Saturday, May 12, 2012
Super Saturday to ya today! Jesus, the author of today’s story has a large following after He leaves Tyre and goes through Sidon down to the sea of Galilee and into the city of Decapolis. There some people brought to Him a man that was deaf and could hardly talk and they begged Him to place His hand on the man. After He took Him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit (We’re talking holy living water here!) and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to Heaven and with a deep sigh said to Him “Ephphatha!” which means “be opened”. At this point, the man’s ears were opened, His tongue was loosened and He began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more He did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” It is a good thing that the people in this story had the faith it took to step out to help their friend by taking Him to Jesus. They must have greatly cared for him. Jesus looked to His Father when He looked up to Heaven, knowing that apart from His Father, He could do nothing and it would take the power of His Father to do the work needed in this man’s life. His Father honored His prayer in faith and healed the deaf and mute man. Jesus told the people not to talk about it as He wanted to control His fame. This was important to eternity as Satan would have loved to have Jesus become an earthly king and give up on the work on the cross that saved us all from death and sin. The people ignored His request and sinned by talking about it much. Jesus knew the work done in the deaf and mute man’s life was the work of His Father, but I can see how it could have been easy for the people that took the man to Jesus to be tempted to become prideful and take the credit for their friend’s healing and walk about boasting of how God used them in the life of their friend. The truth is, they could do nothing without Jesus. Our Father wants us to be vessels of obedience in stepping out as He asks us to and use what He gives to us to help others, but the glory must always go back to Him. He is the author and finisher of everyone’s faith and the writer of each person’s story. Amazed at the work of Jesus, the people said “He does everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!” A great response to seeing His work is worship – tell Him how wonderful we think He is. As Christians, if Jesus tells us to be quiet, we do not want to cross over the line into gossip in talking about God’s work in someone’s life and yet sometimes Jesus has told people to go and tell others what He has done. We must be led by His voice that also says keep partnering with Him – that’s an honor and sweet amazing work to me! Well, bye and hugs to ya! Mk 7:31-37; 2 Co 12:20; He 12:2; Jn 10: 1-5; Ps 66