Mark 7- 8 Jesus leaves Tyre and travels back to Galilee, in the region called the Decapolis, an area inhabited mostly by Gentiles, heavily influenced by the Greeks.   Here is where the man, once possessed by a legion of demons, had gone to proclaim the wonderful deliverance he had experienced through the power of Jesus.  Perhaps this is why Jesus now travels back there, as hearts are now prepared to receive Him. Yet, we only have one miracle of healing recorded here.  A man who is deaf and unable to speak clearly.  What is interesting is the way that Jesus heals this man:
He takes him away from the crowd.
He puts His fingers in the man's ears.
He spits and takes His own saliva and touches the man's tongue.
He sighs.
He speaks, "Ephphatha! Be opened."
He tells them not to tell anyone.

Later, Jesus heals a blind man in Bethsaida.  Again, His method is unusual :
He takes the man by the hand.
He leads him out from the village.
He spits on the man's eyes and lays His hands upon him.
He asks about what the man can see, and when his sight is not fully restored, He touches him again.
When the man's sight is clear, Jesus sends him home.

Two unusual accounts of healing sandwich in another significant account.
Jesus takes 7 loaves of bread and a few fish and feeds 4000 men.  The disciples take up 7 large baskets of left over bread.
They cross over the sea to Dalmanutha and are confronted by the Pharisees, who want a sign.
Again, Jesus sighs deeply and refuses them a sign.
They leave again, bringing no bread with them.
Jesus speaks to His disciples.. " Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  .. .and they think He is upset that they didn't bring bread.

They were missing the point of everything!
"Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? 'Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?' and do you not remember..."   He fed 5000 with 5 loaves, He fed 4000 with 7 loaves.. there was plenty of left over bread... of broken pieces... of crumbs.  Food is not the issue!  "Do you not yet understand?"

Their ears were as deaf and the man in Decapolis.  Their eyes were as blind as the man's in Bethsaida.
Their hearts were as hardened as the Pharisees'. The leaven of unbelief is a dangerous thing!
Jesus wants to open their ears and eyes.. and hearts..  He wants to open ours too.  He is willing to take us by the hand and lead us away from the crowd.  To touch our ears and our eyes until we see clearly. 
He must sigh deeply about us too sometimes....

Jesus takes His disciples out on a walk.  "Who do people say that I am?"  He asks them.  They answer  and then He pushes them a bit further in their thinking.  "But who do you say that I am?"
It is then that Peter makes a profound confession of faith, " Thou art the Christ." 
Romans 10: 9 " ... if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you shall be saved."
I John 4:15 " Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. 
I John 2:23 "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father ; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also."
Who do YOU say that Jesus is?

What we say about Jesus matters. Everything we say about Jesus matters. 
Jesus begins to tell the disciples about His coming death and resurrection.  They had not been ready to hear this until now.  Until they knew Him as the Christ, the Messiah... the Son of God.
When Peter tries to rebuke this new revelation, Jesus corrects his thinking... that is Satan's way, not God's way.
God's way includes suffering .  For Jesus, the suffering of the cross.  For us too, for " If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."
To try to save ourselves - is to lose ourselves.
To lose ourselves for Him and the gospel... is to find salvation.
There is nothing in this world that is worth a man's soul, Jesus tells us.  Disown it all.  Take a stand.  Follow Jesus.. accompany Him on the same road. 

To confess Jesus is the Lord, the Son of God... is life and salvation.  
To deny Him, is death.  "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My Words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

Father in heaven,  We proclaim with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord, the anointed One, the Son of God.  We confess that He is the Lamb that was slain. That He died willingly on the cross to pay our ransom, to rescue us from sin, to redeem us.  He rose again on the third day and now sits on the throne at Your right Hand.  Thank You Lord God! Thank You for knowing us perfectly and saving us completely.  Thank You for patiently taking us aside and opening our ears to hear and our eyes to see.  Thank You for helping us to remember.. giving us Your Spirit, our Counselor to help us.  No other Name but the Name of Jesus can lead us home to You.  I am not ashamed of the gospel, of Jesus my Savior.  Touch my tongue that I might speak clearly the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord.  Amen.