The Relentless Goodness of God

Posted by Pastor Pat on July 6, 2009

Read Mark 7:31-37

This narrative continues to celebrate the innate goodness of God.  Regardless as to what our thoughts and opinions might be concerning Jesus, they must conclude with the idea that He is good.  It is because He is good that what He does is good.  It cannot be otherwise.  In our present passage, Jesus heals an individual who is both deaf and speechless.  His inability to hear contributed to his inability to speak.  Regardless as to the condition, it was just cause for our Lord to act and, in acting, to display His power over all disease.  In so doing, His status as Messiah continues to be established.  In commenting on the grammatical structure of this statement, A.T. Robertson notes how, “The present perfect active shows the settled convictions of these people about Jesus.”  Jesus was never charged with doing evil.  Everything He did was “good.”

The entire Gospel of Mark seeks to establish the identity of his primary character.  He is the one who was foretold and pre-figured.  He is God’s Hero King.  What Jesus did and why it was done has intentional design.  Nothing was random; everything was deliberate.  I appreciate the calculated manner in which the following thought explains this idea.

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Fell At His Feet and Implored Him Earnestly

Posted by Pastor Pat on June 4, 2009

²² “One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and on seeing Him,

fell at His feet ²³ and implored Him earnestly, saying,

‘My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her,

so that she will get well and live’” (Mark 5:22, 23).

This passage has a couple of dynamics within it.  First, one can get lost in the debate as to whether or not God still heals as dramatically as we read in this passage.  Whether or not we believe He heals in this fashion might have little immediate or direct impact on us if we are not facing the imminent death of a loved one.  The second dynamic is immensely practical and strikes much closer to the heart – the humbling of the individual in his coming to Jesus.  The description of this man’s humbling in his coming to Jesus continues to mark those who would come to Jesus.  No one comes in any other way.  The means our Lord employs to bring us to this point is varied, but the process is always the same.  It is only when we come to the end of self that we find the Savior.

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