Surprising Silence
1. In the way that Jesus heals
2. In the way that He plans
Mark
8:22-26 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and
begged Him to touch him. 23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him
out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He
asked him if he saw anything. 24 And he looked up and said, "I see men
like trees, walking." 25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made
him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. 26 Then He sent him
away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in
the town."
Joe Louis was a famous boxer who was known as
both a world champion and also a social activist. Many credit Louis with having
a hand in helping break the color barrier in American professional sports.
Though he was famous for most of his adult life, Louis came from humble
beginnings. He knew what it took to succeed by hard work – even when the odds
were stacked against him. One of his famous sayings show that humility, “If you
gotta tell them who you are, you ain't nobody.”
Joe Louis recognized the value of silence. We
might say today, “Actions speak louder than words.” There’s a lot of wisdom in
having the ability to keep your mouth shut. Just a couple of weeks ago we saw
what James had to say about the devastation of the human tongue. Louis built
his success as a boxer on the ability to keep quiet when others verbally
maligned him and show with his ability that he could win.
Others have learned the same lesson often in
sports. It’s one of the valuable things about competition that mirrors every
day life. Sometimes silence is the best option. If you’re good enough. If
you’re right, then the truth will come out. Let others declare it.
Jesus followed a similar method at times in His
ministry. Mark’s Gospel is filled with miracles that Jesus did. It’s by far the
shortest of the Gospel accounts and it’s an action-packed narrative from
beginning to end. Here in the middle we see Jesus employing a surprising tactic
to complete His plan – silence. Some wonder, why be silent? Didn’t Jesus need
to get His message out to as many as possible? How would silence help achieve
that end?
The answer to that question is that Jesus also
had His Father’s will to uphold. It would do no good for Jesus to be killed
before He got to Calvary or to be hailed as an earthly Redeemer in the eyes of
His followers. Throughout His ministry, Jesus constantly walked the middle of
these two extremes, and silence was important to keeping that middle ground –
first of all in how He healed.
Perhaps as you read about this miracle, Jesus’
command to the healed man to be silent isn’t the most surprising part. It’s
hard not to wonder about the method. To summarize, there’s really three steps:
Jesus leads the man out of the town. Jesus spits in the man’s eyes. And Jesus
then completely heals the man by touching his eyes. Why? In other instances,
Jesus was able to heal without even speaking or being in the same location. Why
go to all the trouble to perform these surprising signs? Well, first of all,
Jesus is quite silent throughout. In this context, He heals by action rather
than by speaking. So, Jesus Himself employs the very thing He asks of the man. The
healing is not accomplished by the verbal declaration of God, but by the
activity of God. Similarly, God teaches us that He can use the things of this
world to accomplish His will. Just because we don’t hear a loud voice booming
from heaven does not mean that God is silent. He still works.
Second, the fact that Jesus heals the man in
stages shows there’s a progression to His work. It was certainly within His
authority to heal the man in one single moment, but here He took deliberate
steps. After the first two steps, the man was able to see partially. The lesson
here is that God’s will sometimes takes time. We may think that the wheels of
change are spinning in place, but God is actually working.
The strangest part of the miracle has to be
that Jesus spits on the man’s eyes. What could possibly be the purpose behind
this? Some has proposed that since Jesus was God his saliva must have had some
special magical makeup to it. But, we’re not told anything like that, and the
Bible is also very clear that in His physical presence Jesus very much human
like you and me. A better answer is that Jesus was making a point to that
culture. At that time, many believed that human saliva had a medicinal quality
to it. It was often used as a remedy to treat ailments. Jesus takes that idea
and thrusts the supernatural upon it. By using His own saliva He gives a
relevant proof of His power as Messiah. He healed the man in a way that would
make the people think – to take notice. Jesus is telling people that He has the
power not just to treat, but to heal. The saliva was merely a symbol.
In the previous chapter, Mark records a similar
instance, this time where Jesus healed a deaf/mute man. Chapter 7:33-35 reads: And He took him aside from the multitude,
and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then,
looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that
is, "Be opened." 35 Immediately his ears were opened, and the
impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. In the miracle,
we see the same three stages. Jesus takes the man outside the city. He uses His
saliva in the miracle. And He commands them to tell no one. The main difference
is in the man’s ailment. The man from chapter 7 was deaf and mute. The man from
chapter 8 was blind. When we put these two accounts together we see important
details about how Jesus conducted His work on earth. But, we also see a
connection to the Old Testament.
The prophet Isaiah wrote: Isaiah 35:4-5 Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do
not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of
God; He will come and save you." 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be
opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. One of the markers of
the Messiah, an indicator for people that salvation was present, was the
healing of the blind and the deaf. Isaiah goes on to list other signs which
Jesus fulfilled, but for the purposes of our story today we see that Jesus was
also fulfilling the Old Testament promises of God – in His way and in His
time.
Many people look at the miracles of Jesus and
reflect only on His awesome power as God. Who can deny that? It’s certainly
present. But, this miracle, and others, show that there’s much more to be
learned when we dig deeper. Jesus teaches that His methods may be surprising to
us but they are still part of His plan. Jesus connects to the Old Testament and
not only provides evidence of His deity as God through power, but also that He
is the long-awaited Son of David, come to earth as one of us to rescue us from
sin. But, Jesus also shows us the benefit of silence in our lives. Silence nurtures
trust, because in silence we wait for God to act.
In every generation Christians have wrestled
with the “silence” of God. Why doesn’t He act sooner? What could His plan
possibly be? In moments of intense persecution, a believer has only one option
to continue in faith – submit to God’s will. With that submission comes
silence, or waiting by faith. Listen to David’s words in Psalm 27: Psalm 27:12 Do not deliver me to the will
of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as
breathe out violence. 13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I
would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. 14 Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the
LORD!
David felt the silence of God in his life.
Hunted by Saul. Forsaken by his friends. Betrayed by his own son. David knew
the loneliness of trust and submission to God’s plan well. Think of others in
the Bible: Joseph – rotting away in Pharaoh’s prison. Job, touched by the hand
of Satan. Abraham, called by God to sacrifice his only, long-awaited son.
Jeremiah, thrown into a pit of refuse all for proclaiming the Lord’s Word.
Stephen, stoned to death for declaring the truth of law and gospel. John the
Baptist, beheaded by a childish monarch who didn’t want to be convicted for his
sexual immorality. The list goes on. Hebrews calls these individuals the “cloud
of witnesses” – Christians who had nothing in life except to wait patiently, in
silence for God to give them justice.
Suddenly, the unique aspects of this miracle
don’t seem all that important. Who cares why Jesus did it the way He did? At
least He acted. The silence of God is a much harder thing to understand.
Financial troubles arise out of nowhere and leave us reeling. Health ailments
pile up one after another without any explanation. Tough situations at work or
school leave us feeling helpless and alone. The loss of a close loved one,
perhaps even a child – what could be more unfair than that? Each of those
situations and more make us wonder, where is this powerful God who is for me?
Where are His generous blessings? Where is His healing hand? What is His plan? He
cares for the deaf and the mute and the blind, but does He care for me?
The surprising silence of Jesus reminds us that
His is the kingdom and the power and the glory. He has a plan – always. That
plan may confuse us. It may take a few steps longer than we’d like it to. It
may contain things that seem unnecessary. But Jesus wants you to know that even
in the silence, He is working for. Ephesians says that in His love, Jesus is
doing “immeasurably more than all we ask
or imagine, (Eph 3:20 NIV)
Jesus wants you to know this. He teaches the
lesson in the subtle details of this miracle and others. There’s far more than
just power here. He wants you to know this because it’s part of knowing Him.
You think God is silent in your life? Look to the cross. Ponder the deafening
silence of God’s only begotten Son – holy, innocent, and just – pleading with
His Father in heaven, “My God, My God,
why have You forsaken Me?” Jesus knows what it’s like in a way you can’t
fathom. His screams of agony died in silence. His breath gave out before any
answer resounded from the heavens. Surprising, unfair, offensive, immeasurable
– all these adjectives and more describe the very reason Jesus came to earth,
for a much deeper purpose than our own temporary struggles.
So, when you feel the silence of God – look to
Jesus. That’s really what He wants you to learn here. His will is best. He has
a plan. Because even Jesus went through that silence to make sure those truths
have merit for you.
Sometimes, silence is best – even for the Son
of God. There were times when Jesus didn’t have to tell anyone who He was. His
actions, even His silent ones, were demonstrably louder. So also, for your
life. You don’t have to worry about making sure others know – what you need,
who you are, how great you’ve done. Let Jesus tell your story. Even in silence,
you are His – and no one can tarnish that gift.
No comments:
Post a Comment