Mark 7 31-37

So when Mark began his gospel back in verse 14 of chapter one, we read there that after John, that is John the Baptist, was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel." And in saying that, what Jesus was referring to there was not a location, but rather a longing, a longing that the Jewish people had for the kingdom rule of God to come and to be established through the coming of their Messiah King.

And what Jesus was there saying to the people was that, "Now, now that rule is being established in me." That which the people had longed for, that which the prophets had spoken of hundreds and hundreds of years before was now being established in the person of Jesus.

Isaiah anticipated a day when God would come, and God would break into this world personally and establish his rule.

And in chapter 35 that we read from in opening, he wrote that as evidence of that, when that day comes, well, the eyes of the blind would be opened, and the ears of the deaf would be unstopped, and the tongue of the mute would sing for joy.

So all of that is in the background as we come to these events, not just the need of an individual, real though that was, but the longing, the longing of the people for the kingdom rule of God to be established, the anticipation that as a sign of that, the day would come when the eyes of the blind would be opened, when the ears of the deaf would be unstopped, when the tongue of the mute would be loosened.

And so with that in mind, let us chart our course through these verses using the headings that I think will appear there on the screen.

And the first thing that we want to see quite simply is the request.

The request after the events that we looked at last time and the remarkable example of faith that we encountered there in a Gentile woman.

Well, here, here we're about to encounter another example of faith.

Verse 31 tells us where they were, in the region of the Decapolis.

And if that sounds familiar, well, it's because it should.

Back in chapter five, we encountered, you might remember, a demon-possessed man, a man who had lost everything, who had lost his dignity, who had lost his sanity, who had lost his very self as a result of demon possession, and who hung out in the tombs, who, who cut himself and who terrified anyone who came close to him.

Well, there Jesus dramatically confronted and expelled the demons from him, restoring this man, this man made in the image of God to his right self.

And as a result of that, while the people were initially fearful, freaked out even by such a demonstration of power, the man himself, the man himself stayed on in the region.

And we are told in verse 20 of chapter five that he went away and he began to proclaim in the Decapolis, that is in that whole region, how much Jesus had done for him.

And everyone marveled.

They marveled at the transforming power of Jesus over a life.

And now Jesus is back, back in the same region.

And what do we find? Well, a man who is in need of healing, yes, but also, also a group of individuals, perhaps with an awareness of what had happened with the demon-possessed man.

That would be understandable given how, how passionate he was about making that known.

A group of individuals who were determined to bring their friend to Jesus for the healing that he needed.

And again, again, if that sounds familiar, it's because it should.

Back in chapter two of Mark's Gospel, we encountered a similarly unnamed group of friends who were determined to bring their friend to Jesus.

So determined, you might remember, that they went to extreme measures.