Tag Archives: deaf

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – HE DID A GOOD JOB THIS TIME!

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HE DID A GOOD JOB THIS TIME!

31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.


36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Mark 7:31-37

Why is it that, when good things happen to us, we can so easily attribute them to God’s goodness and yet, when things go wrong, God gets the blame as though He were some capricious, malevolent being who plans bad things to punish us or to make us uncomfortable for His own pleasure? It seems that, deep inside human beings, there is an inclination to find a scapegoat for our ills instead of taking responsibility and acknowledging that the sequence of human choices plays a big part in human circumstances. God gets blamed because He is thought to be a divine puppeteer who manipulates people and circumstances according to His whims.

In this story, a man who had the misfortune to be deaf and mute as a consequence, was brought to Jesus for healing. Unlike the way He resisted the Syros-Phoenician woman’s request, He took the man aside and opened his ears so that he could hear and speak. There were no dead pigs involved this time to ruin their economy, so the people of the region were delighted with what He had done. In spite of His urging them to be quiet, they spread the story everywhere and the verdict was, “He has done everything well.” No blame this time because the outcome of His presence was good!

Why did Jesus want them to be quiet about this miracle? Did He really believe that a deaf-mute who could suddenly hear and speak would go unnoticed? There must have been a deeper reason for urging the people not to talk about it. What is this “Messianic secret” that appears in the gospels?

Jesus was not seeking popularity for its own sake; His miracle ministry had a much deeper significance than that. His “works” were part of a body of evidence to display who He was and why He came. He brought into the world system directed by the devil and his minions, another order of things that put the rightful owner and ruler of this world on display and to reveal the true nature of the Father and His original and ultimate purpose for all creation.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – A DOOR OF HOPE FOR THE GENTILES

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A DOOR OF HOPE FOR THE GENTILES

31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Mark 7:31-37

Although Jesus came primarily to bring His own people back on track with God’s plan for them, He seemed to gravitate to Gentile areas wherever the Father directed Him towards a need and towards people who would bear witness to His compassion and mercy. He went from Tyre and Sidon in Syo-Phoenicia to the Decapolis, a region of ten Greek towns on the east side of the Jordan, most probably where He had delivered the demon-possessed man earlier. Although the people of the region had chased Him away because of the pigs, He left behind a man with a powerful testimony who no doubt sang His praises wherever he went.

When Jesus returned on this occasion, He was no longer a “persona non grata”. As soon as He arrived, a deaf-mute was brought to Him for healing. Forgotten were the lost pigs and the ruined economy. This time there was more concern for a man in need than for a herd of demon-demented pigs that ran themselves into the lake!

Jesus led him away from the crowd. He was not there to entertain them. He was there on a mission of mercy. Why was there a heavy weight on Him on this occasion? He was in a region where there was no awareness of God. All the focus and worship were directed towards Caesar, a puppet of Satan and usurper of Jesus’ name, position and honour. He was locked in an ever-on-going conflict with the devil – rescuing and freeing his slaves and redirecting men’s hearts towards the true God. He was never on a road show and He shied away from people who treated Him as an entertainer.

As He reached out in pity towards this afflicted man, a deep groan of anguish rose up in Him, perhaps a cry of sorrow for suffering humans whose ignorance and rejection of the true God had robbed them of experiencing the life and peace that flowed from Him along the channel of faith. What opened that day was more than the man’s ears. His heart heard and recognised truth.

God’s promise, through Isaiah, that His Messiah would be a light to the Gentiles, was beginning to shine in His encounters with the despised people on the periphery of the Promised land, but the full blaze of God’s glory would only shine in their hearts when the Holy Spirit was given.

Yes Or No?

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YES OR NO?

 “John’s disciples reported back to him the news of all these events taking place. He sent two of them to the Master to ask the question, ‘Are you the One we’re expecting or are we still waiting?’ The men showed up before Jesus and said, ‘John the Baptist sent us to ask you, “Are you the one we’re expecting or are we still waiting?”‘ 

“In the next two or three hours Jesus healed many from disease, distress and evil spirits. To many of the blind He gave the gift of sight. Then He gave His answer: ‘Go back and tell John what you have just seen and heard: The blind see; the lame walk; lepers are cleansed; the deaf hear; the dead are raised; the wretched of the earth have God’s salvation hospitality extended to them. Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourself fortunate!'” Luke 7:18-23 (The Message).

Poor John!

He was sitting in a dungeon at King Herod’s good pleasure. Would it not have been reasonable for him to expect Jesus to do something about him? After all, He was family and he, John, had paved the way for Him! And besides, didn’t the Scriptures prophesy that He would set captives free?

What did John expect? Perhaps, at the very least, Jesus could have gone to Herod and put in a good word for him. Day after day he sat in his prison, waiting and hoping for release, only to be disappointed. He began to doubt that Jesus was the Messiah, after all. Perhaps He was a hoax. The longer he sat there, the more the doubts plagued him.

He had to find out. At least he would know whether there was any hope of being rescued before Herod got it into his head to execute him. He couldn’t go himself, so he sent for a few of his disciples to go for him. ‘Master,’ they asked Jesus, ‘John wants to know whether you are really the Messiah, or do we have to keep waiting for someone else to come?’

Jesus gave them no direct answer. All He said was, ‘Watch and listen.’ So they followed Him around, watching and listening. After some hours He asked them, ‘So? What have you just seen and heard? Now go and tell John all about it.’ He gave them a resume’ of the miracles He had done over the last while. ‘Ask him if this is what he was expecting? If it was, then he is truly blessed.’

What was going on here? John’s circumstances were getting to him. No one can blame him. Who can endure incarceration like that and not give in to self-pity. He had preached that the kingdom of God was a realm of generosity and unselfish service but, in his own suffering, he had begun to turn inward. Hoping that Jesus would mount a rescue, he could not understand why nothing had happened. Perhaps he had been mistaken after all.

His disciples returned with an answer he had not quite expected. A straight ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ would have been better. Instead, in typical “Jesus” fashion, He invited John to weigh up the evidence and decide for himself. That was His way of convincing him who He was according to the evidence and the Scriptures.

John was a rabbi and, of course he had memorised the entire Hebrew Scriptures. He would have immediately caught on to what Jesus was saying. ‘John, don’t take my word for it. Take another look at what the Scriptures say about me and then decide for yourself.’ The Messianic fingerprint was clearly visible in the Old Testament prophecies. All John had to do was to match it up with what Jesus was doing.

Whether or not Jesus got him released was irrelevant. Overshadowing Herod was God’s hand and he had to rest in that. His story was being written into God’s bigger story and Jesus was writing the meaning of that story into the lives of sick, maimed and side-lined people. It was up to John to answer his own question.

We all have to decide whether Jesus is the Messiah or not. Weigh up the evidence.

Is He? Then follow Him!