Jesus Christ: The God Who Astonishes Beyond Measure

Are you willing to see yourself as the dog you are that you might be transformed into the child you might become? Perhaps your sin is greater than you realize, but His grace is greater than you could ever imagine.

Mark 7:31-37

Perhaps this particular miracle had special significance to Peter, the eyewitness source for much of Mark’s Gospel, because he saw it as a physical parallel to his own spiritual experience. I can identify with that!

Jesus went north to Sidon before turning southeast to the region of the Decapolis (“10 cities”). All together this horseshoe-shaped journey would have constituted a 120-mile walk. It is an unusual course. It may have been taken to further avoid the Herodians and Pharisees who were after Him. It may also have been intended as an extension of His ministry to the Gentiles. More dogs are to receive crumbs from His table.

A man is brought to Jesus who was deaf and had a speech impediment. Like the Syrophoenician woman, the man’s friends were persistent in begging Jesus to lay His hand on the man. That they did not specifically ask for healing may indicate that all they were asking for was our Lord’s blessing. This they would receive, and more!

Jesus takes the man aside. His attention is personal and compassionate. Entering the man’s world, our Lord uses “sign language.”

As Jesus looked up to heaven, first He sighed. I believe this is an expression of our Lord’s love and compassion for this man and also His great grief over the fall of man and the terrible consequences of sin. It is the sigh of God over a broken creation. Second, He said, in Aramaic, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” The result is given in simple, straightforward language: “Immediately his ears were opened, his speech difficulty was removed, and he began to speak clearly” (v. 35). The original text says literally, “The shackle of his tongue was released.” Like a prisoner bound in chains, Jesus broke the fetters of his captivity and set him free.

One can only imagine the first words of clear speech uttered by this man. No doubt he was praising and glorifying God. Jesus charged him and his friends not to spread the news (v. 36), “But the more He would order them, the more they would proclaim it.” We cannot condone their disobedience, but we certainly can understand their response.

Mark’s conclusion has deep theological significance. “He has done everything well (good)” echoes creation and God’s work in Genesis 1-2. “He even makes deaf people hear, and people unable to speak, talk” recalls Isaiah, who wrote that when the Messiah comes, “the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for waters will gush in the wilderness, and streams in the desert” (Isa 35:5-6). Again James Edwards captures the great significance of this when he writes:

Thus we see the “grand redemptive storyline” in a miracle put on display. Creation (what God does is good) → Fall (a man deaf because of sin) → Redemption (the miracle of healing) → Restoration (God’s kingdom has arrived). Oh, there is so much here we need to see! There is so much here we need to “zealously proclaim.”

A beautiful hymn written by Charles Wesley wonderfully captures the heart of this text as well as our joyful response. “Hear” the words of stanzas 1, 4, and 5.

Jesus is the God who cannot be hidden. He is the Lord who does all things well!