Why did Jesus spit for some of His miracles?

Then He spat. We might think that this was somewhat inappropriate, but it expressed something of Christ Himself. Thus, He shared something of Himself with this man. Moreover, He touched the deaf man's tongue. This underlines His ability to bring about healing.

And they bring to him [one] deaf and hardly speaking, and they beseech him to lay his hand on him. And having taken him away from the crowd apart, he put his fingers to his ears; and he spit and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven he groaned, and saith to him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke aright. And he charged them that they should tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more abundantly were they publishing [it]. And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well; he maketh both the deaf to hear and the speechless to speak" (vers. 32-37).

The minute accuracy of the Holy Spirit in recounting Christ's miracles is admirable. This case differs from others, in that the sufferer is not said to have been absolutely mute, but to have had an impediment of speech, or speaking with difficulty, as well as deaf. Nevertheless the Lord takes especial pains with him. The manner reveals the divine Servant's grace. There was no question of His power. Ordinarily He healed all that needed it in a moment, no matter how extreme, as when an unclean spirit was the cause of the dumbness rather than physical inability or defect. Here He was pleased to manifest His tender interest in detail, and His compassionate love no less than His power to heal. He does much more than what those besought who brought the patient to Him. Putting the hand on the needy one was the usual sign of blessing; and less than this, a word, would have been enough, if so the obedient Lord had seen fit to God's glory.

But He took him aside from the crowd apart. For here it is not the crowd He thinks of, any more than the haughty scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem. Just before He had met the desperate need of the Syro-phoenician on behalf of her demoniac daughter on the borders of Tyre and Sidon. Now He had come through the midst of the borders of Decapolis, where, as the prophet had long before predicted, light was to shine for a despised remnant when darkness brooded over the mass with city and temple dead to the rejected Messiah (Isa. 9:1-2). So apart from the crowd He took the deaf man, and put His fingers unto, if not into (as the preposition may mean according to the sense required), his ears. But more than this; having spit, He touched the tongue of the stammerer.

Next we come to another tale, finishing the chapter, and strikingly characteristic of our gospel — the case of one deaf and dumb, whom Jesus met as He departed from these quarters into Galilee. "And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him." Here again the Lord shows us a beautiful sample of considerateness and tender goodness in the manner of His cure. It is not only the cure, but the manner of it, that we have so strikingly brought out here. Our Lord takes the man aside from the multitude. Who could intermeddle with that scene between the perfect servant of God and the needy one? "He puts his fingers into his ears." What would He not do to prove His interest? "And he spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed." As He weighed the distressing results of sin, what a burden was upon His heart! It is a particular instance of the great truth we saw in Matthew the other night. With Jesus it was never bare power relieving man, but always His spirit entering into the case, feeling its character in God's sight, and its sad consequences for man too. The whole was borne upon His heart, and so, as here, He sighs, and bids the ears be opened. "And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well." Such might be the motto of Mark. The utterance of the multitude, of those that saw the fact, is just what is illustrated throughout the entire gospel. "He hath done all things well." It was not only that there was the power fully adequate to accomplish all He undertook, but "He hath done all things well." He is the perfect servant everywhere, and under all circumstances, whatever may be the need. "He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak."

It is the gospel of His service; and here, and throughout, we are made to behold the perfect manner in which His mighty works were done. It is not only the power of God ever ready to heal the sick and those oppressed by the devil. The way in which He answered every such appeal was worthy of the Son of God become servant to glorify God and win man. He put His fingers to the deaf man's ears, He touched the ill-speaking tongue. He laid His hands upon the blind man outside Bethsaida. There was no necessity for any such actions. He had but to speak, and it was done. But love is far beyond power; and when man has power to wield it in ever so limited a range, how little he thinks of love! Least of all does he, conscious however scantily of his sinfulness, look for love from the God he slights and dreads. The Lord in the way He wields divine power manifests divine love, and as Man in the midst of men. Nor is there the smallest ostentation but its marked absence: all is done in genuine simplicity as well as tenderness.

We may notice too that in the two miracles the Lord uses His own spittle, as He did also in the cure of the man born blind (told us in John 9). Whatever the reality and lowliness of the humanity He had taken up in His grace, there was divine efficacy in His person; and the sign of this He applies in all three cases, each having its own distinction. When He touched the tongue, He looked up to heaven with a groan, and says to the man, Be opened; and immediately the happy result follows. When He mixed clay with what came of Himself and anointed the born-blind man's eyes, He told him to go to Siloam and wash; and only then did he come seeing. Here the very intent was to mark by the twofold act of laying His hands on his eyes that the Lord would not have the cure partial. It was much to behold men, like trees, but walking. Yet the Lord would not let him go thus; He would give him to see distinctly. He therefore laid His hands upon his eyes, so that he was restored and saw all things distinctly. It was simply the way of love that the blind man might know the deep interest of His heart Who might have dispensed with any or all of these circumstances, and have effected the perfect cure with a word. But what a blank for the man and for our hearts, if it had been only so!

Indeed the instruction was great for the disciples who were then in a measure learning of His ways with Whom they were, and learnt far more when He was gone and the Holy Spirit come. The former was no unmeet emblem of Israel's state, and had a sample of the powers of the world to come when the weak remnant shall become a strong nation, with ears opened and tongue loosed to speak Jehovah's praise. The latter in the partial cure might well remind the disciples that they during His earthly ministry did not see more clearly than the man when His hands were laid on him once. How different when God raised Him up from the dead whereof they were witnesses! Then, He being exalted by the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit, how great the blessing! Faith needs to have its perfect work, as well as patience. How often men stop short!

Our Lord opened the eyes of a blind man. He anointed the man’s eyes with clay made from His spittle, and sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation, “SENT.” Our Lord was under no necessity to put clay on the man’s eyes. In other cases His word of power sufficed for the miracle. He had evidently a meaning to teach by His action, possibly not so much for the blind man as for ourselves.

Answering at once, and that fully, the question of the disciples, "Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him," the Lord proceeded to take up the case. "We," He said probably, rather than "I," "must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world" (9:4-5). Looking forward to His departure, He thus spoke. And now He would give proof of being the Light of the world, by giving sight to that blind beggar. He might, of course, have just spoken the word, and the hitherto sightless eyeballs would have become the lamp of the man's body (Matt. 6:22). But He acted otherwise in His wisdom, spitting on the ground, and making clay of the spittle. He first anointed the man's eyes, and then commanded him to go, and to wash in the pool of Siloam, "which," as the Evangelist adds, "is by interpretation, Sent." He went his way, therefore, and washed, and came seeing. It was the obedience of faith. He suffered the Lord to anoint his eyes with the clay. He went then, as told, to the pool, washed, and received sight. No known virtue was generally recognised as being in clay. Nor, why his eyes were anointed only to have the clay washed off directly afterwards, could any one have explained to him at that moment. The Lord did what He pleased, and bade the man do as He directed. Then sight was granted to him. Varied have been the conjectures as to the meaning of the procedure on this occasion. The Evangelist has not explained it, so we cannot dogmatise about it. We give, however, here, for the benefit of our readers, a quotation from another, which, if there be spiritual teaching in the matter, seems the most reasonable explanation of it: "He makes clay with His spittle and the earth, and puts it on the eyes of the man who was born blind. As a figure, it pointed to the humanity of Christ in earthly humiliation and lowliness, presented to the eyes of men, but with Divine efficacy of life in Him. Did they see any the more? If possible, their eyes were the more completely closed. Still the object was there; it touched their eyes, and they could not see it. The blind man then washes in the pool that was called 'Sent,' and is enabled to see clearly. The power of the Spirit and of the word, making Christ known as the One sent by the Father, gives him sight. It is the history of Divine teaching in the heart of man. Christ, as man, touches us. We are absolutely blind; we see nothing. The Spirit of God acts, Christ being there before our eyes; and we see plainly."*

When some bring a blind man to Him they ask only that He touch him. As in Chapter 7:32 they assume they know what he needs. Of course the Lord could have healed him without even touching him; but again He acts as the perfect Servant of God, showing the grace that labors with the man, again doing seven things before the man is perfectly restored. First, He takes him by the hand, and surely no-one was ever more gently led. There is always a preliminary work of the Lord Jesus In leading a precious soul in the direction in which he may find eventual blessing. We may not realize it at the time, but such is His sovereign wisdom. Secondly, He led him out of the town. Bethsaida was to have no part in the blessing of the man, for conversion is emphatically "out of this world," and it is good that we learn this deeply in our hearts. Next, He spit on the man's eyes. Only the Lord Jesus has a right to do such a thing. It is a reminder that our contemptible condition of spiritual blindness is a result of the disease of sin, and calls for our humbling ourselves in repentance before God, recognizing that we deserve to be spit on by the Son of God. Fourthly, He put His hands on him, which was positive contact that actually gave the man sight, for it is only direct contact with the Lord Jesus that will communicate any true blessing to us. Fifth, He asked him if he saw anything: He desires a response.

In healing this man the Lord performed certain actions, which doubtless have symbolic meanings. He took him aside from the crowds, that He might deal with him in privacy. His fingers, symbolic of Divine action, touch his ears. That which came from His mouth touched the mouth of the dumb man. Thus the work was done, and the deaf and dumb both heard and spoke. If any ears are opened to hear the voice of the Lord, it is the fruit of Divine action which takes place in secret. And if any tongue can utter the praise of God or the Word of God, it is because that which comes from His mouth has been brought into contact with ours.

Here a man was brought to Him who was both deaf and suffering an impediment in his speech. Certainly if one cannot hear, neither will he be able to speak properly. This is as true spiritually as physically, for his ailment is typical of man's widespread inability to hear the Word of God because of unbelief. He is asked only to put His hand on the man, but the Lord does seven things for him. We may consider we know what souls need, and pray for them in this way, but the Lord knows better than we. Mark's Gospel emphasizes His service and we see therefore these seven steps as showing the patient persistence of His laboring for the blessing of an individual soul.

The Lord's seven-fold dealing with the deaf man who also had an impediment in his speech is spiritually instructive for us. First, He takes him aside from the crowd: he must be alone with the Lord, whose fingers in his ears then indicate divine work which alone can give the marvellous sense of hearing. Thirdly, spitting, an expression of contempt, is a reminder that sin has been the basic reason for this affliction, therefore that repentance is a requisite in salvation. Fourthly, the touching of his tongue implies that only the divine touch can heal one's speech. Fifthly, the Lord looks up to heaven, showing His dependence on the Father, and that all blessing must be from above. Sixth, He sighed, for He Himself felt the condition of the afflicted man as though it was His own trial. Finally, He speaks very simply, "Be opened," His own word consummating all that He had done. Certainly His word alone could have accomplished the result, but His labor with our souls is an important part of what He does.

Various acts are connected with healing the blind. His simple word was spoken, showing the power in that word. The laying His hands on the sightless eyes recalls again the Cross where He came down to our darkness. The clay and spittle put upon the eyes speaks of the sentence of death, the penalty due to sin.

Deafness is interesting because dumbness is connected with it. Indeed, the same word in Greek is translated both "deaf" and "dumb." It means literally dull. When the avenue between the soul and God is closed, there can be no speaking out His praise. The Lord's putting His fingers into the ears and touching the tongue with spittle suggests His abhorrence of this condition, but His grace in delivering the poor soul from it. How precious is the thought that even His abhorrence of sin, as expressed by the spittle, is for salvation in those who yield themselves to His mercy!