The Opening of the Kingdom

Text: Mark 7:31-37

Structure: Verse by Verse

Focus: Jesus opens the Kingdom of God to individuals, to all people, and for the world through you

Function:that the hearer may use their mouths to proclaim the message of the Messiah

I. (Intro, Deductive, Serial Depiction)

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. When things are opened, when things start that’s life changing for people. I want you to imagine with a family who has worked hard to make their dream of creating and operating their own family business a reality. They have invested the time, the hard work. They have invested large amounts of money into the research of the area and marketing, not sure if their business was ever going to work. And when that day comes, that they are able to put that sign that says “Grand Opening” out, no matter if their business works or not, that day, that Grand Opening Day is life changing for them. We can relate to this too. The last year has been hard, having restriction after restriction. The doors to restaurants, retirement homes, schools were closed because of COVID. And on that day as they were opened again, whether we have to wear a mask or not, that was life changing for people. Being able to enjoy the social aspect of life with family and friends. Opening up the doors of our homes to step outside to be with other people that was life changing. When things are opened up, that’s life changing for people. Today in our Gospel reading from Mark, we see another life changing opening, we see Jesus opening up the Kingdom of God to individuals, to all people, and for the whole world through you and me.

II. (Jesus to Individuals, Story, Inductive)

Jesus had been traveling from place to place. The crowds surrounded Him and there were too many people to count. He hears shouts for people calling His name, shouts from every direction. And then Jesus does something truly amazing after hearing begging from a group of people who brought their friend, who was deaf and mute to Jesus, but Jesus does something different than they might expect. He takes the deaf man, who can’t hear what’s going on. The same man, who can’t speak for himself. And Jesus removes him from the loud, crowd. In our text, it says that Jesus pulls him aside from the crowd privately. It’s just this man, deaf and mute man, face to face with Jesus. All this man’s attention is on Jesus, then Jesus sticks His fingers in the man’s ears and spits on His hands and touches His tongue. Jesus begins to touch this man’s specific, afflicted parts; the parts of this man body that brought him shame. And after touching this man’s broken body parts, Jesus then looks up into heaven and says Ephphatha, Be Opened! For this man in our text, Jesus isn’t some general, healer, who heals him at distance, but Jesus comes close and personal to deaf and mute man. He comes near to his broken and diseased body. Jesus heals Him on an individual level! Jesus doesn’t just give the man ability to hear and to speak, but He opens up the kingdom of God to this man. He pours out the power of the Kingdom of God on this man, to allow Him to experience what life in God’s Kingdom is like. Jesus does the same thing for us! I think too often, just like everyone in the crowd we stand from a distance and yell at Jesus to heal us. We desire a generic, general healing and we don’t care how we get it or who gives it to us. Deep down, whether we admit it or not, we can sense an incompleteness, a brokenness in our life that needs to be restored. Some look for healing from this brokenness in sports, time with the television watching a comedy, or some look for alcohol. But Jesus deals with us the same way He deals with the deaf and mute man. He pulls us aside, so all our attention is on Him and comes near to us! We are standing face to face with Him and He begins to touch our broken, diseased parts, the parts where we hope no one else knows about, the parts we try to hide from other people, of our lives with His nail pierced hands of forgiveness. He doesn’t shy away from or stand at a distance; He isn’t ashamed or overwhelmed by our sinful past, but He touches us, He cries, “Be Opened”, and restores us. He pours out the power of the Kingdom of God on us. He opens the Kingdom of God for us on an individual level. Jesus opens the Kingdom of God to individuals.

III. (Jesus to all people, explanation, deductive)

Jesus also opens the Kingdom of God to all people. Jesus and His disciples were traveling around in open Gentile country. In our text , it says that they went through Tyre and Sidon all the way to the region of the Decapolis, which is a region of 10 cities that had a strong Greek influence. People who aren’t Jews are having open interactions with the Savior of the world. They are getting to see healings up close, and in fact they are even starting to confess faith in Him. In fact right before this text in Mark, we have a Gentile who was Syrophoenician by birth and she comes begging Jesus for Him to heal her daughter. But Jesus responds by saying, “It is not right to take the children’s bread, the Jews promise and through it to the dogs, the Gentiles”. In Mark chapter 7, this is exactly what Jesus is doing! Jesus is throwing, giving the bread- the promise of the Jews- to the all the Gentiles too! He is opening up the Kingdom of God to all people who have faith. He hasn’t just come to gather the Old Israel, the Jews to His Kingdom. But He has opened up the Kingdom of God to all believers by faith in Him. Most Kingdoms in the world are established in power. The kingdoms grow and multiply through war, conquest of people are helpless and defenseless. But in Kingdom of God, this kingdom is grown and established by faith; it’s only entered through faith. In fact, the Kingdom of God has been opened to all by the most powerful giving up His power to become one of us! He gave up His power as He went to the cross and died taking your imperfections and failures. But three days later He rose in power rising from the dead and giving eternal life to all who believe in His name. Saying to the gates of the new creation, “Be opened!”. Through the work of Jesus the Kingdom of God has been opened, not just to the Jews, the ones who had the birth rite, but to all people.

IV. (Jesus for the world through you, inductive, )

Have you had a message that you just have to tell someone out of excitement? Maybe it’s you a message saying you got the job after hours of interviewing and planning for the interview. Or maybe it’s that a store you really like to shop at is having the best sale that it’s had in years! Or maybe it’s that after long time of waiting that boy or girl you really had a big crush on has finally answered my phone or text. We love to share exciting news, that happens to us! It’s natural that we share it especially when we have a message that can be life changing. Well, in our text, after Jesus opens the man’s ears and the man’s mouth, the man’s friends are amazed! They couldn’t believe what they had seen! It was so amazing that even though Jesus told them not to saying anything because it wasn’t time for the world to know yet, that told more and more and more people. The message that they had about Jesus healing their deaf and mute friend, it couldn’t be contained. After seeing the power of the Kingdom of God up close, their lives weren’t the same! You have interacted with the Kingdom of God through the grace and power of Jesus and your lives aren’t left the same either! You were once far off from God, but now you are close! You were once unable to see the truth, but now your eyes have been to the truth in Jesus. You were once an enemy of God, but now you are His beloved Child. You have interacted with the power of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God has been opened to you that doesn’t leave your life the same. Now that you have interacted with the Kingdom of God, you have a message to share. A message filled with joy, hope, a message that can’t be constrained, a message that sticks out from the world around just, like friends of the deaf and mute man in our text. There’s a temptation to blend it with the crowd around us, to contain the wonderful, amazing message to Sunday morning or Bible class. But Jesus desires to use you as His mouthpiece to share that Kingdom of God has been opened to all people through faith in Him because of His work. He desires you to used your newly opened mouth, your newly opened eyes to see and proclaim this life changing message! The time has come for the world to know, Jesus continues to open the Kingdom of God for the world through you! The Holy Spirit has entered your heart and proclaims to your lips, “Be Opened”.

V. Conclusion

Jesus opens the Kingdom of God to individuals, to all people, and for the world through you. In a world where we are told that this is closed or that is no longer open. In a world, where we see different restrictions excluding people. We have comfort and hope that the Kingdom of God, the greatest place, the greatest kingdom, has been opened up for you! The Kingdom of God has come near to you, and Jesus invites you to share the power of the Kingdom, the forgiveness, the love, the grace that we have, with others. Because we have a life changing message, a message of the Kingdom of God coming near that doesn’t leave a person’s life the same! The Kingdom of God has been opened for you!

Now may the grace of God, who has come near to us to open up the Kingdom of God for us, may He guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen.