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‘He hath done all things well.’
Mar_7:37
I. To our Lord’s character.—He was not only without sin; He exemplified every virtue, and carried every virtue to its highest perfection. There were among His enemies those who were candid enough to acknowledge this. And in every age witness to the righteousness, purity, and moral beauty of Christ has been borne by the unbelieving and unspiritual.
II. To our Lord’s ministry.—St. Peter, who knew Jesus well, once summed up His earthly life, saying, ‘He went about doing good.’ He sought out all forms of human want and suffering in order to supply and to relieve them. He welcomed the approach of every suppliant, delighting in the opportunity of granting requests. He exercised His supernatural power for the satisfaction of human need and for the alleviation of human pain. Above all, He met the contrite and penitent sinner with the welcome assurance—‘Thy sins be forgiven thee!’
III. To our Lord’s redemptive work.—The sacrifice of Christ was not only a part of His ministry, it was the purpose kept in view throughout the whole of that ministry; it was its completion and crown. Foreseen and accepted beforehand by the Saviour of mankind, His redemption was the most illustrious instance of Divine wisdom and power. Its correspondence alike with the government of God and with the moral condition and needs of man, is a proof of its origin in the mind of the Eternal.
Illustration
‘We must take large, comprehensive views of God. For in life—the little book of life—one chapter is always explaining the preceding chapter. Therefore, in our measure, we must see the “all things” before we can say that “all things” are “well.” This is why, as a man grows older, he is more able to justify God, and admire God in all His works—because he can put more things together. This is why the retrospect from heaven will be so much truer—it will be so grandly comprehensive. Just as at the beginning of the world, when God made each separate thing, it was “good”; but when He had made all things, it was “very good.” “What I do thou knowest not now.” Why? Because thou seest one thing only. “But thou shalt know hereafter.” Why? Because you see many things together.’
SPIRITUAL SERVICE
I. Spiritual listlessness.—I think, as I look round on this congregation, how it may be that even now and here the Lord Jesus, present in our midst, has looked up to heaven again and sighed as He noticed our listlessness, our indifference, our cold worship, our failure to hear His voice speaking out of Psalm, or Lesson, or Creed. Yet if His word were to ring out again, ‘Ephphatha; be opened,’ how different it would be! The change would be like another miracle wrought among us.
II. The voice of God.—We read in our Bibles how God of old talked with men. Cannot we hear the voice of God, too? Is the twentieth century specially cut off from the revelation of God? Are there no manifestations of the Spirit we can realise? Is Christ abiding with us, in us, and yet do we never hear His voice—‘Ephphatha; be opened’? It is the deaf ear which needs to be unstopped, for the voice of the Saviour is speaking yet. God speaks to us in the printed page, in the beauteous picture, in the poetry and music of life, in philosophy; and it is because our ears are deafened that we cannot hear His voice or understand His message. What a different Book would the Bible be to us if we were on the alert for God’s voice! We should not weary of it nor cavil at its difficulties if we turned to it with the petition, ‘I would hear what God would say.’ And so how different would service be, and the Sacraments would glow with spiritual power, if, instead of torturing ourselves with themes of speculation and controversy, once more we came like the Greeks to St. Philip, crying, ‘Sir, we would see Jesus.’ ‘He hath done all things well: He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak,’ applies to the spiritual as well as the physical condition of mankind. Every miracle in the material world is but an exhibition of power and goodness which can produce like effects in the spiritual world.
III. How was this miracle effected?—‘They bring unto Him one that was deaf.’ We are not told who they were that brought him, these unknown friends, these pitying comrades, who by bringing him put him in contact with the Lord of life and health. And the power of the Lord was present to heal, and it streamed from Him, so that the deaf heard and the dumb spake. We, too, would bring you to Jesus. Nay, we would come ourselves in lowly meekness. Perhaps we have come before, come often to His mercy seat, to His throne of grace. In coming to Christ, in drawing nigh to Him through His appointed means of grace, through our spiritual yearnings—in coming to Christ we pass at once beyond the visible universe to the unseen world where Christ is; beyond the church in which we worship to the heavenly temple; beyond the chanted psalm and canticle to the choir of angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven; beyond the voices of readers and preachers to the very presence of God where His Spirit dwells and rules; beyond the Word of God and His Sacraments into the very fullness of His glory.
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Rev. Prebendary Shelford.
Illustration‘Do you still think that, if you had been there that day, you would have felt as the multitude did and joined in their praises? Take heed that you be not deceived. Remember that there were thousands at Jerusalem who saw His miracles, and yet it was by them that He was crucified and slain. Ask yourselves, rather, what are you doing now? Do you look upon the miracles only or chiefly as proofs of the doctrine of Christ’s Divinity, or as part of the evidences by which you support the truth of the Christian religion against unbelievers? Or do you look upon them and receive them joyfully as God’s own message to yourself?’