Jesus Does All Things Well

6 · Exposes the cultural context of Jewish attitudes toward Gentiles, explaining how Gentiles were considered ritually unclean 'dogs' due to their idolatry and lifestyle, making Jesus' ministry to them a radical act of grace toward the supposedly unsavable

And before he gets on that boat, he's got a deaf man. That he needs to see. You see, Jesus came to save those who would have been looked down upon as unsavable. He came to save the outcasts, to save sinners so vile that they were called dogs. Why? Because their way of life was so defiled with their idolatry, with their diet, with just the things that they did in their community. That there was only one animal in a Jew's mind that could compare, and that was the dog. And now Jesus, he's not only ministering among the dogs, he's ministering to them.

7 · Direct pastoral address to those who feel too sinful or dirty for God to care about them, assuring them that Jesus' 120-mile detour proves he cares for the defiled and will cleanse them

Maybe today you're sitting here and you think, I've messed up too many times. The Lord wouldn't do anything for me. Maybe you think he would never want someone as dirty as you are. Maybe you think that you gotta clean yourself up a bit and then he'll take a look at you. No, take heart, friend. Take heart. Jesus came for this man. He came for you as well. His 120-mile journey around the dogs of the world is proof that he cares for the dirty and the defiled, and he will cleanse them. Because Jesus came to care for and cleanse his people. That means he came for you. He came for you.

8 · Structural pivot from Jesus' coming to the man (first point) to Jesus' actions upon arrival (second point: entering the man's world)

Now we see what he does when He comes for his people.

9 · Exposition of verses 33-34a explaining why Jesus takes the man aside privately—to protect him from being a spectacle and to honor the dignity of someone whose disability had made him a social outcast subjected to ridicule

The next two verses, Mark writes, 'And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting, touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha!' That is, 'Be opened.'' So Jesus takes this guy aside from the crowd privately. But why? Why would he do that? Well, it's Jesus' care for this guy expressed in action. You see, this guy would have been a spectacle everywhere he went. He couldn't speak clearly, so he likely had to use exaggerated movements. Likewise, people who were talking to him— we've all interacted with someone who is hard of hearing, right? And we talk louder thinking that's going to help them. If they have partial hearing loss like me, it does help. But this man, it wouldn't have helped. And so there's this spectacle anytime that there's communication. His speech impediment would likely have been the butt of many jokes, many bad things said about him. This man— this man lived a private life because of all of that. Alone because it's just too hard to be around people when you're like that. And Jesus comes and takes him aside. He says, hey, this is not gonna be a spectacle. What you're used to being the center of attention, not in a good way, I'm not gonna do that to you. And he takes him aside.

10 · Detailed exposition of Jesus' use of sign language—placing fingers in ears and touching the man's tongue—explaining how each gesture communicates the coming healing to a deaf man and symbolically promises to put Jesus' own words in the man's mouth

Privately, where it's just him and his disciples. And then he starts sticking his fingers in his ears. Why? Why would he do that? Well, first he entered this man's world, private world, by taking him aside, and now he enters this man's world by using sign language. He sticks his fingers in his ears and then takes them out, basically telling this man, I'm about to remove the blockages that are here. And it says, 'After spitting, He touched his tongue.' Likely what He did was touch His tongue and then touch the man's tongue. He's telling him, 'I'm going to loose your tongue. The way My tongue is loosed and I can speak easily and clearly, I'm going to do the same to you.' But likely there was a deeper meaning there. Jesus is telling him, 'My words, I'm going to put my words in your mouth.'

11 · Exposition of Jesus' looking to heaven and sighing, explaining that the upward gaze communicates divine origin while the groan expresses Jesus' discontent with sin's devastating effects on creation—not weariness, but compassionate grief over what sin has done to this man and all creation

Care for this man.' And he looks up to heaven. Why would Jesus look up to heaven? Well, why did he come? Why did Jesus come? Why did the second person of the Godhead take humanity unto himself and come to earth? It was to reveal and glorify God. And Jesus looks to heaven telling this man, this healing is coming from God. This healing, what is about to happen to you is not just some man doing this. It's not some miracle worker. I'm not some healer. God himself is going to do something for you. And then he sighs. Now, this isn't just a, 'Ah.' You know, like when you come in from working on the yard and you, you know, It's not that kind of sigh. It's not the tired sigh of like, 'Ah.' No, this is akin to a groan. The word that's translated here, it's something that's an involuntary expression of discontent against an undesirable circumstance. It expresses discontent. And is Jesus discontented with having to heal this man? Is he discontented with the friends for bringing him? No. He went 120 miles to get to this man. And then when the man is brought to him, he enters his world privately and he sticks his fingers in his ears and he touches his tongue intimately, telling him, communicating with him his care for him and what he's about to do. No, Jesus is not discontented at that. He's discontented at the effects of sin on His creation. See, this man is not who he was created to be. Sin has done something to this man. Sin has caused either an accident or a trauma or some kind of sickness that has now made this man deaf and in doing so has stunted his ability to talk. That's the sigh. 'Cause Jesus cares. He's sighing at discontent of the effects of sin let loose on his good creation. You could say that Jesus joins creation in its groaning. In this moment because he cares. He cares for this man. He cares for his creation. He cares for you. And that's why he sighs.

12 · Brief exposition of the climactic healing word 'Ephphatha,' identifying it as Aramaic and translating its command

And then he says in Aramaic, 'Ephatha!' Be opened!

13 · Direct application through a series of probing questions asking where the listener needs Jesus' healing touch—in ears, heart, eyes, or mind—arguing that the narrative's purpose is to establish the objective truth of Jesus' care for all his people today

So where does Jesus need to put his hands on you? Where does Jesus need to touch you in your life? Is it your ears so you can hear of his love? Is it your heart so you can believe that he loves you? Is it your eyes so you can leave behind the lusts and covetousness of the eyes? Is it your mind so you'll stop believing the lies of Satan and believe the promises of God. Where does he need to touch you? You see, this story isn't here so we can say, 'Oh yeah, Jesus cared for that deaf man.' No, it's here so that we would know the objective truth that Jesus cares for his people, all of them, and that includes you.

14 · Restatement of the sermon's thesis with structural summary of the three movements: Jesus comes, enters, and heals—all demonstrating his mission to care for and cleanse his people

He came to care for and to cleanse His people. He not only comes to His people, but He enters into their world. And after He enters into their private world, He heals them. He heals them.

15 · Exposition of verses 35-37 explaining the healing's totality—ears opened, tongue released, plain speech—and establishing the cultural context that physical infirmity was viewed as divine judgment, making Jesus' healing also an act of cleansing from perceived judgment

Mark records for us in verse 35 and following, 'And his ears were opened.' His tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. So this man likely sometime in early childhood suffered some type of trauma that resulted in his deafness. We can ascertain that by the fact that he has some ability to speak, but it's impaired. And we don't know how old he is. So let's say, you know, 4 or 5 years old when he was struck deaf. It could be 20 years. It could be 30 years. It could be 40 years or more that he's not heard a word. Imagine how he would feel. First words he hears are of his Savior saying, 'Ephphatha,' and he hears them. Jesus doesn't just say, 'Ephphatha,' and the crowd hears it. No, this man hears it. His ears were opened and his tongue was released. Oh man. Jesus came to him. He entered his world, and now he heals him with the mighty Ephatha of God. The care of the Lord was proven to him and to us. Jesus spoke, and with those words, Jesus showed not only his care, but his cleansing for the man by healing him. Now, why would I say cleansing? Well, in the first century, infirmity on this level would have been looked at as some type of judgment against sin. Sin. See, we see this even in Jesus' disciples in John 9. They say, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus makes this man hear and speak. His friends in that pagan nation, they would have said, 'That's the judgment of the gods against him for his wickedness.' And Jesus says, 'No, he can now hear and speak. He's cleansed. He is clean.' He spoke plainly.

16 · Exposition arguing that the man's disobedient proclamation after Jesus' command to silence is gospel proclamation—announcing the kingdom's arrival through testimony of God's work in his life, fulfilling Jesus' earlier symbolic promise to put his words in the man's mouth

The tomb of his mouth was opened, the burial shroud removed from his tongue, and then Jesus charged them to tell no one. What was this man saying? He and his friends were saying Jesus had released him from deafness and from his speech impediment. Works that only God can do. Works that only God can do. Mark then says the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. Now look, there's only one thing in the New Testament that is ever talked about as being proclaimed, and that is the gospel. The gospel. This man is now telling people the kingdom of God is at hand. God touched me and healed me and released my tongue. Y'all better repent. Jesus had indeed put his words into this man's mouth.

17 · Theological claim that hearing Jesus' 'Ephphatha' fundamentally transforms a person—both the historical deaf man and all who spiritually hear God's word—resulting in new life that manifests in proclamation and praise

He's now proclaiming it. Jesus' message had become their message. Wow. You see, when one hears the Ephphatha of Jesus, their life is set on a different course. When the Ephphatha of God comes to a person, they truly hear for the first time ever. They hear like never before. And this man, in the instant that Jesus' words penetrated his stopped-up ears, His life was changed. Fundamentally, he became something different. He's no longer going to be the spectacle who has to communicate with exaggerated movements. He's no longer going to be the person that people snicker and laugh about the way he talks. And that's a symbol. That new life, that new physical life is a symbol for the new spiritual life that Jesus gives to this man. And that he gives to all of his people that hear the aphatha of God. This new life resulted in him proclaiming praise of the one who set him free.

18 · Exegetical defense of the 'freedom' language by examining the Greek word for 'released'—showing it means liberation from shackles, establishing that Jesus freed the man from both physical and spiritual bondage

Some of you may be thinking, 'Set him free? I'm not reaching.' Let's look at this. The text says what? His tongue was released. In the original, the word used there would have meant released from the shackles that bound it. It's freedom. Freedom. Jesus freed this man, not only from his physical bondage, but from his spiritual bondage as well. That's what Jesus does. He releases. The slaves from captivity. And this man was more slave to his sin than he was to his physical ailments.

19 · Contemporary illustrations from recent church testimonies (Becky's anger/grief, Brad's pornography) demonstrating that Jesus continues to speak 'Ephphatha' to believers in areas of ongoing bondage, freeing them to proclaim his greatness and clarifying that Christians need repeated 'openings' in areas of doubt and unbelief

And in the past couple of weeks, what have we heard from people in our own church? See, we heard from Becky, right? And she was in bondage with her anger and the grief over the loss of her father. And the theophata of God came to her and caused her to be released from her anger and to work through the grief. And now she proclaims to those in shackle of grief and anger. Brad told us of being shackled to pornography and the effects that it had on his life. The aphatha of God freed him from his bondage, and he now proclaims the greatness of the one who saved him. See, now look, I'm not saying that they were not Christians before this happened. I'm saying that even Christians need to hear the Ephatha of God because we have these areas of doubt and unbelief that we walk in, right? And what needs to happen is Jesus needs to say, 'Be opened,' so that we hear the truth, we repent, and we believe the truth. Truth. And that's what happened to each of them. And it doesn't just stop there. Every day, every day, Jesus is changing people. He is telling them, 'Ephphatha,' and their lives are being changed, and they are repenting, and they are believing, and they are being changed because Jesus came to care for and cleanse his people.

20 · Exposition of verse 37's climactic declaration, establishing that 'He has done all things well' echoes Genesis 1's divine assessment of creation, revealing the crowd recognized they were in God's presence—Jesus was performing works only God could do

That's what he does. And after that happens, they cannot stop praising his name and proclaiming his His glory. And Mark concludes this story by saying, 'They were astonished beyond measure, saying, 'He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.'' These words are probably the most amazing of this passage. Why are they amazing? Because they really tie together the fact that Jesus came to care for and cleanse his people And he is the one who's able to do that. But why is it so astonishing to them? Because they knew only God can do that. They were in the presence of God and they knew it, and their words show it. 'He has done all things well' echo Moses' words in Genesis when we read what? God saw all that he had created and he saw that it was very good. And now Jesus is doing all things well. And they're like, oh, this is the mark of God. He has restored this man to what he should be. They were in the presence of God and their words echoed God's words.

21 · Further exposition emphasizing that the crowd's statement 'he even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak' constitutes theological recognition that only God can perform such works, leading to the assertion that these works are possible only because Jesus—who is God—came

And then they gave even more proof of their faith in God by saying, he even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. No man can do that. No man can do that, only God. Only God can unstop deaf ears. Only God can unbind a tongue and put praise in that person's mouth. And these things, they're only possible because Jesus came.

22 · Sustained theological meditation moving from Jesus' incarnation (leaving heaven's glory) through his earthly ministry (entering our sin-cursed world with compassion) to the cross (taking our sin and bearing God's wrath), climaxing in the confession 'He has indeed done all things well

Jesus came. He left His throne in heaven and came to earth as a man, yet still God. Jesus came leaving behind the praise of innumerable angels What? To hear the accusations of Pharisees saying he has a demon. Jesus left the fellowship of the Father to come and walk the earth with a man who would betray him. Jesus came. He left the splendor of heaven for the dust of the Palestinian desert. Jesus came to his people. And that would have been enough. If all he did was come and reveal the Father, that would be enough. But he goes further than that because that's just who Jesus is. He entered our world. He entered the world of sin. He saw its effects and he groaned about it. He saw its effect on Lazarus and he cried about it. He enters our world of sin and he is compassionate. To us. But he doesn't stop there. After coming to our earth, he came to a hill called Calvary. And there he fully entered our world, taking our sin on himself Taking our shame, bearing it before God, bearing the wrath of God against that sin, bearing the penalty and the curse of sin, he entered our world so that we could enter his. He has indeed done all things well. All things.

23 · Application asserting that Jesus continues to speak 'Ephphatha' to his people today, unstoppering ears to hear his voice, producing repentance and faith, and unshackling tongues to proclaim his greatness—directly applying the deaf man's experience to contemporary believers

And he now comes to his people. With the aphatha of God, and he unstops their ears. And the aphatha is effective in us hearing his voice just as the man in our text did. And we respond in repentance and faith. Repentance from our sins and faith in him that he has not only paid for them, but that he now enables us to live a life in obedience to his commands. He unbinds the shackles of our tongue so that we can proclaim his greatness to those around us.

24 · Structural pivot from sermon proper to the Lord's Supper, framing communion as celebration and proclamation of Christ's coming (incarnation), cross, and future return

And now we get to come to his table and enjoy his meal in celebration of him coming. And then coming to the cross. And through doing so, we proclaim what he has done. We remember what he has done, and we look forward to the day he will come back and do all that he has promised.

25 · Fencing the table with pastoral instruction on who should partake (those who have heard God's 'Ephphatha' and put faith in Christ), invitation to seekers to respond during communion, and pastoral offer of discipleship follow-up emphasizing that conversion requires more than a prayer—it demands ongoing obedience through the local church

This meal is for those who have heard the aphatha of God and put their faith in Jesus to pay for their sins through his death on the cross. And if you've done that, This is for you. You are invited to the table. And if you haven't trusted in Jesus to pay for your sins, we ask that you observe this meal. Think about what you've heard here today. And if the Lord is calling you to repent of your sins and to put your faith in Jesus, come to the table. Respond to that. Pray to him. Ask for forgiveness. Ask him to show you how to build that faith through the local church. And if you repent and believe, this meal is for you. But I would also invite you to talk to one of the pastors. Talk to one of us. And we will get you started in finding out what it means to follow Jesus. You see, Jesus said making disciples is about teaching them to obey everything that he has commanded. It's not just a— Hey, I'm praying for forgiveness and I'm good. No, there needs to be some kind of change, some kind of follow-up. And we want to help you in that. We will help you in that. So let us know.

26 · Reading of the institution narrative for the bread element from 1 Corinthians 11, establishing the biblical warrant for the practice of communion

So let's take our cups and let's open the top portion. Paul wrote to the Corinthians. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the night Jesus— that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'

27 · Leads the congregation through partaking of both elements with theological interpretation—bread as symbol of unity in Christ's body, cup as symbol of Christ's death paying for sin and cleansing his people

So let us take the bread together as a symbol that we are one body in Christ. Now we can open the juice. Maybe. In the same way, also he took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.' So let us take the cup as a symbol of Christ's death to pay for the sins of his people, cleansing them.

28 · Concludes the communion liturgy with Paul's eschatological framing (proclaiming Christ's death until he comes) and leads the congregation in the ancient prayer 'Come, Lord Jesus

And Paul concludes that with these words: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And the church says, Come, Lord Jesus, come.

29 · Closing prayer thanking God for the text's truth (Jesus came to care for and cleanse), asking for help to remember it, examine where personal 'Ephphatha' is needed, and be obedient to God's transforming work

Let us pray. Father, we thank you for this passage. Father, we thank you for the truth held here that Jesus came to care for and cleanse his people. Lord, help us this week as we leave here to remember that. Lord, help us to examine ourselves, our lives, our hearts, our minds, to see where we need the aphatha of God. To come and do work. And Lord, help us to be obedient to that Ephatha. Help us, Lord, to be changed by that. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

30 · Dismissal into closing worship with hymn lines thematically reinforcing the sermon's message about cleansing and wholeness through Christ

Would you stand as we sing? What can wash away my sin? What can bring us hope and peace? What can make us whole again?