Mark 7:31-37
I think each of us is, in one way or another and to one extent or another, a little bit of a show-off. If we are good at something – athletic prowess, musical or acting ability, or even just doing some kind of trick – we will often be tempted to exercise and display that skill in a boastful kind of way: so as to get the attention of others, and to impress others, for the building up of our pride.
When I was young, I was good at coin snatching. I could pile up a bunch of coins on my arm, near my elbow, and then drop my arm really fast and catch those coins in my hand. My record was 55 pennies. On many occasions, I showed off that skill, to get the attention of others, and to impress others.
Even when we know that we have a calling from God to employ a truly useful skill or ability in the service of those who depend on us, we still often have a tendency to mix into that sense of duty before God, an additional ulterior motive of wanting people to notice what we are doing, and to praise us for it.
Was Jesus a show-off? Maybe not all the time, but sometimes, did he do things for the purpose of getting the attention of others and of impressing others?
Jesus certainly did have some remarkable abilities. His power to heal and restore the sick, the lame, the blind, and the deaf, was especially unique.
Did Jesus, perhaps with a little bit of boastful pride, enjoy the praise he got for those miracles? And did he, as a show-off, seek to get even more praise and adulation, as he continued to perform these remarkable feats?
In today’s text from St. Mark’s Gospel, we get an answer to that question. Jesus healed a man who was deaf and who had an impediment in his speech.
By the power of his word, “Be opened,” Jesus caused the man to be able, in an instant, to hear, and to speak plainly. The people who had witnessed this were amazed. But then we read:
“He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. 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.’”
Jesus had indeed made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. He frequently had compassion on suffering people by miraculously healing them. But Jesus also intended his healings to serve as pictures of the deeper healing of the soul that was his real mission in this world.
It is appointed to all men to die. Physical healings are just a temporary reprieve from the inevitable.
But the healing of the human soul is an eternal healing, and is a permanent cure for the condemning guilt and corrupting consequences of human sin. Jesus said:
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
By the power of his Word, God justifies the ungodly in Christ. By the grace of the gospel, Christ himself forgives the penitent through his death and resurrection. By the effective application of the means of grace, the Spirit of Christ regenerates and indwells the converted believer.
This is how sin-sick and even spiritually dead souls are brought from a state of spiritual death to spiritual life by Jesus, the great physician. Physical healings can illustrate this, and can draw people closer to Jesus, so that they can then listen more attentively to Jesus’ preaching.
Jesus placing his hands on the bodies of the physically wounded worked wonders. But when Jesus did this, it was not because these healings were supposed to be an end in themselves; or because Jesus was trying to get people’s attention, or make an impression on people, simply for the sake of the physical healings.
Jesus, as a physical healer, was not showing off. His purpose was always to serve the deeper needs of people – of all people everywhere.
His goal and desire was not merely to place his hands on the bodies of the physically wounded, but it was to place his words into the minds and hearts of the spiritually wounded, so that unspeakably greater wonders could be worked – for them and in them.
But these greater wonders are lost on those who look only to the outward miracle, with worldly awe and carnal fascination, without lifting their eyes to the higher horizon of heaven and of the hope of heaven.
It was easy for Jesus to become famous as a wonder-worker, when word of his miracles spread. But that’s never what he wanted. And so sometimes he would tell those who had witnessed a miracle not to speak of it to others. He did that in today’s text.
The Lord’s outward healings were performed in a context where the Lord’s preaching and teaching would also be taking place, so that an inner healing could also be experienced by any who listened to him and believed his message.
But a sermon that reaches into the heart, that transforms the will, and that unburdens the conscience, is not a spectacular and flashy thing. So, when the crowds spread their report – which always happened, regardless of Jesus’ requests to the contrary – the larger context was always lost.
So too in today’s text, the crowds exclaimed:
“He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
They did not exclaim, as Jesus would no doubt have preferred:
“He has done all things well. He makes the unrighteous to be counted as righteous before God, and the guilty to be forgiven by God.”
The Lord was not a show-off. But in his life and death, he does show us many important things.
Jesus shows us the goodness of God in the good works that he performed. He shows us the mercy of God, not only in his bodily healings, but also in the words of love and acceptance that he spoke to the outcast and the downtrodden.
On the cross Jesus shows us the wrath of God against all human wickedness. He had taken the sins of all men upon himself and had carried those sins to the cross. There, in the place of all men, he suffered the divine punishment that those sins deserve.
In his resurrection Jesus shows us the justification of God. Jesus’ sacrifice for humanity was now finished. Humanity’s sin was no longer clinging to him. Christ, as humanity’s Savior, was now vindicated and justified by God. And through his justification for us, we by faith are now justified in him.
As the risen Lord of his church, Jesus today shows us the sanctifying grace of God. He regenerates us and absolves us. He fills us with his Spirit and with the fruit of his Spirit. He gives us eternal life.
Indeed, Jesus shows us many things, but none of this is a matter of “showing off.” In the Book of Acts, St. Peter – speaking on behalf of all the apostles – said that
“We are witnesses of all things which [Jesus] did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.”
Even in his resurrection appearances, Jesus did not “show off” by appearing to his enemies and persecutors: either to vindicate himself with a boastful “I told you so” message; or to make them quiver in their sandals with fear. That’s not the way he wants to interact with people, and that’s not the way he wants people to see him.
When Jesus appeared, he appeared to his disciples: whose hearts had been prepared by God’s Word for the true meaning and blessings of his resurrection; and who were then sent out with a mission. Peter continues:
“And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”
Everything Jesus did and allowed to be done, was for us and for our salvation, and not for himself. Everything Jesus does now, through his gospel and sacraments, he does for us and not for himself. He said:
“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
And the Son of Man comes now, too, not to be served, and not to show off, but to serve: to serve us with his forgiveness, life, and salvation; to deliver us from sin, death, and the devil.
He does not want to be noticed in a way that feeds his pride, but he wants to be noticed, and received, in a way that feeds the spiritual hunger of his people with his body and blood, for the remission of their sins; and that quenches the spiritual thirst of his people with the water of life, for the renewal of their faith.
During his earthly ministry, Jesus told people who had witnessed his healing miracles not to go around telling others about those miracles, in a way that would represent him as a celebrity wonder-worker and nothing more. Jesus doesn’t want us to represent him to others as a celebrity wonder-worker, either.
He doesn’t want to be known today simply as a divine “higher power” who can be called upon to help people solve their earthly problems, and to help people be more happy in their lives in this world.
He can do those things, of course, and he often does – just as he could heal the sick during his time on earth, and often did so. He can help those plagued by addiction to become sober, and he can help those who are depressed to become functional and cheerful.
If you struggle with these or similar problems, it’s okay to pray to him for help. But that’s not his main purpose. And that’s not the defining reputation he wants to have. Those kinds of problems are also not your fundamental problems. They are symptoms of deeper needs.
At the deepest level, what Jesus really wants to be known as, is the forgiver of sins, the healer of wounded souls, and the giver of eternal life.
He forgives your sins. He heals your soul. He gives you eternal life. And he wants you to invite other people also to come to him for reconciliation with God, and for peace in their conscience before God.
We close with these lines from the poet and hymnist Elisha Hoffman:
I sing the praise of him today who washed my many sins away.
His love is more than tongue can tell. My Jesus has done all things well.
I marvel at his grace to me. It is so boundless, rich, and free.
His grace is more than tongue can tell. My Jesus has done all things well.
A blesséd life it is, to be – through Jesus – saved so wondrously!
His pow’r is more than tongue can tell. My Jesus has done all things well.
Oh wondrous peace! Oh sacred rest! In him I am supremely blest.
His peace is more than tongue can tell. My Jesus has done all things well.
Amen.