September 15, 2012

Jesus Does Everything Well!

16th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/16/12
Mark 7:31-37

Jesus Does Everything Well!
I. He displays his deep love for every sinner.
II. He displays his tender compassion for each sinner.

‘Tis the season for Monday morning quarterbacks. Most of us have our favorite football team and we religiously watch its games and several other games each weekend. And then, if we have the chance, we spend some time on Monday critiquing our team’s last performance. And that’s easy to do from a distance. But imagine telling NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers that you thought his performance was sub-par. He might ask you what puts you into a position to critically analyze his job performance.

Job performance. If you’re employed, you know that in some way or another, your job performance is being measured. It might be as formal as a yearly review complete with reports from supervisors, fellow-employees and customers. It might be as informal as the sole, subjective opinion of the owner of the business. And no matter how hard you work, no matter how much dedication and innovation you display, no matter how pleasant your demeanor, you can always expect that you will be pointed to at least one area of your performance that needs a little or a lot of improvement. I don’t know if the job performance exists that documents that an employee has done everything perfectly well.

Unless you’re Jesus of Nazareth, the world’s only Savior from sin. This was his job performance evaluation at the end of the event before us this morning: “He has done everything well.” But could that just be the opinion of some overly impressed customers who had just witnessed a miracle? If this were his only job performance evaluation listed, we might have our doubts. But on several occasions during his three-year ministry the holy, all-knowing, eternal God the Father made the very same comment on the work that Jesus was doing. He was doing things exactly as the Father had wanted.

Jesus does everything well. As God’s people, members of his kingdom by faith in Jesus, we know that’s true. But there are times in our lives that we struggle with it. So let’s take that truth to heart once again this morning. Jesus does everything well.

Part I.

Hardly a day goes by in which you don’t see a crime scene investigation on the local news. But what you see is just a fraction of what goes into an investigation. The law enforcement officers are not only interested in what happened at the scene of the crime, they also spend a lot of time and effort trying to determine what led to it. They want to know as many of details leading into the crime as they can. It helps them establish motive and understand how such a crime could happen.

In the event before us today, it would be easy for us to focus our attention only on the moments that Jesus spent with this deaf man. But don’t miss the details that led up to it. In them we see an important truth about our Savior.

We read, “Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.” Unless you’re fairly familiar with biblical geography, those place names might not mean much. They’re certainly not as familiar to us as Jerusalem and Nazareth. And that might be because these places were not part of the land of the Jews at this time. Tyre and Sidon were northwest of the land of Israel in a country called Phoenicia. They were important port cities on the Mediterranean, but they weren’t inhabited by Jews; they were inhabited by idol-worshipping Gentiles.

Likewise with the Decapolis. Today this area is part of the country of Jordan. Not many Jews lived there, but Jesus had spent some time there previously and now he decided to do some preaching there once again. It was an area heavily influenced by Rome, something the Jews didn’t care for.

So, what’s the big deal? What does it matter that Jesus spent time in these non-Jewish areas? Because he himself had stated that he was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. Indeed, that was his primary focus. It had always been God’s plan to pour out his grace in a special measure on his chosen people, the Jews. Thus Jesus spent a majority of his time among Jewish people.

But God’s saving grace and love extended to all sinners. From the very day that human beings fell into sin, God’s plan was to send a Savior into the world for all the people of the world. He repeated that plan and promise throughout the pages of the Old Testament. In order to be the Savior of all people, Jesus had to take his message of salvation to all people. That’s exactly what we see him doing in these details leading up to his miracle of healing this deaf man.

Jesus does everything well. He displays his deep love for all sinners.

Have you ever felt as if you were not a recipient of the deep love of Christ? Probably not when we look at the object truths of our salvation. We know and staunchly confess that Jesus came to live and die as the Savior of all people, and that certainly includes us. We’re only too happy to sing with little children, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” But then it comes to the practical aspects of our lives and we begin to wonder. Sometimes we have our nagging doubts. Health problems linger. The pain doesn’t subside. We try our best to get along with someone but the relationship gets worse. We work hard at our job, but we’re miserable. In a crowded world, we feel alone. And sooner or later, we ask, “Jesus, where’s the love?” And Jesus replies, “I displayed it here as I shared my saving word with one and all. And don’t forget my cross. There’s no greater display of my love for you than that. Recall your baptism, where I connected myself to you with my eternal promises. See my love for you today in that I am still your Savior, bringing you daily forgiveness and the certainty of eternal life with me.” And in those spiritual realities also lies the power for living each day. Indeed, Jesus does everything well!

Part II.

Power and compassion. Those two qualities are often strangers. People who desire to possess one, often don’t possess the other. Unless you’re Jesus. His power and compassion are on display as he deals with this deaf man.

Would you agree that this man’s experience with Jesus was unique? Absolutely! It involved a miracle. Not many of us can say we’ve experienced the same. But it was unique from another perspective as well. So often when we have a difficult problem, such as a health problem, we become frustrated by the attempts of health professionals to help us. They just don’t understand what we’re going through. They tell us they’re confident that they know what’s wrong and can help us, but their efforts leave us frustrated.

How different this situation was! This may have been the only opportunity Jesus had to deal with this man as a sinner whose greatest need was a Savior. Mark tells us there was a crowd gathered there that day and there were likely many others who wanted Jesus’ attention, but Jesus knew that it was most important for him right there and then to touch this man’s life.

The man himself may have been confused and afraid. Did he even know why he was there among that crowd that day? Did he watch the mouths of countless people begging Jesus to do something but, being deaf, was he unsure what they were saying? Did he even know they were approaching Jesus about him? And if he did, did he wonder what Jesus would do about it anyway? Was he fearful of what strange procedures might ensue?

Being the perfectly compassionate Savior that he was, Jesus diffused his fears. We read, “He took him aside, away from the crowd.” He didn’t want the man to be distracted or confused by the people in the crowd. He wanted the man to know how deeply he cared for him and wanted to help him.

So he made sure that man knew exactly what was happening. Instead of just speaking his almighty word to heal the man—something this man couldn’t hear—Jesus demonstrated to him his healing power. Mark tells us, “Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue.” Recall that the man’s deafness also likely caused his speech impediment. Yes, Jesus would give the man the ability to hear, but he would also deal with his speech problem as well. And so he spit as a way of focusing the man’s attention on his own mouth. Next he touched his tongue. The man must have known then that Jesus was going to address his inability to speak clearly. And then Jesus looked to heaven—again, a form of sign language. Jesus wanted the man to know that the source of his power to heal was divine. Last, he commanded his ears to be opened and that’s what occurred. Here was another sinner touched by the tender compassion of Jesus. Jesus does everything well!

You can’t help but be impressed that Jesus would help this man individually. It must have been one of the greatest, if not the greatest, day in this man’s life. It makes you wonder, however, when it’s going to be your turn. Lord, when will you touch my life with your power? When will you take care of what I need? He has, in the greatest way possible. He had such a deep compassion for you that he took your place and suffered hell for you. He did that so that you could share eternal glory with him. You talk about touching your life in a meaningful way! Jesus does everything well! He certainly has with us! Amen.