Mark 7: 31-37….It’s hard for the deaf to speak clearly.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Comment: Just reading this passage makes its meaning quite clear. We are left with a few questions about why Jesus did what he did.

• Why did Jesus take him away from the crowd?
• Why did He put His fingers in the man’s ears? Why did He spit, presumably onto His fingers and then touch his tongue?
• Why did Jesus (incidentally to be noted ineffectively) command ‘them’ to tell no one? When the man stepped from the private to the public arena again everyone would have noted that he could hear and speak normally.

Here we have a great incident which makes us wonder about why Jesus did it this may. Maybe He shows us that Jesus heals us so that can we can listen to His teaching and speak in witness. Possibly His tongue was in His cheek when He told them to tell no one. Maybe He knew that the best way to make them gossip about Him was to tell them not to do so. What do you think?

Prayer: Help me to think in a life changing way about You, Lord Jesus.