Mark 7:31 – 8:9 — 31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 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. 36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
8:1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.
God is not partial with his grace and mercy. That begs the question: Are we partial? Do we make someone earn mercy from us before we grant it? I think that far too often we require a man-made standard of good treatment from someone before we will extend mercy to that person. We know what God calls us to as Christians in our disposition towards one another, but we tend to blow off what Christ commands because of how he or she treated us yesterday or last month or even years ago. We even adopt the world’s language and say that I’ve been burned by that person once before and I’m not going to let it happen again. Maybe there are some practical and tangible changes that need to occur in the relationship, but nothing should change our mercy and compassion towards another. Think about how many times God was burned by the Gentiles; in fact, they deliberately and defiantly burned him to his face at the end of Mark 7, but that doesn’t stop his concern for them in ch.8. If we were in his shoes we might say something like this: “I see you’re famished and I’m capable of feeding all of you to the point that you would be bursting at the seams, but I don’t like how you treated me 3 days ago, so I’m going to shut the door of compassion to you and let you go home and whatever happens to you along the way happens.” Thankfully Christ is far more merciful than we are.