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144. “EPHPHATHA”


Mark 7:31-37
Key Verse:  People were overwhelmed with amazement.  “He has done everything well,” they said.  “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Mark 7:37

Imagine having never heard a word.  Without words, how does one think?  How does one even have a concept of communication?  How does one have, or gain understanding? 

Deafness, especially from birth, can be such an isolating handicap. So much of how we understand the world around us comes through our ears.  It’s not just the sounds of nature that we do not experience, but all of communication itself.  It is through words that we gain understanding. This man had not been educated in sign language or lip reading. He couldn’t have been taught to read or write.  It wasn’t that he was not capable of learning these things, but that the world around him was unable to communicate these skills to him. 

With that in mind, how would anyone teach him of Jesus? How would he gain understanding of God, or God’s love?  This man could not know these things. We are left to wonder how he experienced Jesus' interaction with him.

It is important to note that this healing took place near the Decapolis. This is the area that Jesus sent the Gentile that He had healed of a legion of demons in Mark 5:1-20. Jesus had sent this man off to tell what Jesus had done for him. It’s obvious, from the reception that Jesus received, that the man had obeyed Jesus and now, this deaf mute, another Gentile would benefit from Jesus Healing touch.

First of all, Jesus drew him aside. I’m sure that, in part, this was for reasons of privacy, but could it have also been to avoid frightening him? 

Then, Jesus puts his fingers in the man’s ears. In other words, Jesus drew him close. But this could also have served as sign language so the man would may get some idea what was about to happen, or at least, when it did happen, the man would know who had healed him. Finally, Jesus produced saliva, and took it from His own mouth to put in this deaf man’s mouth. This would mean that Jesus lifted the man’s face, probably so that He could look into his eyes to reassure the man that He meant no harm and that it would be okay. What an intimate act, almost like lovers, that God would draw so close to this man who, up to now, had been in his own little world. 

The people were amazed! It wasn’t just this man who was healed, this healing would have been experienced also by all those who loved him and had brought him to Jesus. Imagine being his mother, being able to tell her son for the first time, “I love you,” and know that he understood. Imagine the gift that this healing was for all those around him. Imagine the deaf and mute man being given the gift of understanding all this in an instant.

Jesus came into this man’s world to free him from isolation and ignorance, as He came into our world to free us from the consequences of sin and give us understanding beyond what we could imagine. We, like this man, were isolated by our sin, ignorant of God’s truth, as the man was ignorant of much of life itself. Jesus longs to draw us close into an intimate relationship with Him. 

Hymn: “OLove That Will Not Let Me Go”

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