#DailyDevotion Jesus Has Done All Things Well
Mark 7:31-37 31Jesus again left the country of Tyre and went through Sidon and the country of the Decapolis (Ten-Towns] to the Sea of Galilee. 32Some people brought Him a man who was deaf and had a speech defect, and they urged Jesus to lay His hand on him. 33Taking him away from the crowd to be alone with him, He put His fingers into the man’s ears. He spit and touched his tongue 34and looked up to heaven and sighed. Then He said to him, “Ephphatha!” which means, “Be opened!” 35His ears were opened, his tongue was set free to speak, and he talked naturally. 36Jesus ordered the people not to tell anyone. But the more He forbade them, the more widely they spread the news. 37They were dumbfounded. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the speechless speak.”
Having been on the western side of ‘all things Gentile’ Jesus travels to the other side of the sea of Galilee to the Decapolis, which is also a strong Gentile area in northern Judea. There apparently is a more concentration of Jews in this area but the majority of the populace is still Gentile. While this scripture is not quoted in this account it certainly fits and mentioned in other accounts in this part of world in which Jesus worked, Is. 9, 2“The people walking in the dark will see a great light. On those who live in the land of gloom a light will shine.”
I find it interesting that the text just says, “some people.” We don’t know whether or not these were Jews or Gentiles that brought the man to him. I think it’s highly possible it was Gentiles. I say this because before the Syro-Phoneacian woman and this account Jesus had just finished talking about clean and unclean. Now he is operating in no doubt unclean areas among unclean people. Then again, perhaps the deaf-mute man was possessed by an unclean spirit as Jesus had cast one in a different Gospel.
Now Jesus had an interesting way of curing this guy. He gets hands on with him. He not only just laid hands on him but he stuck his fingers in the deaf man’s ears. How’s that going to help? And he spits and touches the man’s mouth with the spit. Certainly not my cup of tea. But then he speaks the word, “Ephphatha!” The man is healed. He can hear and he can talk. As Jesus had spoken with Moses in Exodus 4:11, “Who made man’s mouth?…Who makes him speechless, deaf, seeing, or blind? Don’t I, the LORD?”
So the people praise the LORD for Jesus’ work and praise Jesus in fulfillment of the Old Testament lesson for the day from Isaiah 35, 5“Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be opened. 6Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing.” Jesus did these miracles so we would know who he is and the word he spoke had the authority of the Father. The apostles also did similar miracles to show their teaching had the authority of Jesus. We look to them, with faith in Jesus and believe when Jesus returns, he is raising all the dead in him whole. He is changing us and making us whole in whatever we are lacking physically, mentally, and spiritually at the resurrection as well if we haven’t fallen asleep in Christ yet. That is part of our faith as Christians that Jesus fulfills Isaiah 35 not just for a few in his visible ministry but for all who trust in him on the Last Day. He will do it.
Heavenly Father, Jesus has done all things well. We pray keep us faithful until he returns that we may be made whole and gaze upon you in glorified bodies like his glorious body on the day of his second advent. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.