What Causes You to Sigh?

Mark 7:24-37

Introduction

Let me ask you a question: What causes you to sigh?

Sighs can express a range of emotions: fatigue, frustration, sadness, or even deep empathy. But this sigh of Jesus is unique, it's a sigh of profound empathy, a sigh that carries the weight of the world's suffering. Today, we're going to explore what this unique sigh reveals about His heart for us.

1. Jesus' Compassion: Seeking Out the Marginalized (v. 24-30)

The passage begins with Jesus entering the region of Tyre and Sidon, a predominantly Gentile area. This is significant because it shows Jesus deliberately going to those considered outsiders by Jewish standards.

Mark sets the stage by telling us about the Syrophoenician woman and how her faith led to the healing of her daughter. This encounter demonstrates Jesus' willingness to cross boundaries and extend grace to those who society deemed unworthy. This sets the tone for what comes next: Jesus seeks out the marginalized, the overlooked, and those in need.

Jesus' journey here was not random; He was intentionally moving into places where people were desperate for spiritual and physical healing.

It’s comforting to know that Jesus goes out of His way to find us. Just as He went into Gentile territory to meet a woman's needs and then a deaf man, He seeks out those who feel forgotten, those who feel like they don't belong.

2. Jesus' Sympathy: The Personal Touch of Healing (v. 31-35)

In verses 31-35, we encounter the deaf man. He was brought to Jesus by others, and Mark tells us that this man could hardly speak. Notice how personal Jesus' actions are toward him. Jesus takes the man aside, away from the crowd, and begins a series of intimate gestures:

- He puts His fingers into the man's ears.

- He spits and touches the man's tongue.

These actions may seem unusual to us, but they were profound for this man. They communicated that Jesus understood his condition in a personal way. Jesus didn't just heal with a word from afar; He entered into this man's world, using physical touch to convey His compassion and love.

How often do we truly enter into someone's pain the way Jesus did? He could have healed this man with a word, but He chose to connect with him on a deeply personal level. Jesus doesn't deal with us in a distant or mechanical way—He meets us in our brokenness, and His touch brings healing.

3. Jesus' Sigh: The Depth of His Empathy (v. 34)

Here's where I want us to pause and reflect: *the sigh*. Verse 34 says, "And looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.'"

What is the significance of this sigh? This is not just a breath of physical exertion or weariness. This is a sigh of deep empathy, perhaps even sorrow.

At that moment, Jesus was entering into the brokenness of humanity. He sighed because He felt the weight of this man's suffering—his isolation, his frustration, his inability to communicate.

The sigh of Jesus reflects His deep sympathy for the pain and suffering of the world. It was as though Jesus was breathing in the sorrow, the brokenness, and the anguish of humanity—and breathing out healing and hope.

This sigh points to the larger reality of sin's devastating effects on the world. Jesus wasn't just sighing for this one man; He was sighing for all of us, for the collective suffering that sin has brought into the world. Yet, in His sigh, there is also a glimpse of His ultimate mission: to bring healing not only to this man but to the whole of creation. His sigh anticipates the cross, where He would take the full weight of our suffering upon Himself, a mission He was fully committed to.

*Sigh*

What about you? What causes you to sigh today? Maybe you sigh at some of the same things I do. Maybe you’ve got other things that make you sigh. Maybe I make you sigh. If you were to list the top three things that cause you to sigh today, what would they be?

We sigh for a thousand different reasons but here’s what I wonder:

What if our sighs are the revelation and recognition that we have bumped up against a closed place within ourselves, in a relationship, or in our life and world? Isn’t that what happened in today’s gospel? The people of that region brought Jesus a man who is closed. His ears are stopped up and his tongue is tied. And Jesus sighed.

What if every sigh carries the words, “Ephphatha, Be opened?” What if the exhalation, the breathing out, that accompanies every sigh is the breath of life?

What if Jesus is sighing new life into the man in today’s gospel, into you and me? Isn’t that the story of creation? God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). And for the man in today’s gospel, Jesus “sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’ And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.” He was a new man, a new creation.

Jesus is not distant or detached from your suffering. He enters into it, just as He entered into this man's world.

This healing is a picture of the restoration Jesus brings to our lives. He opens what has been closed, loosens what has been bound, and makes whole what has been broken. His power brings transformation not only to our physical bodies but also to our hearts and souls.

The people were astonished by what Jesus had done and declared, "He has done everything well." This is the Jesus we worship—the one who does all things well restores what has been lost, heals what is broken, and brings new life to the weary.

Conclusion

So, what causes you to sigh? Is it the pain and suffering in your life or the lives of those around you? Is it the weight of the brokenness in the world? Whatever it is, know this: Jesus sighs with you. His sigh is not one of hopelessness but one of compassion. He feels your pain, and He offers you His healing.

As we close, let's remember that Jesus not only understands our struggles—He has the power to bring restoration and new life. Whatever causes you to sigh today, bring it to Him, and trust in His perfect love, deep sympathy, and mighty power.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Son, Jesus, who enters into our suffering and offers us healing. We bring before You the things that cause us to sigh—the struggles, the sorrows, and the burdens we carry. Help us to trust in Your compassion and power to restore us. May we, like the people in this story, declare that You do all things well. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.