Daily Devotional • August 1
A Reading from Mark 7:24-37
24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And when she went home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue.34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Meditation
Jesus leaves Capernaum hoping for rest and space to teach his disciples in private. The crowds find him, as they always do. A Gentile woman (an outsider by every cultural standard) boldly but respectfully pleads for Jesus to heal her daughter.
At first, Jesus resists. He came to train his disciples. But the woman is undeterred. “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs,” she says. Her response is full of humility, courage, and faith. Moved, Jesus grants her request, and her daughter is healed.
Jesus then travels on to Sidon, where some friends bring him a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment. Jesus takes the man aside privately, touches his ears and tongue, and speaks a single word: Ephphatha. Be opened. The man is healed.
Again, Jesus tells the man and those around him to stay quiet. And again, they cannot help but share the news.
Why does Jesus so often ask people to keep their miracles secret? Scholars point to what they call the “Messianic Secret.” Jesus knows his time has not yet come. But why delay the inevitable donkey ride into Jerusalem?
Because Jesus did not come only to die. He came to teach us how to live.He knows the crowds are quick to follow a miracle-worker. That is the easy part. But Jesus knows it takes time to build disciples.
It takes time to teach them (and us) how to recognize brokenness and turn to the Lord. Time for us to respond to God’s mercy by spending our lives for the sake of the poor, the sick, and the needy.
This is the good life, just as God has tried to reveal to his people across the narrative of Scripture. Jesus can deliver quick-fixes, but he’d rather show us how to live life to the fullest.
Pieter Valk is a licensed professional counselor, the director of EQUIP, and cofounder of the Nashville Family of Brothers, an ecumenically Christian brotherhood for men called to vocational singleness.
♱
Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
Christ and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Norfolk, Virginia
The Diocese of Niger Delta North – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
Pieter Valk is a Guest Writer. He is a speaker, author, consultant, and licensed counselor. His work is detailed on pieterlvalk.com.
