THE GOSPEL OF MARK "Behold My Servant!"

                       He hath done all things well          Mark 7vv31-37

We are studying the work of the perfect servant of God, and the testimony of the people of His day is that His service was good;   not only does heaven acknowledge the perfection of this but earth as well.   Many a servant does a few things well but He did all things well, this is high praise indeed.   This is the culmination of a series of miracles witnessed by the people of His day.   The one before us involves the healing of a man who was deaf mute.   In the context the condition of the man represented the spiritual condition of the nation.  It is significant that in a chapter where He emphasized the need to hear God rather than man, the y bring to Him one who was both deaf and partially dumb.   The man could not hear and could not speak properly, just like the nation who were hard of hearing to the word of God, and unable to adequately utter God's praise.   Jesus, returning to Galilee was able to heal the man's impediment.   This is the only record of this miracle, which makes it unique in a book which otherwise contains similar records to the other three gospels.  We can look at it in a number of ways:

The detour that He made       ".....departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, He came unto the sea of Galilee through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis."  

 

A study of the map reveals that He travelled the long way round, Decapolis taking in the ten cities and districts of Damascus, of Canatha, of Hippos, of Dion, of Abila, of Gadara, of Pelia, of Scythopolis, of Gerasa, and of Philadelphia.   Many reasons are given, but one thing is sure, that Jesus will go to any lengths, and travel any distance to heal human beings.   In chapter 5 the demoniac "began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him."   Perhaps Jesus was consolidating this work.   It seems only one man was healed in this tour, telling us that God is as much interested in the individual, as in the masses.   Another evidence of this is in Acts chapter 8 where the evangelist Philip was caught away from the crowds in Samaria to bring one man to conversion in the desert.   It is also possible that Jesus used this detour to further teach His disciples who were in a steep learning curve.

The cure that He effected           They brought to Him a deaf man whose speech was also affected.  They beg Him to touch Him with His hand.   Many and varied were the miracles that Jesus did, sometimes with the touch of the hand, sometimes with simply the spoken word, sometimes by the touch of His garments, sometimes using saliva, sometimes at close quarters, sometimes remotely. The significance of this cure is that it resonates with the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 35 v5 "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, then shall the lame leap as the hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing."    This is a Messianic prophecy, predicting the coming kingdom, and the cure of this man was a precursor to this future worldwide event.   The significance is obvious, even if it was lost on many.   The power of the kingdom was in evidence because the King was on earth.   Observe how He dealt with the man's need:

• "He took the man aside from the multitude.."    If we are to be healed, we must have personal dealings with the Lord, away from the crowd.   The Lord will heal us privately apart from the prying eyes of the public.   He emphasised the personal aspect of spiritual life in Matthew chapter 6 when He taught we should do all in the full view of the Father and not before men.   This personal one to one relationship is repeated over and over in the new testament teachings.  Salvation is a matter of individual fellowship with the Lord as is further growth and development in Christian life.
• "He put His fingers into his ears and He spit and touched his tongue...."     The Lord identified the specific problem, the ears and the tongue.   In others it would be different;   it is true to say we are all sinners affected by the consequences of the fall, but each of us has a specific need and the Lord attends to that.   He uses spittle in the cure as He does in Chapter 8vv22-26.   It seems He only used this method of cure when the externals of the body were affected.   The eyelids of the blind and the ligaments of the tongue, through lack of use, would have seized up and Jesus used saliva to soften the skin and so facilitate the healing process.   This tells me that in the healing of bodies our Lord did not by-pass natural means and we should take careful note.   In the curing of ailments He used both natural and supernatural means.   The result was spectacular as always, "..straightway (immediately) his ears were opened and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain!   The cure was instantaneous and perfect.
• "And looking up into heaven......"       It is from heaven the power comes, supernatural power, Jesus never acted without the approval and cooperation of heaven.   Sin has separated heaven and earth , it is in Jesus alone they can come together.   He came down from heaven to bring us to heaven.   All the maladies of mankind are the result of sin, here Jesus deals with the fruits of it, soon He will deal with the root of it.

Interesting that He spoke in Aramaic, the language of the common people, not Hebrew, the language of the scholars.   He had come for all people, not just an elite few.

The impression that He left       He charged the public not to publish His miracles for He did not want them to focus on the spectacular, rather the deep seated problems of the human heart in separation from God.   Nevertheless He left His mark and the more He dissuaded them the more they spoke about Him.   The impression was deep "they were beyond measure astonished..."    Astonishment is the only description adequate to describe the wonders of Jesus Christ;   astonishment at His doctrine, astonished at His understanding, astonished at His grace, astonished at His wisdom, astonished at His miracles, astonished at His sufferings.......and, yet to come astonishment at His glory!!   Indeed it is one of His titles in the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 9v6 "..and His name shall be called Wonderful."   It is rather a pity for those who treat Him as commonplace, for He is anything but that, let alone those who mock Him and belittle Him.   Like the people of His day let us give Him the praise and say with them "He hath done all things well".