…Mark 7:33-35 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
In these two stories of the pagan Syrophoenician and the impaired man, God shows his compassion to the world. It’s not simply that God was kind to these two destitute people, but how Jesus draws near to the destitute. First, Jesus walked a long, long, way, to encounter the woman in Tyre and Sidon and now Jesus pulled the man out of the crowd. Jesus sees beyond the crowds. He sees individuals.
You might feel as though you are a small fish in a big pond, or just an unknown number. Put me in a crowd, and there’s nothing that makes me stick out. I’m just another face in the crowd. But Jesus sees the individual. The ability of Jesus to see the individual in the crowd is a comforting thing. God has called a fellowship of people, together. But that fellowship of people is made up of individuals. Individuals who are individually loved. Individuals who receive the full attention of Jesus.
People have an innate desire to want the full attention of someone. You see this in your own children. It frustrates your children when they don’t have your undivided attention. Amazingly, even when Jesus was bound to one place at one time when he walked the earth, he still gave people his particular time and compassion…
