Scripture

They were completely amazed and said again and again, “Everything he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those who who cannot speak.”

Observation

Jesus travels around the Gentile areas including Decapolis, the Ten Towns. A deaf mean with speech problems is brought to him, and the people beg Jesus to heal him.

Jesus takes the man away from the crowd. He’s puts his fingers in the man’s ears and puts spit on his tongue. He looks up to heaven and says, “Ephphatha”, which means “Be opened.”

Jesus tells the crowd not to tell anyone, but they spread the news. The man is instantly healed.

Jesus tells the crowd not to tell anyone, but they spread the news. They are amazed by what Jesus does.

Application

As much as Jesus was happy to heal people, His main concern was to preach the kingdom.

Some of the people were more interested in the wonders of the miracles than in the person of Jesus, or the message of salvation, They worshipped the sign rather than the person the miracles pointed to

We see that in the contemporary church at times. Crowds are attracted to the prophets and healing ministers. They want a “word” or a “miracle,” but they are less concerned with living for Jesus.

Some people, feeling under pressure from other people’s expectations, fake the prophecies and miracles. Then there is a crisis of trust in the church.

That could be avoided If we remembered that it is all about Jesus.