Mark 7:31-37 – Jesus heals a profoundly deaf man
(Reading Mark 7:24-37)
31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spat 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.
36 Jesus commanded them 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.”
Introduction
Last week I spoke on one of the Lectionary passages for last Thursday, Mark 7:24-30 – Jesus’ encounter with a woman from the region of Tyre. This week I want to focus on the following verses, Mark 7:31-37, the story of Jesus healing of a profoundly deaf man. To remind you of the context, we have read both stories this morning.
Mark 7:31-37
Jesus had left the region of Tyre and moved back to Galilee where he spent much of his ministry. From there he travelled to the region called Decapolis, meaning ten towns. This region to the East of Galilee was predominantly populated by Gentiles – non Jews. It was in this region that Jesus healed the wild Gerasene man who lived among the tombs and who was possessed by a legion of demons. Jesus had allowed the demons to enter a heard of pigs. The residents of the area had asked Jesus to get out of their region. But now he is back.
And now Jesus' reputation for being able to heal attracts people to him. A man is brought to Jesus, "who was deaf and could hardly talk". The word used here for him being hardly able to talk is an unusual one (μογιλάλον), occurring only here in the New Testament and only once in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, and that is in Isaiah 35:6, of which more later. It means that he could not really speak but only uttered noises which it was difficult to interpret, hence the crowd's later affirmation, "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." His friends or relatives brought this poor man to Jesus, asking him to lay his hand on him. They clearly expected that if Jesus would only lay his hand on him, he would be healed.
But first, Jesus takes the man to one side, away from the crowd. Jesus does not want to attract attention to himself, as we shall see also from later in the story. He does not want to be besieged by crowds who would prevent him from moving on to minister elsewhere. When he has got the man away from the crowds, he "put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spat and touched the man’s tongue." The man, remember, could not hear what Jesus was about to say, but he could see and feel what Jesus was doing. Jesus clearly communicates with the man, assuring him of the healing that is about to come to his ears and his tongue.
Jesus we then read, "looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, 'Ephphatha!' (which means 'Be opened!')." He looked up into heaven to indicate the source of his power. Remember the accusations of the teachers of the law, reported by Mark in 3:22, they said of Jesus, "He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons." By this heavenward gaze Jesus shows that he heals only by the power of God.
Jesus uttered what the NIV translates as "a deep sigh." The same term is found in Romans 8:22-23 where we read, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies." Again, it occurs in 2 Corinthians 5:2 and 4 where Paul writing of his desire not to be freed from his present body by death but to be clothed in the promised resurrection body, writes, " For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." Do you get the flavour of this word? It expresses the groaning caused by a deep awareness of being part of a world gone wrong, a world subject to death. It is a groaning that expresses a longing for things to be different – for God to make all things anew. And here in Mark 7 we read of Jesus groaning like that. It is a groan that reflects the strong emotion of Jesus as he wages war against the power of Satan who has caused such damage to God's creation. Jesus groans with prayerful longing for this damage to be undone.
But unlike our groaning and that of our deeply damaged creation, Jesus can do something about this situation. He said to the deaf man "Ephphatha! – Be opened." And with this word the man's ears were opened to hear the words of Jesus and his tongue was set loose to talk plainly.
Now Jesus did not speak in English, nor did he speak in the common Greek language in which Mark's Gospel is written. Jesus spoke in Aramaic and here is one of the few places where the Gospel writers actually record the Aramaic words that Jesus spoke. Other examples are Jesus' cry of dereliction on the cross "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" (Mark 15:34), "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Another is found in Mark 5:41 when Jesus raises a young girl from the dead with the words, "Talitha koum!" – "Little girl, get up!" These are occasions when what happened was so remarkable that the very words spoken by the Lord Jesus were remembered distinctly and were recorded verbatim for others also to wonder at. Who would have thought that telling a dead girl to get up or a deaf man to open his ears would make the slightest difference to their situations? Who would have thought that in his agony upon the cross, bearing our sin, that Jesus, God the Son, should feel himself abandoned by his heavenly Father. These remarkable events led to the remarkable words of the Lord Jesus being recorded just as they were spoken.
And this was a remarkable event. I have been doing a little research. Young children usually say their first recognisable words some time between 10 months and a year old. By two they are putting two or three words together and by three are speaking in sentences. It takes a long time listening and growing in understanding what you are hearing before you are able to speak in a similar fashion. But this man could immediately hear clearly. More than that, he could understand what he was hearing. And even more remarkable than all of this, the man could immediately articulate clear words himself and make himself understood.
Moreover, he was keen to speak. Jesus commanded him and the friends who had brought him not to tell anyone what had happened. But he might just as well have told a fledged bird not to fly. The man had found his voice and would not stop telling others what Jesus had done for him. You can imagine it can't you. He would not shut up. He was just too excited to use his new found faculties.
And we read, "People were overwhelmed with amazement. ‘He has done everything well,’ they said. ‘He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’" Their words echo Isaiah 35:3-6, which speak of what will happen when God comes to save his people from captivity:
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.
These verses from Isaiah inspired some of the words in Charles Wesley's famous hymn, O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, verses of which say,
He speaks, and, listening to his voice,
New life the dead receive;
The mournful broken hearts rejoice,
The humble poor believe.
Hear him, ye deaf; his praise ye dumb,
Your loosen'd tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Saviour's come,
And leap, ye lame for joy.
And it seems that it is also the recollection of Isaiah 35 that is echoed in the response of the crowds who had witnessed the transformation of this previously deaf man as they say, "He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." They are amazed as it seems to them that the words of the prophet Isaiah are being fulfilled before their eyes. Here, in the person of Jesus, God has come to rescue his people.
How do we respond to this passage of Scripture?
One of Jesus' favourite sayings was "Whoever has ears, let them hear." What have we heard from this passage of Scripture we have looked at this morning? Has Jesus opened our ears to hear what he has to say to us and opened our eyes to see something more of the glory of who he is and what he came into the world to do? Have we experienced something of his transforming power? Do we join in the verdict of the crowd concerning Jesus, "He has done everything well"?
What is it Jesus came into the world to do? He came to heal a broken world, a world marked by disability, disease, pain and death. Jesus groaned deeply as he witnessed and felt the pain and tragedy of a broken world. He feels our groaning at a broken and suffering world. He came to put it to rights. He felt took that brokenness upon himself at the cross and suffered the depth of pain of our broken world. By his resurrection he has begun the process of making all things new – it is by his wounds that we are healed. He gives life to the dead now and will give the fulness of resurrection life to all who trust in him at his return. Our spirits groan within us longing for that day.
These are the truths of which we are reminded as we come to this communion table. Christ has died – for us; Christ is risen – for us; Christ will come again – for us! We have begun to taste of the resurrection life that is ours in him and we groan with longing for the day when we shall experience it in all its fulness.
In the passage we have just read, Jesus tried to get the man and his friends to keep quiet about what he had done, but they kept talking about it, and as they spoke about it to others so they also were overwhelmed with amazement concerning Jesus. Jesus has done wonderful things for us; do we speak of the amazing things Jesus has done – speak and refuse to be quiet? Are others overwhelmed at what they hear from us?
Why are we so reluctant to speak? I ask the question of myself. It must be that we have begun to lose a sense of wonder at what he has done. To return to Charles Wesley's wonderful hymn, our prayer must be:
My gracious master, and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad,
The honours of thy name.
May the Lord Jesus open our ears to hear Christ's word to us today, open our eyes to the wonder of our salvation and the living hope we have in Christ, and loosen our tongues to speak of the wonderful things he has done for us and will do for all who will come to him.
Peter Misselbrook, Christ Church Downend, Thursday Communion, 29/8/24