Monthly Archives: AUGUST 2023

Mark 7:31-37

(31) And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. (32) And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. (33) And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; (34) and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. (35) And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. (36) And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; (37) and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

  Another great story of The healing power, love and compassion Jesus has.  As stated last week we learned that when it comes to God’s power, there is no real formula, ritual or "magic potion/saying” that needs to happen. Here we see Jesus take on a new approach. After "they” brought the deaf and dumb man to Jesus, He’ pulls in aside and sticks His fingers into His ears, He spit and touched His tongue. Jesus looked to Heaven and says Ephphatha, which means to be opened. I find it very interesting in the interpretation they kept the Aramaic word in there. Sometimes there is no really way to truly translate what was written into modern language and to do so might compromise the usage of the word or phrase. We do not see that often in the scriptures. I can only imagine what the disciples were thinking. Ok, so here Jesus does something quite different than what he normally does. Do you think they questioned Him? The man immediately could hear and spoke clearly. Once again Jesus tells the people to tell no one, and of course they cannot contain themselves, and tell everyone Jesus has done well and makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.

  We continue to learn that there is nothing beyond the capability of the power of Christ. We have been mention the word FAITH quite often, and even though this passage does not even use it, we can see a demonstration of great faith among those who brough the man to Jesus. It does not say who "they” were, probably from Decapolis, but you can assume that Jesus’ fame had preceded Him. Here is another great example that they did not need to see Jesus perform any miracle, just the possibility of hearing about Him was enough for them. And when they do see the greatness of Jesus, they cannot contain themselves and tell everyone.

 If there is anything I am getting out of this, we need to be spreading the greatness of Jesus. There are many people in this world or even in our lives looking for hope who do not need to see Jesus or experience some big event, but just need to know about Jesus. Are we spreading God’s love to those around us. What great blessing has God done for us, and did we go tell everyone or did we hide it?

I am going to leave you with one verse here.

Matthew 5:16   Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.