Jesus Overcomes the World: Mark 7:34-37
Humanity may have messed up the world, but Jesus came to overcome. I marvel at Jesus’ ability to see evidence of a fallen world everywhere He looked and still have so much love, peace, and compassion in His heart. Human beings use each other, treat each other poorly, and certainly don’t always understand what God desires from us. Yet, God still wants us even though we mess up. God still invites us into His plan even though we’ll probably make mistakes. God knows He can overcome anything we – or the rest of the world – throws at Him.
Jesus takes the deaf man aside, puts His fingers in the man’s ear, spits, touches the man’s tongue, sighs, and then tells the man to be opened. In an instant, the man is healed. I find this healing to be in great contrast to the previous healing. With the Syrophoenician’s daughter, Jesus didn’t do anything other than tell the woman the daughter was healed. There was no physical manipulation. There was no demonstration. Jesus healed the girl from afar plain and simple.
Clearly, God doesn’t need a physical demonstration or a magic phrase to help channel His power. So, what’s going on here? Why would Jesus use demonstrations in this case if they weren’t necessary?
The man is deaf and can’t hear what Jesus is going to do to him. It is highly probable that Jesus touches the man’s ears to help him realize Jesus’ focus on his need. Jesus touches the man’s tongue for the same reason. The demonstrations are not part of a mantra to channel power but an act of compassion to help the man understand. Jesus is having compassion upon the man because of his specific physical disabilities.
If that’s the case, why does Jesus sigh? The Greek word in this passage means more than a simple exhalation. The word connotes a spiritual or emotional concern. It is the sigh someone gives when something is wrong. Jesus is concerned on an emotional or spiritual level.
Before Jesus sighs, Jesus looks to the Father. This is a big clue. When Jesus looks to the Father, the focus is on the perfection of God, the power of God, and the beauty of God. Looking to heaven is a reminder to each of us of what God intended for life to be.
When Jesus looks away, He sees the brokenness of creation in the brokenness of the man. He sees the brokenness of creation in the crowd’s willingness to use a person’s brokenness to access a spectacle. The fallenness of the world pales in comparison to the beauty of the Father. If that wouldn’t evoke a spiritual sigh, I don’t know what would.
Even though the world is fallen, Jesus heals the man. Even though the world pales when compared to the Father, Jesus acts out of His compassion. Humanity may have messed up the world, but Jesus came to overcome.
