Jesus’ Compassion

“I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

Mark 8:2-3

A couple of weeks ago, my girlfriend and I went to visit one of my old friends from university, Caz, and her husband Pawel.  They live in a little town called Skawina, just outside Krakow, in Poland.  It was great to see them both.  I don’t get to see them as much as I would like since Poland is a long way from my home in Sussex!  Despite the distance, and despite the fact I hadn’t seen them for quite a long time, it felt as if we had never been apart.  Sometimes you build friendships like that, that can almost continue where they left off, because you know each other so well.  Certainly, I think that is probably true for most of my university friends.  Spending three years together, especially in the close proximity of a university campus, means that strong friendships often develop.  For my university friends like Caz, I would do anything I could to help them if they were ever in need.

In today’s verse, we see Jesus adopt a similar attitude towards the crowd.  They have been with him for three days, listening to him preach, and had run out of food.  Jesus says that he has compassion for them, and shows that he is concerned for their well-being; he doesn’t want them to go home hungry, since they may collapse due to lack of food.  He recognizes that the people are in need, and despite the fact that he has not had the opportunity to form a close friendship with many of them, he shows that he wants to help them.  This is particularly interesting, since these people are probably gentiles.  For Jesus, though, that is not significant; just as he provided bread for the Jewish people at the feeding of the five thousand, so too he is happy to feed the gentiles.

Just as Jesus understood the needs of this crowd, so too he understands our needs, and wants to help us.  Just as he had compassion for the crowd, he has compassion for us, too, and will ensure that we are looked after.  Sometimes it seems that we have a God who us far off, but that could not be further from the truth.  He cares for us all, and will provide for us – if we only have faith.

Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.

Mark 7:36

I am absolutely hopeless at getting out of bed in the mornings.  Somehow, when I worked at my last school, I managed to get up at 5am to trek from Colchester, where I lived, to London, where I worked.  I have no idea how I managed it.  Nowadays, I just about make it into work as the bell for first lesson goes!  Luckily it’s just a twelve-minute drive these days rather than an hour and a half’s drive-train-walk as it was before!  For some reason, on Friday I woke up early though, and so, as I normally do most mornings, I checked my iPhone to see if I had any emails or text messages.  I did indeed have an email – an email that caused me to jump out of bed with excitement, which resulted in me actually being early for work for once!  The contents of the email had me greatly excited, but I was absolutely determined that I was going to keep my news to myself for a while, just to see what happened.  Unfortunately, I was so excited that I had to tell someone, and ended up telling the first colleague I saw!  Before I knew it, the whole staff common room knew my news!  It’s like that when you get exciting news, though, you just have to share it.

When Jesus came into the gentile region of the Decapolis, people must have started to get excited.  Jesus had visited before, and had exorcised a man with quite amazing consequences.  People were frightened, but intrigued as to who Jesus was.  Since then, he had continued his teaching and healing ministry, and news had spread to the Decapolis of the amazing things that Jesus had done.  Now, though, people were astonished at what they had seen.  Jesus had cured a deaf and mute man, simply by touching him.  A man who could not hear and who could barely speak was now able to do both!  It’s no surprise that they felt that just had to tell people what they had seen!  Jesus’ insistence that they keep what they had seen to themselves only heightened their excitement about Jesus, and they simply had to tell all of their friends!

So often these days, we seem to regard our faith as a bit of a chore.  We can all learn something from those people who witnessed Jesus.  Are you so excited about what Jesus has done – what he has done for you – that you simply have to share the news with all your family and friends?  If not, why not?!

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24Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. 26The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

27″First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”

28″Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

29Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

30She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

31Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32There 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.

33After 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. 34He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!” ). 35At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

36Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.

37People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Mark 7:24-37

It’s funny how our perceptions of people can change as we get to know them better.  Jane Austen was only too aware of this, and her characters often have a bit of a change of heart towards others as they get to know them.  The most famous example of this can be found in “Pride and Prejudice.”  In the novel, the central character of Elizabeth is initially repulsed by the character of Mr. Darcy (played in the BBC TV adaptation by Colin Firth), as she perceives him to be rude, uncaring and a complete snob.  However, as she gets to know him, she comes to realise that all is not what it seems, and after making a more careful study of the circumstances behind Mr. Darcy’s actions, realises that she may have been wrong.  She discovers that he is actually caring and considerate.  And then they get married and live happily ever after…

By the time we get to Mark chapter 7, we have already started to form an impression of Jesus, as have those people who have encountered him.  Yet on first reading of these verses, the depiction of Jesus jars slightly with the image we have built of him as caring and gentle towards those in need, despite his harsh words for the Pharisees earlier in this chapter.  Jesus appears to be denying the woman the healing she desires for her daughter because she is a gentile.  This type of situation is not reported anywhere else in the gospels.  He has healed gentiles before, and even revealed his true identity to the gentile woman at the well.  So why does he respond this way now?

Rather than simply agreeing to drive the demon out of the woman’s daughter, Jesus responds in a rather cryptic way.  This was a challenge to the woman, not a flat refusal to help her.  Jesus often spoke in parables, and did not make everything he said explicitly clear to those listening.  Like any good teacher he encouraged them to think for themselves, to question the established beliefs and whether they were true.  The same is true in this case.  Just as he knows all of us intimately, he also knew that this woman was what we might refer to as ‘a tough cookie’, and would be sharp enough to reply in kind.  He could see she had faith.  Sure enough, her faith is rewarded.  She does not meekly accept what Jesus says, but challenges him.  As a consequence, Jesus ensures that the demon is driven out from the woman’s daughter, despite the fact that she is a gentile.  Jesus appears to be willing to minister not just to Jews, but to gentiles too.

Jesus ministers to a gentile in the second half of this passage too.  Throughout this passage, Jesus is trying to lie low by avoiding Galilee and the Jewish authorities.   This may have been for rest and prayer, to avoid the authorities, or to avoid the crowds trying to make him king by force.  The region of the Decapolis is where he previously healed the demon-possessed man and ordered the demons into the lake.  The people there would have heard of him and his miracles and brought their sick to him.  The healing recounted here is of a man who is deaf and unable to speak properly.

Interestingly, if the man was deaf, it may well be that he did not know about Jesus at all prior to meeting him.  Certainly, he would not have heard nearly as much about Jesus as many other people would have done.  Perhaps he had grasped some of what his family and friends had said about Jesus, but he certainly would not have had a full comprehension, and would not have been able to have the faith that his friends have in bringing him to Jesus.

We know that Jesus has the ability to heal just by announcing that a person has been healed.  He can cure people without touching them, and even without necessarily being with them.  On this occasion, however, he chooses to make his healing very visual for the benefit of this deaf man.  He puts his fingers into the man’s ears and touches his tongue, which must have been a bit disconcerting if the poor guy did not know what was going on!  To help him to understand, Jesus says, “ephphatha,” a word that is very difficult to say, and which the man may well have been able to lip-read.  Jesus still gives him the opportunity to have faith that he can be healed.  So it is, therefore, that the deaf and mute man is healed not just as a consequence of the faith his friends had in Jesus’ ability to heal, but also his own faith.

The reaction of those who witnessed this miracle is particularly noteworthy.  The last time that Jesus was in this region, people were scared by Jesus and his power, and asked him to leave them alone.  Jesus responds by urging the formerly demon possessed man to tell all his friends and family what the Lord has done for him.  This time, however, they are not scared, but amazed and in awe at what Jesus has done, and rather than urging him to leave, they begin to wonder if he is, in fact, the Jewish messiah.  Mark records them saying that he has done everything well, and has even made the deaf hear and the mute speak.  This could be a reference to the prophesy in Isaiah 35 that the promised Messiah will open the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and make the tongue of the mute sing for joy.  So it is, then, that the first people to recognise that Jesus may well in fact be divine is a group of gentiles, perhaps foreshadowing the apostles’ mission to non-Jews.  Jesus responds with caution.  He is aware of the consequences of people discovering Jesus’ true identity, and asks the people there not to tell anyone.  He has a lot more he wants to achieve before too many people discover his identity.

This passage is a fascinating insight into the way in which Jesus’ ministry was changing, both in terms of who he was ministering to, but also with regards the reaction of the people towards him.  We see Jesus heal two gentiles, having previously focused predominantly on witnessing to the Jewish people, which suggests that God’s salvation plan is open to all, not just the Jews.  We too, therefore can be accepted by God, regardless of our background.  We also see people start to comprehend that perhaps Jesus is not just an amazing teacher, but could well be the promised messiah.  Not for the first time, we find ourselves encouraged to think about Jesus’ true identity.  Just who is this man?

Clean or Unclean?

Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’ “

Mark 7:14-15

My grandmother lives near a beach.  We used to enjoy visiting her because we could go out and play in the sand, building sandcastles and streams, and all the things that children do on the beach.  Living in Britain, though, she also had a “rainy day” box of puzzles and games that we could play with if it was too wet too play outside.  This was a literal “rainy day” box.

For some reason, we also talk about putting something away for a rainy day, normally in the context of saving money, perhaps for if we should fall upon hard times.  My girlfriend, bless her, thought for a long time that this ‘putting something away for a rainy day’ was an action not dissimilar to my grandmother’s rainy day box; she would put money aside to go to the leisure centre when it was wet outside.  It wasn’t until she was in her twenties that she made the shocking discovery that she had been wrong all along, when she finally discovered that ‘putting something away for a rainy day’ actually meant saving!

Just as that was a revelation to my girlfriend, I think that in today’s passage, Jesus’ words were probably a revelation to those listening to him.  For years they had been very careful about not eating specific foods, unless it made them unclean.  Jesus had just been told off for allowing his disciples for eating with ‘unclean’ hands.  Previously he has been castigated for mixing with ‘unclean’ individuals.  Just as he often does, though, Jesus turns their understanding of what it is to be unclean on its head.  It’s not what goes into a person that makes them unclean, but what comes out of them – all the evil thoughts, words, and actions that humans involve themselves in.  It is what we do and say that really exposes the state of our heart and soul; it is these things that demonstrate whether we are simply honouring God with our lips, or if it is genuine, heartfelt worship that we offer him.

Reflect today on all the things that you do and say that might displease God.  The great thing about Jesus’ death on the cross is that if we truly repent all of these things, our sins, we will be forgiven, and will once again appear pure and blameless in his sight.

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Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.

Mark 7:1-2

This morning I got up very late.  I was almost late to school!  In the car on the way to work I was listening to Terry Wogan, as I usually do, and he played Susan Boyle’s new song, Wild Horses. It’s not a song that I’m familiar with, but I thought it was beautiful, and that Susan sang it extremely well.  It was great to hear Susan Boyle back on the radio after her problems towards the end of her time on Britain’s Got Talent. Throughout her time on the show I felt that the stories that the media were putting out about her were most unfair.  It was almost as if they were simply turning up to laugh at the woman they seemed to think was mad, and tell us to do the same.  Susan Boyle had clearly created quite a stir, and the press were keen to undermine her by portraying her as mad woman who did not deserve the success that she was enjoying.

Jesus had evidently created quite a stir, too.  News of him had reached the religious leaders in Jerusalem, and they had made the long journey to see for themselves what he was up too.  They wanted to catch Jesus breaking their religious laws, and hoped if they did so they could use this to undermine his authority with his followers.  They would then drift away, Jesus, they thought, would shut up, and everyone could go back to how things were before Jesus started breaking the peace.   Unfortunately for them, on this occasion Jesus could not be criticized; his disciples were not actually breaking the law when they ate with unwashed hands, they were merely not adhering to religious traditions.

For the purposes of today’s reading, though, whether Jesus and his disciples were breaking Mosaic Law or not following tradition is not the main point.  The most significant point for me in this verse is the fact that Jesus’ reputation has reached Jerusalem; the religious leaders are so concerned about the following that Jesus was getting that they travelled to him to try and catch him out.  Clearly Jesus was not some insignificant teacher, then, but someone who posed a real threat to the established order.  In the same way, Jesus challenges the established order of our lives; he wants us to listen to him, to pledge ourselves to follow him, and ultimately to give our lives over to him.  This is certainly a big ask, surely if Jesus is truly the Son of God, we need to consider the implications of this – whether we decide to follow Jesus or not.

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