Tag Archives: Decapolis

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.