God’s Word for You
Mark 7:31-32 They begged Jesus
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, November 21, 2019
31 Then Jesus left the area near Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.
On a map, this seems like an unusual path to take to get back to Galilee. From the northwest, Jesus led his disciples further north (to Sidon) and then around Galilee from the north to get to the Decapolis. This probably included a trip along or around the slopes of Mount Hermon, which may have put them within a short walk to Damascus (there is no mention, however, of Jesus ever going to Damascus). Mark records no incidents at all from this trip, and he is the only Evangelist to mention it. In all, this vacation trip would have taken a minimum of two weeks, and perhaps it lasted longer. It would be good to remember that this trip followed the Feeding of the Five Thousand (Mark 6:30-56), perhaps Jesus’ most famous miracle, and that this was a good moment for him to get away with his disciples. He moved along the northern borders of Israel, entering Galilee from an unexpected direction: northeast. At last, they came around into the Ten Cities (the Decapolis), and it is there that Mark once again begins his narrative.
32 Some people brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
Matthew fills in some other details here: “Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them” (Matthew 15:29-30).
Mark says that one of the people brought to Jesus was a deaf man who was also mogilalon (μογιλάλον), a man with “thick speech.” His words were unintelligible. This is seen even today, especially when someone becomes deaf in childhood and still in the process of learning to talk. Without the sense of hearing the process is arrested, and the resulting speech is very difficult to understand, sometimes impossible.
The people who brought him asked Jesus to lay his hand on the man to heal him. Would he do what they asked? Jesus often healed by laying hands on people (Mark 5:23, 6:5, 8:23, 8:25), and he prophesied that his followers would do this after his ascension: “They will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mark 16:18).
What was the purpose of the healing miracles? In this chapter, we saw that the reason behind the work of the devil and his demons is to undermine God’s plan by ruining souls, bodies, and property. Here we see even more clearly the reason behind the work of Jesus. He came to uphold and carry out God’s plan by calling souls to faith and everlasting life, and wherever possible to heal bodies and to guide people to see property as a gift to use in the Lord’s service. In most of the healing miracles, Jesus is responding to requests (prayers) that come from faith. He heals in order to give glory to God the Father. He heals in order to show that the Father’s approval is behind all his teaching. He also heals so that what the devil has damaged can be restored.
Jesus invites us to pray for healing. He does not promise that every single prayer will be answered affirmatively or exactly in the way we request, but how will he answer a prayer that is left unsaid? As someone once pointed out, the only way to fail at prayer is not to show up. Ask the Lord for what you need. Admit it if you don’t know how to ask. But be bold. Be brave. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.