pel, of the Physician, of the medicine, or the knife. HE does the healing, a nd shall have the praise. ' V. 33. "Took him aside." Why? We do not know, but it is well, as a rule, for us to deal with souls in private, as He did with Nicodemus (Jn. 3 : ); the woman of Samaria (Jn. 4 : ) ; see how He did it." "His finger"—The moon and the stars are the "work of Thy fingers" (Ps. 8:3), and, "Who made man's mouth? or Who maketh the dumb, or the deaf, or the blind, or the seeing?" Thou didst, O Lord Christ (Jn. 1 : 3 ), and Who made can mend; "This is the finger of God!" (Ex. 8:19). "He spit" —Spittle rendered unclean (Nu. 12:14), but there was no uncleanness in the Holy .One of God. "Touched his tongue," the same finger had touched the tongue of Jeremiah (Je. 1:9), and David (Isa. 23.2). No wonder it gave life and speech; like the trolley, that touch conveyed the flow of omnipotent power. Get "into touch" with Jesus. V. 34, "Looking up."—Jesus honored the Father in all His deeds ("He doeth the works," Jn. 14:10, 11:41). The Father is above, in heaven (Jn. 17:1), from whence Jesus came (Jno. 3 : 13 ). Man is above the brutes, for he has the upward look. Jesus was the Son of Man; "Sighed"—Jesus is touched with earth's sorrow, the wreck of human per- fections; He pities the deaf mutes; "groans within Himself" (Ro. 8:22, 23) over the disorders of nature. "Eph- phatha," Aramaic, probably the daily speech of the people; perhaps the baby tongue of Jesus, called up by His strong emotion. What is sadder than that a man should be deaf to the voices of nature, of his fellow man, and of his father's God? or incapable of uttering his thoughts and feelings to his fellow, or to praise His God above? Thank God for an ear to hear, and a tongue to speak. And if the Lord has blest you, let your ear be open, your tongue be loose, and your speech be plain for His glory (v. 35; Ro. 10:10). Though He charged them "to tell no man," He now bids us to tell all. Shall we blame ' them for speaking, when He bade them keep silence? And shall we be blame- less for silence now that He bids us speak? (v. 36; Mk. 16:15). H. A MIRACLE OF FEASTING. Mk. 8:1, "Multitudes — nothing to eat." That is the state of half the popu- lation of the world to this day, much oi the time; and of a great multitude even in America. (2) The "high cost of liv- ing" is now the chief discontent among the people. (3) The proposal of the
Ileal by miracle, let us also use the means. (2) Jesus is M. D. and S., for He is a surgeon Who cures without the knife. He can cure the tongue-tied with the antiseptic of His pure saliva, and the gentle touch of His finger tip. But that is no reason why we should not gratefully accept the Surgical means vouchsafed us in the physical absence of the greater wonder worker, through Whom alone, means or no means, we are healed. (2) Only two miracles of this journey are recorded by Mark, but there were many, accord- ing to Matthew (15:30, 31). We know little of all that our Saviour did and said (Jno. 20:30, 31). 3. Our verses: Mk. 7:31, "departing —came—through." The Lord had not- "cast away His people," though He had gone to the borders (Ro. 1 1 : 2 ); His heart was still in Israel, and He re- turned to Galilee. It is so today; the "Deliverer shall come" again (Ro. 11:26). He returned "through Decap- olis," a region strongly Gentile, as if, reluctant to leave those "other sheep," destined to become "one flock" with Is- rael (Jn. 10:16) under the Good Shep- herd. V. 32. "They bring"—-Need of Jesus everywhere; mercy in Jesus for every place, people, person,. "Wandering in Decapolis" (!) No; he had no time to ramble. "They b r i ng "—( 1) Why did not the man go by himself. Jesus un- derstands whatever "impediment" may be in man's speech. (2) Do not wait on others; seek the Lord yourself. (3) But you who know His grace and power, "Bring them In, bring them in"; help their deaf ears to understand; their tongue-tied speech to pray. (4) "Deaf" —a type of those spiritually who have "ears to hear, but hear not" (Mk. 8:18). Satan has doiie us great damage in stopping our ears; but far greater in sealing our minds to the truth (1 Co. 2:14). (5) "Impediment"-—The deaf are apt to be incoherent in speech; they miss the accent of others, and detect no inaccuracy of their own. If souls deaf to the voice of God, really heard their foolish and blasphemous speeches, they might find a tongue to call for healing. (6) But his friends used their tongues admirably, when they "beseech Him (7) to put His hand upon him." The Lord did not need to use His hand (Mt. 8:8). He did not need to see the patient (Jn. 4:49, 50), yet in this case He used a touch and an application. His ways are not stereotyped. But whether by word, by personal contact, by divine saliva, by means of the Gos-
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