Mark 7: 24 – 37
“Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.[b] 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.
After 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. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.””
This passage is a story about parts of ordinary life – someone hard of hearing, with poor speech, disabilities that challenge us. Notice too, that people had brought those with afflictions to Jesus.
This was not like the “through the roof” friends, who lowered their friend who couldn’t walk down to Jesus. But Jewish society will have responded the same to these folk who couldn’t speak or hear. Afflictions were seen as unclean weaknesses. Often, they were assumed to be caused by the sin of the individual or even of their parents. They will not have been welcome in any kind of gathering, but caring friends brought them to the Healer.
If you ever had a speech impediment or the difficulty of deafness, you’d know the distress it can cause. Jesus was distressed at the suffering of this man. Jesus cares in his heart. Religion is about the ordinary. The gospel of Jesus doesn’t fudge that issue.
Most of Jesus’ life is about the ordinary and is lived among people who are sick, depressed, worried about the future, hiding their shame of the past, losing faith, and getting it back. People who lose a loved one in death, or who are involved in family misunderstandings, hungry and thirsty people etc. Imagine Jesus touches your ear. He clears resistance and you hear love, for the touch of Jesus on your ear is the touch of love, of life, of new hearing. His touch on the tongue gave the life of new speech and new freedom to a stammering man.
As Mark’s Gospel progresses, we see that Jesus is on the move again, like a shepherd searching for his stray sheep. All he wants to do is to heal, and we need healing. Thought we are often deaf to his calls, and we are often mute when we should be witnessing to the Good News.
Of you are a Jesus follower, when you made that decision your ears and tongue were blessed, so that you could hear God’s word and praise God. Today, may the Lord renew the gift we have given and may we have none of it left unused.
Joyfully Yours 