16^th Sunday after Pentecost – September 20, 2009

Mark 7:31-37 - ³¹ Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. ³² There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. ³³ After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). ³⁵ At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. ³⁶ Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. ³⁷ People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

“I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth…I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord…I believe in the Holy Spirit.” With these words of the Apostles’ Creed we confess our faith in the Triune God and all that he has done for us. And what he has done for us becomes even clearer when we consider Luther’s explanations to these articles: “I believe that God created me and all that exists, and he gave me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my mind and all my abilities. And I believe that God still preserves me by richly and daily providing clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, spouse and children, land, cattle, and all I own, and all I need to keep my body and life.” “I believe that Jesus Christ…has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent sufferings and death.” “I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith.”

This is what we believe because this is what Scripture makes plain to us. This is what we believe, and we see it evidenced in our lives. So, when you stop to consider all that our Triune God has done for us, how can we not join in with the crowd of our lesson this morning and exclaim, “He has done all things well.” As we do, we realize that this is a truth which stands at the center of all our confidence…and a truth which is the sure foundation of our confession.

As we join our Savior-God in the lesson this morning, we find him traveling from the area around Tyre and Sidon to the region of the Decapolis. Already here, with this simple background information, we see our Savior do all things well. You see, most of the inhabitants of these cities were Gentiles. That means they were non-Jews. They did not know the true God and his promises in Christ. Yet Christ came in order to give his life as a ransom for all, and he wanted all to know that! We see that evidenced here.

That’s not all. While in the region of the Decapolis, a man who was deaf and could hardly speak was brought to Jesus as his friends begged Jesus to put his hands on him. But Jesus, who does all things well, would do more than that. There would be no mechanical and emotionless laying on of hands. Instead, Jesus takes into account this individual’s very individual needs and deals with him ever so gently. First Jesus takes him aside, away from the confusion that naturally would arise from being in the center of the crowd but unable to hear what’s said. Then, to dispel any fear this man might have felt, Jesus takes the time to indicate through sign language what he is going to do. Jesus, who does all things well, is never short on compassion.

He doesn’t stop there, “Look[ing] up to heaven and with a deep sigh, [Jesus] said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’ (which means, ‘Be opened!’” It reminds us a little bit of creation, doesn’t it, when we read “And God said…” and it came into being? At that time too he did all things well as the perfect creatures moved along the perfect earth and were subdued by the perfect man and woman created in the image of God. Again now, our Savior-God who does all things well demonstrates his power by speaking a word that produces a miracle. In addition to that, he who does all things well reveals his willingness and desire and ability to help.

But wait! If you look beyond the compassion and the power and the willingness to help you will see an even greater proof that our Savior does all things well. You see, deafness, muteness, blindness, and every disease and disorder is only a symptom of the true original cause of all misery upon this earth. That true original cause is the sickness of sin. Sin is the disease that affects all men and is the greatest disease of all. And what we see here is a demonstration of Jesus power over sin. If he is able to rebuke deafness with a word, if the tongue must loosen on his command, then Jesus must be the Son of God who came and defeated sin and its father – Satan. Jesus has done all things well.

In some ways, one could say that to say that our God has done all things well is biblical understatement. Our God hasn’t just done things well, he has done them perfect. Just consider how even before sins beginning, God prepared a remedy for the sickness of sin - a remedy that never fails. He sent his Son Jesus into the world to be mankind’s substitute – and Jesus did all things perfect…literally. He lived an entirely flawless life in mankind’s place. He was a man of sorrows, one familiar with suffering. He himself bore the disease of sin, as he carried every last wretched, repugnant, disgusting sin of the world to the cross and paid the penalty for them there by his bitter death. You see, nothing and no one could have defeated Satan, sin, and death…even the consequences of sin except Jesus. And He didn’t just atone for some of our sins, he atoned for them all. He didn’t just do part of the work, he did all of the work. He didn’t just conquer some of the consequences of sin, as sickness and death, he conquered them all. Indeed, he does all things well!

Of course, this has tremendous significance for you and me. We too are burdened and weighed down by sickness and disease. We go to the doctor and find out we are inflicted with this disorder and that ailment. Daily we feel the aches and pains of old age, colds, and the flu. We constantly live with the threat of death. And just like those disorders and diseases and ailments and aches have been doing for centuries, they continue to be reminders of a far deeper problem. Our sin! They remind us that we are imperfect people. They remind us that if we can’t even keep ourselves healthy, how could we ever hope to make ourselves pure before God? And it is true, we continue to sin daily. Who could deny that after hearing the last two months of Sunday sermons focusing us on the Ten Commandments? Who could deny that after this past week? After all, don’t you have to admit like I do, that there was a time this past week were you did what you wanted to do rather than what God wanted you to do? Don’t you have to admit, like I do, that more than one of our conversations was filled with words that should never have been spoken, or at least should not have been spoken in the manner they were? Don’t you have to admit, like I do, that more than one hour was spent too much in love with this world? We deserve nothing but punishment, for the wages of sin is death!

But just before our sins become too much; just before our diseases and disorders and aches and pains cause us to despair, Jesus comes to us and reminds us that he has done all things well. He sees our greatest problem and takes a personal interest in our salvation. He tells us, first of all, that he has dealt with our sin. He tells us that it was for you and for me that he went to the cross. He tells us that it was for you and for me that he shed his blood. He tells us that it was for you and for me that he came back to life. Just listen, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). In other words, he tells us that he died precisely because of our sins, but he came back to life for the very purpose of declaring us not guilty.

Then, through this Gospel he calls us to himself. He sends the Holy Spirit to bring us into his family and create in our hearts the faith to believe in him as our Lord and Savior. Our whole salvation, from beginning to end, is the work of God. How grateful we can be, then, that God, through his Word, has given us the gift of eternal life which Jesus purchased on the cross. Jesus has suffered all the guilt and punishment for us. “The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin” (1 John 1:7).

But remember, he does all things well, so there’s more. He also has profound sympathy over our earthly troubles. Listen to the author to the Hebrews, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil…For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants…Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18). The temptations our earthly troubles cause are his special concern, and he has the power to help. And not only the power, but the willingness and desire too. The same Jesus who healed the man of our text is the same Jesus who helps us today. He knows what we endure, and he takes into account each of our individual needs and deals with us individually. His compassion never fails. Listen again to the author to the Hebrews, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15,16). When we need it, we can find what we need from Jesus who has done all things well and knows just how to give it. We pour out sorrow and he gives us comfort. We lay before him our weaknesses and he strengthens us.

We do not have reason for only gloom and despair, because we trust in the sure mercy of the Savior who does all things well. And he is totally worthy of it. We will not be ashamed. We will not be disappointed. Even if we have to suffer for a while as we journey through this life, we look forward to the perfect conditions we will know in heaven because of Jesus and his Gospel. He has done all things well, and this is the center of our confidence.

And the fact that he has done all things well is not only the center of our confidence but also the sure foundation of our confession. It seems strange to us to hear how our Savior told people not to talk about what he did. Evidently Jesus didn’t desire further publicity. Perhaps he didn’t want them to carry on with their false and misconceived notions of the Messiah. We know he didn’t want them to see him only as a miracle worker, but to quietly consider the miracle and see how it pointed to the fact that he was the promised Christ. Even this command had us in mind, as we are reminded of how Jesus resolutely set out to go the way of the cross.

Today, however, his command to keep quiet has been lifted. Now he tells us to proclaim the wonderful deeds of him who has called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. He has charged us to go out into all the world and preach the good news. But why should we? Why should take time away from doing something else? Why should we put ourselves outside our comfort zone? It is precisely because of this, we know that Jesus has done all things well. When we have such good news, how can we keep it to ourselves? When we know the comfort, peace, and confidence it brings, why wouldn’t we want others to share it? When we know it is our Savior’s desire, how could we say no to him who has given us everything? When we know that it is he who works in their hearts, why would we worry if we can do a good job? When we know that he has done all things well, why hesitate in uneasiness about what people might say or question you on? May we take every opportunity to tell the story of Jesus and his salvation!

He has done all things well. That is our confidence in confessing “I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth…I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord…I believe in the Holy Spirit.” That is our foundation in asking, “do you know about Jesus Christ…” and then continuing, “let me tell you about someone who has done all things well.” Amen.