Mark 7:31-37

Be Still: Lord, help me to be present to you as you are so graciously present to me. Amen

Read: Mark 7:31-37

'Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.' 

Encounter:  Secrets and Leaks. I have a friend who is paranoid about her age. She doesn't want anyone to know it, particularly when she hits the Big 0s. However, her 'secret' leaks out and most people know - but she doesn't know they know!!

In today's passage Jesus is trying to stop word spreading about his miracles. The trouble is, he's broken cover again - responding to someone's desperate need even though it risked precipitate reaction from his enemies. He needs more time, to complete his teaching, bringing his disciples to the point where they have grasped the reality of the 'kingdom of God' and understand his divinity. Soon cataclysmic events would overtake them, and he needs time to implant his words in them for a future they could not envisage.

Jesus did not come to be 'just a healer' - he did not heal everyone in every crowd. He did not want to be known as 'the miracle worker' but rather as who he was, the Messiah, Son of God. He came to declare 'the kingdom of God is among you' and to open access to that kingdom through his death and resurrection. At this point in his ministry, the people who listen to him do not have a full gospel message to share with others – that will come later.

But here is someone in need - an individual, a lost sheep. And Jesus' compassion pours out in a specific way to this specific individual. He draws this deaf and largely mute man aside and with exaggerated gestures and one big explosive word, opens his senses.

Apply: Two 'takeaway' messages:

Jesus sees you as a beloved individual and responds to you in the way you most need.

The Secret is out! Jesus doesn't want us to keep his good news secret. It's to be shared everywhere to everyone in ways that will best reach them. Sometimes it's a 'leaking out' - drip by drip, word by word, action by action. Sometimes bold open declaration. Always with love.

Devote: Holy Spirit, help me to 'leak' your good news.