“And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his
ears, and He spat and touched his tongue.
Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,”
that is, “Be opened.””
In this passage, Jesus healed a deaf and dumb man. This event is unique to the Gospel of
Mark. Further, this manner of healing is
unique. Jesus is most certainly unique
and each of us is unique as well. It is
no wonder that Jesus healed in different ways.
“The interesting thing about Jesus is that He did not follow a
pattern. We seem to be so organized; we
want everything to work by patterns. We're always looking for the secret
formula. We're always trying to find that method. And we're seeking to develop
within the church methodologies, "This is the method by which the work of
God is wrought." No, there is no method by which the work of God is
wrought. God works in many different ways and refuses to be confined to any
pattern, because God doesn't want us to develop methodology. So, the Lord has
chosen to work as He pleases to work, and often times in different ways.” (Chuck Smith)
After Jesus put His fingers in his ears, spat and touched
the man’s tongue, He looked up to heaven.
Wherever Jesus went He gave praise to God in front of the people. He was clear that His power came from heaven,
that He was one with the Father. This
man, though, was deaf. Jesus was not
just healing the man, He was showing him much, much more. “He looked up to heaven, to give his Father
the praise of what he did; for he sought his praise, and did his will, and, as
Mediator, acted in dependence on him, and with an eye to him. Thus he signified
that it was by a divine power, a power he had as the Lord from heaven, and
brought with him thence, that he did this; for the hearing ear and the seeing
eye the Lord has made, and can remake even both of them. He also hereby
directed his patient who could see, though he could not hear, to look up to
heaven for relief.” (Matthew Henry)
Jesus adapted His way of healing to the particular
circumstances of the person being healed.
Sometimes Jesus commented on the faith of the infirmed, sometimes He
commented on the faith of their mother, father, friends or boss. Sometimes He touched them, or they touched
Him, or His garment. Sometimes He just said
it was done. “I am quite convinced if we
could perfectly know these men we should discover the reason for the method. In
each case Christ adapted Himself to the need of the man.” (Morgan)
OK, so we should not look for a methodology in serving
Jesus. There are, however, a few glaring
consistencies in the ministry of Jesus. One
is that Jesus had compassion for people.
He loved them – sacrificially. Have
you ever tried that? It is impossible in
the flesh. I will testify to that. It is only through the power of the Holy
Spirit that we are able to love the unlovable.
But when we die to our flesh and surrender to the power of the Holy
Spirit, it is then we can love an individual sacrificially. It is then that we can see them through the
eyes of Jesus. It is then that God can
use us to work His miracles in that person’s life.
Rather than a methodology, it is more like a state of
being. Or better yet, a way of living. Jesus tells us to live in His love. “As
the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” (John 15:9)
“Without making His love our ultimate dwelling, we cannot fully live in
faith and hope.” (Charles Stanley) God is so gracious. He will help you along. Ask Him to show you how to abide in His
love. Then service to Him should be as
supernatural as it was for Jesus.
May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment