There are few really good news stories today.  But when they can be found, they are nectar to TV newscasters.  They are trailed at the beginning of the telecast, but viewers are kept in suspense until the item is run - at the very end.  It keeps people watching, because everybody is hungry for good news.  And that is exactly what the Gospel is: Good News.  Despite the way believers have suffered ridicule and opposition, many people are hungry for Jesus.  Some have run out of credible options, others are seeking the divine authenticity which Jesus brings (Matthew 11:4-6).

News of a deaf-mute man being healed spread like wildfire through the ten towns in the north east of Israel – most of which would be in Syria or Jordan today.  Jesus was not on a promotional tour.  In fact, He gave instructions not to tell anybody (Mark 8:30).  The disciples were used to Jesus' style of uncomplicated power with grace, but for the oppressed and poverty-stricken citizens in occupied territory, this was a massive sign of deliverance (Hebrews 2:14-15).  Just so - it was.  And not just from sickness and disability.  Our greatest need is to be delivered from the power of the Evil One (Matthew 6:13), and delivered from being deaf to God's Word and from failing to share the good news we know.  What is worse, a person who cannot receive what God is saying, or the person who refuses to pass on the Word that has been received?  The first person only affects themselves; the second can potentially wreck many lives by their wilful negligence.

The crowds saw that the power of Jesus was real.  They said, "He has done everything well".  He loved the despised and oppressed, the sick and disabled - especially those with difficulty in communication of movement.  He was so different from travelling healers who hoped to make money out their circus acts.  His supernatural power to heal the man who could not hear or speak had focussed their attention.  Was there anything He could not do?  The acts of physical healing were important to the affected individuals, but they were also parables of what Jesus can do in healing the broken heart, the restlessness of anxiety, the sadness of being misunderstood, the guilty conscience and the sinful heart (Matthew 9:6).

Many believers prefer to settle into a comfortable lifestyle with shared cultural values.  We often live as though we do not need Jesus.  Day to day, we are rarely desperate enough to beg Jesus to intervene (Mark 7:32).  Maybe we also forget the, far greater, wonder of our salvation.  Is that why we fail to even mention our wonderful Saviour, as each 24 hour cycle slips by?  The truth is that there is nothing too hard for the Lord to do (Genesis 18:14).