JESUS HEALS
A DEAF-MUTE
31Then he
returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
in the region of the Decapolis.
32And they
brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged
him to lay his hand on him.
33And taking him
aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after
spitting touched his tongue. 34And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to
him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35And his ears were opened, his tongue
was released, and he spoke plainly.
36And Jesus
charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously
they proclaimed it.
37And they were
astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes
the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
MARK
7:31-37
COMMENTARY
Our Lord had just
returned from visiting the Jews in the diaspora outside Juda. He returned from
the pagan regions of southern Lebanon, where while visiting the Jews settled
there, he healed also the Arabs and Phoenicians living there (Mark 7:24-29).
He continued his
ministry by going back to the Eastern shores of Galilee, also in the border of
the area controlled largely by Roman autonomy, where Arabs, Greeks and Assyrians
abounded, together with Jews.
While preaching
in these areas, in one occasion these people, brought to the Lord’s attention,
one man who was a deaf-mute, to be healed, but who seemed not so sure of Jesus’s
power, or at least some of them present.
In this occasion,
the same Jesus who had freed the Phoenician woman’s daughter from demonic possession
by his mere desire from a distance; now used visible physical means to achieve
this miracle.
He placed his fingers
into the man’s ears, and touched with his own holy saliva the deaf-mute’s
tongue; and by ordering ‘BE OPEN’, the man recovered his hearing and speech in
an instant.
Jesus used these
actions, not because he needed to, but out of his mercy.
He created a
visible association of his own person’s power with the healing the sickness; thus,
confirming his authority in front of many who were not sure of him, or who had
not known him before, specially in this area, highly influenced by Greek reasoning.
Jesus achieved
his purpose, and even when he requested discretion from the people who had been
present there, they were so amazed that did not stop proclaiming his glory and
message to wherever they went.
Thus, our Lord
brought salvation to many unconverted Jews and pagans, from far passed the
Jordan.
Omar Flores.
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