SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/22/2012 9:06:07 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Healing a Deaf Man
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Mark 7:31-37
Message of the verses: In today’s SD we will finish looking at
chapter seven of Mark, the chapter that I have been looking at this month. The main title of this section from Dr.
Wiersbe’s commentary is entitled “Healing the Gentiles,” and it actually covers
Mark 7:24-8:9, but we will save the portion from chapter eight until July.
Healing a deaf man (vv. 7:31-37): “31 ¶
Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the
Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. 32 They *brought to Him one who was deaf and
spoke with difficulty, and they *implored Him to lay His hand on him. 33 Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by
himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his
tongue with the saliva; 34 and looking
up to heaven with a deep sigh, He *said to him, "Ephphatha!" that is,
"Be opened!" 35 And his ears
were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began
speaking plainly. 36 And He gave them
orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they
continued to proclaim it. 37 They were
utterly astonished, saying, "He has done all things well; He makes even
the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’”
Jesus remains in Gentile territory
even though he has moved from Sidon to the Sea of Galilee to a place called
Decapolis or Ten Towns. This was like a miniature
Rome and Marks readers would be familiar with it which may be the reason that
this miracle is only found in the book of Mark.
The man
that Jesus was about to heal could not hear and could not speak properly and so
the way Jesus heals him is different than the way that he healed others. We can see the great compassion of Jesus in
the way that He heals this man for the man could not hear, but he could feel
the touch of Jesus and that is how He healed Him, with touch. This healing along with other healings was
actually the touch of the Creator, for in some cases new parts of the bodies
had to be created. In this case this man’s
ears and tongue had to be made well and they were. This, of course, for Jesus was not difficult,
but what was difficult for Him was to see the awful results of what sin has
done to the people on planet earth and also the planet itself. We see a word in verse thirty-four that is
translated “sigh” and that same word is used in the book of Romans chapter
eight in two different verses. “23 And not only this, but also we ourselves,
having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our
body.” The word is translated “groan” in
this verse. “26 ¶ In the same way the Spirit also helps our
weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself
intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” “Groanings” is the noun form of this word
used in Romans 8:26.
Again we
see that Jesus asks the people not to tell everyone about what happened, but
again they did not follow what He asked them.
The people were happy and joyful to see the great miracles that Jesus
did while in their towns, but Jesus had gone away to get some much needed rest
and relaxation. He did not get that but
because of His great love for the people He healed all of those who were in need
of physical healing, but we wonder how many were seeking the spiritual healing
that sin has caused.
One more
thing before we conclude this section and that is the word “Ephphatha” and this is an Aramaic word
that means “be opened, be released.”
Jesus did just that as He opened up his ears and released his tongue so
that the man was completely healed.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I think about physical healing that I suppose
all people are in need of from time to time, and how important that is, but the
more important is the spiritual healing that only Jesus can do. Jesus sighted when He saw the results that
sin had on planet earth and its inhabitants, and the question I have to ask
myself is does sin affect me in the same way when I sin or when I see the
results of sin. To have the wonderful
compassion that Jesus has is truly a great gift from God.
My Steps of Faith for
Today:
1.
Continue to remain in the Vine.
2.
Continue to work on my memory verses in order to
be transformed by the renewing of my mind so that I can discern the will of the
Lord for my life and to triumph over sin.
Memory verses for the week:
2Peter 1:1-3:
1. Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith
of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness
of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2. Grace and peace be
multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3. seeing that
His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and
excellence.”
6/22/2012 10:04:23 AM
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