Mark 7:31a, 32-35, 37 - Then He [Jesus] returned .... 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. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ... And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well."
When I read this story, I couldn't help wondering why Jesus made things so complicated. All the people asked Him to do was to lay His hand on the man and heal him. Why take him aside privately? Why the touching, why the spit, why the look up to heaven, and the sigh, and the word? That's a lot of bother for one man.
It is a lot of bother for one man—and I think that's exactly why Jesus did it. Because that's how much this one man mattered to Him. This world tends to ignore people with disabilities. But not Jesus.
Look at what He does! He takes him away for some privacy. And then Jesus makes sure the man understands exactly what is going on by using his senses of sight and touch. Jesus doesn't want him to be afraid or confused about what's happening. So He touches his ears and his tongue, and looks up to heaven, to God who gives the power for healing.
Jesus communicates clearly, because He loves him. But there's even more going on, because Jesus is re-creating the damaged parts of his body using His own hands—as God did with the first human beings in Genesis 2:7. I don't completely understand what's going on with the spit, but no one could miss the intimacy of it. Jesus is using His own body to heal this man and to create Him whole and healthy again.
And then He looks up to heaven, to the Father. He sighs (and "breath" in both Greek and Hebrew is the same word for "Spirit"). And finally Jesus, the Word of God, speaks the first word the man will hear—"Ephphatha, be opened." What have we got here, a reference to the Trinity?
All of this overwhelms me. It's so much packed into one healing—done for just one man, one single human being God loves. That's how much he matters to Jesus. That's how much each of us matters to Him—me, and you, and every person in need.
But maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Because this is the same Lord who uses His own body to heal and re-create people—all of us—when He lays down His life for us at the cross. And now that He has risen from the dead, He is always with us to love and forgive and heal us. And when He returns to establish the new heavens and earth, we will be with Him forever. Because we matter to Him.
WE PRAY: Lord, I love You. Help me to grasp how much You love me. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
1. Why do you think Jesus insisted on privacy?
2. Jesus gives us His own body and blood to eat and drink at Communion. What does that suggest about how close He wants to be to you?
3. Would you expect Jesus to make such a fuss over you, if you were in need?
Today's Bible Readings: 2 Chronicles 23 Joel 2-3 2 Corinthians 10
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