Daily Lesson for February 4, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 7 verses 31 through 37:

31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ 35And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36Then Jesus* ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’

Last week I heard a precocious young Fort Worth boy named Braden Baker speak to a group of adults about his non-profit work providing free hearing aids to people around the world. With the help of an appearance on the show Ellen, Braden has now raised over $100,000.  His efforts all got started when as a ten-year-old he started a Go-Fund-Me page to help himself after his dog at his own set of hearing aids. And to top it all off the dog’s name is Chewy. 

Braden showed photos from his travels around the world and pictures of people with what he called their “Hearing Smile” on their face. This is the smile they have at the moment they first receive their hearing aids and recognize the human voice — either again or for the very first time.

Jesus, like Braden, is in foreign territory in today’s Lesson. But unlike Braden, he seems to be keeping his grip on the quiet. He’s just passing through and does not wish be noticed.    For Jesus still sees his mission as being for the children of Israel only. When a deaf man is brought to him, Jesus heals him in secret, and then orders him to tell no one. Of course, he tells everyone. 

Braden’s story make me think that even if the formerly-deaf man had not told anyone about Jesus, his smile still would have given it away that something miraculous had happened to him. For he just could not keep his mouth shut. 

And maybe it was in seeing and recognizing this that Jesus himself heard something new also — a call to go ahead and reach out across borders, and nations, and people groups, and to open the whole world’s ears and mouths with God’s good news.