The Healing of the Deaf and Mute | Mark 7:31–37
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and
went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to
him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay
his hand on him. 33 And
taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears,
and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And
looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be
opened.” 35 And his
ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And Jesus charged
them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they
proclaimed it. 37 And
they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He
even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Jesus remains in Gentile territory as He heads back
southward. This would have been an odd
route, apparently avoiding Galilee. He
arrives in the region of Decapolis, the ten cities, where He healed the man
with the legion of demons (5:1–20). As
such, the people there were perhaps anticipating the arrival of Jesus.
Notice the compassion
of the Lord. He doesn’t want to
spark a public ministry in the region (v. 36), but He heals those who come to
Him. In this case, Jesus touches the
man, even though He doesn’t need to. He indicates
to the deaf man what He was about to do by touching his hears and tongue.
He then sighs.
Matthew Henry notes, “He
sighed; not as if he found any difficulty in working this miracle, or obtaining
power to do it from his father; but thus he expressed his pity for the miseries
of human life, and his sympathy with the afflicted in their afflictions, as one
that was himself touched with the feeling of their infirmities.”[1]
Notice the inability of the man. He couldn’t hear Jesus’s command or
confess his faith, and he, of course, lacked the capacity to turn back his
handicap in obedience. Yet, Christ’s Word
is able to work on Its own, and the nerves and receptors within the man were
regenerated. Christ worked the miracle
entirely, from His fingers and saliva to His Word—He alone brings healing and
restoration.
Notice the unity of
the people (vv. 36–37). Matthew
15:30–31 says, “And great crowds came to him… and he healed them, 31 so that the crowd
wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame
walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.” Jesus’s disciples were amazed and they see Gentiles praising God—what a wonderful
foretaste of their inclusion and future unity in Christ!
[1]
Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary
on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody:
Hendrickson, 1994), 1793.
