Passage: Mark 7:31-37. What about us? Can we follow his method today?

Jesus, once again, touched a sick man and spoke a command.

The translations are mine, but if you would like to see many other translations, please go to biblegateway.com. I include the Greek text to bring out the nuances, but readers may ignore the left column, if they wish.

Let’s begin.

Jesus Heals a Deaf and Mute Man (Mark 7:31-37)

31 Καὶ πάλιν ἐξελθὼν ἐκ τῶν ὁρίων Τύρου ἦλθεν διὰ Σιδῶνος εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν τῆς Γαλιλαίας ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ὁρίων Δεκαπόλεως. 32 Καὶ φέρουσιν αὐτῷ κωφὸν καὶ μογιλάλον καὶ παρακαλοῦσιν αὐτὸν ἵνα ἐπιθῇ αὐτῷ τὴν χεῖρα. 33 καὶ ἀπολαβόμενος αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου κατ’ ἰδίαν ἔβαλεν τοὺς δακτύλους αὐτοῦ εἰς τὰ ὦτα αὐτοῦ καὶ πτύσας ἥψατο τῆς γλώσσης αὐτοῦ, 34 καὶ ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐστέναξεν καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· εφφαθα, ὅ ἐστιν διανοίχθητι. 35 καὶ [εὐθέως] ἠνοίγησαν αὐτοῦ αἱ ἀκοαί, καὶ ἐλύθη ὁ δεσμὸς τῆς γλώσσης αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐλάλει ὀρθῶς. 36 καὶ διεστείλατο αὐτοῖς ἵνα μηδενὶ λέγωσιν· ὅσον δὲ αὐτοῖς διεστέλλετο, αὐτοὶ μᾶλλον περισσότερον ἐκήρυσσον. 37 καὶ ὑπερπερισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο λέγοντες· καλῶς πάντα πεποίηκεν, καὶ τοὺς κωφοὺς ποιεῖ ἀκούειν καὶ [τοὺς] ἀλάλους λαλεῖν.

31 And again leaving the region of Tyre, he went through Sidon towards the Lake of Galilee and up to the area of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf and mute man and begged him that he would lay his hand on him. 33 And after he took him aside from the crowd, by themselves, he placed his fingers in his ears and, after spitting, touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and said to him, “Ephphatha!” which means, “Open up!” 35 And immediately his hearing opened up and the bond on his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. 36 He ordered them that they must not tell anyone. But the more he ordered them, the more profusely they proclaimed it. 37 The people were utterly astonished, saying, “He does all things well! He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

Comments

Jesus takes action to solve the problem. One of his methods was to apply spit. But notice that he took the man aside, away from the crown, indicating that this was unusual. (See below in the next section).

“Ephphatha”: it is an Aramaic loanword, which Mark translates for us. Please don’t turn it into a magical word or an incantation. But it is a command, which we can model. See the section Application of Ministry.

In v. 35 the answer comes. The man is set free. The hearing or ears were opened. And the bond or fetter attached to the tongue, so to speak, was loosed. The Greek noun for “bond” or “fetter” and can also mean “imprisonment” or “prison.” The Greek indicates that he was not completely mute, but just could not enunciate clearly, due to his deafness. In any case, the man’s tongue was in prison. All this deliverance and healing from a command and physical contact! Wonderful.

Verses 36-37 are about the response of the people.

The people said he does all thing well. Some commentators say this reflects Genesis. 1:31, which says that God saw all that he made, and it was good. Jesus is bringing to earth a “new creation” in his preaching the kingdom and his healing ministry and expelling demons.

He told them not to broadcast this healing to the masses. Why? First, Jesus simply wanted to spread the message his way without the false expectations from noninformed people. Second, the exuberant expectation from the masses may spark an insurrection, which would hinder his message and his mission: to proclaim the kingdom of God, backed up by signs and wonders. People had to learn about his Messiahship through their thirst and hunger for the knowledge of God. They had to connect the dots. This is one of the purposes of teaching in parables. Only the hungry seekers could understand.

The people in vv. 36-37 did not obey Jesus’s command not to talk about it. Mark in fact says that the more he told them not to, the more they did just the opposite. Why did Jesus command the man’s friends not to tell others? He did not want to excite popular hysteria about his miraculous works. Jesus downplayed the miracles (Luke 4:35, 41; 8:56; Matt. 9:30; 12:16; Mark 1:34; 3:12; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26). His main goal was teaching, not just wonder-working.

Application for Ministry Today

Let’s summarize what we can learn from Jesus’s ministry. In this section I number my points, for clarity and order.

1.. There was some special need in the man for Jesus to go to all the trouble. He put his fingers in his ear for physical contact and to symbolize the opening, and he spit on his fingers, probably his index finger, and put it on the man’s tongue. This is recorded in a sequential manner: (1) place his fingers in the man’s ears, (2) spit on his own finger, and (3) place his finger on the man’s tongue, (4) sigh, (5) and finally command. He spoke to the ear and mouth.

2.. Apparently the third step was also for contact between Jesus and the man. Jesus will once again spit in Mark 8:23 and John 9:4-5. In both those instances, Jesus took the man aside, away from the crowd. This withdrawal indicates that this practice was not universal or habitual. This was unusual for his ministry. That is, there was a belief in the ancient world that saliva had a spiritual component to it, so Jesus was momentarily and occasionally fitting in to his culture. But please don’t build an entire healing system on spitting! Remember, the Bible was not written to us, but for us and for people of all generations, past and future, after proper interpretation and exegesis is done. The real cause of healing was found in the command and in Jesus’s faith and probably the man’s faith too.

3.. But why sigh?

It is the Greek verb stenazō (pronounced steh-nah-zoh), and it can mean “sigh” and “groan” or “burden” or “grumble.” It is used six times, as follows. In Romans 8:23, it means that we ourselves groan inwardly, waiting for our ultimate redemption. In 2 Corinthians 5:2, 4, we groan, waiting for our new bodies in our present “tents” or the bodies we have now. In Hebrews 13:17, church goers are not to “burden” the leaders or make them “groan” because the church members are high maintenance. They should be cooperative. In James 5:9, we are not to grumble against each other. No sighing loudly in frustration, please, when people don’t do what you say or you don’t get your way.

So why sigh? Evidently, Jesus was burdened by all the human degradation that his people had to put up with. Call it an “action parable,” in which he acted out his burden for broken humanity.

4.. Don’t be afraid to command a disease or brokenness to go from a person. Command the deafness and muteness or a demon or a fever or any other disease. Side note: an authoritative command is not the same as decreeing things out of your own mind, forcing God’s hand. But God’s hand shall not be forced by arrogant followers of his Son. He leads. They follow.

Is ‘Decreeing’ Biblical for Christians?

5.. Let’s spend some time on Jesus’s use of spittle, since this cultural fact of 2000 years ago can cause misunderstanding in our churches today.

Commentator Lane writes of Jesus’s use of spittle after taking the man aside and getting into his mental world:

Jesus took the man aside from the crowd in order to establish contact with him. He regarded the personal relationship between himself and the sick to be of supreme importance, and in this instance all of his actions are intelligible in the light of communicating with a person who had learned to be passive in life. Through touch and the use of spittle Jesus entered into the mental world of the man and gained his confidence. He stretched open his ears and made it clear to him that he wished to make his tongue alive with his own life. Jesus prayed with him and for him and openly expressed the strong emotion he seems to have always felt in the presence of the ravages of demonic possession and disease. The sequence of actions indicated to the man that he was to expect healing from the one who stood before him. The act of healing itself was accomplished with the word of liberation addressed not to the defective auditory organs but the man as a whole person: “Be opened.” (pp. 266-67)

The long excerpt is very moving. First, Lane says Jesus established a relationship with the sick person, to get into his mental world. Second, through touch and spittle Jesus entered into the mental world.. Third, the man’s mental world, a man who was passive because of his defects, required Jesus to gain his respect. Fourth, the spittle was a message that Jesus was about to turn the man’s tongue alive. Jesus prayed with and for him to counter the ravages of demonic oppression and disease. Fifth, Jesus spoke the word of liberation to the man as a whole person: “Be opened!” (I demur gently because I believe Jesus did speak to the ears.)

Finally, let’s bottom-line the use of spittle. Should we do this to heal today? I heard of a Scandinavian evangelist who did this once because God told him to. Hear from God first because spittle is not in our mental or cultural world, as it was 2,000 years ago. In today’s world, with smart phones with the camera app, you can bring reproach on the gospel with excessive literalism in interpreting these passages. So I would never say never to spittle, like touching your tongue with your index finger and then touching the sick person with the finger, but be careful. Use wisdom.

6.. As I write in all the healing posts:

Let it be noted that Jesus never went in for “name it and claim it” or “decree and declare.” (Name one time he used such verbiage during his prayer for the sick. Nor did the disciples use those formulaic words in Acts)  Thus even Jesus himself did not arrogate this much power to himself.

Instead, God the Father through his Son who was anointed by the Spirit performed miracles of healing. He clarified that he does only what he sees his Father doing (John 5:19). He lives because of the Father (John 6:57). He speaks only what the Father taught him (John 8:28). He does what he sees the Father do (John 10:37).  What Jesus says is just what the Father told him to say (John 12:49-50, 57). Perhaps the most important verse about miracles: “Many good works I have shown you from My Father” (John 10:32). (In John’s Gospel, “good works” = miracles, at a minimum.)

And so the Father through his Son who was anointed by the Spirit, performed all miracles during his Son’s ministry (Acts 10:38). The Son obeyed and followed his Father and also did the healings by the Spirit. The Trinity was working together.

7..We too should develop life in the Spirit (Gal. 5), so we can hear from the Father through the Spirit, in Jesus’s name and authority granted to us. We will never heal as Jesus did, because he is the Anointed One without limits (John 3:34). But after the cross and the Son’s ascension, the Spirit can distribute the gifts of healings (plural) as he determines (1 Cor. 12:11), not as we “name and claim” or “decree and declare.” Let the Spirit work, and you listen and obey, and then rebuke a disease (not the person) or pray for healing.

4. Gifts of the Spirit: Gifts of Healings

Kenneth Copeland Gets a Pacemaker

Is ‘Decreeing’ Biblical for Christians?

What Is Biblical Confession?

For fuller commentary, click on this link:

Mark 7

Scroll down to the right verses.