Please take out your copy of God's Word. Turn to the Gospel according to Mark chapter 7.
! Often during an offering there's a choir special at a larger church.
! And I'm a fan of the choir special.
I think it's enjoyable to hear large groups of people singing God's praises.
But I will take that over a choir special any day.
So thank you, Wes and Liz. I appreciate that.
Mark chapter 7, as we continue to work through our preaching of the Gospel of Mark.
Every week when one Sunday sermon closes down, I turn my attention to the next week and begin to prayerfully consider where we should go next.
And as we believe in verse-by-verse exposition as a general habit, of course my mind immediately goes to what's happening next in our text.
And how far should we go?
And I'm very apt every week to take some time to stop and ask the Lord if this is what He would have us do.
I think it's also okay to take a break from our verse-by-verse exposition and do that.
And I've got to tell you that this week I had the hardest time finding bearing on this morning's text.
And figuring out what it is exactly that God wanted to communicate to us from it.
And so I asked a couple of times, Lord, are you sure this is the text?
Mother's Day, should I preach a sermon about women and being mothers?
And was convinced that this was the text for us this day.
So I hope that you'll enjoy it as we join together.
At least there's a mother in it as we preach through it today.
Let me remind you though, before we read, we're going to look together at verses 24-37 in chapter 7.
But before we get there, remember that Jesus has just had this encounter with the scribes and the Pharisees.
The Pharisees, kind of the legalistic Jews of this day, they were apostate in every way.
They had really walked away from God and God's ways and His commandments, although they thought they were following Him to the letter.
But we see here as He confronts them, He quotes from them this prophecy from Isaiah.
And He says, in vain do they worship Me.
Speaking of both the Pharisees and the scribes, as well as all of Israel, as He says to us here.
They worshipped Him in vain as hypocrites with their hearts far removed from Him.
Placing above the commandment of God the traditions of men.
Giving evidence of their defilement or their uncleanliness, their unholiness.
By participating in the activities that we saw listed in verses 21 and 22.
And so we see that it is possible to worship the right God, but to worship Him wrongly.
And this is a fearful thing.
We ought to draw our minds and our hearts to worship Him properly.
Because God desires of us heart worship.
Deuteronomy 6.5
God commands, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
And hearts that are changed by God are hearts that worship God.
And this is what God desires of us.
And so as we look at this next text together, it would seem that Mark was inspired to record these events in this order
to stress this very point, what Jesus was speaking about defilement.
That it is a matter of the heart that matters mostly.
So look in your text and your copy of God's Word as I read to you verses 24 through 37.
And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.
But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.
Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth.
And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
And he said to her,
Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to dogs.
But she answered him,
Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.
And he said to her,
For this statement you may go your way.
The demon has left your daughter.
And she went home and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone.
Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis.
And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears,
and after spitting, touched his tongue and looked up to heaven.
He sighed and said to him,
Ephphathah, that is, be opened.
And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
And Jesus charged them to tell no one.
But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.
And they were astonished beyond measure, saying,
He has done all things well.
He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.
This is God's word to us, written for his glory and our good.
We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
Let's pray together.
Father God, we do thank you for your word to us.
And Father, we recognize this morning that while this is an ancient book,
written in ancient pen,
that it was inspired by your spirit,
that Mark was carried along by him as he recorded the life of Jesus for us.
It has meaning and it has bearing on us this day.
And we believe that you brought us here together with purpose and meaning.
And so I pray, Father, we are all making ourselves available to what you would say to us by your word.
This is accomplished by the power of your spirit,
so we ask for a great deal of blessing in the preaching of your word
and the hearing of it as well,
to the great end of your glory.
And we pray this in Christ's name.
Amen.
So we see here that Jesus has concluded his time in Galilee.
His Galilean ministry has wound down.
And he leaves the region altogether and departs to go to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
Now, if you're not familiar with the geography of this day,
these two cities were located on the coast of the Mediterranean.
And this was far outside of any Jewish dwelling.
Now, to be clear, the Jews were interspersed in a number of places.
So there's not an area that Jesus travels that there were no Jews.
But by and large, this is now a Gentile region, right?
Which is a generic term for people who are not of Jewish descent,
which I would assume includes all of us in this room.
Maybe not, but most of us in this room would be counted in that number.
And this is the place that he travels to.
And it appears that he travels there to rest.
If you look at the second half of verse 24,
he goes and he hides himself away in a house,
but he is found out just the same.
So it seems that he's withdrawing.
And as is always the case, the crowds seem to follow him.
His reputation precedes him.
And there's a request that's made of him.
After this encounter with a Syrophoenician woman,
he makes a journey to the Decapolis, which he's been in before.
But this time to get there, rather than crossing the Sea of Galilee,
he goes through Sidon, which is on the northern area of this region that he's in,
and makes, it seems, we don't know this for sure,
but it seems that he makes a rather circuitous route
to get to the Decapolis, going all the way around Galilee.
So he is done with Galilee.
He has laid out his ministry.
He has preached the gospel there.
He has healed countless numbers.
And he's now going to go all the way around it
to get to this region called the Decapolis.
Now remember the last time he was there,
he crossed over the Sea of Galilee,
and he was encountered by a man as soon as he lands
that was possessed by a legion of demons.
And he casts him out into a bunch of pigs
who run off and are drowned into the sea.
And after this, the man wants to follow him.
He asks that he can get back in the boat with him and go with him.
But Jesus doesn't permit him to do that.
And in chapter 5, verse 19, he says to the man,
go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you
and how he has had mercy on you.
And then Mark accounts that this man went away
and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.
And everyone marveled.
So it would seem that the man traveled far and wide in this region
that was east of the Sea of Galilee
and shared what Jesus had done for him.
And he was apparently successful in telling his friends what the Lord had done
because now we see this crowd gathered.
You see the mention of that in verse 33 that's gathered to him.
And then we note at the summation of all of this,
in verse 36, that Jesus charged them,
those who were his friends,
those who witnessed the healing of this man who was deaf
and had some form of blockage in his speech,
to not tell anyone.
But the more he charged them,
the more zealously they proclaimed it.
So he had entered into a region where he had no fame.
He cast out a legion of demons out of a man
and now he's suddenly famous.
And he's in a region now where this fame is growing
and it's growing.
And as seemed to always be the case,
as Jesus is led along by the Father,
he's trying to keep his popularity down a bit,
I believe to waylay his crucifixion,
that he might complete his time on earth
before it is that he's crucified.
So here's kind of the background
of where we see him moving as these events take place.
And I'd like for us to notice two things,
two primary things from our text this morning.
Number one, Jesus' compassion to non-Jewish peoples.
Praise God were the recipients of that.
And number two, the faith of the Syrophoenician woman
and the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment.
So these are kind of the larger things
that we want to notice together today
as we talk through these stories together.
So when he goes to this region of Tyre and Sidon,
he's encountered by a woman and she's called here a Gentile,
verse 26, now the one was a Gentile,
a Syrophoenician by birth.
Another way to say that would have been a Syrian Phoenician,
which speaks to her ethnicity being Syrian,
as well as the region in which she lived.
A larger area of the region of Tyre and Sidon
would have been known as Phoenicia.
And that is to say she was not of Jewish descent.
She was of a different ethnicity, a Syrian ethnicity.
These were people that were enemies of the Jewish people.
These were people that had carried them off
hundreds of years earlier into captivity
and they had later been released.
Much calamity had come upon the people of Israel
as a result of a Syrian attacks.
So she was of that descent.
That was her ethnicity.
And she didn't live in what was considered the Holy Land.
She lived outside of that realm in the region of Phoenicia.
And that's why this is being established for us.
Because the Jews thought that the blessings of God
just came to them because they were of a blood descent from Abraham.
That the promises to Abraham, the Abrahamic covenant,
was just theirs because of their bloodline.
And this was some of the arrogance that the Pharisees, the scribes,
and the people at large possessed in their worship of God.
So remember that.
We're coming just off the heels of this confrontation
and we're going to see many more as we progress through the Gospel of Mark.
But they were basing their merit before God
on something that was exterior
and that is their blood lineage,
which I get doesn't feel exterior.
But just the same.
It was a thing that was tangible,
not an issue of their heart.
So Mark establishes that for us, right?
Both by ethnicity and region,
that she was not Jewish.
In addition to that,
she was a woman
who would have been very much more lowly thought of
in this very patriarchal society.
And she had not a son that had a demon possession,
but she had a daughter with an unclean spirit.
So as far as the Jews were concerned,
the odds would have been really stacked up against
there being any blessing of any kind given to this woman.
Jesus had no reason in their thinking
to show her any compassion whatsoever.
And we see that she comes to Jesus
and she begs him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
She knew,
probably because she had heard of the work that he had done,
she had probably heard of the many exorcisms he had already done,
that he had the power to do this very thing.
But it's interesting that she thought
that that was something that he would do for her,
a woman with a daughter
who was not found to be part of Israel.
And so I wonder why,
and we don't know for sure,
but maybe,
maybe she knew the Old Testament Scriptures.
Maybe they had been taught to her at some point.
A scripture like Isaiah 5, 26,
which says,
He, being God,
will raise a signal for nations far away
and whistle for them from the ends of the earth
and behold,
quickly,
speedily,
they come.
Maybe she was like the Sumerian woman
that Jesus met at the well
found in John chapter 4.
The woman says to him,
Jesus,
Sir,
I perceive that you are a prophet.
Our fathers worshipped on this mountain,
but you say that in Jerusalem
is the place where people ought to worship.
Jesus said to her,
Woman,
believe me,
the hour is coming when neither on this mountain
nor in Jerusalem
will you worship the Father.
You worship what you do not know.
We worship what we know,
for salvation
is from the Jews.
Remember,
Sumerian people were
an interbred people.
They were a people that existed
apart from the pure bloodline of Israel
because these were people that
were the result of intermarriages
between Babylonians
and the Israelites.
Verse 23,
But the hour is coming
and is now here
when the true worshippers
will worship the Father
in spirit and truth.
For the Father is seeking such people
to worship Him,
worship Him from the heart.
God is spirit
and those who worship Him
must worship in spirit and truth.
The woman said to Him,
so here's where we are,
maybe this Syrophoenician woman
was like the Samaritan in this way.
The woman said to Him,
I know that Messiah is coming,
He who is called Christ.
When He comes,
He will tell us all things.
Jesus said to her,
I who speak to you am He.
And so she knew,
the Samaritan woman knew,
that the blessings of God
could come to her in Christ.
Maybe the Syrophoenician woman
thought so as well.
Maybe she was familiar
with Psalm 145,
8-13,
which says,
The Lord is gracious
and merciful,
slow to anger,
and abounding
in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and His mercy is over
all that He has made.
All your work
shall give thanks to you,
O Lord,
and all your saints
shall bless you.
They shall speak of the glory
of your kingdom
and tell of your power
to make known to the children
of man your mighty deeds
and the glorious splendor
of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures
throughout all generations.
Maybe she was aware
of the mercy that God had shown
the Ninevites
by the message of Jonah.
She saw that God has always
been about the work
of making Himself known
among the nations.
Israel used to be
the vehicle
by which that happened.
This was the way
that God displayed
His majesty
in a people.
Now the church
is that vehicle.
Praise God.
Which includes Gentiles.
And this is why,
as a church,
we have a vision statement
that includes
peoples.
We even use this language
to draw our minds
simply beyond the people
that we encounter
day to day,
but peoples,
meaning people groups,
people of different ethnicities
and backgrounds,
nationalities.
So Christ Family Church
exists to glorify God
by experiencing,
proclaiming,
and displaying
the supremacy
of Jesus Christ
in all things
to all peoples.
Because God wants
to be known
amongst all peoples
to the ends of the earth.
He is a global God
who deserves
global glory.
I would say to you
this is likely
what she knew
to be true
of Jesus
because of the way
she approaches Him.
She probably knew
that she wasn't excluded
from the blessing
of God in Christ
because of her ethnicity
or nationality.
The only thing
that can possibly
exclude anyone
from the blessings
of God in Christ
is their own unbelief.
Let's get that straight
in our minds.
The only thing
that can possibly
exclude anyone
from the blessings
of God in Christ
is their own unbelief.
There's nothing
that we have done.
There's no part
of who we are
except for our unbelief
that excludes us
from the blessings
of God in Christ.
Now as a side lesson
for mothers today,
if your child
has some spiritual malady
and the problems
that our children
experience
are only either
physical
or they are spiritual,
they have some
spiritual malady,
Jesus is the one
you should go to
for the remedy.
Our children need
doctors and Christ.
We don't need
child psychologists.
It's only valuable
psychology
if it points people
to Jesus Christ.
So let's go to Christ
for the spiritual maladies
of our kids.
I'm sure this week,
mothers,
you have felt
like your children
might be demon-possessed.
It's a high likelihood
of that.
Now Jesus responds
to her,
verse 27,
and it seems so harsh,
doesn't it?
It seems so very harsh.
Let the children
be fed first,
for it is not right
to take the children's bread
and throw it
to the dogs.
And this was,
on the surface,
pretty harsh.
This would have been
the appropriate
ethnic response.
This is the type of thing
that a Jew would have said
to a Gentile
who was asking
for some blessing
from God.
They would have seen
themselves as special
and set apart
and called,
in derision,
called people dogs.
Now Jesus was not
without compassion
at this point,
but this was rather,
he said this as a testing
of her faith.
So he gave to her
a harsh statement,
a statement that may have
caused her to turn away
altogether,
to say this couldn't
possibly be the man
that could do this thing
for my daughter,
but instead,
she gives to him
this beautifully
humble response.
And beloved,
humility is the beginning
of our faith
when we realize
that we are,
in fact,
broken.
That having once been
image bearers of God,
that has been destroyed.
Not made a little worse,
but destroyed
by sin.
That we have no capacity
for that whatsoever
apart from Christ.
And so we come to him
humbly.
And look what she does.
She answers him,
verse 28,
yes, Lord.
Yes, she is in
agreement with him.
It would be wrong
to do this thing.
I am a dog,
is what she's saying.
I am the very thing
you have accused me
of being.
Yet even the dogs
under the table
eat the children's crumbs,
which is so clever
of her.
But it is her faith
that elicits
Jesus' response.
It's not the cleverness
of her argument.
She didn't get him.
He didn't go,
oh, you got me.
You got me.
You tricked me into it.
Now I must heal
your daughter.
But it was this response
of faith.
For this statement,
you may go your way.
The demon has left
your daughter.
You see,
faith is what brings
to us
the blessings
of God.
I think she understood this.
If she didn't get it,
this is the thing
that Mark is trying
to communicate
to us.
Now remember Abraham.
Remember the Abrahamic covenant
that God said
to Abraham,
I will make you
the father
of many nations.
And he was very old
when this happened.
If you would turn with me
to Romans chapter 4.
Let me show you
a bit of this
before we move on
in our text.
Romans 4 beginning
in verse 18.
Paul writing here
is speaking of Abraham
in hope he,
Abraham,
believed against hope
that he should become
the father of many nations
as he had been told
so shall your offspring be.
He did not weaken
in faith
when he considered
his own body
which was as good
as dead
since he was about
100 years old.
Those of you who are
approaching that,
I'm sorry for the offense.
Or when he considered
the barrenness
of Sarah's womb.
Sarah had not born children
in many, many, many years.
No unbelief
made him waver
concerning the promise
of God
but he grew strong
in his faith
as he gave glory to God.
Fully convinced
that God was able
to do what he had promised.
That is why
his faith
was counted to him
as righteousness.
Now here's the key for us.
But the words
it was counted to him
were not written
for his sake alone
but for ours also.
It will be counted
to us who believe
in him
who raised from the dead
Jesus our Lord
who was delivered up
for our trespasses
and raised
for our justification.
So if we believe
in the God
who raised Jesus
from the dead
we believe
in that reality
it will also be counted
to us
as righteousness.
It is by our faith
that we are saved.
That is the great
treatise of Romans.
Right?
Salvation by grace alone
through faith alone
in Christ alone.
Right?
So Jesus' response
in verse 29
is because her statement
evidenced her faith
and therefore
he exercised
he cast the demon
out of the daughter
and we get the affirmation
of that in verse 30.
She goes home
and yes indeed
Mark records for us
it happened.
Jesus spoke it
and it did in fact
happen.
What a beautiful
beautiful response
of humility
and faith.
He then leaves the region
making the circuitous route
and going to the region
of the Decapolis
and we see the man
who was deaf
and had a speech impediment.
Some of your texts
might say that he was mute.
I looked a little bit
just for interest
into that this week
and the Greek
really seems to be
more properly rendered
speech impediment.
Couldn't speak clearly.
A stutter.
Something of that type.
It doesn't really matter though.
He couldn't hear
and something was wrong
with the way he spoke.
This region of the Decapolis
was a region containing
ten prominent Gentile cities.
It was made up
of many more cities.
It's a big region
if you get curious
and you want to flip
to the back of your Bible.
It's the region
that's primarily
the whole region
to the east
of the Sea of Galilee.
And we see again
some evidence
of faith.
We see in verse 32
at least likely
I think
he's got a group
that bring him
to Jesus.
Now I got in a conversation
with this text
with my father
this morning
and he made a really
really great point to me
and I just would like
to bring it up
for you.
We see constantly
throughout the Gospels
we see it here
in the Gospel of Mark
this encounter
with the scribes
and the Pharisees
and it seems to be
a thing that increases.
You see because
Jesus was coming
and he was destroying
the religion
that they had set up.
And this was not
simply a religion
that was something
they did just in
devotion to God
but it gained for them
a great deal of power
a great deal of wealth.
There was a structure
that was in place
that was very beneficial
to them
on this side
of heaven
and that's not something
that they wanted
to find destroyed
and so we see
there's constantly
a little group
of these guys
following around
looking for occasion
to step in
and interject
ask questions
to try to get him
to falter
and to fail
at some point
so they could accuse him
of not being
who he said
that he is.
And my dad proposed
that it's possible
and I have to
mull this over
a bit more
it's very possible
that the people
who brought this man
being the they
we find at the beginning
of verse 32
may have in fact
been a group
of Pharisees
and the reason
that that could be
possible
is because they asked
they begged him
to lay his hand
on him
and this would have
been a Jewish
thing to do
I don't know
it's possible
that this is the case
it also could be
just a group of friends
maybe they were
even Jewish
living in the
Decapolis region
and they brought
to him
their friend
and begged him
that word
is a challenging one
in that view
but they begged him
to do this
so we see
possibly
that they had
faith in this regard
maybe not
maybe they were
coming
looking for a sign
looking to do
something to
bring an accusation
we see
in chapter 8
Jesus is going to
feed 4,000
and the very next
thing we see
is Pharisees
demanding a sign
from him
so questionably
his friends had faith
but we do see
that he does
the man that
they bring to him
this man who is deaf
and has some type
of speech impediment
does in fact
have faith
the beginning
of verse 33
we record
that he went
with Jesus
right
Jesus takes him
aside
he takes him
aside from the
crowd
privately
the man goes
with him
the man was
capable
of not going
with him
and walking
away
but he does
go in fact
with him
and he has
faith that this
man can do
something
for him
now the
interesting
question in
this text
and this
miracle by the
way is only
recorded in the
gospel of
mark
the interesting
question is
why did
Jesus pull
the man
aside
from the
crowd
we know
that Jesus
performed miracles
not as the
primary purpose
of his ministry
but he performed
miracles
to give
evidence to
to give
power
to give
credence
to the
message
that he
was
preaching
it was
constantly
a way
to draw
people
to the
very
thing
he was
trying
to say
to them
and that
was the
gospel
of the
kingdom
of God
so why
does he
pull
this
man
aside
and it
actually
says
he pulls
him
aside
privately
which
I would
presume
!
means it
was just
this
man
and
Jesus
maybe
some
of the
disciples
were
around
him
but
he
gets
them
away
from
the
crowd
so
people
aren't
witnessing
this
thing
that
he's
about
to
do
why
did
he
do
this
well
the clue
is
in what
he
did
the
last part
of 33
verse
34
he puts
his fingers
in his
ears
after
he
spits
he
touches
his
tongue
he
looks
up
to
heaven
he
sighs
says
to
him
which
is
so
he
goes
through
this
interesting
thing
now
this
is
the
Jesus
that
people
have
been
touching
his
garment
and
he's
been
healing
them
he
has
simply
spoken
he
cast
a
demon
just
previously
he
cast
a
demon
out
of
a
little
girl
from
a
distance
we
don't
know
how
far
but
he
said
the
demon
is
gone
he
could
have
done
this
without
going
through
this
practice
of
it
seems
some
!
incantation
that
he's
doing
here
but
think
about
the
man
that
he's
doing
this
for
this
man
can't
hear
anything
that
he
would
say
there
may
have
been
some
form
of
sign
language
in
this
day
but
I
don't
think
Jesus
knew
it
so
he
did
the
thing
some
version
of
sign
language
to
show
the
man
what
it
was
he
was
healing
him
from
how
it
was
that
he
was
going
commonly
connected
to
healing
and
medicinal
things
I
did
way
too
much
study
on
that
this
week
and
none
of
the
details
are
important
for
you
at
all
but
there
would
have
been
an
understanding
of
spitting
and
saliva
we'll
see
later
in
Mark
Jesus
spits
in
some
mud
and
puts
it
on
a
blind
man's
eyes
for
the
same
reason
right
so
he
does
this
thing
physically
for
him
so
that
the
man
understands
what
he
is
doing
he
looks
up
to
heaven
so
that
the
man
knows
that
it's
God
who's
going
to
heal
him
and
then
he
commands
that
he
be
made
well
right
so
why
did
he
pull
the
man
aside
from
the
crowd
and
I
believe
the
reason
is
because
he
didn't
want
anybody
in
the
crowd
to
think
that
it
was
this
!
magic
incantation
this
thing
he
did
that
caused
the
man
to
be
healed
that
God
himself
is
the
one
who
healed
and
he
didn't
want
anybody
to
think
otherwise
he
wanted
glory
placed
in
the
proper
location
I
think
that's
why
so
he
so
he
touches
the
man
he
commands
and
interestingly
as he
gives
his
command
in
Aramaic
which
would
be
open
he's
actually
giving
the
command
to
the
ears
which
I
just
find
so
fascinating
and
to
the
tongue
who
commands
even
your
ears
and
my
tongue
be
opened
and
they
obey
what
he
said
to
do
and
then
note
that
he
sighs
he
looks
up
to
heaven
he
sighs
and
I
think
this
speaks
to
the
compassion
of
Christ
as
he
has
pulled
this
man
off
to
the
side
and
he
is
about
to
!
heal
them
as
he
and
felt
a
sorrow
for
the
effects
of
sin
on
the
world
and
I
believe
that's
why
he
sighs
that
as
he
looks
up
to
heaven
he
gives
another
one
another
one
another
created
being
another
child
that
is
being
punished
because
of
the
effects
of
sin
in
this
world
and
so
we
see
this
great
outflow
of
compassion
for
this
man
verse
35
his
tongue
was
released
and
he
spoke
plainly
whatever
was
the
issue
with
his
tongue
he
can
now
speak
very
plainly
and
all
of
this
and
I
believe
the
reason
that
Mark
was
led
by
the
spirit
to
record
this
is
a
fulfillment
of
a
prophecy
he
did
a
thing
that
only
God
could
do
Isaiah
chapter
35
verse
5
and
6
then
the
ears
of
the
deaf
unstopped
then
shall
the
lame
man
leap
like
a
deer
and
the
tongue
of
the
mute
sing
for
joy
for
waters
break
forth
in
the
wilderness
and
streams
in
the
desert
so
he
had
done
a
thing
that
only
he
could
do
and
it
was
fitting
that
one
of
the
gospel
accounts
that
one
of
the
writers
was
inspired
to
record
this
thing
that
we
might
see
it
take
place
and
the
response
of
the
people
when
he
goes
back
there
was
a
man
that
they
knew
he
goes
back
now
he
can
hear
now
he
can
speak
verse
37
they
were
astonished
beyond
measure
they
were
incredibly
astonished
more
astonishment
took place
than we
could
possibly
measure
and
this
is
their
phrase
this
is
the
thing
they
say
He
has
done
all
things
well
he
has
done
all
things
well
!
He
even
makes
He
had
done
so
many
things
right
He
had
cast
a
legion
of
demons
out
of
a
man
they
knew
about
this
news
had
traveled
around
the
area
He
even
makes
the
deaf
hear
and
the
mute
speak
I
think
we
can
hear
in
this
statement
the
echoes
of
Genesis
131
and
God
saw
everything
that
he
had
made
and
behold
it
was
very
good
Jesus
is
God
incarnate
and he
proves
that
to us
once
again
as he
expresses
compassion
for
non-Jewish
people
and works
in them
a responsive
faith
beloved
we
are
now
given
to
the
very
same
task
and
I
hope
as
we've
been
looking
through
mark
as
we
will
continue
to
do
so
as
we
peer
at
the
life
of
Christ
we
will
desire
to
be
more
like
him
compassionately
pouring
out
our
lives
for
the
sake
of
the
glory
of
God
and
the
advancing
of
his
kingdom
let's
pray
together
God