March 29 - April 4, 2020: Mark 7:31-37
Refresh: Pray that we can be the witness Jesus wants us to be.
Read: Mark 7:31-37
Have you ever been so excited about something that you just couldn’t wait to tell someone? That is exactly what happens in this week’s story, not only once, but twice!
We see here in this story, that Jesus has returned to the region of Decapolis. This is the region where he had healed the demoniac by sending the demons into the swine and the swine destroying themselves by running over the cliff into the sea and were drowned. The residents of the area had asked Jesus to leave because of this miracle, but the man who was healed wanted to go with Jesus. Jesus kindly told him no, and that he should stay in the area and tell his friends and family about his experience, and he does! Now Jesus has returned and crowds of people surround him.
There is group of friends who bring this man who cannot hear, and whose speech is impeded to Jesus. Impeded can mean obstructed, hindered, delayed, or slow. Mark does not give us much l information about this man as to his speech and hearing. He might be able to speak, but just not clearly as to be understood; maybe if he could hear, he would speak clearer and then others could understand. Perhaps, he had lived his whole life in this condition, or perhaps there had been an illness or accident that had left him in this condition, we just don’t know. And notice too, this man’s friends not only bring him to Jesus but they beg Jesus to do something!
Jesus takes him aside, away from the crowd, puts his fingers in the man’s ears and has the man open his mouth and Jesus touches his tongue. How many of us would touch another person’s tongue, especially someone we’d never been in contact with before? Jesus has no fear, shows no partiality.
Jesus then looks up to heaven, and sighs. Here, in Greek, “sigh” means to “Sigh with grief” or to “groan”. And Jesus says, “Be opened”. The man can immediately speak clearly and hear!! (I can just picture as Jesus is doing this, in his mind he speaks to his Father telling him he is so disgusted what Satan has done to this world.) Jesus then tells the group to “Tell no one” and the more firmly he states this, the faster word spreads! We are told, “No sooner is one converted than there is born within him a desire to make known to others what a precious friend he has found in Jesus. The saving and sanctifying truth cannot be shut up in his heart.”[1]
So, what is our witness in our communities? What is our faith like? God’s messenger states “the only faith that will benefit us is that which embraces [Jesus] as a personal Savior. . . Saving faith is a transaction by which those who receive Christ join themselves in covenant relation with God. Genuine faith is life. A living faith means an increase of vigor, a confiding trust, by which the soul becomes a conquering power . . . . Our confession of His faithfulness is Heaven’s chosen agency for revealing Christ to the world. . . Every individual has a life distinct from all others, and an experience differing essentially from theirs. God desires that our praise shall ascend to Him, marked by our own individuality. These precious acknowledgements to the praise of the glory of His grace, when supported by a Christian life, have an irresistible power that works for the salvation of souls.”[2]
Recalibrate: Do we have the kind of faith that allows us to be a witness for Jesus?
Research: watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTFfJGzZuPs
then this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK2vQBx_I4c
Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3RRU25dpPg