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Jesus Goes for a Walk

²⁴  And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ESV

The last location mentioned that Jesus had arrived at was Gennesaret where he and his disciples had moored to the shore after the additional wind storm on the Sea of Galilee and the event of Jesus walking on the water. In our passage today, we find Jesus in the northern region of Tyre up near the Mediterranean Sea. From Capernaum to Gennesaret would have been about 3 miles. From Gennersaret to Tyre would have been about 35 miles.  This would have been like us walking from here in The Colony all the way to down to Arlington or just short of Fort Worth which is 39 miles away. Depending on your route, it would take between 11-12 hours to walk the distance. Quite a day’s hike for us but all in a day’s journey for our Lord and his disciples. They did not enjoy the benefit of the transportation methods that we have today, that turns this 11-12 hour hike to an 11-12 minute drive.

We often speak of walking with the Lord allegorically, the disciples actually walked with the Lord and one thing we can take away from their reality, is to be prepared for a long journey if you intend to walk with the Lord. Put on your good walking shoes because he takes long walks and long routes as we can see in his route to Tyre to Sidon and then to Decapolis on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

 We are always anxious to arrive quickly at our destination, especially in our culture today, but if we are walking with the Lord; and anytime we are walking with someone else, be it on a morning exercise trip, (the only reason we walk much anymore) or walking with them allegorically through a rough period in their lives,  then our pace is not set by us but is instead adjusted to match the person we intend to walk with. We speed up or we slow down or we stop when they stop. We choose the direction they choose even if we would prefer a different route because our intention is to stay with them otherwise we end up walking alone. We can’t always make them hurry up but we can prompt them to keep going, keep moving or alternatively to rest as needed. It’s a blessing to have someone willing to walk with you both physically and allegorically as we make our way to our Father’s House in this life.

Now it would appear, that Jesus was leaving the region. Leaving Israel. This must have had the disciples chattering along the way. Did they know where they were going as they were following Jesus? Sometimes they did and sometimes they did not. He just said come and follow me.  Even if they did know they were headed to Tyre it had to make them wonder why.

He had just rebuked the Pharisees again teaching them that what comes out of a man and not what goes into a man is what defiles a person. Some speculate that he was taking a long walk to cool off.  That is our humanistic thinking. However, it’s more likely that he and the disciples were still seeking a quiet place to rest and Jesus had a divine appointment to keep.  

After John the Baptist had been beheaded, Jesus had told his disciples, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest awhile.” (Mark 6:31) They still have not had much rest. They left in a boat and were greeted in Bethsaida by a crowd on the shore who were hungry and he taught and fed the 5000 people. Then Jesus sent the disciples off in the boat into a storm while he prayed all night long on the mountain.  No one had any sleep that previous night.  He met them in the middle of the Sea of Galilee by walking across the water and the waves and calmed the storm.

When they had arrived at Gennesaret, people had immediately recognized him and began eagerly bringing their sick to him from the whole region. The Pharisees were watching the whole ordeal from the back ground like vultures, looking for opportunity to condemn and find sin in both Jesus and his disciples in order to discredit him and his reputation which was tarnishing their own.  But Jesus did all things well.   They would think they had something on him finally, his disciples were not washing their hands in the tradition of the elders, but Jesus would rebuke them in their thinking and in their teaching showing that their laws were not God’s laws but man’s laws which actually displaced God’s laws in their pride. 

The Pharisees tried to look outwardly good before Jesus and the people, but Jesus exposed the sinfulness of their hearts, their thoughts, their ways. Their religion was just an outward appearance, they painted themselves over on the outside, like white washed tombs but on the inside they were dark, full of death, dead man’s bones.

Jesus did seek to deliver the Pharisees from their own false teaching and thinking but delivering an intellectual can be quite difficult. Knowledge puffs up. A person who is known for knowing has to admit he does not know what he thought he knew and that requires humility.

This is always a danger for those who love the word of God, that when they come to know the word of God, when they become more familiar with it, that they must not wield it but allow it to wield them. We have and hold no power over the word of God ourselves, but it holds its power over us and wields us. That is the secret of holding the sword of the Lord of God properly. It is a living sword.  When we take it out of the rock into our lives, some become possessed of themselves over the power and influence it wields and they destroy others and themselves in their attempt to control the word of God and use it as a weapon and a tool. However, if we take the living sword of the living word out of the rock, and submit it to it, yield ourselves to it, it’s power and influence leads us and we know that we do not wield it, we do not control it, we do not own it, but it uses us as a tool and a weapon as we hold on to it. It does all the work itself and we just hold onto it and follow it.

My husband and now my son are always teaching me how to properly use a knife. Apparently, I am dangerous when I am cutting bread or tomatoes of anything else for that matter.  I like to direct the knife, I put pressure on it and move it back and forth doing all the work and come up with these hacked slices of bread and tomatoes. They both shake their heads, tell me to step aside and take the knife out of my hands to deliver the bread and tomatoes from me. They take up the knife and gently slice the tomatoes and bread and tell me to let the knife do all the work.

 It’s a subtle difference. They can hold a knife and it slices smoothly through the bread and through the tomatoes in perfect pieces with precision.  The knife does the work.

It’s the same with us and the word of God. We must allow the living sword to do the work as we just hold onto it. It slices and pierces to divide the soul and spirit, joints and marrow and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. When we try to do the work of the living sword ourselves, we hack people. We do more damage and they need to be rescued from us. They need deliverance from our attacks. We can have the best of intentions and do a hack job on a spirit. Hold the living word but allow the word of God to do the work on the spirit and soul on the inside of a person. Let the word of God lead the way and allow it to wield you as you carry it. Don’t wield it in your own energy.

The Pharisees, the teachers of the law, the word of God in their day, the church goers tried to wield the sword in their own wisdom, in their own efforts and they were hacking people instead of healing people with a surgeons precise cut. They were too prideful to put the knife down, to be taught how to use it. It was their identity. They wanted to wield it’s power but they would not allow its power to wield and influence them. This is a severe warning for every Christian, for every Christian is called to pick up that sword out of the rock and to carry it and to learn how to hold it and to learn how to do battle with that sword to deliver people, to perform heart surgery on people, to rescue people but we do not spend enough time training and praying before going to war or entering the surgery room of the soul that is placed before us.

And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.  ESV

Tyre would have been a large prosperous city north west of Israel. As a main sea port for the Roman province off the Mediterranean Sea would have been bustling commerce, import and export activity for the Roman province of Syria. The King of Tyre was the one who sent the cedar logs to Solomon for the rebuilding of the Temple. It was a great city of wealth and a marketplace of the nations.

The city of Tyre will come with a gift, people of wealth will seek your favor. Psa 45:12

On the great waters came the grain of the Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre, and she became the marketplace of the nations… Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth? – Isa 23:3,8

Being such a large and great city, you would think that this would be a place you could get lost in the crowd in. This would be true for most people, just not Jesus. The light of the world could not be hidden even outside of Israel in this Gentile region.  He was recognized by the people of Tyre.

Luke 6:13 records shortly after he had selected his disciples a great crowd from all Judea, Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon and came to hear him and be healed of their diseases.

¹⁷ And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. – Luke 6:17-18

Many of the people from the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon outside of Israel  had traveled down to Capernaum to see and hear Jesus teach. They had traveled that great distance to seek him out displaying great faith.

After John the Baptist from prison had sent his messengers to Jesus to verify he was the One, the Christ, Jesus pronounced several woes on the cities of Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum because of the might works which were done within them and yet they still did not repent. He commended the faith of the cities of Tyre and Sidon saying if those same works had been done in those cities, they would have repented.

²⁰ Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. ²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ²³ And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. ²⁴ But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.” –  Matthew 11:20:24

A great reminder that we will be judged and held accountable to the degree of grace that is given to us. The city’s of Capernaum and Bethsaida were shown great grace for the majority of Jesus’s miracles and ministry were in their region.  

Now just for a moment, consider our own region, our own country, the grace, the technology, the bibles, the churches, the ministries… our nation is absolutely saturated with the word of God. You can get a bible in almost any language, any color, any size, any theme, any format, paper, audio or even electronic that you want. Tim and I were in a Lifeway Christian bookstore just this weekend and they had several aisles of shelves of nothing but the newest versions of bibles.  The Reformation Bible, ESV Study Bible, Duck Commander, Spurgeons, Scofield, MacArthur Study Bible, Quest, Apologetics, Rainbow bible, Amplified bible, Woman’s coloring bibles with pretty decorated pages. It was almost absolutely ridiculous the choices. Tim made a comment to the clerk that we really are without excuse here in America since we have access to so many bibles.  Then consider, the books, online offline in the stores that we have available to us today; the preachers. You can listen to almost any preacher of your choice through online audio sermons at any hour and time of day at your own convenience.  Yet people even in our own culture and generation have little to no interest in the word of God or attending church.  How intolerable in the day of judgement it will be for our nation and the grace God shed on us. It is a frightening consideration.  If Jesus pronounced woes on Capernaum and Bethsaida for the grace and mighty works done in their borders, think of our own borders and the grace saturated within us?

Jesus had sheep outside the borders of Israel in the regions of Tyre and Sidon and in many other gentile regions. However, Jesus had come specifically to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, later after his resurrection and ascension his disciples would spread and take the gospel to the nations.

I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. John 10:16

²⁵ But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.  ESV

Matthew saws she was a Canaanite woman, a reprobate to the Jews. Anyone who was not Jewish was referred to as a Gentile or “A Greek”  She was born in Syrian Phoencia and approaches Jesus. She had heard of him Mark tells us.

We can only imagine what trials this woman faced having a daughter who was grievously vexed by an unclean spirit, demon oppressed. From other New Testament accounts of demon possession, we know there is often self-mutilation on one form or another, seizures, foaming, isolation, supernatural strength or knowledge.  It seemed to a fairly common and recognizable malady in the region at the time with little success in deliverance.  There was no disease associated with it. Physical healing of diseases were a totally separate issue. Demon possession could cause diseases and illnesses, but illnesses could be present without demon possession.

Matthew chapter 15:21-28  also tells the same story with a little more detail. Matthew says she cried to Jesus over and over and over again repeatedly, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil” but Jesus did not answer her one word. Even though she could not get him to respond she kept crying out to him. “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!”.  She would not go away. She was not deterred by his lack of response. She knew he had the power to heal. She had heard of him. So she kept crying out to him but Jesus answered her not a word.  The disciples became annoyed by her continuous crying out. The disciples came to Jesus and said, “Send her away; for she crieth after us.”  

Mark records that she falls down at the feet of Jesus. Here is a Gentile woman acknowledging his identity as Lord, Son of David. She shows her worship and humility by falling at his feet and bowing before him.  She cries for mercy, showing humility and acknowledging that she has no right of any favors on his part. She appeals to the character of Christ by appealing to his mercy and compassionate nature that she is confident he possesses even though he is not responding and has does not answer her a word. She had heard of him, and one of the things she had very likely heard about him besides his being wise and powerful was his compassionate nature which he continually displayed and had also became known for. Jesus was compassionate.  In these acknowledgements of hers alone, we see evidence of her great faith.

Here is a woman who can teach us much about intercessory prayer. She does not give up, even though she receives not a word in response to her cries. She knows Jesus can hear her. She knows Jesus can heal her daughter. She is a living demonstration of the parable that Jesus tells of the woman who came before the judge in Luke 18 and because of her continual coming and bothering the judge he answers her request even though he admittedly does not fear God or man. In other words, he has no moral conscience, but answers her simply because she won’t stop bothering him.  It is the same with the parable in Luke 11 of the neighbor who because of his impudence, his continual knocking his friend gets up and answers the door.  This woman refuses to give up, she is  afflicted by her daughter’s severe demonic oppression and knows Jesus is her only hope.

There is another lesson here also to be noted. That is the affliction that drives her to Jesus. If her daughter had been well and playing out in the yard, would she have sought Jesus out when she heard of him? She may have listened with interest but having no need, no desire for deliverance, no affliction, no trial she would not have gone to seek him. Many times it is our afflictions, or the afflictions of those we love that draw us to earnestly seek out Jesus in intercessory prayer. They draw us closer to God. They break our rhythm and call us to think deeply about life and to question it’s meaning and purpose. They remind us of the fallen nature of the world we live in and loosen our satisfaction in it. Without affliction, we become very complacent, comfortable, self-satisfied, self-exalting and shallow.  We fail to look for a kingdom outside of our own, greater than our own. Afflictions soften us, teach us dependence on God and break dependence on ourselves and the world we live in. They draw us closer to truth and reality that we spend much of our time distracting ourselves from.

This world would teach us that ease and comfort are the highest good that we should seek out and achieve at any cost. However, God’s eye are on those who are afflicted, those who are afflicted by the condition the world is in, the brokenness of those around them, the brokenness of their selves and own sinful condition. There is much we should be afflicted about in this world around us that would continually drive us to Jesus in prayer but instead we are little bothered and live in comfort and ease with little regard for the troubling and grievous condition the demon possessed and oppressed world lies in around us. We are in danger of being the lukewarm church of Revelation, comfortable, rich in eyes of the world suffering no needs and absolutely wretched in the eyes of God.

²⁷ 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 the dogs.” 

Matthew records that Jesus responded to the woman telling her that “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” And it is after this response that she came and worshipped him saying, ”Lord, help me.” To which Jesus still discourages her by responding “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Jesus is essentially saying that the children, the family of God are to be fed first by his words. He is the bread of life. None of his words are to be wasted or cast away. Matthew 7:6 records Jesus teaching his disciples and all those who listened not to give what was holy to dogs.

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. – Matthew 7:6

 The term dogs in the New Testament was a derogatory term full of contempt. It referred more to wild dogs, untamed hounds that roamed the city streets without masters eating scraps and posing a threat and danger to man. You were not to feed these dogs because there was danger of them attacking you, these wild hounds could not be domesticated or tamed but were ravenous wolves and scavengers, hunters feeding on refuse, decaying flesh, dead animals and discarded items. False teachers and lawless people were often referred to as uncontrolled dogs without a master that did as they pleased.

Phil 3:2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

 Rev 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

 However, the term that Jesus used for dogs here in this text is only used once in the New Testament in this story and instead of meaning hound, it means, “little dogs”, “doggie” or “puppy” which is a softened term, a more domesticated breed. He is not calling her a ravenous, unclean hound as he would these false teachers, but he is still gently reminding her and indicating that her place is not at the table, the priority are the children being fed first.

²⁸ But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

In response she uses the same carefully selected terms for the word “dog” and in those terms she actually finds fuel for her faith instead of discouragement. Her place is not with the outside hounds but with the domesticated hounds, in the house, under the table. Jesus is not saying that no bread is to be given but there is a time delay, after the children have eaten and have had their fill then what is left and what remains will be given to the “doggies” so that nothing is wasted.

She picks up on his analogy and carries it forward, admitting her low position, she is not a child of Israel and with much humility acknowledging her place is with the “doggies”, however without debating Jesus, she brings to Jesus attention that the “doggies” while maintaining their place and position, do not necessarily wait until the children are finished eating, but are able to enjoy the crumbs that fall from the children’s plates which is not taking anything away from the children themselves.

In saying this, she acknowledges the truthfulness of the words of Jesus, she agrees with him, acknowledging her humble position and the priority of the position of the household children.

²⁹ And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Jesus commends her faith and answers her prayer in response to her response. She has demonstrated great faith.

“Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” Before, silence; now, admiration: before, a reproof; now, a commendation: before, a “dog;” now, a “woman:” before, not a crumb: now, more bread than the children. She cried before, and Christ answered not; but now Christ answers, and not only gives her a crumb, but the whole table; answers her with “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt!” (A. Farindon, D. D.)

Her great faith is an example to us on what Jesus calls great faith. Great faith:

1. Great faith Perseveres and overcomes discouragement.
2. Great faith acknowledges the Reality of our position in humility and mercy. dependent and hopeless apart from Christ.
3. Great faith Acknowledges who God is and his Ability and Attributes.
4. Great faith expects a “Yes”. 2 Cor 1:20 says “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

Jesus Heals a Deaf and Mute Man

³¹ Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 

Jesus returns back to Israel taking the long route going north and then coming down to the other side of the sea of Galilee back to Decapolis.

Matthew records in Matthew 15:29-31:

  Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

While Matthew paints with broad strokes, Mark chooses a narrow paint brush and gives us detail on particular story, the story of a man who was deaf and who had a speech impediment.

³² 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. ³³ And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 

Mark records the story of a man who cannot hear and because he cannot hear he cannot pronounce words properly.  He had difficulty talking. The gospels do not tell us how long he has had this speech impediment but it’s probably since childhood since it would have been in childhood that he could have learned pronunciation. As an adult he may have gone deaf but still been able to pronounce his words.

They begged Jesus to lay hid hands on him. We are not told who “they” are, but it is more then likely family or friends of this man who brought him to Jesus. Once again a story of intercession.

Jesus takes him aside from the crowd. Jesus never performed miracles for notoriety or attention. He performed miracles of healing out of compassion for the afflicted person and to glorify God. He did not put on a show or provide entertainment.

In this instance he takes the man aside privately to heal him.  He could have just touched him and he would have been healed or he could have just spoken the word and the man would have been healed. This time however, he uses signs to heal the man. We are not told why Jesus chose to heal the man in this manner. Perhaps it was so the man knew that it was Jesus who healed him.

First Jesus places his fingers into the deaf man’s ears, touching them both. Then he spits before touching the man’s muted tongue. Perhaps he was communicating with the man in this moment, symbolizing the man’s deafness by placing his fingers in his ears showing he understood he could not hear and symbolizing the man’s dryness of mouth, his inability to speak by touching the man’s tongue with his own spittle.

³⁴ And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”

It was not these gestures that healed him, but Jesus prayer and command. Jesus looks up to heaven symbolizing where the power to heal truly comes from, God the Father. He sighs, or groans an inaudible prayer in deep distress toward heaven, interceding on behalf of the man and understanding his pain and in one word he commands both the man’s ears and his mouth, to be opened in the Chaldee Aramatic language which was popular in Palestine.

 ³⁵ And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 

Straightway, immediately his ears were opened and he could hear and the bond on his tongue was loosed and he could speak. He began to talk plainly and correctly. This in itself was another miracle. He did not need to go through months and years of speech therapy to understand words and the language. He who was once deaf, not only could hear but he could understand the words he heard. He who was mute with a speech impediment now had perfect pronunciation and vocabulary skills. He understood words and communicated them without any formal training.

³⁶ And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 

Now that he could talk, Jesus commands them not to talk, at least not to tell anyone what happened. Once again, Jesus is seeking that no man know of his presence and his actions to be hid, but he could not be hid.  His commanding them not to tell anyone had the opposite effect, the more he commanded them not tell anyone, the more people they told, the wider they published and heralded his actions to everyone about what he did.  

³⁷ And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.

Once again, they were superabundantly, exceedingly amazed at his miracles at his healings. “He has done all things well”.  There was nothing that Jesus did not do well with absolute precision and perfection. When he healed he healed completely, perfectly. When he taught, his teaching was perfect. When he responded and rebuked the Pharisees, his responses were perfect.  Jesus always knew what to say and what to do. He did all things well.

There is nothing that God can’t do or doesn’t do well. It is one of the greatest signs of his divinity that whatever he performs, whatever he does, whatever he says it comes out of his perfect nature. He does not do anything half haphazardly or imperfectly. 

It is this that we can always put great faith in, even when we don’t understand fully the actions or mind of God. We can remind ourselves that he does all things well. Everything.

Even when it comes to our salvation. He was the perfect sacrifice. He fully satisfied the wrath of God. He does not need to offer repeatedly sacrifices because his one sacrifice was absolutely perfect. He does all things well, including our salvation. He is able to save.