Mark 7:34 “He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”)
Mark 8:12 “He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it.”
I remember a few minutes after watching my daughter being born. I’m holding her for the first time, tears in my eyes, I let out a deep sigh. A sigh of emotion that represented relief, happiness, and fear (I was now a father, was I ready for this?).
Recently I was listening to my physician explain to me that I was going need surgery. I let out a deep sigh. An expression of emotion that was essentially saying, though I don’t like it, I accept my fate.
Every year I hear from my accountant around the first of April telling me the results of my annual tax returns. This always seems to be followed by a big sigh when I get the news. Sometimes of relief, but usually it is a sigh saying “you have got to be kidding” (followed by momentary heart stoppage).
We have all experienced points in our lives where we let out a big sigh, not even aware of our actions. It is a natural response for many things we face each day.
The frustration of having something not go the way we would like, we take a deep breath, let it out as we accept our situation and get ready for our next move. Maybe a situation we were struggling with comes to an end. We finally see the relief coming and take a deep sigh of relief. Maybe we are watching someone we love give in to an addiction they just can’t seem to kick. We sigh as our hearts reach out to them.
Many things cause us to sigh. There are sighs of relief, expectancy, frustration, sadness, joy, acceptance. Sighing is an emotional expression that can show a multitude of feelings. Signing is something that I haven’t thought about much until I recently read Mark 7. Mark in his writing for some reason distinctly remembered Jesus letting out a deep sigh in each of these situations as he reflected back over this experience years later. Don’t you find that interesting? Why?
As we look at this particular section of scripture, there seems to be several things going on in Jesus life. He appears to need some personal time, but wasn’t getting it. People kept finding him, wanting to be around him, wanting to see him do miracles. In Jesus responses, he seemed to be saying, “Don’t you all get it? It’s not about the miracles?”
This is also the first time in Mark where Jesus begins to reveal his future with having to face the cross. He is tired, a lot on His mind. Jesus lets out a deep sigh.
But what caused Jesus to let out deep sighs in these situations significant enough for Mark to remember this and point it out in his writing?
We can rule out a deep sigh of relief, joy, or satisfaction. In these well known miracle passages the focus is often most aligned with the miracles that Jesus performed. I however, in the deep sighs, see something different. With each sigh Jesus gives I think we are seeing a real connection with humanity. A recognition of pain that was never intended. A recognition of a hope that was intended for man but delayed because of mans choice. A recognition that because of that choice Jesus destiny was set in motion leading to the cross and his resurrection. It was never intended to be this way, but this was the circumstantial will of God being played out.
What I see in these passages was not a message about the miracles he performed. Instead I see Jesus connecting with us as humans. He needed a break but wasn’t going to get it. Sigh! It was also a sigh connecting us to an assurance that God still identifies with us and hurts for us and with us. A sigh for what was never intended, but also a knowledge of a future for when our sighs would eventually end. A sigh that knew things would return as they were intended to be from the beginning. A sigh that connected Jesus to his fate and to us as humans. I wonder, can Jesus really relate to what I’m going through?
“Sigh!” I think he can.