Deaf Man - Mark 7:31-37

Jesus and his disciples leave the gentiles and come back to the sea of Galilee, “through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.” With the mention of Decapolis, as well as the naming of Tyre and Sidon in the previous account related, it makes me wonder why Mark goes out of his way to give these gentile names when the other writers do not. It seems that Mark is trying to give his audience a reference point that they understand with landmarks and places that they would already know. From this I deduce that Mark’s primary audience isn’t Jews, but gentiles. In fact, the IM says, “The Gospel of Mark contains textual details- such as translated Aramaic quotations, Latin expressions, and explanations of Jewish customs- that seem intended for an audience made up primarily of Romans and people from other gentile nations, we well as those who were converted to Christianity, most likely in Rome and throughout the Roman empire.”

While passing through Decapolis, “they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.” The towns people ask Jesus to heal someone who is afflicted, but Jesus does something that I don’t recall him doing before, “he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers in his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue.” I don’t know if Jesus is touching his own tongue or if he’s touching the deaf mans, but this is something that we haven’t seen before.  One talk that I’ve heard use this story to demonstrate that God’s ways are higher than the ways of man. In the talk the speaker says basically, an audiologist would never touch the ears and tongue of a deaf person in order to heal them, but that’s what the Lord does and it works far better than anything a regular physician can do.

Before a healing, Jesus usually just asks if the person believes in Him, but in this case, the man is deaf so he can’t just ask him the question. The IM quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie as teaching, “The Lord is dealing with a believing soul who cannot hear his words or give fluent answer to them. And so what is more natural than to make use of common signs, known to and understood by the deaf and speech inhibited man, to indicate what the Master could and would do in accordance with the law of faith?” The IM continues, “The Savior’s communications to the deaf man reflect the scriptural teaching that ‘the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding.’” I had never considered that Jesus acted this way in order to perhaps ask for the man’s permission to heal him, or perhaps to have the man personally confirm that he believes that Jesus can heal him.

Mark gives another translation in verse 34 of the word “Ephphatha” to “be opened,” indicating that his intended audience might not be Jewish. Jesus says this word after “looking up to heaven… And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.” The IM says, “Mark recorded that, at the Savior’s word, the deaf man was immediately able to hear and that ‘he spake plain,’ meaning he could speak clearly. Thus there was more to this miracle than the restoration of hearing… The Savior’s healing enabled this man to speak immediately and plainly.” Interestingly, the speech impediment was probably caused by the man’s inability to hear his own voice and compare it to the words spoken by others, as is common in those who struggle to hear fully. But when his hearing is restored, his speech patterns would remain the same for a great deal of time while he relearned the common pronunciations of words. But the Lord didn’t just give him the ability to hear, he also formed the neural pathways in this man’s brain between his ears and his voice box. He doesn’t just heal physically, he heals spiritually and strengthens our understanding.