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He Did All Things Well Last teaching quarter we were studying the Gospel of Mark. Being the shortest of the Gospels, it is an often overlooked book. But, it is very important for it shows us the power of Jesus and His service to God. Chapter 7 covers two miracles. A woman approached Jesus saying her daughter was possessed by a demon. Jesus cast out the demon without ever seeing the girl (verses 25-30). The second miracle involved a deaf man who had a speech impediment being healed (verses 32-35). Although the two miracles occurred at different places, they were both impressive. Then Mark reveals to us what the people were thinking. "And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak’" (Mark 7.37).No man has ever walked this earth like Jesus. We want to look at some of the things Jesus did well.
A miracle is an act contrary to the very laws of nature. Occasionally one will hear of a supposed miracle occurring such as a person surviving a plane crash or a person recovering from some terrible disease. But a miracle is more than a rare or unlikely event. Surviving a plane crash is rare, but it does occasionally happen. A person diagnosed with cancer may have been misdiagnosed or have gone into remission. I question what some people call a miracle. Jesus did not provide rare events but miracles. Christ proved His deity by casting out demons such as in Mark 7. In Mark 9 and Matthew 17, we read of a man who brought his son to Jesus. The young boy was possessed by a demon. How do we know he was possessed? By his actions: he threw himself into fire and water, and he went into convulsions. Jesus proved His power over Satan by casting out the demon. No one ever doubted the young boy being possessed or of Jesus casting out the demon. Jesus healed people who were sick, deaf, and lame. On two occasions Jesus fed great multitudes of people with just a few fish and loaves of bread. Both times more food was left over than they had at the beginning. Try feeding your family at home and see if you have more food at the end than at the beginning. Jesus calmed the seas and walked on water. One might argue that the greatest group of miracles performed by Jesus was His raising the dead. Lazarus had been in the grave four days when Jesus raised him from the dead (John 11:39-44). The reaction of the people is that "many believed in Him" (John 11:45b). Jesus raised the widow’s son in Luke 7:12; and a 12-year-old girl who had died in Mark 5.41. I cannot find one time that Jesus either failed to perform the intended miracle or the people questioned the occurrence of the miracle. Jesus Taught the Word of God Well Jesus was asked numerous questions regarding the Law of Moses. The Sermon on the Mount contained many references to the Law. At the end the people were amazed at His teaching. "And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Matthew 7:28-29). Soldiers were sent to arrest Jesus, but they came back empty-handed. When questioned why they had not arrested Jesus they replied, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" (John 7:46).The scribes and Pharisees tried every trick in the book to trap Jesus or get Him to make a mistake. They brought a woman caught in adultery and asked what should be done with her (John 8). They thought they had Him. If He said to stone her, then Jesus would be advocating that which Roman law did not allow. The Jews were not allowed to carry out the death sentence. If Jesus said to release her, then He would be contradicting the Law of Moses. How did Jesus respond? He simply appealed to the Law itself to answer their question. Those accusing the guilty party were to cast the first stone. "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first" (John 8:7).Jesus was asked about the resurrection by the Sadducees. They presented a hypothetical situation where a woman had married a man and the man died without having a child. According to the Law, the next of kin was to marry her and have a child in order to preserve the lineage of the deceased man. What if that man died without having a child? Eventually she married seven brothers and they all died. The question was: "Whose wife will she be in the resurrection?" I imagine this to be the Sadducees’ toughest question on the subject. I wonder how many times they had asked it before and never received an answer. Jesus answered it by appealing to what was written. "Jesus answered and said to them, ‘You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven’" (Matt 22:29-30). The very premise of their question was false! Jesus then went one step further and proved the resurrection by quoting Exodus 3:15 and noting the tense of the words I AM. Matthew 19 contains the question of marriage and divorce. The people wanted to know if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause. Jesus bypassed the Law of Moses and went all the way back to the Garden of Eden. God intended for the marriage union to last until death, one man to have one wife. From there, the conversation switched from their original question to why Moses allowed a writing of divorcement. The point is this: They understood Jesus’ answer and could not argue with it. Jesus Lived a Sinless Life Men tried to accuse Jesus of sin. He was charged with blasphemy because He made Himself equal to God (John 10:33). Before Pilate, the Pharisees explained why they wanted Jesus crucified. "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God" (John 19:7b). Yet, the miracles and teaching of Jesus proved Him to be the Son of God. The Hebrew writer states that Jesus never sinned (Heb. 4:15). Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, said it was not "possible" for Jesus to remain in the grave. Why? Because He had not sinned. The very resurrection of Christ proved He lived a sinless life. He withstood the temptations of Satan. Jesus’ Death was For Our Atonement The Jews saw death as a sign of defeat and the end of one’s power. Peter confessed Jesus to be the Son of God (Matt. 16:16). When Jesus spoke of His death, Peter began to rebuke Him (verse 22). Perhaps Peter was questioning how the Son of God could be killed and how He could establish His kingdom if He were dead. It was by His death and resurrection that Jesus established His Kingdom. He overcame Satan and the power of death. John uses the word "propitiation" in 1 John 2:2. It is translated as atoning sacrifice in the NIV. Through His blood, our sins are washed away; or as Paul writes in Ephesians 1:7, "we have redemption through His blood." By dying on the cross, Jesus did for man what he could not do for himself. Jesus paid for our sins (Rom. 6.23). How can we know we are saved when we obey the Gospel? Because Jesus did all things well. D.T. |