«Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them»
(Matthew 15:29, 30).
WHERE DID ALL THE PEOPLE that today’s text mention come from? If we read the parallel passage in Mark 7:31, it says there that the Lord Jesus, «departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, . . came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee.» Decapolis was a kind of confederation of ten cities, inhabited mostly by Greeks, where Jesus had healed two Gadarene demon-possessed men months earlier (see Matthew 8:28—34). Could it be that the same people who drove Jesus out of their area now brought their sick for Him to heal?
What is most surprising about this account is that that crowd—made up of about four thousand men, plus women and children—remained for three days, listening to Jesus’s teachings. How could they be so receptive to His teachings?
The explanation is in the work the two demons had done after being healed by Jesus. The Lord commissioned them to go home and tell the great things God had done for them, with the result that those who heard them «marveled» (Mark 5:20). The Desire of Ages says, «It was in the region of Decapolis that the demoniacs of Gergesa had been healed. Here the people, alarmed at the destruction of the swine, had constrained Jesus to depart from among them. But they had listened to the messengers He left behind, and a desire was aroused to see Him.»—ch. 44, p. 404; emphasis added.
How interesting! Jesus used as his emissaries two men who had been under Satan’s full control. And they fulfilled their mission so well that, «when Jesus returned to Decapolis some nine or ten months later . . . thousands flocked to see and hear him.» The result was that «the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel» (Matthew 15:31).
Later, would come the miracle of multiplying the seven loaves to feed that whole multitude (see Matthew 15:32—39; Mark 8: 1—10), but the first great miracle had already taken place: the miracle that God can use sinful human beings for the glory of His name—no matter how low they have fallen—including you and me!
Dear Jesus, thank You for the forgiveness of my sins, and above all thank You for the privilege of being able to tell others the wonders You have done in my life.
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2022
“GREAT IS OUR GOD!”
From: FERNANDO ZABALA
Collaborators: Xiomara Perdomo & Angelica Cuate
