YEar 2 Day 333

Year 2 Day 333


Pray (ACts)


Read - Mark 7:36-37


Message - Alan Burke 


At times I fell that I may as well talk to the wall for the good it will do me. I’ll not share any specific examples, it is best not to but we all from time to time can fell that way. Well here we have Jesus telling those, or rather commanding those who were there not to tell anyone of how he had healed this man but the more he did so the more they kept talking about it. Why though, why did Jesus command them not to tell anyone? 


Well think though back to Mark 1 when Jesus healed the man with Leprosy, he sent him away with a strong warning “See that you don’t tell anyone” (1:43). Well there we see the result of the man ignoring this warning of Jesus and as a result we are told that Jesus could no longer enter a two openly all because news of who he was and what he was doing was spreading. Then in Mark 5 in a Gentile region Jesus cast out many demons from the demon possessed man, there Jesus sent him away saying  “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” (Mk 5:19). There Jesus told him to tell his family but this man told everyone, presumably Tom, Dick and Harry too. Then here once more Jesus tells those who were there not to tell anyone, but the more he told them the more they kept talking about it. 


We might find it perplexing but Jesus did not want to gain the reputation of being a miracle-worker. Here he commanded these onlookers, who were overwhelmed with amazement to, likewise not to tell anyone, to avoid the situation that was waiting for him in Galilee to be repeated here in the Decapolis, where He could no longer enter a town openly but was forced to stay outside in the lonely places (Mk 1:45), with the people coming in their droves to be healed, for he came that they too, these Gentiles might know the good news of God, how the time has come, the kingdom of God is near, the need for repentance and to believe in the good news. The more people heard of this miracle the more they would be looking misunderstanding his purpose, they would have came to seek their physical needs met but he came for another purpose to atone for the sin of his people (10:45). 


They missed the real point of his coming, they had missed the magnitude of who Jesus was and is and what this miracle that he had done was pointing to, Jesus does what only God can do. The Lord had responded to Moses’ excuses, with these words: “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” (Ex. 4:11). Jesus’ actions here show that he has that same divine power for he is God. The people in a sense saw and believed, they were overwhelmed and amazed but it is the message of the gospel that we must hear and respond to.


Here in this account of the healing of a deaf and mute man, it is Jesus who works bringing this man healing. The depth of Helplessness that this man faced are really the depths of our Helplessness, for this man gives us a picture of our natural condition, the plight we face, for we are by nature deaf to spiritual truths. The extent of Christ’s salvation is that He gives us the ability to hear and speak, by the power of the word preached and the Holy Spirits work amongst us that brings us from death to life, that enables us who are deaf to hear so that we not only are those who hear but also those who speak. Some times that takes time, some times it happens dramatically, but no matter who we are it is the work of God within us that we are able to hear. We can not do it ourselves, but Christ does, for he does what only God can do for he is the son of God who came to atone for the sin of his people (10:45)


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q88 What are the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption?
The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption, are his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation. (Matt. 28:19–20, Acts 2:42,46–47)
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