Healer of the deaf man
Today’s text is Mark 7:31-37:
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
1. The sigh of Jesus (vs 34). It is indeed interesting to note Jesus’ sigh. Why did He sigh? Why is it recorded? Perhaps it was His exasperation at the hard hearts of men. Perhaps He was extremely tired and hungry. Perhaps it was another reason. Regardless of His sigh – He was still willing to heal. He is abundant in mercy.
2. The spiritual parallel of being deaf and mute. (31-37) I see this text as one with a pretty direct spiritual parallel. That is, I see that we are deaf and mute on the things of God until He unstops our ears and looses our tongues. We are not at all spiritually receptive in a deaf state. We can not “hear” the voice of the Lord. Likewise, we cannot speak truth without Him unloosing our tongues.
Meditation: May we endeavor to have our ears unstopped and our tongues loosed – that we may speak the words of life into folks lives – that we may hear the very words of God.
This entry was posted on Monday, October 20th, 2008 at 8:30 am and is filed under Devotional. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
