Begging Jesus

Harvest Pointe Methodist Church

According to Mark, chapter seven. The gospel according to Mark, chapter seven. And you may remember that last week we also were in mark seven. And we're actually picking up right where we left off from our reading from the previous week here. So notice these words.

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And let's see here. We're starting with verse 24. So, 724 of Mark. Go ahead and stand when you found that we always stand for our gospel reading out of honor to God's holy word. Hear these words this morning.

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Powerful, powerful story. I really can't wait to share this with you. This is one of my favorite ones right here. All right, you ready? Here we go.

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Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice. But a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now, the woman was a gentile of syrophoenician origin.

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She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs. But she answered him, sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. Then he said to her, for saying that, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.

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So she went home, found the child lying on the bed of and the demon gone. Then he entered from the region of Tyre and went by the way of Sidon towards the sea of Galilee. In the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech. And they begged him to lay his hand on him.

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He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears. And he spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, Ephphatha, that is, be opened. And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then jesus ordered them to tell no one.

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But the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, he has done everything well. He even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. Lord Jesus, thank you for your holy word. Would you make it holy to us in this place today and apply it so that we might be those who not only are hearers of your word, but doers also?

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We pray in your most holy name. Amen. And you can be seated.

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Well, have you ever read that text? That's an interesting to come across, right? I mean, like, what in the world is going on in this text? What an odd sort of thing to read this morning. In both of these stories we kind of have, if you noticed here, part one that deals with the syrophoenician woman and then part two that deals with the deaf guy who obviously then has a speech impediment because of his deafness.

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And, man, it's kind of weird how both of these miracles happen, isn't it? I mean, what an odd thing for Jesus to say to this woman upon her request for her daughter to be exorcised from this demon, to say, well, actually it's not proper for the food. That's for the children to be given to the dogs. And because of what she says, then Jesus says, hey, that right there, that was it. Now your daughter is healed.

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We're thinking, I don't know what's going on. Okay. And then in the second story, of course, we kind of run into the same thing. Jesus takes this guy away from everybody, which normally he does the miracles publicly. If they ask publicly, he does them publicly.

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But now he takes him away in private and then he gives him a wet Willie. I don't know what to call it. I mean, right? I mean, that's what it sounds like to me. Upon my first reading was I was thinking, holy Harold, this guy, he's got his hand in his ear, he's spitting, an