And they bring to him a deaf [man] who could not speak right, and they beseech him that he might lay his hand on him.
This healing happens in Decapolis, a region full of Gentiles. Friends carry a man to Jesus and ask one small thing. He gives far more. In this one man commentators also see a picture of a need far wider than his own.
Mark names Decapolis. Isaiah had spoken about its people long before.
Decapolis seems to have been a place where the word of the Sower fell into "good ground," and produced much fruit… This territory was the Galilee of the Gentiles. Isaiah prophesied about its people: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone" (Isa. 9:2).
The man's two troubles are not a coincidence. The closed ear is the cause; the tangled tongue is the effect.
Deafness is interesting because loss of speech goes with it. In fact, the same Greek word is translated both "deaf" and "mute." Its literal meaning is dull. When the way between the soul and God is closed, there can be no speaking out His praise.
One writer traces this deaf ear back to Eden. He also hears the speech defect in everyday conversation.
They brought Him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. He is a humbling picture of every man's moral and spiritual condition as the fruit of the fall. God lost man's ear in the garden of Eden. Ever since that fatal day the whole human family would rather listen to anyone than to God… The tongue of the unconverted man is as much a stranger to God as the ear. No one can deny it. The most eloquent talker shows an impediment in his speech as soon as the things of God and Christ come up.
Commentators differ on what the picture points to. Another writer sees first the nation of Israel, and then the faithful few within it who came to Christ.
The afflicted man was only an emblem of the state of Israel. Through unbelief they were unwilling and unable to hear God, or to speak out their own misery and His praise. But once he was brought to Him, he pictured the remnant on whom light dawned in a region of the shadow of death.
A word would have been enough to heal this man. The way Jesus worked shows more than power.
This case differs from others. The man is not said to have been completely mute, but to have spoken with difficulty, as well as being deaf. Even so, the Lord takes special pains with him. Here He was pleased to show His tender interest in detail, and His compassionate love as well as His power to heal. He does much more than those who brought the patient to Him asked for. Putting the hand on the needy one was the usual sign of blessing. Less than this — a word — would have been enough, if the obedient Lord had seen it right for God's glory.
The gap between what they asked and what He did teaches us how to pray for others.
He is asked only to put His hand on the man, but the Lord does seven things for him. We may think we know what souls need, and pray for them that way, but the Lord knows better than we do. Mark's Gospel emphasises His service. So we see in these seven steps the patient persistence of His work for the blessing of one soul.
The touch added nothing to His power. It showed His love.
The kind friends asked the Lord to lay hands on the man. So He took him aside on his own. He put His fingers into the deaf ears, and touched the bound tongue… From this we may learn how completely the Lord, in His deep sympathy, put Himself in contact with the weaknesses of those He blessed. If He had power alone, He might have shown it from far off. But there was love also, and love in action must be near at hand… For God's love for the sinner was even more wonderful than His power to heal.
- Shut — the shut ear is the root trouble. The unclear tongue follows it. A soul closed toward God cannot speak out His praise.
- Shared — the man's case is not unusual. Writers see in it either the state of Israel or the state of every child of Adam, since God lost man's ear in Eden.
- Brought — he did not come alone. Others carried him to Christ, and asked for the usual hand of blessing.
- Exceeded — the Lord did far more than the friends asked, working step by step with one soul. Our prayers for others aim lower than His answers.
- Opened — power could have worked from a distance. Love came close, took the man aside, and touched the ear and tongue that needed opening.
And having taken him away from the crowd apart, he put his fingers to his ears; and having spit, he touched his tongue;
A deaf man who can barely speak is brought to Jesus, and the Lord takes him away from the crowd. Instead of healing him with a word from a distance, He uses fingers, spit and touch — so why this slow, deliberate method?
The first move is separation. One writer sees two things held together here. The Lord turns no needy person away. But He does not act as if the nation had never rejected Him.
Their sin cannot change His heart of love. So He will not turn away a case of need. If He will not send away a Gentile woman, neither will He refuse an appeal on behalf of a needy Jew. But in giving grace, He will, in both cases, hold to the truth. So we read that He took him aside from the crowd privately. He is not indifferent to their rejection of Him. If He works among them it is because of their need, and not because they are Jews. Sin has put Jew and Gentile on one common level, and grace can bless either on the ground of their need.
Why the ears first, and why touch them at all?
He took the deaf man aside from the multitude. The two were now alone together, the deaf man in the company of the Son of God. Attention was directed first to his ears, then to his tongue. He had to hear sounds correctly before he could speak clearly. The Lord putting His fingers into his ears first gives the impression that the man had been deaf from birth, and had never heard the sounds of human speech.
Another writer ties the way He heals to what He was carrying inside.
Hidden from the Jews, He is grace to the sinner. When He heals the deaf man of his deafness and his speech impediment, He takes him aside from the crowd, looks up to heaven and sighs. The unbelief of the people weighed on His heart. He looks up to the sovereign Source of all goodness and all help for man, and grieves at the condition in which man is found.
One writer notes how much care went into this single case.
This case differs from others. The sufferer is not said to have been completely mute. He had an impediment of speech, or spoke with difficulty, as well as being deaf. Even so, the Lord takes special pains with him. The manner reveals the divine Servant's grace. There was no question of His power. Normally He healed all who needed it in a moment, no matter how extreme the case. Here He was pleased to show His tender interest in detail. He showed His compassionate love no less than His power to heal. He does much more than those who brought the patient to Him asked.
One writer lingers on each step of the cure.
It is not only the cure, but the manner of it, that is so strikingly brought out here. Who could interfere with that scene between the perfect servant of God and the needy one? "He put His fingers into his ears." What would He not do to prove His interest? "And after spitting touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, He sighed." As He weighed the distressing results of sin, what a burden was on His heart!
There is a lesson for us in how He sighed.
In showing grace the Lord looked up to heaven and sighed. He always acted in dependence on the Father and in agreement with the mind of heaven. His heart was sustained by heaven even while it was broken by the sorrows of earth. We too, as the sorrows of earth press on our spirits, may well sigh; but too often we sigh without looking up to heaven, and so become cast down and depressed. Looking around we sigh; but looking up we are sustained.
The physical disability mirrors a spiritual one.
The afflicted man was only a picture of the state of Israel. Through unbelief they were unwilling and unable to hear God, or to speak out their own misery and His praise. But as brought to Him he pictures the remnant on whom light dawned in a region and shadow of death. And "immediately" is a word that marks this Gospel of His service. His ears were opened, the tie of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke correctly.
- Aside. Christ deals with this man alone, away from the crowd. Grace comes on the ground of need, not nationality.
- Slower. He gave far more than He was asked for: fingers, spit, touch, a sigh. The manner of the cure, not just the cure, is the point.
- Downward. The sigh shows the burden on His heart as He weighed what sin has done to man.
- Upward. He looks to heaven before He speaks. We sigh looking around; He sighed looking up, and was sustained.
- Opened. Ears first, then tongue — he had to hear before he could speak. His cure pictures a people deaf through unbelief, whose ears Christ opens.
and looking up to heaven he groaned, and says to him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
Mark records the order: Jesus looked up, He sighed, and only then came the one word that Mark stops to translate for us. Why did a sigh come before the healing, and what was in it?
One writer links the upward look to the Lord's dependence on the Father, and finds a lesson in it for us.
In showing grace the Lord looked up to heaven and sighed. He always acted in dependence upon the Father and in accord with the mind of heaven. Heaven sustained His heart, even when the sorrows of earth broke it. We too may well sigh as the sorrows of earth press on our spirits. But too often we sigh without looking up to heaven, and so become cast down and depressed. Looking around we sigh; but looking up we are sustained.
One writer traces the sigh back past this man's ears to the ruin of a creation once called good, and forward to the atonement He came to make.
The burden of the world's sin, and the many miseries that come with it, weighed on His gracious spirit. He recalled the day when, ages before, He pronounced His whole creative work "very good" (Gen. 1:31), and He groaned as He considered all the ruin that Satan and man had caused through sin. This is what brought Him from above. But He had come, not to heal physical diseases only, but to make atonement for sin by His blood.
Another writer, whose translation says "groaned" where ours says "sighed", asks what this man's state meant for God. A closed ear is not only the man's loss. It is silence toward God.
"Looking up to heaven He groaned." Surely this suggests that He was seeing this man's condition as it affected God. Estranged from the life of God, held in Satan's grip, man's ear is not tuned to the speaking of God. In the Old Testament we read of the many times God pleaded with His earthly people — "Hear, My people"!
Mark translates the word for us: be opened. One writer asks who has the right to speak to a deaf ear like that.
Following His touch of sympathy, the Lord uttered His word of command, Ephphatha. The Servant of Jehovah spoke in the fullness of His rights as the Son of God, and it was done. His word was as able to control and to correct as it was to create. Had He not "planted the ear" (Ps. 94:9)? If He made the hearing ear (Prov. 20:12), should He not cause the deaf ear to hear His voice? So He spoke to the helpless part rather than to the man himself: Be opened. At once the deaf man's ears opened, the bond on his tongue gave way, and he spoke plainly.
One writer explains why the Lord met this need in person.
He saw in both acts how everything depended on bringing Himself personally to bear on the actual need. The One who worked was man, yet no less was He God, the Son become flesh and on earth, in His pitying love serving God and man. He did not only apply what came from within Himself to the man's tongue. He also looked up to heaven, groaned, and said to him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
Writers apply the man's condition in two directions. One takes it as a picture of every person since the fall.
A humiliating picture of every man's moral and spiritual condition as the fruit of the fall. God lost man's ear in the garden. Ever since that fatal day the whole human family has been inclined to listen to anyone rather than to God… The tongue of the unconverted man is as estranged from God as the ear. Nobody can deny that the most eloquent speaker shows an impediment in his speech as soon as the things of God and Christ come up.
Another writer keeps the focus on the nation. He reads the healing as a sample of what God will yet do for the believing few in Israel.
We see Jesus here, His heart moved at the condition of man, and even more at the state of His ever-loved Israel. This poor sufferer was a striking picture of it. He causes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. So it was individually, and so it will be with the whole remnant of Israel in the latter days.
The ear comes first, and the loosed tongue follows. One writer sums up the whole of the Lord's service in that order.
What a summary of the service of our blessed Lord! Opening men's ears to the gracious revelation from God — and loosing their tongue to answer His speaking with understanding.
- Opened upward. Jesus looks up before He opens anything in the man. Dependence comes first, and looking up keeps a sighing heart from being crushed.
- Opened in grief. The sigh weighs sin's ruin of a creation once called "very good," and points on to atonement by His blood as the real cure.
- Opened by a word. The One who planted the ear speaks to the ear itself: "Be opened." The Creator repairs what He made.
- Opened in person. He met the need Himself, bringing His own touch to the ear and the tongue.
- Opened to speak. Ears first, tongue after: He gives men the hearing to receive God's word and the speech to answer Him.
And immediately his ears were opened, and the band of his tongue was loosed and he spoke right.
A deaf man who could barely speak was brought to Jesus. Jesus took him aside from the crowd, touched his ears and tongue, and said one word: Ephphatha, "Be opened." This verse is the result, and commentators find far more in it than one man's recovery.
The cure came by a word of command. One writer links that word to the God who made the ear in the first place:
Following His touch of sympathy, the Lord uttered His word of command, Ephphatha. The Servant of Jehovah spoke in the fullness of His rights as the Son of God, and it was done. His word was as powerful to correct and control as it was to create. Had He not "planted the ear" (Ps. 94:9)? If He made the hearing ear (Prov. 20:12), should He not cause the deaf ear to hear His voice? So He spoke to the disabled part, not to the man himself: Be opened.
Hearing comes first in the verse, then speech. One writer applies that order to the way anyone comes to praise God:
The Saviour touched first the ears of the afflicted one, and then his tongue. This order is significant. In spiritual things the ear must first be opened to receive God's teaching. Only then can the tongue speak out His praise… The man who has taken the gospel of Christ into his heart through his ear will delight to tell everyone around him about the wonders of God's grace.
There is also a physical reason the two disabilities go together:
Being unable to speak is the result of being unable to hear. Children hear sounds and then learn to copy them. That is, they learn to repeat what they hear other people say. This is how every one of us has learned to speak. But the deaf child hears nothing. It cannot copy, so it never learns to speak… The ear is the guide and director of the tongue.
Some writers see in this man a picture of every person, with the loss going back to the garden of Eden:
A man was brought to Him who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech (Mark 7:31-37). It is a humbling picture of every man's moral and spiritual condition as the fruit of the fall. God lost man's ear in the garden. Ever since that fatal day the whole human family would sooner listen to anyone than to God… The tongue of the unconverted man is as much a stranger to God as the ear. No one can deny it: the most eloquent talker shows an impediment in his speech as soon as the things of God and Christ come up.
Others see the man as a picture of Israel at that moment:
The afflicted man was only a symbol of the state of Israel. Sadly, the nation was unwilling, and through unbelief unable, to hear God or to speak out their own misery and His praise. But as brought to Him he pictured the faithful remnant on whom light dawned in a region and shadow of death. And "immediately" — a word so typical of this Gospel of His service — his ears were opened. The tie of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke rightly.
Another writer sees the same grace reaching further than this one man:
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. So it was for this one man, and so it will be for the whole faithful remnant of Israel in the last days. He acts Himself, and He does all things well. The power of the enemy is destroyed.
The healing also points forward. One writer links it to a promise in Isaiah:
Then will come the fulfilment of the prophecy that this Galilean miracle guaranteed: "Behold your God… will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped… and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing… and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isa. 35:4-10).
One writer sees the whole work of Christ summed up in this one cure:
People brought to Jesus a man who was deaf and could not speak properly. Jesus opened his ears and loosed his tongue… What a wonderful summary of the work of Christ! He opens men's ears so that they may hear the speaking of God, and unlooses their tongues so that they may respond in praise to Him. The verb is in the perfect tense — ears are still being opened to divine speaking, and lips are opened in response.
- Deaf first. The ear was lost in the garden, and ever since the human bent has been to listen to anyone rather than to God.
- Silence follows. Speech depends on hearing. The ear guides the tongue, so a silent tongue is the symptom, not the disease.
- Opened by a word. The One who planted the ear needed only to say "Be opened," and it was done.
- Still opening. God opens the ear to receive His instruction before the tongue can speak His praise — and He is still opening ears today.
- Sorrow ending. This one cure was a pledge of a coming day. Then deaf ears will be unstopped, mute tongues will sing, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.