THEN JESUS LEFT the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.
33After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). 35At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
36Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Original Meaning
JESUS’ TRAVEL ITINERARY takes him to the sea of Galilee by way of a circuitous route that passes through Sidon and then back through the district of the Decapolis. The curious detour may be part of Jesus’ attempt to maintain secrecy (7:24), or his encounter with the Gentile woman has caused him to zigzag his way through the middle of the territory of the Decapolis.
The mention of Tyre, Sidon, and the Decapolis emphasizes that Jesus passes into Gentile territory.1 Just as the Jewish crowds in Galilee brought their sick to Jesus (1:22; 8:22; 9:20), so a Gentile crowd brings a deaf and speechless man to him and begs him to place his hand on him (see 5:23; 6:5; 8:22, 25). Jesus does not intend for his healing activity to become a spectator event and ushers the man away from the crowd.2 He shuns self-promotion and has no interest in turning his ministry into a three-ring circus.
In healing this deaf man Jesus uses a sequence of actions, not just a spoken word. The vivid account creates an atmosphere of mystery and drama. He begins by putting his fingers in the man’s ears, symbolic of opening them. Next, he spits and touches his tongue, symbolic of loosening his tongue. Then he looks up to heaven, the source of his power (as he did when he uttered a blessing before the feeding of the five thousand, 6:41), and sighs deeply, a gesture of prayer. Cranfield comments that the sigh “indicates the strong emotion of Jesus as he wages war against the power of Satan, and has to seek divine aid in urgent prayer.”3 Mark gives us Jesus’ healing words, “Ephphatha,” which he translates, “Be opened!” so that the reader will not mistake it for some hocus-pocus incantation. Immediately, the man’s ears are opened and his tongue loosened. He now speaks plainly, but Jesus orders “them” (Mark does not identify the onlookers) to say nothing. To ask a man who has just been given his voice to keep quiet may only strike us as strange (see 1:44; 5:43; 8:26; 9:9).
Jesus can command storms, demons, and illnesses, but his orders for people to keep silent fall on deaf ears. The failures to obey his command for silence reveal that what Jesus does is so sensational that it is hopeless to try to hush it up. But the command to keep silent also underscores for the reader what needs special attention. As Hooker states it, these miracles
symbolize the Christian faith—sight, hearing, resurrection—which become full realities only after the death and resurrection of Jesus; these physical cures cannot really be spoken of with understanding at this stage, because they point forward to events and spiritual changes which still lie in the future.4
While onlookers may jabber excitedly about what Jesus has done, the magnitude of what it signifies escapes them. They do not have all the pieces of the puzzle to see a completed picture. Hooker continues, “The secrecy motif underlines the fact that it is only those who believe in the risen Lord who can understand the full significance of what was taking place in Jesus’ ministry.”5 The command to go and tell comes after the resurrection (16:7).
The chorus of Jesus’ admirers nevertheless proclaims the truth even if they do not fully understand it. When one interprets Jesus’ miracles from the contours of the biblical landscape, one sees again that Jesus does what only God can do. The Lord had responded to Moses’ excuses, for example, with these words: “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” (Ex. 4:11). Jesus’ actions here show that he has that same divine power.
When the people are struck out of their senses and exult over Jesus (see Isa. 29:14) with “he has done everything well” and “he even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (Mark 7:37), their words echo Scripture. The first echo comes from Genesis 1:31: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” The second one comes from the prophet Isaiah, who promises that God will remedy the physical and spiritual disabilities of the people: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy” (Isa. 35:5–6a).6 These echoes from Scripture recall God’s promise to restore creation, and they hint that the promised renewal begins with Jesus. The surprise is that this restoration occurs in Gentile territory. Gentiles will be included in God’s renewal plan.
Bridging Contexts
MODERN READERS MAY regard the details of Jesus’ sticking his fingers in a man’s ears and spitting and touching his tongue as bizarre and hard to explain. Healing in the ancient world, however, was a “hands-on” activity. The crowd had asked Jesus to lay his hand on the deaf and mute man (7:32), and he fulfilled their expectations. In our culture we anticipate that medical doctors will follow certain procedures and use certain devices. When doctors deviate from our expectations, we become suspicious and question whether our visit was worth the time and money. People in the ancient world expected a healer to do some purposeful action to bring about restoration. Malina notes that this “same external activity in Western culture is viewed predominantly from a technological perspective.…”7 We would not be so put off if Jesus had used an otoscope and a tongue depressor, things we are accustomed to seeing doctors use. Lane suggests that Jesus intended to show the deaf man that he could expect healing.8 He cannot speak to the man because he cannot hear, so he acts out what he intends to do for him. Perhaps these gestures also indicate the difficulty of the healing. His is a complicated case.
The healing of the deaf and mute man parallels the healing of the blind man in 8:22–26. In both instances, others bring the individuals in question to Jesus, and they want him to lay his hand on or touch the men (7:32; 8:22). Jesus does both miracles apart from the crowds and uses his spittle (7:33; 8:23). Both miracles occur in stages: first the ears, then the tongue (7:33); first partial sight, then full vision (8:23, 25). Both times Jesus discourages publicity (7:36; 8:26). Isaiah 35:5–6 (see also 29:18; Wis. 10:21) rings clearly in both healings. The allusion suggests that Jesus unleashes the creative power of God.
The crowd is excited about the physical healing, but spiritual healing is more important and more difficult. Isaiah uses blindness and deafness as metaphors for the people’s spiritual disabilities (Isa. 6:9–10; 29:18; 32:3; 35:5–6; 42:18–20; 43:18; 50:5).9 Both miracles serve as a paradigm for how the disciples, who are unable to hear, speak, and see on a spiritual level (8:17–18), will gain their hearing, voice, and sight.
Like the mute man here, the tongues of the disciples are also tied through fear (16:8), or when they do open their mouths, they say all the wrong things (9:5–6; 14:66–72). Jesus has taught the crowds “many things” (6:34) and constantly exhorts them to “hear” (7:14). The disciples, however, have failed to hear with any understanding (6:52; 7:18), even when Jesus has taken them aside privately to instruct them. In 8:18, Jesus laments that the disciples have eyes but do not see and ears but do not hear. To open their ears and eyes and to loosen their tongues will take no less of a miracle. It will occur in private, apart from the clamor of the crowd. Jesus heals the deaf and tongue-tied man by first opening his ears and then healing his tongue. He will do the same with the disciples. First he will open their ears so that they can hear what God is saying. Then he will loosen their tongues so that they can speak what God would have them say.
If the biblical echoes are deliberate and help interpret this miracle, and if Mark has woven this episode into the fabric of his narrative strategy as a paradigm for what needs to happen spiritually to the disciples, then this miracle has as much to do with spiritual as it does with physical healing. One can therefore apply this miracle to the spiritual situation of many Christians today, to the continuing human plight of spiritual deafness. The transformation from one who is spiritually deaf and mute into one who hears God’s voice and speaks God’s word to others is a difficult one. For some, it may be quick and dramatic; for many, it takes time. But Jesus does give new hearing so that one can hear what was never heard before and new sight so that one can see what was never seen before. When one allows the Lord to open the ears, one is steeled to follow the suffering servant in the face of persecution (see Isa. 50:4–11).
Contemporary Significance
WE HAVE ARGUED that this narrative can be applied to the human plight of spiritual deafness. The man’s physical hearing is impaired, but the biblical background that associates deafness with spiritual disability and Mark’s reference to the disciples’ having ears but not hearing (8:18) have allowed us to make this application. St. Ambrose said: “Everything that we believe comes either through sight or through hearing. Sight is often deceived, hearing serves as guaranty.”10 Opening up a person’s ears is vital since Jesus places so much emphasis on hearing his words (4:3, 9, 12, 15, 18, 20, 23, 24, 33; 7:14; 8:18; 9:7). Beethoven died with the words, “I shall hear in heaven.” He hoped for the restoration of his physical hearing. Unless one hears spiritually God’s words on earth, one will never hear them in heaven.
Spiritual deafness in the Scriptures applies to the people of God. Today God’s people still do not always open their ears to God. They may only hear muffled vibrations and speak in inarticulate grunts. Perhaps in our culture we are deafened to God’s voice by the ceaseless droning of televisions and the blaring of radios. Perhaps the hurry and bustle of modern life drowns out God’s voice for us. Christians need to hear more clearly and to remedy their slurred speech. Mark’s narrative shows that Jesus seeks to cure his disciples’ blindness and deafness by taking them away from the madding crowd and teaching them. Modern Christians may need to have times when they retreat and allow the miracle of Jesus’ power to penetrate plugged-up ears so that we may hear God’s word afresh and speak it to others more clearly.
Spiritual deafness is also the condition of the world. How does one break through to tell the gospel? Mark’s account—which describes Jesus looking up to heaven, groaning, and shouting out in Aramaic—emphasizes the difficulty of the miracle. I was a faculty member on call at a seminary and was summoned to the emergency room where a new student had been admitted with severe stomach pains. He was Japanese and deaf and had only recently come to this country to study in a deaf ministry program. He was in pain and looked frightened because he was unable to hear or understand what the doctors gathered about him were asking and saying. It was painful not to be able to talk with him. I sighed with great relief when someone who knew sign language arrived. But our student had not yet learned American Sign Language. We had to resort to a kind of primitive sign language to act out what was wrong and what the doctors were planning to do. The situation was not ideal but communication occurred. Perhaps the church needs to act out the message of good news for those who cannot understand in a language universally understood—deeds of loving-kindness. The church needs to love as Christ loved, to touch those who need assurance, to pray visibly for healing.
The way Jesus healed this man might also offer a helpful touchstone for comparison with those caught up in miracles today. Jesus intentionally took the man away from the crowd. One can only guess why he did so—did he need privacy for a particularly difficult miracle?—but the effect is clear. In private, he could concentrate entirely on the sufferer’s needs and desires. The focus was on the man and his needs, not on Jesus. Presumably Jesus did not want the man to become part of some miracle show, and he had no desire to add to his own personal glory or revenue. He wanted to make a sufferer hear and speak. The contrast with modern faith healers who intentionally assemble a crowd to watch them heal others is striking. It leads one to ask whether they want to be in the spotlight at the expense of the individual needs of the sufferer. We should always ask whether we do ministry to win publicity for ourselves or to do good for others.