Bible Passage: Mark 7:31-37
Pastor: Michael Willitz
Sermon Date: September 12, 2021

Bulletin September 12, 2021

Mark 7:31–37

³¹Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.

³²They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. ³³Jesus 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. ³⁴After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) ³⁵Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly. ³⁶Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it. ³⁷They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

He Has Done Everything Well

Dear fellow redeemed in Jesus Christ our Lord,

The Kingdom of God is advancing. It is advancing everywhere Jesus goes. And as the Kingdom of God advances with Jesus, the tyranny of Satan crumbles. As the Kingdom of God advances with Jesus, the symptoms of sin begin to dissipate. Neither demons nor disease nor death can stand against the forward march of the Christ and his Kingdom.

One of my favorite illustrations of this advance of the Kingdom comes from a fictional novel, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. In this story, a great change is seen and felt throughout the land of Narnia when the Christ-like character, Aslan the lion, arrives. Before Aslan’s coming, the whole land has suffered terribly under the frozen tyranny of the wicked White Witch. But at Aslan’s arrival, the cruel curse of the White Witch begins to break. The snow begins to thaw. Streams begin to form. The trickle of water is heard along with the happy chirping of birds. Green grass begins to appear out from under the melting snow, and bright flowers begin sprouting out of the softened earth. The prolonged winter of the White Witch fades, and the long-awaited springtime arrives at Aslan’s coming. What a heart-warming picture of the change that Christ brings when he steps into this fallen world.

We know that this creation was not made in the condition in which we find it now. Our world was created “very good” as Genesis 1 informs us: no crime, no sickness, no funerals, no tears. But sin, our sin, sent God’s perfect world careening into a tailspin of futility and frustration. Now we see suffering and we experience suffering of a thousand different kinds in this world. But Christ brings renewal. Christ brings restoration. You can see and you can hear the thaw beginning as Christ steps into this frozen world. He fixes what is broken. He sets what is wrong right. He has done everything well.

Now, apparently the people of the Decapolis had heard of Jesus, and they had heard about the kinds of things Jesus was doing. If they hadn’t heard then they wouldn’t be bringing a deaf and mute man and asking Jesus to help. The Decapolis was a Gentile area on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had actually been in that region before, but, on that occasion, the people had begged him to kindly go away. You see, there had been a costly incident involving two thousand pigs and a cliff. Jesus had gone away, but he had left a missionary behind him. If you know the account, then you’ll remember how Jesus had cast a legion of demons out of a man. When that man begged Jesus to let him come along in the boat, Jesus answered him, “Go home to your people, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you,” [5:19]. Well, Mark tells us next, “The man left and began to proclaim in the Decapolis everything Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed,” [20].

So the groundwork has been laid. The people have heard about Jesus. They have heard that he performs merciful miracles. They have heard that he relieves people from their suffering. So, now, when Jesus arrives again, they bring him a man who is deaf and mute. In faith, they trust that Jesus can do something for this man. In love, they plead with Jesus to place his hand on the man and heal him. It’s just like when you pray, in faith and in love, that Jesus would help the suffering people whom you know.

And this man was suffering much. He was deaf. He could not hear, and he had an impediment to his speech. Just imagine how confused this man must have been, when a great crowd formed to welcome Jesus. Just think intimidated he must have been when his friends grabbed him by the arms and pulled him into the midst of the crowd. Having no hearing, this man has a very limited context for what is going on and what is going to happen. But notice the sympathy of Jesus the Christ: he gently escorts the deaf man away from the crowd. He puts his fingers in the man’s ears, demonstrating that he will open them. He spits and touches his fingers to the man’s tongue, telling the man that he will loosen it. He looks up to heaven, and he sighs with sympathy, and then he speaks. He says a single word, “Ephphatha!”, “Be opened!” [34]. He says it to ears that cannot hear him. But this is the God whose command brought forth creation from nothing. This is the God whose Word woke a dead little girl to life. This is the God who calls us to believe, and with his very invitation creates faith where there was none. His Word creates. His Word restores. His Word gives. His Word saves. At his command, the man’s deaf ears are opened, and his fettered tongue is set free. Yes, the Kingdom of God is advancing, and the symptoms of sin give way. Jesus restores a fallen creation to the “very good” condition in which it was made, and we hear an echo of that “very good” verdict when the people praise Jesus and say of him, “He has done everything well,’” [37].

What a powerful Savior! What a merciful Savior! What a perfect Savior for us. We all are feeling the fallout in creation in one way or another, perhaps in many ways. And we all long for the restoration that only Jesus can give. The deaf want to hear, the blind want to see, the lame want to walk, and the sick want to be well. The oppressed want justice. The persecuted want vindication. The weeping want consolation. When will the wrongs of this world be made right? When will the evils in this world be exchanged for good? When will all the symptoms of sin in this world be finally banished forever? The answer is at Jesus’ return. When Jesus comes again, dear Christian friends, your suffering, whatever it is, will be over. In fact, in view of Christ’s coming, this is what the Apostle Paul says about our sufferings in Romans 8, “I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us,” [18].

How we long for that glory! How we long for the end of all of our troubles! But now we are waiting, and perhaps at times we sigh and we groan as we wait. The Apostle Paul writes, again, from Romans 8, “We know that all of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time. And not only creation, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body,” [22,23]. Every year, in the middle of winter, we eagerly wait for cold to end, and we long for the spring thaw to arrive. In a similar way we are longing for Christ and the glorious spring that will come at his return. Wait with patience, dear friends. Do not give way to despair. We know that a glorious future is coming, and we know that we will be free and we will be whole.

We know this for sure because when Jesus came, he didn’t just deal with symptoms. He dealt with our disease. He took on the root and the core of all of our troubles. He came, and he dealt with our sin. Yes, Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. He made the deaf hear and the mute speak, but it would all be for nothing if he didn’t take away our sin. He came on a mission that led him to the cross. And this is what happened there, in the words of Isaiah, the Prophet:

Surely he was taking up our weaknesses, and he was carrying our sufferings. We thought it was because of God that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted, but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced. He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed, [53:4-5].

Jesus came to siphon all of your sin away from you. He came to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And in return for your sin and all the suffering that your sin deserves, Jesus gives you healing. Did you hear it in Isaiah, “By his wounds we are healed.” So now we are waiting for the restoration on the last day, but our healing has been purchased. It was paid for with the wounds of God’s Son on the cross. And the dawn of his new creation has already broken, because he has come out of the grave as the first to rise in glory! Sin is conquered! Death is broken! Our sufferings are temporary, but Jesus’ glory is eternal!

And though you may still endure various sufferings in your body, you are not the same as you used to be. Jesus has already begun his renewal in you. In Baptism, he opened your ears to hear his Word and to believe it. Some of the Baptism liturgies in the early church even included the word “Ephphatha!” to reflect this. Christ opened your ears to his Word, and he loosed your tongue so that now you confess his praise. You are no longer a child of the devil. You are no longer ruled by sin. By God’s grace, you are in Christ, and “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come,” [2 Corinthians 5:17].

Satan’s tyranny is crumbling. Sin’s symptoms are fading. The Kingdom of God is advancing. It has come to us in Christ. Soon our sorrows will all be over, and we will live with him in glory. Then, with unstopped ears, we will hear God’s declaration of “very good” ringing out through the new heavens and new earth. With unfettered tongues, we will join our voices with all the blest to shout in a chorus of unending acclamation, “He has done everything well!”

Amen.

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