us.
Conclusion:
A. I would like to conclude today’s sermon by pointing out the fact that Mark likely used this story and a special word in it to point our attention to a prophesy from Isaiah 35.
1. When Mark said that the man was “deaf and spoke with difficultly,” he used a word that appears only one other place in the Bible – Isaiah 35.
2. In Isaiah 35, the prophet Isaiah had this to say about the coming Messiah:
They will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees!
4 Say to the cowardly: “Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming.
God’s retribution is coming; he will save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy…
3. Mark was telling his readers: Do you see the blind opening their eyes? Do you see the deaf hearing? Do you hear the mute tongue shouting for joy?
a. God has come, just as Isaiah had promised.
b. God has come to save you – Jesus the Messiah (the Christ) is God come to save us.
4. Here’s another thing Mark wants his readers to think about: Isaiah said that the Messiah will come to save us with divine retribution.
a. But how is the Messiah saving with divine retribution? His He smiting people? Is He taking out His sword? No!
5. Look at Jesus – He’s not taking power; He’s giving it away.
a. He’s not taking over the world; He’s serving it and dying to save it.
6. Where’s the divine retribution? Jesus didn’t come to bring it, but He came to bear it.
a. On the cross, Jesus bore our retribution so that we don’t have to.
7. On the cross, the Son of God was cast away from the table without a crumb, so that those of us who were not children of God could be adopted and brought in.
a. He became sin to take away our sin.
b. He became mute so that our tongues might to loosed to call Him King and sing His praise.
8. Jesus loves us that much. He considers us that valuable.
a. We must never be too proud to accept what the Gospel says about our unworthiness.
b. We must never be too downcast to accept what the Gospel says about how loved we are.
c. We must never believe that we are too lost that we can’t be found, or too far from home that we can’t return.
9. Our Jesus does all things well – let’s give Him the chance to do all things well in our lives!
a. Jesus sets us free from our demons and sins.
b. Jesus heals all our infirmities and binds up our brokenness – especially our spiritual ones.
10. Jesus does all things well for everyone – no one is excluded – the Gospel is for all!
Resources:
• Truth for Today Commentary: Mark 1-8 and 9-16, Martel Pace, Resources Communications.
• Truth Versus Tradition? Sermon by David Owens
• Jesus the King, Timothy Keller (Chapter 8, The Approach)
• She Won’t Back Down, Sermon by Nate Shinn
• Jesus Does All Things Well, Sermon by Nate Shinn
