He does all things well

It’s just one tiny sentence at the end of a story, but it’s the key to understanding the story.

After Jesus healed the Syrophoenician’s daughter of the demon and healed the deaf man by touching him with His saliva (Mark 7), along with other unnamed miracles, the crowd declared, “He has done all things well…” (v. 37).

This not only fits as the summary of these miracles, but it also is an appropriate summary of the life and ministry of Christ and His position as the Son of God:  Jesus does all things well.

That phrase seems to ring with the sound of Genesis 1 where after each day of creation it is said of God’s acts, “God saw that it was good.”  Of course, shortly thereafter, sin intruded and a whole lot of bad came with that one sin (how’s that for an understatement?). But when Jesus arrived, all that He did was good.  In a manner of speaking, He was making things new and good again, anticipating the complete and full act of restoration to make all things good at the end of time (Rom. 8:18ff).

To make things good is the very nature of God.  In the original act of creation, all that He made was good (He could only make good things).  And likewise, the only things Christ can do are good.  From the healing of the ill to the restoration of creation and the redemption of sinners, Christ has done well.

In fact, it might be said that this testimony of Christ, “He has done things well,” might also serve as a biography of Christ — everything He has ever done is good, everything He is currently doing is good, and everything He will do is good.

So we must also recognize that everything we experience today comes through the gracious hand of God, and it is good.  We can look at our current situation and as hard or as joyful as it is, we can say equally in each scenario, “He is evidencing His good to me.”  And we can look to the future and say, “All that He will ever give me is good.  And the culmination of my redemption and salvation is (like on the sixth day of creation) very good.

This is our Savior.  He does all things well.