{"id":24261,"date":"2022-12-06T22:00:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T05:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/mark-7_24-30-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-11-22T18:34:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T01:34:52","slug":"mark-7_31-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/mark-7_31-37\/","title":{"rendered":"Let The Deaf Hear, Let The Mute Speak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 7:31-37\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 7:31-37.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 7:31-35 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue.
\n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him,\u00a0“Ephphatha!”\u00a0(which means, “Be opened!”).
\n35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 31-35:\u00a0 At first glance, to us reading these verses today, the steps Jesus took to heal this deaf and mute man might seem strange.\u00a0 But keep in mind that Jesus would often touch people as a part of healing them.\u00a0 He would often look to heaven while praying.\u00a0 He would sigh out of compassion and sometimes frustration.\u00a0 So perhaps it\u2019s just the spitting part that throws us off.\u00a0 One theory is that using saliva was common in ancient healing stories.\u00a0 Another theory is that before speaking the words \u201cEphphatha!\u201d, Jesus was using actions and sign language to tell this man that Jesus was about to heal him; that way this man would know what Jesus was about to do and have the opportunity to believe that Jesus could do it.<\/p>\n

Even when we don\u2019t fully understand Jesus\u2019 methods, we can be confident in both Jesus\u2019 intentions and Jesus\u2019 ability to bring about positive change in a person\u2019s life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, as strange as Jesus\u2019 methods might seem to some, do you think that deaf and mute man cared?\u00a0 Of course not.\u00a0 He was just happy to hear and talk normally.\u00a0 Let this story remind us once again that nothing is impossible with Jesus and that, like verse 37 says, Jesus does all things well.<\/p>\n

Mark 7:36-37 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.
\n37\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 36-37:\u00a0 Jesus commanded people not to tell others about him, but they did.\u00a0 Nowadays we see more of the opposite: Jesus commands his followers to tell others about him, and often we don\u2019t.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s out of fear, apathy, selfishness or pride that we fail to share about Jesus sometimes.\u00a0 May we not be spiritually deaf and mute.\u00a0 May we live out loud for Jesus and not be afraid to point people to Him in wise, loving, courageous ways.<\/p>\n

Jesus, I pray that I would not be deaf or mute when it comes to what You\u2019re doing.\u00a0 May I use my ears to hear You and my mouth to speak of You and to point others to You.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 7:31-37.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 7:31-35 (NIV)
\n31\u00a0\u00a0Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.
\n32\u00a0\u00a0There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.
\n33\u00a0\u00a0After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue.
\n34\u00a0\u00a0He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him,\u00a0“Ephphatha!”\u00a0(which means, “Be opened!”).
\n35\u00a0\u00a0At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 31-35:\u00a0 At first glance, to us reading these verses today, the steps Jesus took to heal this deaf and mute man might seem strange.\u00a0 But keep in mind that Jesus would often touch people as a part of healing them.\u00a0 He would often look to heaven while praying.\u00a0 He would sigh out of compassion and sometimes frustration.\u00a0 So perhaps it\u2019s just the spitting part that throws us off.\u00a0 One theory is that using saliva was common in ancient healing stories.\u00a0 Another theory is that before speaking the words \u201cEphphatha!\u201d, Jesus was using actions and sign language to tell this man that Jesus was about to heal him; that way this man would know what Jesus was about to do and have the opportunity to believe that Jesus could do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24261"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24264,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24261\/revisions\/24264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}