I recently read the account in Mark 7 (verses 31-37) of the healing of a deaf and mute man by Jesus. I was really struck by Jesus’ attitude and approach toward this man and especially in the way that the miracle took place. The large majority of Jesus’ healing miracles involve Jesus’ words, and often the laying on of hands, as the “healing agent”, so to speak. However this is one of the rare occasions when Jesus uses other items in the healing process.
Jesus does a number of things; He takes the man away from the crowd, He puts his fingers in the man’s ears, He spits on his own fingers and touches the man’s tongue, He looks up to heaven, He sighs and He commands. I was really touched by how so much of this miracle was performed in a manner that the deaf and mute man could relate to. Since the man is both deaf and mute Jesus performs the miracle in a way that He can communicate with the man in the most effective way possible.
Those people who are impaired in relation to their senses often have enhanced senses in other areas. Jesus is very sensitive to the fact that since the man is deaf he is probably more aware than most of the surrounding “presence” of people, through touch, sight and smell. So Jesus takes him away from the crowd, away from the over stimulation and potentially stifling atmosphere for the man and to a place where he can solely focus on Jesus.
Rather than speak to the man, a somewhat futile exercise with someone who is deaf, He performs His communication through touch; by putting His fingers in the man’s ears and by spitting on His fingers and placing them on the man’s tongue. These were all methods of communication that the man would be able to relate to – Jesus doesn’t necessarily communicate more with the man, but simply in a way that the man can understand, a way that is sensitive to his situation.
Jesus then looks up to heaven, a sign to the man that He is praying (we know this from earlier on in Mark 6:41 when Jesus feeds the five thousand). Having prayed Jesus sighs. It is interesting that “sighing” only occurs a handful of times in the Bible and twice in this one chapter, although as far as I can tell the original Greek words are unrelated. Here though, Jesus sighs a “grumbling, moaning” sigh as if to show the man that He sympathises with his situation and is sorry that he is living in a broken and fallen world. Finally Jesus commands “Ephphatha”!
I found this story incredibly moving. Jesus is sensitive, He takes time out to spend time with this man, He is sympathetic, He meets the man at his time of need in a way that he can relate to and makes sure that the man knows what is going on each step of the way. I was struck that when I introduce people to Jesus this is the way I need to do it. I need to introduce them to Jesus in a way that is sensitive to who they are, where they are and what they are, but in a way that does not compromise who Jesus is in any way.
God Bless.
(I have started all personal pronouns relating to Jesus with a capital (i.e. He and His) to try and clear up any potential confusion with the deaf and mute man’s personal pronouns!)
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