“And
they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all
things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” –
Mark 7:37 (ESV)
In
today’s adult Sunday School lesson for those studying from Explore
the Bible
series (“Mark.” Nashville: Lifeway Press. Spring, 2019. Pp
55-63)), you will recognize the key verse above as our suggested
memory verse for today’s lesson. Jesus had just healed a man who
was deaf and mute. This miracle happened “on the other side” of
the Sea of Galilee, in the Decapolis area (“Decapolis” meaning
area of ten cities, occupied mainly by Gentiles). The people
themselves became the proclaimers of Jesus’s miracle of healing the
deaf/mute man. The Bible tells us, “they were astonished.”
Perhaps many in that audience had not seen a miracle of healing like
this before. Who was this man who traveled with twelve other men
about the area, healing, feeding thousands with a few loaves and
fishes, casting out demons? Jesus of Nazareth?
Jesus
and His disciples had been on a trip, seeking to get away from the
crowds. Yet people still went to Jesus, wherever He was, to listen
to His teachings and to seek His healing.
He
and the disciples had left northern Galilee and traveled to the
region of Tyre, northwest of Galilee. Two towns in that Gentile area
were Tyre and Sidon, both located on the Mediterranean Sea. At
Sidon, a Syro-Phoenecian (Canaanite) woman had approached Jesus,
asking that he heal her daughter “possessed with a demon” (see
Mark 7:25-30). Although Jesus asked her If she did not know that
“the children” (Jews) should be fed first, the woman, showing her
understanding, replied, “Lord, even the dogs (Gentiles) under the
table eat the children’s (Jews’) crumbs.” Because of her
humility and her faith, Jesus healed her daughter. The woman went
home to find her daughter peacefully sleeping and healed! Oh, the
faith and daring-to-approach-Jesus of this mother who loved and
wanted the best for her daughter.
Then,
a long journey, back to the Sea of Galilee, and crossing “to the
other side (Gentile territory), Jesus and the disciples are at
Decapolis. A man deaf and mute is brought by friends to seek Jesus’
healing. Jesus’ healing of this man is reminiscent of the prophecy
of Isaiah in 35:5-6: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like
a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” Jesus was
fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy in their very midst. Did those who
were “exuberant” at the deaf/mute man’s healing realize that
Jesus was the One Isaiah wrote about hundreds of years before—the
promised Messiah?
On
“this side” of Jesus’s death and His sacrifice for our sins, we
can truly rejoice, because we know that Jesus indeed is the promised
Messiah, the Son of God, our Savior. Like the people who saw the
healed man, we can proclaim that He healed us from our sins that
separated us from God. “For by grace have you been saved through
faith. And that is not your own doing; it is the gift of God; not a
result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9/
ESV). Indeed, the healing of the deaf/mute man was a miracle. But
Christ’s forgiving our sins and giving us the status of “Redeemed
Child of God” is a miracle, for His GRACE (God’s Redemption at
Christ’s Expense) is ours by faith, confession and acceptance!
Praise be to God. Jesus, indeed, “has done all things well” in
restoring us to God’s favor and giving us purpose for living in
this life and eternity beyond this life! Selah! - Ethelene Dyer
Jones 04.07.2019.
