33Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; 34and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” 35And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. Mark 7:33-35 NASB
Why did Jesus heal this way? The crowds brought to Jesus a deaf and mute man asking Jesus if He would lay His hands on him. Instead, Jesus is going to take the man aside, put His fingers into the man's ears, spit, and then touch the saliva to the man's tongue, look up to heaven with a deep sigh, use an Aramaic word that means "be opened". The result is that the man could hear and speak plainly in an instant. But the let's be honest, that is a very unique, and weird way to administer healing! Why did Jesus heal this way? Jesus was God in the flesh. We see the evidence of this through what Jesus said about Himself (which eventually led to His death), and the things that He did. The disciples said of Jesus in John 16:30, "We know that You know all things." The attribute of being "all-knowing" is something that can only be said of God, yet the disciples are attributing that attribute to Jesus. But we also see that Jesus was also led by His Father through the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. We see evidence of this in Acts 10 and Luke 4. “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38 NASB “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” Luke 4:18-19 NASB (quoting Isaiah 61:1-2) Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit to do the works that He did. Why is this important? Because as Jesus was standing before this deaf and mute man, and since Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19), in that moment, He was led by the Holy Spirit to use these unique means to administer healing to this man. This is what it looks like to be led by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will lead us to do things that may seem odd, or even embarrassing, but He is in it. He will lead us to take steps of faith that are risky that will remove our own ability to make things happen. This is an important principle for all of us to learn. We cannot be fully led by the Holy Spirit if we still desire to look dignified and “pleasing” in the eyes of men. Because as soon as the Holy Spirit speaks to us, those words will pass through a filter we have in our minds labeled "the fear and opinions of man". In that moment, we will justify our disobedience and rationalize away the very words that the Holy Spirit spoke to us. To be led means to be surrendered; to be surrendered means to be led. We are living in a time where the church desperately needs to be led by the Holy Spirit again. Our man-made methods and ideas have, and will only produce man-centric results. Let us look to Christ as our example of how to walk in intimacy with the Holy Spirit. Questions to Consider: 1. Have you ever felt the Lord lead you to do something unique or weird, and you struggled to obey it? What were the motivating factors causing or influencing you to disobey? 2. What are some things that the Lord is leading you to do in your life that may seem odd, but you feel the desire to obey?
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