Free Indeed

Mark 7:24-37

Transcript

Peace be with you and with spirit. Let's pray. Father, may your will be done, Jesus. May your word be proclaimed in spirit. May your work be accomplished.
In us we pray. Amen. Well, as I have mentioned that here we are confronted in the gospel reading with Jesus realizing all this reality that the scriptures are speaking to. When you begin to look at the lectionary readings, even the psalm reading this morning, it talks about those who cannot save themselves and those who are not even able to hear, those who are not even able to walk, those who cannot even speak, are loosened, are freed to be able to hear for the first time, to speak for the first time. And this is nothing that should cause us to be in surprise, because right from the get go, right in the beginning of Jesus earthly ministry, he comes into the church, the synagogue, and he's handed a scroll, we're told.
And the scroll, he opens it up, and it is Isaiah 61. And in Isaiah 61, it defines the type of ministry that Jesus is here on earth to do, to make happen, to realize in the lives of everybody that he will encounter moving forward. Luke records this whole scene for us, and this I want to read for us so that we can frame the context that this mark, chapter seven, is all about. And jesus came to Nazareth, where he had begun, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read.
And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. And he opened the book, and he found the place where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind, to set those who have been oppressed free to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. Then jesus closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.
And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And jesus began to say to them, today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And all were speaking well of him and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from his lips. This is exactly what Jesus ministry from the get go. He doesn't have a sleight of hand.
He doesn't hide things. He comes wide out, open in the front from the very beginning. And he essentially says, I have come to set the captives free. I have come to release all those who are oppressed. And then we begin to see Jesus ministry.
He's walking from here and there and everywhere, and he begins to proclaim this ministry and demonstrate this ministry. People are being healed, and large crowds are following after him. Right. And so that's his ministry assignment. Christ has come down on earth to set a host of captives free.
And it might be when we first hear that, and because we're on this side of the cross, we're like, oh, of course, his ministry is about bringing salvation to people. Of course, that's the case. And rightly you should be thinking that because we know and have the gospels that give us the full story, we know that Jesus does come to full fruition into his ministry and releases people captivated by their sin and held in bondage and are slaves to their own sin, and he sets them free from that. But as we continue to look at Jesus ministry leading up to the cross, we are giving these crumbs of bread that we are to eat a little bit at a time, so that we begin to have this appetite, so that we can eat and feast on the full loaf. What I mean is by Mark, chapter seven, Mark wants us to know in what ways Jesus sets the captives free.
And the whole reason why I'm going to kind of frame this theme of the gospel reason today of the Gospel lesson today is through the release of this captives, is because Mark does something very unique at the end of this gospel lesson. When Jesus is opening the ears of the deaf and he is making the mute speak again. The way that it talks about his tongue and his ears being opened, in the Greek, is kind of an odd way and phrase to say it. It says that what was bound was loosed. And when we look at this gospel lesson, we are going to see that there are various types of prisoners enslaved to various types of things.
And so we are confronted with the gospel lesson of Jesus assignment. His assignment is, I've come here to set people free. Those who are held captive, those who are oppressed, I'm setting free. Then we're also given. Mark has given us another clue, though.
Not only is he doing this, but he's doing this in a specific location. We are told that this gospel lesson takes place in the city of Tyre, in Sidon. And this is what Jesus says in Matthew eleven. I'm piecing all the gospels together because we have to understand this. In Matthew eleven, it says, woe to you, Teresa.
Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. Now, why is that important? Why are we told about this location that Jesus enters into?
Because he is confronting those of the jewish community versus those in the gentile community. And when we come to the gospel lesson, that's exactly what we're confronted with. We are confronted and told that there is a gentile woman whose daughter is possessed by an unclean, demonic spirit. And she comes and presents herself before a jewish rabbi named Jesus, who she has heard about. If you've been following us along for the last couple weeks, we've had this theme about the bread of life, that Jesus has been teaching that he is the bread of life to who?
A bunch of Jews. And we've come also to learn that these Jews were rejecting this teaching because it was too much for them. And then we're told in the Gospel of Mark, according to the timeline, that he enters into Tyre, a gentile community. One of the communities that is part of this decapolis, the ten cities in this region. And when he comes there, this woman, who by all jewish standards would have been associated, her reputation was that of a dog unworthy to even be in community with a jew.
She has the boldness, after hearing about what Jesus has been doing, to come and throw herself down at his feet, which is a posture of humility and a posture of offering. If you were to sit at somebody's feet, like Mary does with Jesus and like the demoniac does with Jesus, that is a posture of being a disciple to learn. But if you are throwing yourself down at somebody's feet, that is a posture of humility, one that is wanting mercy, one who is coming in humility to say, I need your help. And that's what she does. She's not doing this act for her own benefit.
She's doing it for the benefit of her daughter, who is demon possessed, who is back home. And what's interesting is Jesus response to her. He says, it's not good to give the bread of the children to the dogs. She says yes, she doesn't deny this. She doesn't deny this reputation that she's known for among the Jews, that she is a dog.
She's a gentile. Matthew's account would call her a Canaanite. If you are familiar with the Old Testament, a Canaanite is the enemy of the people of God. But yet she's a Canaanite, a gentile, a dog among the Jews. And Jesus speaks.
And we do know, Paul tells us as much in first chapter of Romans, that Jesus ministry was first and foremost to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. And here Jesus is just sticking with that whole theme, is that I've come here to minister to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles. And that's why when you walk through the Gospels, you begin to see how Jesus goes to the Jews. They reject them. And then there's an account of him going to the Gentiles and they receive him.
It's all intended by the Holy Spirit to demonstrate how Christ's ministry is both to the whole entire world, to Jew and Gentile. And so Jesus is in this location, he's in the Gentiles. And this woman throws herself. And this woman responds to Jesus's claim that, hey, this bread of life is meant first and foremost to the Jews. And she says, I just want, I just want a crumb of it.
I just want a crumb that could fall from the children's table, pass down through the cracks just so my daughter can be freed from the oppression of the evil spirit. And this statement that this woman makes, Jesus responds and says, because of this statement, Matthew would tell us that. Jesus says, because of your faith, go for your daughter has been made well. And what we begin to see as we unfold all these prisoners that are in today's gospel lesson is first, someone who's imprisoned by a reputation from a community of people. The woman has a reputation that everybody is imposing upon her.
And Jesus turns her from an assumed enemy of the people of God, a Canaanite, a gentile, to one who is actually now, because of her faith and her humility, a friend of God. Because when you're a friend of God, you're able to ask of him anything and he'll grant it. And isn't that what he does for her? He grants to her her request. She intercedes on behalf of her daughter.
We know nothing of the daughter's faith, but we do know something of the daughter of this woman's faith. Jesus grants her request and frees her from that reputation, confirms in her that you are a child of God because of your faith. But not only that, by the command of his word, he also frees the daughter of supernatural oppression, frees her from the stronghold that binds her daughter. And so we see Jesus ministry being realized even more so in these small episodes of where reputation, where we can often feel and impose upon ourselves or others, impose on us. You're not good enough.
You're not worthy enough. You are a dog. And she doesn't deny it. She comes in, humility and says, yes, I am. And that's why I have to throw myself at your feet.
I am nobody. And Jesus sets her free to become somebody, a friend and a child of God and a little girl who's helpless, who cannot rid herself of the demonic influence and the stronghold in her life. But the command of God's word. Jesus does. And she's set free from all the lies and all the actions that that demon would do in that girl's life.
She's now, when that woman goes home, lays in bed, laying down on a bed in her right mind, and the demon is gone. And to be set free from such a restriction of the demonic is one that is immediately healing. But not only that we're given yet this other episode. And what I find when you study this gospel lesson, how it is that what's this gentile woman have to do with a deaf and mute gentleman? But Mark is putting them together, and what you'll begin to see is man.
Mark is putting together a list of people who are oppressed by various types of things, and Jesus is setting them free. We've already seen two prisoners set free, and now we're gonna see two more. And there's kind of a third one in there, but the passage doesn't really talk about it. So now Jesus moves on from Tyre to Sidon in this area called the decapolis, the ten Cities. And at first glance, you may not understand anything about the ten cities unless you go back to Mark, chapter five.
And it talks about a demoniac. To briefly highlight this amazing story in the Gospels, one of my most favorite. Let me briefly describe to you what happens to this demoniac in the Decapolis. Jesus and his disciples are doing ministry in the sea of Galilee. But Jesus decides specifically to go over across the sea.
And when he steps foot in this ground, there is a demoniac. And you might be familiar with legion. He asks him his name and he says, we are a legion of demons. And so this guy is demon possessed by a legion of demons. And the community has set him out to live among the graves and has chained him.
And these legion of demons have ruined this person, this man's life, so much so that he is just crazy out of his mind and he scares everybody. But the moment that Jesus puts his foot down on the shore, the demon comes and throws himself at the feet and at the mercy and says, please don't torment us, son of the most high God. And Jesus casts out the demons from that Mandev, sends him into the swine and the swine go tumbling over the hill and perish. And the man, we're told, in his right mind, fully clothed, is sitting at Jesus feet. Now, the people in that community, in this area of the Decapolis, they reject Jesus because that was their livelihood.
You just took our herds and you ruined our livelihood. Get away from here. We don't want you. They reject this community, rejects Jesus. So he gets in the boat.
The demoniac man says, Jesus, let me go with you. He desperately wants to go with Jesus. And we're like, yeah, Jesus is going to invite him. He's going to become one of the twelve. Like, a drastic thing has just happened.
And Jesus says something interesting. He says, stay here, right here in this community, and you testify to the great things that God has done in your life. That's what happens. Now. Follow the timeline.
We come to our gospel reading today. What community brings the deaf and mute gentleman to Jesus in order for Jesus to lay his hand on him? The Decapolis. The community from the decapolis. So what's behind this scene is the simple fact that that demoniac that was freed went and began to testify of the great things that the Lord has done.
And now this community that sent Jesus away is now coming to Jesus and bringing somebody along with them. That Jesus needs to be free. That Jesus needs to free from his inability to hear and speak. That's behind the scenes. That's a little extra.
You don't have to pay for that one. But so what happens here is that they bring this gentleman who cannot hear and has a speech impediment, and Jesus does something really astonishing. He puts his hands in his ears, right? And he spits on his hand and lays it on his tongue. And what's interesting is I'm very highly unsatisfied with a lot of commentators about this point.
And they're like, ah, it's just something weird that Jesus wanted to do to be kind of, like, hyperbolic or just kind of strange. I'm just like, no, I don't get that. I don't read scripture that way. It's everything's intentional. And everything that we're given into the scriptures is intentional.
And so there's something about that. And if you look back, that what is spit? It's a bodily fluid. And the Jews believe that every bodily fluid is something that can. If somebody were to spit on you, if somebody were to urinate on you, go to the bathroom on you, or if there was blood that was put on you, that that made you defiled and it made you unclean.
So what does it say to us? That Jesus takes his spit and lays it on this tongue of this man, and the man gets freed from the bond of his tongue? That we're shown that Jesus is bodily fluids, is good enough to recreate and to set free. And it's great. And this is the breadcrumb.
Because if that's true, if the just the spit of Jesus can cause one to have his speech back to loosen his tongue, then how much more can the gushing blood out of his side cleanse you from all unrighteousness? Do you see how I think Mark is building a climax that will go all the way to the cross? That mark is presenting these four prisoners that we looked at, five if you want to count the demoniac who is freed of the legion of demons, that the people that had that in this community that rejected Jesus was now told about the testimony of Jesus, and now they're bringing a deaf and mute gentleman to him to lay his hands on. And Jesus not only frees that community from a lack of faith through the demoniac, but also frees this gentleman from his inability to hear and his speech we're giving these prisoners. Mark is presenting these prisoners, so to speak, that are released from their impediments, their reputation, their strongholds, their community, biased and even their inability to speak, physical restraints, all as crumbs of the loaf of bread.
So that by the time we walk with them in Jesus ministry, Jesus comes to the cross. We have already been picking up, like Jesus has been doing a lot of things, a lot of things specifically in every individual's life, so that when he dies on the cross, is buried in the grave and rises again, we can trust in the greater things. If Jesus spit can heal, so can his blood cleanse. If he is so concerned to free people from their reputation and the strongholds in their life, can he free you from a life of your flesh? Absolutely he can.
He can do that all the time. And so what would be what Mark is, what I believe Mark is doing in this account, because this account is also in Matthew and everybody gives a unique perspective to it. And so Mark is being intentional, and he's showing not only is Jesus ministry to the Jews, but it's also to the Gentiles. So Jesus ministry is to the whole entire world. And not only is Jesus ministry for our salvation, but it's for the things that impede us in our walk in life.
And that's what I would have you to understand today, is that there are a lot of things that we are oppressed by. There are a lot of things that if we were to sit there and really contemplate in our lives the strongholds that take place or the reputations that we, that are imposed upon us, a lot of things that happen in our lives that we can't get out of and we can't escape. And Jesus is concerned for your salvation first and foremost. But he also is sufficient enough to free you from everything that oppresses you and enslaves you. That is the fullness of the ministry of Jesus.
And like a great storyteller, these gospels that give us the account of Jesus ministry leads us like Hansel and Gretel through the forest picking up breadcrumbs until we come to, to a whole entire house made of sweets and goodies. And that's exactly what the gospels, they lead us. And we pick up pieces of Jesus ministry until we come to his greatest act of loving kindness, the sacrifice of himself for our behalf, so that not only our physical ailments can be remedied, but our spiritual needs are also met all in Jesus Christ and him alone. Jesus jailbreaks us of anything that would bind us or hold us captive. And just to show you that he does this very well, Mark ends this gospel lesson with something very cool and neat.
In my opinion, Mark 735 says this. They were utterly astonished, saying, he has done all things well. He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. Now, you may not think of anything, but if you were to read scripture the way I would teach you to read scripture, there's word triggers in here that he has done all things well. That should remind you of how God created all things in the beginning and every day God created, he declared it good.
And part of the declaring it good means that it's exactly complete. It's full, not lacking in anything. And so their confession here of seeing what Jesus is doing is to mimic the very words that are spoken by God over his creation. And now it's his creatures speaking about the work of God, declaring it that it is well, it is done, and it's a completeness. Jesus doesn't just want to set you free from a couple things.
He wants to set you free from a whole entire life of enslavement, whatever you find yourself enslaved to, he wants all of that. He wants to do it well with you, that even a deaf and mute person benefits from his ministry. And if those small things can be set free, so can the greater things that you need Jesus to do in your life. And this is why Mark? Or in John 836, Jesus says, so, if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.
Indeed. That's a word of completion, not just affirmation. He doesn't just set you free from this or that, but as you grow in your faith in him, as you grow in your allegiance to him, as you continue to throw yourself at his feet, not boasting in yourself, not clinging to any pride, but humbly come and approach him, say, yeah, I've been a dog. My only hope is that you would give me just a crumb. The loving kindness of God is that, yeah, I'll give you a crumb, but I'm also going to give you a loaf.
I'm going to give you a perpetual bread for life. That's me. Because when I tell you you're free, that's just not free from your reputation in the community and any strongholds in your life, you are free indeed to a life of liberty filled with my own spirit to live out the rest of your days.
It's the call for us is to pursue Christ as the only one who can set us free. And he sets us free indeed. And lastly, just as a further point of application, like what your role is in this gospel lesson today is the exact same role that we kind of find as Mark puts both of these situations and stories together. Take note that the gentile woman came to intercede for her child. Take note that the Decapolis community came and interceded with bringing this man to Jesus.
None of the people that brought themselves to Jesus, the community and the gentile woman were there for themselves. They were there to intercede on somebody else. They were bringing somebody else to Jesus. They were wanting Jesus to heal somebody else. And it was their faith that Jesus saw that replied that he replied to so us as a church.
A practical application is that our faith can intercede for those who we don't even know about their faith. We don't know about the little girl's faith, and we're not even told anything specific about the man whose deaf and mute spaith. But what we are told and what evidence there is in that gospel lesson is the faith of the community and the gentile woman. And if we be a community of faith, then we are the ones that Christ wants to use like the demoniac to go and to testify about him so that more people can be set free. The life of freedom that you're currently experiencing in Jesus Christ and currently growing into more freedom, you are meant and employed to say, bring more people to me so that they can experience the freedom that you've experienced.
This is one of the reasons why I go every Friday, which is a blessed time for me, because every Friday I enjoyed the. Eating pizza and watching movies with my family. But now I have come to enjoy, to be around 25 other gentlemen who half fall asleep, but the other half are out of their chairs listening to me, just reading scripture, because I've been where they've been, and I desperately want them to be freed from the things that I've been freed from. And I share the gospel with them, and I share. There is only true freedom.
There's no freedom in you. Getting a really good job that can pay all your bills like, that's nice. But true freedom only comes in and through Jesus Christ. And I tell them that each and every Friday, and I don't do it to boast myself, but I just. I'm a present testimony to them that says, look, you just got out of jail and you live probably in a community that doesn't want you around and thinks very little of you.
You are the dogs in the community by certain people's standards. But identify with this woman. Identify and cast your life. Put all of your lot with Jesus. Watch how he can redeem your reputation.
Watch how he can transform a community because of your testimony. Watch how he can set you free from all those addictions that landed you in jail in the first place. Watch how Jesus can drastically resurrect the life that you killed because of your actions. And I'm telling you, I have never seen a group of men, and I've done prison ministries, transitional ministries before that are really hungry to hear that each and every time I'm really hungry and stand before you longing and thirsting to hear that every single day of my life.
And we are the church. We're the ones. We are the community of faith. So who are we grabbing? And who are we bringing to Jesus and asking Jesus to lay his hands on them?
We should have a heartbeat for that. There should be somebody in your area of influence. I don't know if how many people are here today, I never count. It doesn't really matter to me. But if just us in this room had one person that we can go to that we see is being held captive by either anxiety or fear or some kind of addiction or whatever, that they're downcast, that it just seems by definition, they're oppressed and they're a captive.
We have their solution, and it's Jesus. And we love and care for them because we've experienced Jesus own free inability in our lives, and we want him, Jesus, to change these people's lives. I hope that we can be here at Fairview, a church that could be that city on the hill where we might not do anything well, but we can at least provide Jesus to people that we encounter in our lives, and we do it boldly and unapologetically.
We're recruited to continue on this ministry, this mission that Jesus began when he read Isaiah 61 and he sat down and then he took off demonstrating. Exactly. That's the reality I'm bringing.
And then when he ascended into the heaven, the heavens, he looked at his disciples and he says, you go and you share and testify about me that I lead a host of captives free. So I hope that you will be, that we will be my people, setting people, others free through Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
Jesus, we thank you, that even you are mindful of us, that you do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And out of your loving kindness, you set us free and established our feet on solid ground. I pray for Fairview Methodist Church, that you would use her to transform this community, to be set free from what enslaved them to a life of liberty that worships and reflects you perfectly. Use us as you see fit. For anybody here that continues to wrestle with some sort of oppression or enslavement.
I pray that you would enter into their lives and set them free from that stronghold and that we would all grow in our faith. Because by growing in faith, we are able to request anything to you that you might grant it. We love you. In Jesus name.