Lovers of God

Jesus heals a deaf and dumb man

Mk 7:31-37 31 Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. 32 They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. 33 Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; 34 and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, "Ephphatha!" that is, "Be opened!" 35 And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. 36 And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. 37 They were utterly astonished, saying, "He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

For most of His miracles, Jesus didn’t have to do anything except speak. In this case, however, He touched the man’s tongue with His saliva. I’m sure He didn’t do that for no reason at all. He also put His fingers in the man’s ears, and He looked up to heaven with a deep sigh. It seems like it is not so simple to heal someone who is deaf and who speaks with difficulty.

From a spiritual perspective, a deaf person is one who cannot hear what God is saying to him, and a dumb person is one who cannot clearly articulate what God wants him to say to others. The symbolism here is that God is able to open our ears to hear what He has to say, and to speak what He wants us to tell others. However, for that to happen, He has to take us aside and do a work in us, and we have to cooperate with Him. Just as it is humiliating to have someone’s saliva forced onto our tongue, and just as it is quite uncomfortable when someone puts his fingers in our ears, God has to take us through humiliating and uncomfortable situations in order to accomplish His work in us.

Hearing what God is speaking to us (now, as opposed to what He spoke to us in the past) is really important because man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes (note the present tense) from the mouth of God (Mt 4:4, Lk 4:4).