Everything You Need And More

In Mark 7, a Gentile woman comes to Jesus because she has a demon possessed daughter that she’d do anything to see healed. A man is dragged to Jesus by his friends because he’s deaf and mute and they hope that maybe Jesus can heal him. Both of these people came to Jesus with different needs and different levels of desperation. The woman came in a last ditch effort to save her daughter, the man already resigned to a difficult life. And they both got their needs met (although in completely different ways). We can learn from their story.

THEY BROUGHT THEIR NEEDS TO JESUS
In this area, the people worshiped a whole bunch of gods. Imagine both of these people bowing down to a stone statue, begging that rock to save and heal them. Bringing their needs to a rock. It sounds so silly. We do the same thing. We bring our needs, our troubles, our problems, to all kinds of rocks, all kinds of false gods. 

Need to feel attractive in our bodies? We bring our needs to the gym to feel good. 
Need to feel accomplished about our lives? We bring our needs some account by posting the best parts of our lives and watch the likes and comments rack up. 
Need to feel accepted by others? We bring our needs to the mall or amazon so that we look better, decorate better, feel better about how we present ourselves. 
Need to forget how broken we are? We bring our needs to Netflix or alcohol or video games. 
Need pleasure? We bring our needs to website that will give us instant pleasure.  

We bring our problems to many things before we bring them to Jesus. Because we honestly believe that those things will bring us joy and healing. Where are you bringing your needs? These people brought their needs to Jesus, and they were healed.  

JESUS KNEW THEM INTIMATELY
He knew exactly what they needed to hear, exactly what they needed to experience, for them to have faith and be healed. He communicated with them the most perfect way. Sometimes it seemed harsh. Sometimes it seemed weird. But they both walked away with way more joy than they came to Jesus with.

Maybe it feels terrifying that Jesus would know you that intimately, because he would know all of your darkness, brokenness, rebellion against him. He does. And he still is ready to meet your needs. The cross shows us the depth of his knowledge of our sin; our sin needed the cross. But it also shows us the depth of his willingness to meet our needs. 

And look what changes in their lives when Jesus heals them: Look at verse 36 again: He ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more they proclaimed it. They were extremely astonished and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.

JESUS GAVE OVERFLOWING JOY
The deaf man just can’t keep quiet about it. We don’t know about the woman because they lost track of her after she ran back to her daughter, but moms, dads, what would you do? You’d party! You’d well up in tears and jump for joy. Jesus even told the dude not to make a big deal about it, but that’s like impossible. He’s excited, stoked about his healing! He was amazed, the crowd was amazed, and in their astonishment they speak about Jesus to everyone they encounter. That’s how you can tell what someone loves and is excited about, right? What do they not stop talking about? What do they sing about? We’re not embarrassed or shy about what we love, and this guy isn’t embarrassed or shy about Jesus. Nothing can stop him from celebrating Jesus.

Now, Jesus gave these two people exactly what they were asking for, and that led to them being joyful. But what if you bring your needs to Jesus, just like these two did, but he just doesn’t give you what you’re asking for. You’d be in the same situation as Paul. Look what happened when Paul brought his need to Jesus in 2 Corinthians 12: “Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.” God didn’t heal Paul the same way he healed the two in Mark 7. The thorn remained. But Paul still says that he gladly boasted, took pleasure in this torn in his life. Because he recognized that in his weakness, Jesus is strong, because Jesus’ grace was enough, sufficient. He had more joy in what Jesus had done for him, than what Jesus could do for him by taking away the physical thing that was bothering him. 

It would have been easy for Paul to fixate on the thorn. But Jesus gave Paul so much joy, that even if he wasn’t healed of everything, he could still celebrate. Because Jesus had taken care of his greatest need to have his sins forgiven and be united to God. 

So what’s holding you back from celebrating like the man in Mark 7? What’s holding you back from singing, singing loudly at church? Or holding you back from talking about Jesus in your family, or at work? Nothing was holding this guy back, because he’d been healed. Jesus had transformed his life. And he just wants to constantly celebrate the person who saved him. 

Bring your needs to Jesus, who knows you intimately, and watch him bring you more joy than you could have ever dreamed of.