A sermon on Mark 7:31-37 for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. Delivered by Pastor Caleb Strutz.

My favorite restaurant experience has been at a place called the Safehouse in Milwaukee. It’s a spy-themed restaurant and everything is meticulously put together from the moment you step in. There’s no signs, the entrance is hidden in an alleyway, you have to know the password to get in, otherwise they make you do something embarrassing on camera. It’s such an experience because it’s so different from any other restaurant. Most people would say it’s a bad business practice to not have any signage, or to hide your entrance, or to not properly welcome people in. It seems contradictory but when you take in mind what they’re trying to do and the atmosphere they’re trying to create, then it all makes sense.

In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus does some things that seem pretty contradictory. He gives a mute man the ability to speak and then tells him to not tell anyone. What’s the deal, why doesn’t Jesus want people to know the wonderful things He’s doing? Well, when you see what Jesus is trying to do, it all makes sense. Jesus’ instruction to tell no one speaks both to the crowd looking for miracles and to our Savior’s priorities as He looks to preach.

I. The Crowd Looking for Miracles

So why did Jesus not want anyone to know that he healed the deaf-mute man? This is a theme that comes up throughout Mark’s Gospel that seems a little befuddling to us. We’ve had it driven into us that we’re supposed to tell other people about Jesus, so why aren’t they supposed to? There’s a couple different angles we could take to address this issue, one that I think we can see implicitly in this text is the question of priorities. 

Time and time again, Jesus’ ministry follows the same pattern. He comes into a new area to preach, until someone is brought to Him or cries out to Him so He performs a miracle. And then He can’t preach anymore. Then people start coming to Him in droves and He’s stuck performing all these miracles. He’s mobbed by the people, until He has to basically run away and go somewhere else and start this cycle again.

So why doesn’t Jesus want to do miracles? That’s not quite the right question to ask because obviously He does do them all the time. He sees these people in need and has compassion on them and helps them. But there’s this tension as to what the priority is going to be. The miracles seem to take a physical toll on Jesus—not that that would stop Him from doing them, but it’s maybe worth keeping that in mind. And, strictly speaking, miracles are less efficient than preaching.

When Jesus preaches, He can teach crowds of people all at once. The miracles are largely a one-on-one kinda thing and that easily takes up a lot of time. Matthew records that at this time, great multitudes came to Him to perform these miracles (Mt 15:29-31) and Mark describes on a different occasion that there were so many people looking for miracles that Jesus couldn’t openly enter the city but had to stay out in the wilderness (1:45).

Certainly Jesus performs lots of miracles, but what He really wants to do is preach. That’s His primary mission and for this stage of His ministry. He says earlier in Mark, regarding preaching “for this purpose I have come forth” (Mk 1:38). Jesus is trying to tell people about the kingdom of God, open the Scriptures to them, He’s travelling around trying to set up pulpits but He always ends up running an emergency room instead.

So there’s this issue of priorities. Of the people looking for miracles in tension with Jesus’ desire to preach. Because another issue that we run across time and time again with these miracle accounts is where the people are coming from and where they end up.

We always have to ask the question: are these people coming to Jesus because they have faith in Him as the Messiah or because they’re looking for an easy solution to a problem? And when these people leave, do they do so now having been brought to faith in Him or just back to their lives and nothing else has changed? We see why the preaching is more important than the miracles. That’s how Jesus actually gets the message across.

And these are questions that we have to ask ourselves as well. Why did you come here? What do you think is important? So often, we too, are drawn to the flashy things and overlook the ordinary things. We come because we are driven by a particular problem, because I want Jesus to fix something in my life. That’s not necessarily wrong and certainly Jesus still does those things, but are our priorities aligned with His?

Yes, God can use any number of reasons to drive you here, but He wants you to stay here for the right reasons. Christ wants to preach to you, too, but so often our attention wanders. We can overlook God’s priorities to focus on our own problems. We want the flashy things and the emotional highs and easy solutions, and, sure, sometimes God does those, too, but that’s not quite what He’s looking for, that’s not exactly what He’s trying to do. 

Because if we come for the wrong reasons, it’s all too easy to leave with the wrong conclusions. If we only come to Jesus because we need help with a problem, what happens when He does? Will we come back for the right reasons or not at all? Does your spiritual life ever really sink in or does it always stay superficial? We can see why Jesus told them to tell no one. He wants our motivations to align with His priorities.

II. Christ Looking to Preach

Now each miracle is different because each miracle is different. So it’s so fascinating that in this account where we see the tension between priorities, at the climax of the miracle, we see why Jesus desires to preach, Mark draws us in to see the power of His Word.

Jesus does some odd things that set this miracle apart, He puts His fingers in his ears, spits, touches his tongue, all sign language to show this man what’s going on. But Jesus didn’t heal this man with His touch. He healed him with His Word. “Ephphatha.” That’s an Aramaic word, even though Mark is writing in Greek, so he has to explain, “that is, ‘Be opened.’” Mark draws us in using the very syllables that left Jesus’ lips to show the power of His Word. And if this is what one word from the Savior can do, imagine what a whole sermon can do. Jesus is inviting us to listen to Him and showing us the true power of His Word.

The crowd thinks the power is in the flashy things, that the miracles are what’s important. Not Jesus. What He views as the most important, the key elements of His mission are to preach and to die. Neither of those seem very impressive. Just about anyone can preach a sermon and anyone can die. What’s so impressive about that? But in these lowly things, we see our Savior’s priorities. In these humble things, we see His true power.

Mark quotes Jesus in Aramaic again when He dies on the cross. “‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which is translated, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” (15:34). Here again with the very syllables that Christ spoke, we see His true power. The tongues that once praised Him now scorn Him, but He continues undeterred. Even in His death, “He has done all things well.” He offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for your sin. And He rose, took His life up again, promising you that you, too, will rise and all things will be renewed.

Maybe that’s why we see a little bit of reluctance on Christ’s part to perform miracles. Because the best is yet to come. It’s almost as if He’s saying, “Just wait. Not only will your hearing and speech be restored but your whole body will be raised imperishable.” All these miracles are a small taste of what we will experience in the resurrection of the dead. Now Jesus gives in, He gives them that taste, because He loves them and has compassion, but that’s not the priority. That’s not the most important thing for Him to do. The best is yet to come.

We said that Jesus’ two priorities are to preach and to die. The one He has accomplished once and for all, “It is finished.” But the other continues today. Preaching is still Jesus’ priority which is why He has ensured that it will continue through the ministry and the ministers of the church.

And this isn’t all that exciting. It’s not flashy, it doesn’t seem very powerful. But Jesus never promised that these miracles would continue in the same way or that that’s what to look for in a church. He has promised to preserve His Word. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Mk 13:31). And He has instituted the public ministry of the Church, given you a pastor, to ensure that His priorities are kept, that the Word continues to be preached.

We are not held under the same prohibition that He gave to the crowds gathered on that day. We don’t have to worry about being mobbed by people looking for miracles. Rather, we are told, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15). We are to share the zeal of this crowd as we invite others to come and see the miracles performed in our midst.

You see miracles every week. They don’t seem powerful, they’re not flashy, they’re hidden behind humble, ordinary things. A couple scoops of water, some words written in a book and read aloud, a little bit of bread and a little bit of wine. But God’s Word makes it a miracle. The waters of baptism kill and make alive. The Scriptures read and preached bring the Holy Spirit to your heart to strengthen your faith. The Words of Institution cause Christ’s body and blood to be present. We see miracles every week if we have the eyes to see. May we be “astonished beyond measure,” proclaim with the crowd, “He has done all things well,” and share their zeal to invite others, “Come and see” (Jn 1:46). Amen.