Jesus Does All Things Well

“And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” – Mark 7:37 (ESV)

In today’s adult Sunday School lesson for those studying from Explore the Bible series (“Mark.” Nashville: Lifeway Press. Spring, 2019. Pp 55-63)), you will recognize the key verse above as our suggested memory verse for today’s lesson. Jesus had just healed a man who was deaf and mute. This miracle happened “on the other side” of the Sea of Galilee, in the Decapolis area (“Decapolis” meaning area of ten cities, occupied mainly by Gentiles). The people themselves became the proclaimers of Jesus’s miracle of healing the deaf/mute man. The Bible tells us, “they were astonished.” Perhaps many in that audience had not seen a miracle of healing like this before. Who was this man who traveled with twelve other men about the area, healing, feeding thousands with a few loaves and fishes, casting out demons? Jesus of Nazareth?

      Jesus and His disciples had been on a trip, seeking to get away from the crowds. Yet people still went to Jesus, wherever He was, to listen to His teachings and to seek His healing.

      He and the disciples had left northern Galilee and traveled to the region of Tyre, northwest of Galilee. Two towns in that Gentile area were Tyre and Sidon, both located on the Mediterranean Sea. At Sidon, a Syro-Phoenecian (Canaanite) woman had approached Jesus, asking that he heal her daughter “possessed with a demon” (see Mark 7:25-30). Although Jesus asked her If she did not know that “the children” (Jews) should be fed first, the woman, showing her understanding, replied, “Lord, even the dogs (Gentiles) under the table eat the children’s (Jews’) crumbs.” Because of her humility and her faith, Jesus healed her daughter. The woman went home to find her daughter peacefully sleeping and healed! Oh, the faith and daring-to-approach-Jesus of this mother who loved and wanted the best for her daughter.

      Then, a long journey, back to the Sea of Galilee, and crossing “to the other side (Gentile territory), Jesus and the disciples are at Decapolis. A man deaf and mute is brought by friends to seek Jesus’ healing. Jesus’ healing of this man is reminiscent of the prophecy of Isaiah in 35:5-6: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” Jesus was fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy in their very midst. Did those who were “exuberant” at the deaf/mute man’s healing realize that Jesus was the One Isaiah wrote about hundreds of years before—the promised Messiah?

      On “this side” of Jesus’s death and His sacrifice for our sins, we can truly rejoice, because we know that Jesus indeed is the promised Messiah, the Son of God, our Savior. Like the people who saw the healed man, we can proclaim that He healed us from our sins that separated us from God. “For by grace have you been saved through faith. And that is not your own doing; it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9/ ESV). Indeed, the healing of the deaf/mute man was a miracle. But Christ’s forgiving our sins and giving us the status of “Redeemed Child of God” is a miracle, for His GRACE (God’s Redemption at Christ’s Expense) is ours by faith, confession and acceptance! Praise be to God. Jesus, indeed, “has done all things well” in restoring us to God’s favor and giving us purpose for living in this life and eternity beyond this life! Selah! - Ethelene Dyer Jones 04.07.2019.