Jesus Is Not a Vending Machine: Daily Thoughts from Mark (Mark 7:31-37)

Why are people drawn to Jesus?  We can think of many reasons.  His character, his mission, his popularity with others we respect, and maybe the prosperity we think he provides.

As Jesus ministered in Israel it was a hallmark of his work to try to keep people from focusing on this last aspect, how he prospered them.  Israel was primed for a redeemer who would deliver them from Roman rule.  They weren’t ready for one who would have to suffer death and then ascend to heaven.  The motives for their welcoming Jesus were too dependent on what he could do for them.  It almost wasn’t as important that he was the Messiah.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 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 Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mark 7:31-37, ESV) 

Tyre, Sidon and the Decapolis (10 city area), are Gentile regions where Jews have settled.  Jesus is traveling far and wide to reach Israel.  There are many Israelites scattered beyond this, in Persia, Arabia, Asia Minor, Africa, even Italy, but they will be reached by Jesus’ disciples.

For some reason Jesus takes aside for a healing a deaf man with inability to speak.  Perhaps he has not done many or any miracles of healing in this place yet and does not want that to be the focus of his time here.  Or perhaps this miracle requires extraordinary measures, like the spitting and unique way of touching the man, and a more private setting aids that.  Jesus commands the man’s ears to be opened and his tongue is also loosed from its inability to make utterances.  The word Jesus speaks is Aramaic, a sister to Hebrew and the common tongue of Israel in that day, though Hebrew was still used.

Though Jesus tells the small group to tell no one, again they cannot resist announcing what he has done.  His “sigh” is perhaps anticipation of this, or more likely a weariness with the condition humans have found themselves in because of the fall of man and the sin that has entered the human race, with the resulting deviations from mental and physical health.  But these peoples’ remark is quite proper, “He has done all things well.”

Jesus is the most amazing human being who has ever lived, establishing himself as the new and last Adam, the second man who begins a new race, perfect in every way.  We almost can’t help seeing him for what he can do for us.  Eternal life is his most amazing gift, but we tend to focus a lot on the way he can alleviate temporal sufferings.  That’s where we live.  Yet it is most important to worship him for who he is, rather than for what he does.  He is not simply a utilitarian answer to our rough lives.  He is our God and to know him is better than anything.  We should be able to say with the psalmist, “On earth there is nothing I desire more than You,” (Psalm 73:25).