Mark 7:31-37 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came to the sea of Galilee, through the middle of the coasts of Decapolis.… I. The general STUDY OF THE STORY would furnish several very excellent and edifying lessons suggested by our Lord's action in working this miracle upon the shore of Decapolis. 1. We might note, earliest, the wide reach of the Master's zeal: "And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, He came unto the Sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis." Jesus had just come from Tyre and Sidon, clear across in a heathen land; He was now in the midst of some Greek settlements on the eastern shore of the Sea of Tiberias. We see how He appears thus going upon a foreign mission. 2. Then, next, we might dwell upon the need of friendly offices in apparently hopeless cases. "And they bring unto Him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech Him to put His hand upon him." 3. We might also mention, just here, the manipulations of our Saviour as illustrating the ingenuity of real sympathy. "And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers into his ears, and He spit, and touched his tongue." 4. Even better still is our next lesson: we observe our Lord's respect for everyone's private reserves of experience. "And He took him aside from the multitude privately." We shall surely do better always, when we bring souls to the Saviour, if we respect the delicacy of their organization, and take them aside. 5. Now we notice the naturalness of all great services of good. "And looking up to heaven, He sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened." At the supremely majestic moments of His life our Lord became simpler in utterance and behaviour than at any other time. He fell back on the sweet and pathetic speech of His mother tongue. 6. Again: we learn here the risks of every high and new attainment. "And his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And He charged them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it. And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well; He maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." What will the restored man do with his gifts? II. The singular PECULIARITY OF THIS STORY, however, is what might be made the subject of more extended remark in a homiletic treatment. Three things meet us in their turn. 1. A question stands at the beginning: Why did our Lord sigh when He was looking up to heaven? 2. We are left in this case to conjecture. And, in a general way, perhaps it would be enough to say that there was something like an ejaculatory prayer in this sigh of Jesus' soul; but more likely there was in it the outbreaking of sad and weary sympathy with the suffering of a fallen race like ours. It may be He sighed because there was so much trouble in the world everywhere. It may be He sighed because there were many who made such poor work in dealing with their trouble. It may be He sighed because He could not altogether alleviate the trouble He found. Some worries were quite beyond the reach of His power. He did not come to change the course of human affairs. Men are free agents; Jesus could not keep drunkards from killing themselves with strong drink if they would do it. It was not His errand on earth to crush in order to constrain. It may be He sighed because the trouble He met always had its origin and its aggravation in sin. This was the one thing which His adorable Father hated, and against which He was a "consuming fire." It may be He sighed because so few persons were willing to forsake the sins which made the trouble. It may be He sighed because the spectacle of a ruined and rebellious world saddened Him. When the old preacher came back from captivity and found Jerusalem in fragments; when Marius returned and sat down among the broken stones of Carthage, we are not surprised to be told that they wept, though both were brave men. But these give but feeble illustration of the passionate mourning of soul which must have swept over the mind and heart of Jesus. Who knew what this earth had been when it came forth pure from the creating hand of His Father. No wonder He walked heavily depressed and mournful all through His career. 3. It is time to end conjecture, and come at once now to the admonition we find here in the story. Christians need more "sighs." Christians must follow sighs with more "looking up to heaven." Christians may cheer themselves with the prospect of a new life in which sighing shall be neither needed nor known. The Saviour shall then have seen of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. |
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