Fallibility Of Man
LENT 2024 | DAY 17
Mark 7:31-37 (NIV)
(David Mok, Chairperson, Church Analytics Ministry)
As I read Mark 7:31-37, verse 34 stood out for me.
According to the passage, Jesus travelled from Tyre to the Decapolis region. The people there pleaded with Jesus to heal a deaf man who had a speech impediment. Jesus then led him away from the crowd to treat him in private. Why Jesus wanted to heal this deaf man away from publicity is unknown. By this time, there should have been no mystery regarding Jesus’ capacity to heal as He had already commenced His healing ministry. All that was known was Jesus “commanded them not to tell anyone” (verse 36), indicating that He wanted privacy.
In this incident, it is recorded that Jesus sighed heavily before He performed the healing. This is rather unusual as He had been healing scores of people before. My takeaway is that Jesus was struggling between the foreknowledge of the men’s disobedience and His compassion for the deaf man. Jesus specifically told the men around Him not to tell anyone, but He also knew that they would disobey Him (and they did). Torn between compassion and the predicted disobedience, He went ahead in love to heal the man. In that struggle of emotions, He let out a groaning sigh.
How many times have I, after experiencing the grace of God, immediately sleep-walked into disobedience again? It was just a few weeks ago that I remarked to my wife how God had changed me from an impatient driver to a calmer person behind the wheel. I was thankful and grateful. No sooner had I made that remark, on the very next day while I was driving, I raised an exasperated hand at an inconsiderate driver! The minute I raised my hand, I found myself experiencing the ‘crow of the rooster’ moment. I found myself not extending grace to the driver when I was supposed to. I can imagine our Lord rolling his eyes at me the moment I raised my hand at the driver. After all the work He had done to change my self-righteous heart, our Lord has every reason to sigh at me!
I will remind myself that there are many areas in my life that still need changing for the better – towards Christlikeness. I have to believe that I can still change and more importantly, I need that desire to change.
DISCUSSION POINTERS:
1. List the one or two times where you thought you had changed, only to repeat the same wrongdoing. What can you do to prevent this from happening?
2. Are there areas in your life where you can be more Christlike? Commit these areas to God.
3. Why do you think Jesus asked the people not to tell anyone about the miracles he had performed? How can this apply to you?
