The Touch of Jesus

INTRO

Yesterday we looked at the feeding of the 5,000 men. An event we didn’t get to cover was Jesus walking on the water. In Mark 7, we’ll be looking at the traditions of the elders. The congregation I grew up in shaped my life, and God used it to radically

call me to Him. I’m not knocking that congregation, but there were traditions that were not taken from Scripture but were what we’d grown up with. The first 23 verses in Mark 7 deal with questions about why things were done in different ways, than had been done traditionally. In verse 24, Jesus began to talk with a young woman with a demonic spirit.

The synoptic Gospels each show Jesus through a different lens. In Mark there are several parables about healings, and stories that are not included in the other Gospels. For example, Mark 4:26-29 contains the parable of the growing seed. Today’s story of healing the deaf and mute man is only in the gospel of Mark. Another one is of the blind man healed in Mark 8:22-26, and the final one is the parable of an absent homeowner found in Mark 13:34-37.

TEACHING

Mark 7:31-32: Usually, Jesus’ interactions were with the Jews, so anytime He had an encounter with a Gentile, it was always different. Jesus was on a road trip that could have taken weeks or even months. He left Tyre, went by Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, and then through the Decapolis (the ten cities east of the Jordan). This was not an easy journey, and it wasn’t the straightest path. In Decapolis, people brought Him a deaf man with a speech impediment (he could not hear and could not be understood). They begged Jesus “to lay His hand on him” (v. 32). Ben Witherington says this may suggests “he was a Jew, since laying on of hands was a Jewish practice.”¹Grassmick states that “Defective speech usually results from defective hearing, both physically and spiritually.”²This could have been a possibility.

Mark 7:33: Jesus took the man away from the crowd. Mark recorded that Jesus did this repeatedly as He healed people. This goes against the way we are wired in the U. S. where we seek attention. Jesus as the Servant was the complete opposite. He took this man aside for privacy. Yesterday, we talked about how compassion always leads to action. If you have a servant mentality, you’ll have compassion. This passage is a radical picture of Jesus the Servant, who touched this man in places no people would have touched. Jesus touched the man’s ears, probably full of earwax, and then touched the man’s tongue. There’s nothing kosher about what Jesus did. It was totally unclean. Maybe this was a form sign language Jesus was doing, by touching the ears since the man could not hear.

Luke 5:12 records Jesus touching a man covered with leprosy. With Jesus, a simple touch can radically change a life. We cannot be afraid of how someone smells, looks, is dressed, or if they are covered in tattoos. It doesn’t matter because each person is made in God’s image.

Mark 7:34: Looking up to heaven was another sign language, showing that Jesus depended on the God of heaven. Jesus sighed deeply for carrying the weight or burden of caring for the man. Then Jesus said, “Ephphatha” which meant “Be opened!” Jesus walked through a process of healing the man using visual signs and then spoke only two words––“Be opened!” Kent Hughes states this is a model for ministry: Jesus looked up to heaven in dependence on God (v. 34); He sighed with compassion (v. 34); He touched the man, taking action (v. 33); and walked with authority, because He believed that God would heal the man (v. 34.) His Word says God can show up at any time. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We need to take the healing hand of Christ, walk it out, and see what we can do! Let the ears hear; let the mouth actually begin to speak.

Mark 7:35: The man was instantly healed. He could hear. His speech difficulty was removed. He began to speak clearly.

Mark 7:36: Then Jesus ordered them to “tell no one, but the more He would order them, the more they would proclaim it.” Think about it . . . the man who had difficulty speaking wasn’t able to now keep silent! MacArthur explains, “Although Jesus ministered to Gentiles as the need arose, His intention was not to have a public ministry among them.”³

Mark 7:37: “They were extremely astonished and said, ‘He has done everything well! He even makes deaf people hear, and people unable to speak, talk!’” That phrase, He has done everything well! takes me back to Genesis 1:31: “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.”

This was the real deal; Jesus was doing amazingly well. Matthew 15:31 says: “So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the deformed restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they gave glory to the God of Israel.” Jesus depended upon the Lord, had compassion for others, took action, and walked with authority. The Gentiles began to notice and give glory to the God of Israel.

How do we take this spiritually? I keep going back to the saying, “he who has ears to hear.” One commentator observed that every time Jesus addressed those with ears, it was because He had been giving them the Word. He was speaking to them and then asking if they were hearing Him. I’m not talking about the physical side of speaking and hearing, but of the spiritual side. Jesus said, “Anyone who has ears should listen” (Matthew 11:15; Mark 4:9, 23)! Jesus is saying He wants us to listen and be in tune to what He is saying.

The Parable of the Sower is a parable we haven’t taught on. The website www.GotQuestions.com says this about the parable: “Some hear but they don’t ever let it take root; some hear but reject it because of persecution and trial; some hear the Word and they allow themselves to understand and accept it and it begins to transform them and to bear fruit.” How you hear and receive the Word is actually what you will get from it. The Word of God says you can completely tune out the Holy Spirit and never let Him speak to you.

If you hear the Word of God and are not changed by it, you’re more like the seven churches in Revelation. Every time there is a word of encouragement in Revelation, there is the command that “anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:29). The unforgiveable sin is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is talking to you and you reject the Spirit, it’s really hard to hear from the Lord. Each time the same statement is made to these churches (Revelation 2:11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). John 10:27-28 says, “My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.” And Mark 4:24 says, “Then He said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear. By the measure you use, it will be measured and added to you.’”

CLOSING

A deaf man experienced Christ and was able to read His lips, feel His touch, and eventually, hear His voice. Spiritually, we need to be in tune to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us.