The Unusual Healing

Why did so many people ignore this man? This true life account about Hugh Rudd was just like the account of the Good Samaritan. It is an issue of compassion. While it is true that not everyone ignores those in need, it is also true that many will. We hear such stories all the time today. People are not any different today 2,000 years later.

So it is wonderful to discover that some people were willing to help this man. Somebody or individuals who had compassion brought the man to Jesus. Was it a family member, friends, or neighbors? Whoever helped him had compassion for him. Whoever they were cared for him. R. Wayne Willis relates this story,

A student asked anthropologist Margaret Mead for the earliest sign of civilization in a given culture. He expected the answer to be a clay pot or perhaps a fish hook or grinding stone. Her answer was: “A healed femur.” Mead explained that no mended bones are found where the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, reigns. A healed femur shows that someone cared. Someone had to do that injured person’s hunting and gathering until the leg healed. The evidence of compassion is the first sign of civilization.[2]

Unusual Healing. So they brought the man to Jesus and begged Him to heal the man. How did Jesus respond? Did He react as He did to the Syrophoenician woman and ignore the man initially? Mark 7:33-34 answers our question.

Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” Mark 7:33-34 (NAS95S)

These two verses reveal that Jesus did six things before the healing occurred. Jesus’ first action was to take the man aside so that there was some privacy. They were completely alone on that hill, but Jesus wanted the man to focus on Him and not his friends, the crowd, or anything else. Have you ever talked with someone while that person was trying to do something else? I have noticed that such communication is not usually very good. My attention is not usually on the person. Do you ever pray while busily doing other things? Have you ever wondered how God feels, if you are so easily distracted during prayer? I suspect that because this man could not hear, he was being distracted easily. Jesus wanted His full attention. Getting the man away from the crowd, Jesus was able to get the man to focus on Him.

Jesus’ second action was a simple touch. He put His fingers into the man’s ears. Jesus did not care about wax build up in the man’s ears. Jesus did not ask if the man had bathed recently. Jesus did not put on gloves. He just put His fingers into the man’s ears. Why did Jesus do that? The answer is found in the question, “How does one communicate to a man who cannot hear you?” By putting His fingers into the man’s ears, Jesus was drawing the man’s attention to his ears. Jesus was communicating to the man, “I am going to do something to your ears.” I suspect that Jesus had the man’s full attention at this point. If someone puts his or her fingers into your ears, I suspect that you would be looking at the person.

The third action of Jesus was another touch. Jesus spit into His own hands or onto His finger, then He touched the man’s tongue with His saliva covered finger. Some of us would not have allowed that to occur. Yuck, disease and unsanitary! But not this man. What would have happened if the man had refused? Did the man already understand that Jesus could heal him? Why did the man allow Jesus to touch his tongue? Whatever the reason, it is clear that the man submitted. That is what Jesus wants from us when we come to Him - submission. He wants our full attention and our willing submission. “Willing” is the key word. Jesus had it all with this man.

Next we are told that Jesus gave a deep sigh. Even though the deaf man could not have heard that, I am glad that scripture recorded it. It reveals Jesus’ compassion. It reveals the emotion of His heart. The man would have been looking at Him and looking to Him for healing. Jesus’ fifth action was a spoken Aramaic word, “Ephphatha!” The word is a command and it means “Be Opened!” A simple Aramaic word uttered by the Creator of the universe and what happened? The next verse tells us,

And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. Mark 7:35 (NAS95S)

His ears could now hear and his tongue could now speak clearly. When people are deaf, they do not speak words very well since they cannot hear the words they are speaking. This man must have been able to hear at some time in his life, in order to speak at all. Now, according to the Greek text, he was continuously speaking clearly. He spoke plainly in the language of the people and repeatedly. Some may claim to be healers whose healing does not last, but that was not true when Jesus healed. When Jesus healed, they were healed. The man heard and he continued hearing and speaking.

Why This Technique? Why did Jesus heal this man in this manner? Was Jesus using a type of magic or healing ritual? Normally Jesus healed by a spoken word. That was the normal pattern. But if we examine a few passages such as Matthew 8:3 we discover that this was not the first time that Jesus healed in an unusual manner. In Matthew 8:3, He touched a leper while healing. In Matthew 8:15, He touched the hand of Peter’s mother-in-law while healing her fever. In Matthew 20:34 and John 9:6-7 Jesus touched the eyes of blind men and gave them sight. In Luke 7:14, He touched a coffin and the dead man returned to life. Jesus’ touch was something special. It was His expression of compassion to any man or woman who was in need, and Jesus is still touching us today - the suffering and needy.

By touching the man, Jesus held the man’s attention and was communicating to the man that He was the one doing the healing. The man did not need to look to anyone else. He only had to look to Jesus, submit to Jesus, and depend upon Jesus. It was Jesus and him and no one else.

So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. Matt 15:31 (NAS95S)

The crowd was impressed and so are we, but they were much more for they saw it with their own eyes. They saw person after person healed that day. They saw the compassion of our God. They saw miraculous miracles that day - miracles that we will never see in our lifetime. That explains the next statement in Mark,

They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” Mark 7:37 (NAS95S)

Yes, Jesus does do all things well. He is the compassionate One! If anyone doubted that Jesus was compassionate when He ignored the Syrophoenician woman and seemed distant and unloving, then this event should remove all doubt.

2. E. K. Rowell, 1001 Quotes, Illustrations & Humourous Stories. Baker Books, 2006., p. 210.