Mark 7:31-37
“HE DOES ALL THINGS WELL!”
November 24, 2024
(The Condition - The Command - The Confession)
The passage opens with Jesus leaving the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon headed back to Galilee. But Jesus and His men do not go straight back, Verse 31 tells us that they went through “Decapolis.” It is a league of 10 Greek influenced cities East of the Jordan River. If you will remember, the people of that region pleaded with Jesus to leave their country because of the drowning of their 2000 pigs, Mark 5:17. Jesus had cast a legion of demons out of a man. And Jesus allowed the demons to entered into a herd of swine. Immediately they ran down the hill, dove in the Sea and all the pigs drowned. The people of Decapolis were angry that their livelihood was interrupted and rejected Jesus and begged Him to leave. They rejected Him and He would have been justified had He never returned. But Jesus came back! Aren’t you grateful that He didn’t write you off the first time you rejected Him? I praise His name that He keeps on loving; He keeps drawing; He keeps calling; until He gets what He’s after! There is a song called “Reckless Love” where the bridge is “There's no shadow You won't light up, Mountain You won't climb up, Coming after me. There's no wall You won't kick down, Lie You won't tear down, Coming after me. There's no shadow You won't light up, Mountain You won't climb up, Coming after me!” Praise His name! I am talking about a God that loves you too much to stop! Why is His love so perfect? Because He Does All Things Well! In this passage, Jesus comes to Decapolis and the people saw what He did with a demonic man and heard how He fed the five thousand and then how He calmed the wind and the sea and now they bring a deaf man to Jesus for healing. He heals the man, and the people are astonished, saying, “He has done all things well.”
I. v. 32 THE CONDITION – Now here we have a record of a healing that is only told in the Gospel according to Mark. The Bible tells us that this man was “deaf”. It may have been that this man lost his hearing as the result of an injury; or he may have been born deaf. Either way, this poor man cannot hear. Not only was he deaf, but he also had a speech impediment. He could talk, but his speech was impaired. A preacher once said, you usually don’t talk right, if you can’t hear right. He was preaching, “So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17. Defective speech usually results from defective hearing. This man, even though he was handicapped, had people around him that cared about him. They heard that Jesus was passing through and they brought their deaf friend to Jesus. Most people don’t need you to feel sorry for them, they just need some help. Sometimes the burden of worry or responsibility associated with caring for someone can be significantly lessened by taking action and actively participating in the process, rather than just passively feeling sorry about it. Simply put, You Can Lift the Weight of Caring by Doing! James said, But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Jesus told a parable saying, “for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me” [Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we do these things?’] And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Sometimes we have to stop feeling sorry for people’s condition and do something! They brought him to Jesus. Why? Because He does all things well!
II. v. 33-35 THE COMMAND - The first thing I notice is that Jesus “took him aside”. The crowd expected Jesus to just touch him right there and heal him. But Jesus refuses to make a spectacle of this man. He may have saved you and me by the same blood and the same Gospel, but I guarantee you that He used different methods in each of our lives. He doesn’t always work the same way! But there is one constant that you can depend on: “He does all things well!” First, He sticks His fingers in the man’s ears to let him know that He is going to do something about his deafness. He spits and touches the man’s tongue to let him know that He is about to lubricate his speech. Wait! That is weird! He was deaf and dumb but he could see! We must get to a point in your relationship with God that it does not matter the method He uses to touch you! Even though someone else may have brought you to Jesus, this is between you and God and no one else! Then, Jesus gives a one word command, “Eph’pha-tha”, which means “be opened”. When Jesus said this, the man’s ears were healed, and his tongue was loosed. He could hear! He could speak! One command from Jesus and his life changed forever! That is the power of the Word of God! Because the man could not hear, Jesus spoke to his problem! LORD, When I Can’t Hear You, Speak to My Problem! For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
III. v. 36-37 THE CONFESSION - So the Bible tells us that these people were “astonished beyond measure”. What they saw Jesus do was more than their minds could comprehend. Paul said, But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” They summed up what they felt about Jesus by saying, “He has done all things well!” They looked at all they knew about Jesus and they voiced their approval of Him and His ministry. They considered His miracles and His ministry and they said, “He has done all things well!” I can echo the words of that multitude in my own heart today. He has done all things well! We may not understand all the twists and turns of the road of life. We may wonder why some terrible events in life take place. We may wonder why people have to get sick and others have to die. We do wonder about many of those things. Peter said, "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect [you], confirm [you], strengthen [you], and establish you." Right now, some of you have question marks as tall as mountains in your mind over certain events in your life. I will venture to say that one day when this life is over and you see Him face to face and you stand before His presence in Glory, you will look back over the days of your life and say, “He does all things well!” At the Cross of Calvary, it was not good for Jesus, (nails in His hands and feet) but I heard the Hebrew writer say, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Oh Yes, He does all things well!
