Mark 7:31-37 Pentecost 16
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ September 8, 2024
SEE THE PURPOSE OF JESUS’ POWER I was fascinated by magicians when I was a kid. I remember getting a magic kit for my birthday one year. I thought it was the greatest gift! Obviously, we’re really talking about “illusion,” not magic. I promise you that I never called on supernatural, magical forces! These days I have only one trick, and I only do it when I’m goofing around with little kids. Some of you may know this one. You take a quarter, hold it between your thumb and your first finger, scoop your other hand in there to grab it, then count…1…2…3, and open your hand—but it’s gone! Gasps and wide-eyed amazement follow. And when I grab their ear and produce the quarter which “magically” ended up there, it’s
“Do it again! Do it again!”
“Do it again!” That’s what the people all around the Sea of Galilee were saying to Jesus wherever he went. They gasped and stood wide-eyed with amazement at the miraculous amount of food he gave them. Astounded, their mouths hung open as they watched him make the blind see, the lame walk, and lepers clean again. “Do it again!” Food, healing, miracles—they wanted him to keep producing whatever they needed. Or whatever they wanted. Today we also marvel at Jesus’ power as we watch him heal a deaf man whose speech was also impaired. It’s better if we are more clear than the crowds were about Jesus’ purpose as he stepped into people’s lives with divine power. Then we can rightly view him as our Savior and the world’s Savior and accept the ways he uses his power today— or chooses not to at times. Jesus was up on the Phoenician coast of the Mediterranean Sea. If you can picture a map of Israel, think north of the Sea of Galilee and to the west, right on the coast. It’s where Lebanon is today. He left there, coming down and over to the Sea of Galilee and then down farther still, southeast of the Sea to the area of the “10 Cities” or “Decapolis.” Since Jesus had been preaching, teaching, and healing for the better part of three years already, his miraculous powers were well-known. So, when he got there, the people in the area brought him a man who couldn’t hear and could barely talk. They did what you or I might have done if we had been there—they begged Jesus to heal the man. You might imagine how I play up my little trick to the kids. Better than that, think about how Penn and Teller or Criss Angel or David Copperfield would play up their illusions for a Las Vegas crowd. Drawing people in, looking to impress them, to entertain them. The Decapolis was no Vegas, and what Jesus did was no trick. It was not illusion. He wasn’t looking to impress the crowd. What he did made impression though.