Introduction
We read in our passage what is a common experience for us – the record of yet another healing. That was not common for the man Jesus healed. To him it was the most spectacular event of his life. And yet, as spectacular as it may have been, what that healing signified was by far more wondrous than anything that life on earth has yet to experience.
Location
Mark provides us with an interesting route that Jesus traveled. Already north of Galilee, he travels even further north before heading southeast to the Sea of Galilee and then apparently further over and down. It seems that he was avoiding the borders of Israel, presumably to keep away from the crowds. The Decapolis was an area stretching from the eastern border of the Sea of Galilee down south.
Miracle
As in the territory of Tyre, he is again approached for help, this time for healing. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.
If you are like me, by now you are almost tempted to yawn at the scenario. After all, Jesus’ healing is commonplace now. I grew up in the ‘60s with the first launchings of astronauts into space. Each launching was a special occasion for the nation and Walter Cronkite was the unofficial presider over each event. The nation knew everything about each mission before the rocket took off, and we followed with keen interest the whole trip. Who knows the names of the astronauts on the last mission? Who knows when the last mission was? Launching into space is commonplace now. We may have interest in the missions, but little excitement.
Jesus has cured a fever, cleansed a leper, cured a man of paralysis, made a shriveled hand whole, cured a woman of a 12-year hemorrhage, and brought a dead girl back to life. And these are just samples of his healing powers. We know that he cured hundreds of people. So, another healing doesn’t rank high on the scale anymore of great miracles, at least not in comparison to quieting storms, walking on water, and multiplying food. And, oh yes, let’s not forget casting out demons.
What is interesting, then, is the time and attention Mark gives to the story. Read again his description of the healing. 33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
There are three elements to the miracle description. The first is Jesus taking the man aside; the second is the process by which Jesus heals; and the third is the consequence of the healing. Consider the first element. This is the first time Mark records Jesus taking a person away from a crowd before he heals, although he does have people leave the house before he raises the girl back to life. In that instance he is getting rid of all the commotion being caused by skeptics. In this case, people have brought a man to him for help and Jesus, for some reason, pulls the man away from his friends. Keep that thought in mind as we go on.
What a curious process Jesus goes through to heal the man. Again, reviewing the previous healing miracles, at the most Jesus touches the person he heals. Of the six healing miracles, in only three does he touch the person he heals and they are explainable apart from healing. For two of them, he simply holds their hands to help them out of bed. The third involves touching the leper. Jesus touched him precisely because he was considered an untouchable person. Mark does let us know that he touched others as part of the healing process, but, again, he has made it clear that touching was hardly something Jesus needed to do. Healing simply was not a difficult work for Jesus to do.
But we would not have gotten that impression if this were the only sample of his healing. First, he puts his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spits and touches the man’s tongue.
Yuck! He spat on his own fingers, then put the spit on the man’s tongue. And I thought it was bad enough to have my mom wipe off dirt on my face with spit! Finally, he looks up to heaven, sighs deeply, and says, “Be opened!” This is the same man who tells a mother that she will find her daughter at home with her demon already cast out; the same man who merely tells a dead girl to get up. What was so difficult about healing this man?
Nothing was difficult. Jesus did not go through this elaborate process because he had a difficult case. Some commentators believed he used the methods that Gentiles would have expected of a miracle worker. He was in Gentile territory and thus acted accordingly. It seems to me though that he would have intentionally avoided acting according to expectation in order to prove that he was more than the miracle worker they would have categorized him as.
Well then why did he? The only conclusion we can come up with is his compassion for this man. Jesus takes him aside and gives him personal attention that is meaningful to him. There is a scene in Patch Adams where a medical professor is taking medical students around in a hospital for instruction. They pass by a woman lying on a stretcher in the hallway. They stop and stand around the woman who is in obvious discomfort, both physically from her condition and emotionally from having a group of strangers stand around her. The doctor speaks in a clinical voice about her condition while ignoring her. As they are about to leave, Patch asks the woman her name. His intention is to treat her with respect and not as a mere case study. It is clear here that Jesus is not treating this man as yet another example of his power.
What is he doing then by sticking his fingers in the man’s ears and placing spittle on his tongue? He is doing the same thing that a good doctor does when he or she treats a patient. A good doctor knows that her examination and treatment of a patient should not only be technically correct, but done in a way that makes the patient feel that he is receiving real care. Most of us have had experience with doctors who are very attentive to their procedures and yet show little attention to us personally. We value so much the doctor who is attentive to us and who touches us in way that conveys both skill and compassion.
Let’s consider the patient in our story. He is deaf. He is not completely mute. He can make sounds. The Greek term used is rightly translated in the King James as speech impediment. Probably this is a man who has lost his hearing rather than born deaf, and his speech impediment is due to the hearing loss. He is a man who is cut off from the world about him. Remember, we are in ancient times. He would not have learned sign language nor would there have been programs to assimilate him into society. In all likelihood he would have been ignored by people in general.
This stranger, however, whom the people thrust him in front of, treats him with great attention. If the man had not understood before, he would now know that this stranger was attempting to heal him. The spittle on the tongue, by the way, was accepted medical practice. Jesus will use spit again in another story. The man sees and feels the touch of Jesus whose face must have been just inches away. Imagine looking into the eyes of Jesus! He then sees Jesus look to heaven. What would he think? He would understand that the stranger is looking to God for healing power. Here then must be a holy man. He can’t hear Jesus sigh, but surely he would understand the expression on his face. This stranger deeply cares.
Amazement
The last experience would have had the greatest impact. That experience would be hearing sound, even hearing the words that his own tongue pronounced clearly. I don’t know if he heard Jesus say, “Be opened,” or he began to hear after the command. Whatever the case, he is fully healed. He hears well and speaks plainly. I never thought about this until I read Philip Yancey’s and Paul Brand’s book, In His Image, but Jesus’ miracles of healing extended beyond the initial healing phase to full restoration. If this man had been healed through surgery, he would have to then go through a period of adjustment in learning to hear and speak. Yes, he can hear, but his brain has to relearn how to distinguish sounds. The man with paralysis that Jesus healed ought to have needed physical therapy to walk properly on his healed legs. Jesus not only healed people of their malady; he also restored their abilities. That is brought out in this case by the description of the man speaking plainly.
Interestingly enough, Mark now turns our attention to the audience that beheld this spectacle. 36 Jesus commanded them (the crowd) not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
We are also familiar by now with this situation. Jesus’ dilemma throughout his ministry has been the unwanted publicity about his healings. He is constantly beset by crowds of people either wanting to be healed or to watch the spectacle of the healing. As far as we can tell, he is in this territory precisely to stay away from crowds. But, if he is going to keep helping everyone who comes to him, he is going to keep bringing the problem upon himself.
Now, the people are overwhelmed with amazement. This is not old hat to them as it is to us. Besides, they see the miracle. You and I only read about it. It seems, also that Jesus is performing other healings as well. They say, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Regardless of the case, it is that last sentence that carries significance.
Consider this passage from Isaiah that speaks of the deliverance to come from the Lord.
Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you.”
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy (Isaiah 35:3-6).
We can be certain that Mark is thinking of this passage. That Greek word in our passage translated could hardly talk is a rare term. Nowhere else in the New Testament does it occur. Indeed there is only one other occurrence in all the Scriptures. It is in Isaiah 35:6 translated mute. The Bible of the Jewish Christians was, of course, the Old Testament. We know from the references that Mark, Paul, Peter and others make that they used a Greek translation of the Bible called the Septuagint. That Greek translation uses this rare word. Mark, as he writes his story, intentionally borrows that same word to described this man who cannot speak. He is making, and wants his readers to make, the connection between the two passages. He wants us to understand that here is the Deliverer who has come as prophesied by Isaiah.
Jesus did the same thing. Matthew and Luke report the time that John the Baptist sent his disciples to inquire of Jesus if he were the Messiah to come. They observe Jesus heal and he sends them away with this message: Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor (Luke 7:22).
Do you hear that question coming back from Mark? “Do you get it now?” he is asking. “Do you understand now who this Jesus is?” This is not just another interesting story to tell about a miracle worker. This is another sign for us to recognize the Messiah. For the Gentiles, assuming for a moment that is who the crowd was composed of, for them this is another spectacle to marvel at, like watching one more amazing trick at a magic show. We might be amazed, but we don’t then hail the magician as our Savior.
But for the Jews, and that may be whom the crowd consisted of, for them this is a sign of the One to come, the One prophesied by the ancient prophets. For them there is an electrifying sensation that the time has arrived and the One is present among them. They are not looking for more healing tricks; no, they are looking for something much more. Go back to full context in Isaiah 35.
The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus,
2 it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you.”
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
8 And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it;
it will be for those who walk in that Way;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
9 No lion will be there,
nor will any ferocious beast get up on it;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
The Jews are looking to the fulfillment of this vision – the coming of God’s kingdom; the restoration of Israel; no, not merely its restoration, but its transformation. The desert will become a blooming garden. The parched earth will be covered with bubbling springs. There will be no sickness or crippling or even danger. There will be no uncleanness, i.e. no one in it who is unrighteous. And those who are redeemed by God will walk throughout the kingdom singing with everlasting joy.
That’s what the Jewish people were looking for in the coming of the Messiah. They were not just looking for someone to make the present life a little better; they were looking for someone to usher in the glorious kingdom of God. Mark is saying, “Make the connection. He was here. The kingdom has come.”
Mark will show how it all plays out. That is what the four Gospels are about. They show how the prophecies were actually fulfilled in Jesus. Because of them and the rest of the New Testament we know that the Messiah came first to establish a spiritual kingdom and to redeem his people from sin. We know that he will come again to complete the prophecies and to consummate the kingdom, at which time a new earth will be created and filled with his redeemed people who come from all the nations of the earth.
It will take place. Meanwhile, the spiritual kingdom continues now to spread, to draw in God’s elect, and to begin the process of preparing us for that final day. For that One who came lives now. He reigns over us now and intercedes for us now. He has sent his Counselor to dwell within us and to prepare us for his return. This is reality.
Jesus opened this man’s ears to hear the common sounds that everyone could hear. Mark is trying to open our ears to hear the uncommon sounds of God’s kingdom that stirs with the promises of glory and of the Messiah’s return. He who opens ears, makes the lame walk and the blind see has come. He lives now. And he will return. And that kingdom that he has brought, which we live in by faith, will some day be revealed. And then
the redeemed will walk there,
10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
