September 10 Sermon
The Meaning in the Miracles
Today is the beginning of our fall Sunday school term. So I thought it would be appropriate to talk
about why Christian education is important for our spiritual growth – important
for both children and adults.
Our understanding can be enhanced if we study the Bible together with a
leader who can give us some background that brings out layers of meaning we may
not uncover on our own.
To illustrate what I mean, let’s look at today’s gospel [Mark 7:24-37]. It reports two miracles. First, Jesus casts out a spirit that had been
tormenting a woman’s daughter. Second,
he opens the ears and unties the tongue of a deaf and dumb man.
Miracles demonstrate the power of God working through Jesus. They are the evidence that he is the Son of
God. We stand in wonder and awe before
the power of God. But there are a lot of miracles like that in the gospel. Why so many?
What do they mean for us?
For some people, the miracles raise another kind of problem. They have trouble believing that they
happened in exactly the way they are reported.
So they can get stuck wondering how did Jesus really do that? Possibly speculating whether such a thing could have occurred.
Even Jesus had a problem with miracles.
Jesus does not want to be known simply as a miracle worker who performs
signs and wonders. The wonders could get
in the way of the purpose of his ministry.
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In the fourth century,
So each miracle is a word to us – and has meaning for us. As we look at today’s gospel, we’ll find that
the meaning of each miracle is quite different.
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The first miracle illustrates another point – that we can draw more
than one meaning from a miracle.
A woman has come to Jesus because she wants his help for her troubled
daughter. She kneels and begs him for
help, but he appears to turn her down.
First I should help my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take children’s food and
give it to the dogs. Mark 7:28
Jesus’ response is discouraging – maybe even insulting.
But if you were a Jew listening to their conversation that day, you
wouldn’t have thought Jesus’ remark to be unusual – and you would have agreed
with him.
Last week I talked about the Pharisees, who obsessed over rules to make
you ‘clean’ – acceptable to God. One
thing the Pharisees and most Jews agreed upon was that Jews were acceptable to
God – his children – while Gentiles were not – they were ‘unclean’.
Jesus’ response seems to reflect that view – but before we judge, let’s
read on. Remember Jesus didn’t say ‘no’.
The woman doesn’t walk away in disappointment. She stays and talks back to Jesus, turning
his words around to make her case.
Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the
scraps from the children’s plates. Mark 7:28
You might translate her response to Jesus. I know the Jews are God’s children, and I’m
not a Jew. But God cares for us too, and
I have come to you, the Jewish messiah for mercy.
Matthew records Jesus comment: “Great is your faith” – and Jesus
grants her request.
Two points:
First, up to now, Jesus has been ministering solely to Jews. So this miracle foreshadows the mission to
non Jews. But he is not turning away
from his own people.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy that
It is a reminder that the Jewish people of today are still God’s people
– because God’s promise and covenant is forever. They have a special place in God’s heart –
and in his plan.
So Christians should not be “anti-Semitic”, but rather “pro-Semitic”.
Second, the miracle illustrates how to approach Jesus in faith.
The woman is honest about her need – and honest about her status before
Jesus.
She is humble and doesn’t imply she deserves any help. Like her, we have to remember that we do not
deserve God’s help. After all, we are
sinners – we have not completely followed in his way. So we are asking for his mercy.
She is humble and persistent – she doesn’t let disappointment
discourage her.
Most of us know what it is to be
disappointed by the seeming lack of response to some of our prayers. So she is an example – great faith is
persistent and insistent. A faith that
comes to Jesus and doesn’t turn away when disappointed. – but continues to
hope in the Lord.
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A frenzied young mother had her sick daughter in the car as she ran
into the pharmacy to pick up a prescription.
You can guess what happened. She
had locked the keys in the car and the pharmacy had already closed. She stood in the parking lot looking at her
daughter in the locked car and tearfully prayed for help.
A few minutes later a young man walked past and in desperation she
asked “Can you help me?”
He nodded and started looking around for something he could fashion
into a tool. In just a few minutes the
car door was opened.
The young mother said “The Lord sent you. You’re a good boy and a Christian.”
“No, I’m not a Christian and I’m not good. I just got out of jail the other day.”
She hugged him and said “Bless the Lord. He sent me a professional.”
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The second miracle - Jesus unstopped the ears of a deaf man and
loosened his tongue. How can that help
me?
Its meaning becomes apparent only as we consider what has come before
in the gospel. Near the beginning of the
gospel, Jesus
while teaching, quotes from the prophet Isaiah:
They are ever seeing but never perceiving;
And ever hearing but never understanding… Isaiah 6:9,10 – Mark 4:12
Those words seem to apply to his listeners. As we continue to read, we
find the disciples often don’t understand Jesus’ teaching – they listen but
they don’t get it.
This miracle points to another verse in Isaiah - a prophecy about the
Messiah:
He will come and save you.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped… Isaiah 35:5
That very human problem of spiritual deafness – that inability to
understand God’s word – can finally only be overcome by God. So the healing of deaf man symbolizes the
ultimate healing of spiritual deafness.
In next Sunday’s gospel, those slow to understand disciples – led by
Peter – will say that they have now come to understand that Jesus is the
Messiah, the Christ of God – the One foretold in the Old Testament.
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The message of this miracle – the opening of the ears of a deaf man –
is that, before we can truly hear and understand the Word of God, we need God
himself to open our ears to do so. Our
natural state is not one of readiness to hear His message.
If we’re honest about it, we can recognize our continuing resistance to
God’s message, because it challenges us and would change us. We become selectively deaf – we hear as much
of God’s truth as we imagine we can cope with – and instinctively block out the
rest.
Like the deaf and dumb man in the gospel, we need our ears to be opened
to Christ’s message and our tongue loosen to pray and
praise.
We are always in danger of closing in on ourselves again and shutting
God out.
So we need help in hearing God’s word for us - help in overcoming
spiritual deafness. We need the help of
the Holy Spirit to open our minds to the message of scripture for us.
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This sermon has been a Bible study to illustrate that studying the
Bible in a group can bring new insights.
First, it was useful to try to place ourselves back in Jesus’ day, so
we hear and see with the understanding of folks back then.
Second, our understanding was enhanced by looking at some Old Testament
passages.
Third, we looked at where in the gospel did these
events occur. The gospel builds –
there is a progression – and recognizing that added to our understanding.
On Tuesday evening I’m beginning a study of Jesus miracles. As we apply these considerations and others,
we’ll find that a single miracle can have five levels of meaning.
In any Bible study group, we can pray together for the Spirit’s
guidance, asking Him to open our minds to the Word. Like the woman who came to Jesus in today’s
gospel, our prayers should be humble but insistent - persistent. And we can listen for the voice of the Spirit
in the voices of our brothers and sisters as they bring new insights - or
remind us of forgotten meanings.
Prayer:
Lord God, by the working of Your Spirit within us, open
our ears so we may truly hear your Word speaking to us. Open our minds to be illumined by Christ who is the Light, so we may be directed by Christ who
is the way, corrected by Christ who is the truth, enlivened by Christ who is
the Life, and who now lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now
and forever.