He Has Done All Things Well Text: Mark 7:31-37
Introduction: The Invasion of the Kingdom
We are accustomed to thinking of Jesus' ministry as taking place within the cozy confines of Galilee and Judea, among His own people. But here in Mark's gospel, we find Him making a significant detour. He goes from Tyre, up through Sidon, and into the region of the Decapolis, a league of ten Gentile cities. This is not a leisurely sightseeing tour. This is a strategic incursion. Jesus is deliberately pushing the front lines of the Kingdom of God into pagan territory. This is spiritual warfare, an invasion of enemy-held ground.
The world is full of brokenness, a direct consequence of Adam's rebellion. We see that brokenness here in the body of a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment. He is a living picture of humanity's condition apart from grace. We are deaf to the commands and promises of God, and our tongues are tied, unable to offer true and articulate praise. We are isolated in our sin, cut off from the life-giving communication of our Creator. Into this profound isolation, Jesus Christ comes as the great Restorer, the one who unstops deaf ears and loosens silent tongues.
This miracle is not a random act of kindness. It is a direct fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. It is a signpost, a declaration that the Messiah has arrived and that the age of restoration has dawned. Isaiah prophesied of this very thing: "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy" (Isaiah 35:5-6). When Jesus performs this healing, He is not just fixing a man's physical problems; He is planting the flag of His kingdom and announcing that He is the long-awaited King who has come to make all things new.
What we are about to witness is not just medicine; it is re-creation. It is a foretaste of the final resurrection, when all the maladies and corruptions of this fallen world will be swept away. And it is a picture of our own salvation, where God sovereignly opens our deaf hearts to hear the gospel and frees our tongues to confess that Jesus is Lord.
The Text
And again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they pleaded with Him to lay His hand on him. And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven with a sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
(Mark 7:31-37 LSB)
A Private Miracle in a Public Place (vv. 31-33)
We begin with the setting and the request:
"And again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they pleaded with Him to lay His hand on him." (Mark 7:31-32)
As we noted, Jesus is making a point of ministering in Gentile lands. The faith of the Syrophoenician woman has just been commended, and now He continues His campaign. Friends, full of faith and compassion, bring this afflicted man to Jesus. They don't ask for a specific method, but they plead with Him for His touch, for the laying on of His hands. They believe that the power of God rests in this man, Jesus, and that a simple point of contact is all that is needed.
Notice what Jesus does next. He doesn't make a public spectacle of the man. He honors his dignity.
"And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue;" (Mark 7:33)
Why the privacy? Why the peculiar actions? Our modern, sanitized sensibilities might find this a bit strange. But Jesus is not performing a magic trick; He is communicating with a man who cannot hear His words. This is a divine sign language. By taking him aside, Jesus gives the man his undivided, personal attention. By putting His fingers in the man's ears, He is indicating, "I am about to do something with these ears." By spitting and touching the man's tongue, He is showing him, "I am about to do something with this tongue." In that culture, saliva was sometimes associated with healing, but Jesus is no folk healer. He is the source of all healing. He is using tangible, physical actions to build a bridge of understanding and faith in a man locked in a world of silence.
The Authoritative Word (vv. 34-35)
The physical actions are followed by a look to heaven and a divine command.
"and looking up to heaven with a sigh, He said to him, 'Ephphatha!' that is, 'Be opened!'" (Mark 7:34)
Jesus looks up to heaven, acknowledging that the power He is about to exercise comes from His Father. He is acting in perfect submission and communion with the Father. The sigh is profound. It is not a sigh of exasperation or weariness. It is a groan of deep compassion. Jesus is entering into the suffering of this man and, by extension, into the groaning of a whole creation broken by sin (Romans 8:22). He feels the weight of the fall. He grieves over the deaf ears and tied tongues that sin has produced.
Then comes the command: "Ephphatha!" Mark preserves the original Aramaic word, likely because it was a powerful, explosive moment that seared itself into the memory of the eyewitnesses, probably Peter. This is a creative word, a word of power, like the "Let there be light" of Genesis 1. Jesus does not request that the ears be opened. He does not suggest it. He commands it. He speaks to the man's body, and the man's body obeys its Creator.
The result is immediate and total.
"And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly." (Mark 7:35)
There is no gradual recovery, no need for speech therapy. The healing is instantaneous and complete. The word for "impediment" is literally "bond" or "chain." The chain on his tongue was broken. He who was bound is now free. This is what Jesus does. He is the great chain-breaker. He doesn't just bring improvement; He brings liberation.
The Futility of Secrecy (v. 36)
After this stunning display of power and mercy, Jesus gives a surprising order.
"And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it." (Mark 7:36)
This is what theologians call the "Messianic Secret" in Mark's gospel. Why would Jesus perform such a miracle and then command silence? It was not because He was shy. It was a matter of timing and definition. The popular conception of the Messiah was that of a political revolutionary who would throw off the Roman yoke. Jesus' fame as a miracle-worker was attracting massive crowds who wanted a king who would feed them and fight their battles. But Jesus had come first as a suffering servant, to die on a cross. He commanded silence to tamp down a false, political messianic fervor that would have short-circuited His true mission. He was redefining what it meant to be the Messiah, and the full definition would not be clear until after the resurrection.
But the command was gloriously futile. The man who was just given back his voice was not about to keep quiet. The joy was too great, the gratitude too overwhelming. When God does a true work of grace in a man's heart, it is like a fire in the bones. You cannot contain it. The more Jesus told them to be quiet, the more they became a walking, talking, shouting testimony to His power.
The Only Right Conclusion (v. 37)
The crowd's reaction is not just amazement; it is a profound theological confession.
"And they were utterly astonished, saying, 'He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.'" (Genesis 7:37)
They were "utterly astonished." The Greek here is emphatic, meaning they were astonished beyond all measure. And their astonishment leads them to a stunning conclusion: "He has done all things well." This is a direct echo of the creation account in Genesis 1, where God surveyed His work and declared it "very good." These Gentiles, in the middle of the Decapolis, are unwittingly confessing that the Creator is in their midst. The one who made the first creation "good" is now here, re-making His broken creation and doing it "well."
They connect this general goodness to the specific miracle they just witnessed: "He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." They are seeing the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled before their very eyes. They are seeing the power of God at work, reversing the curse of sin. They are seeing the kingdom of God breaking into their world with healing and restorative power.
The Gospel Unchained
This story is a beautiful historical account, but it is far more than that. It is a living parable of the gospel's power. Every one of us is born into this world like this man from the Decapolis. We are spiritually deaf. We cannot hear the voice of God. His law, His promises, His warnings, they are all just noise to us. And because we are deaf to God, we are also mute. We cannot speak His praises. Our tongues are bound by sin, able to curse and flatter and lie, but unable to speak the plain truth of the gospel or offer authentic worship.
And what is the remedy? It is not that we try harder to listen. It is not that we enroll in a class on public praise. The remedy is that we must be brought to Jesus. And when we are brought to Him, He deals with us personally. He touches us. He looks to heaven, sighs in compassion over our broken state, and speaks a sovereign word: "Ephphatha!" Be opened.
Salvation is the divine unstopping of our ears. It is God Himself, by His Spirit, performing a miracle so that we can hear the gospel for what it is: the power of God unto salvation. And the moment we truly hear, the chains on our tongues are broken. We who were mute are now free to speak plainly, to confess our sins, to declare that Jesus is Lord, and to sing His praises. The Christian life is a life of speaking plainly about the one who has done all things well.
The crowd's verdict is the verdict of history, and it will be the verdict of eternity: "He has done all things well." He did creation well. He did His earthly ministry well. He did His atoning death well. He did His resurrection well. And He is doing His work of building His church well. Let us, therefore, who have had our ears opened and our tongues loosed, join the chorus and proclaim to a deaf and silent world that our King has done all things well.