two sighs

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive us for the things that make you sigh.  Forgive us for the situations and circumstances that are far from what you intended them to be.  Forgive us for the attitudes, behaviors, patterns, and dysfunctions that are far from who you intended us to be.  Touch and transform our lives so we can be who and what you created us to be.

Scripture: Mark 7:31-8:13

Journal: Are there things in your life that make Jesus sigh?  What are they and what would it look like to allow Jesus to touch them and make them whole?

Reflection: Two encounters, two sighs.  Both are filled with tons of meaning.  The first happened as Jesus prayed over a man who was deaf and mute.  And the sigh that Jesus uttered on that day was actually more of a groan, at least that’s a much more accurate translation of the Greek word Mark used (stenazō).  Which begs the question: What in the world made God-in-the-flesh groan?

What made him groan was seeing a life that was not at all what it was intended to be.  What made him groan was seeing the brokenness and pain and struggle of one whom he had made in his image, to reflect his beauty.  That’s what broke God’s heart.  In other words, our pain makes God sad.  So sad that it makes him groan, so Jesus groaned.

The second sigh occurred when Jesus addressed the unbelief of the Pharisees, who were demanding a miraculous sign even though he had already given so many.  In fact, he had just fed well over four thousand people with just seven loaves and a few small fish.  You would think that would’ve been enough, right?  But no, they were demanding even more.  The fact is, they did not want to believe.  That made Jesus groan as well.  But this time the word used is even stronger word, anastenazō.  This word means to groan deeply, or a groan that comes up from the depths of your being.  There’s probably not anything that made Jesus sadder than unbelief, and the Pharisees were experts in the field.

But what about us.  What in our lives causes Jesus to sigh?  What about our lives brings a groan up from the depths of his being?  What are the things that cause us to live lives that are far less than what he desires and intended for them to be?  In what ways is unbelief living and active in us?  Maybe it’s time to ask Jesus to touch and transform those places.  Because my guess is that those things cause us to groan as well.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Touch us and heal us, Lord Jesus.  Heal our brokenness and heal our unbelief.  Help our live to be all you created them to be.