Jesus continues his gentile mission work
After Jesus got his vision stretched in the story from Mark 7:24-30, his next move is to travel back through the Galilee (Jewish territory) back to the Decapolis which is primarily a gentile territory. That story is told in Mark 7:31-37. His first encounter there as reported is with a crowd and some people who wanted their friend healed of his condition of deafness. It seems a long trip to another gentile territory if Jesus hasn’t perhaps been stretched by the Syrophoenician woman he encountered before. Don’t get me wrong- I’m glad for the gentile extension since I am myself a gentile but it does seem a stretch and perhaps a new focus to Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus heals the man and once again asks that it be kept quiet. Quiet is not something one can keep if they are suddenly able to speak and hear after not being able to previously. Rather an ironic request from Jesus.
Keeping quiet about Jesus seems pretty easy for us in the United States. When we do speak up about him too often it seems we use him as a club about something someone else is doing “wrong” (rarely do we call ourselves for the same behavior??). What is going to heal my deafness to the cries of people all around me in the world who need hope and love and healing? What will excite me so in the healing that I’ll actually speak of the Jesus I’ve met?
