Mark 7:31-37, CEB - After leaving the region of Tyre, Jesus went through Sidon toward the Galilee Sea through the region of the Ten Cities. Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly speak, and they begged him to place his hand on the man for healing. Jesus took him away from the crowd by himself and put his fingers in the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. Looking into heaven, Jesus sighed deeply and said, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Open up.” At once, his ears opened, his twisted tongue was released, and he began to speak clearly.
Jesus gave the people strict orders not to tell anyone.
But the more he tried to silence them, the more eagerly they shared the news. People were overcome with wonder, saying, “He
does everything well! He even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those
who can’t speak.”
We encounter yet another healing
story today, but with some peculiar details.
As we have journeyed through Mark, we often seeing healings take place
passively. That is, the power goes out
from Jesus almost without His participation and people are healed. In this story, Jesus takes the deaf and mute
man aside and performs some odd actions that invoke the healing. He sticks His fingers in the man’s ears. Jesus
then spits in His hand and then touches the man’s tongue. He then speaks the word meaning “open up,”
and the deaf mute can immediately hear and speak clearly. It seems a bit strange if not unsanitary to
our 21st century ears. I do wonder why sometimes Jesus heals people
actively (performing specific actions) and sometimes he simply allows the
healings to take place passively. I’ve
read a couple of ideas from various commentators, but none of them seem
compelling to me. If you have thoughts,
let me know.
Jesus’s use of his hands and spit recall for
me multiple occasions when my mother would take a napkin, lick it, and then use
the napkin to wipe off dirt on my face. Sometimes,
when she didn’t have a napkin, she would just use her finger. I remember hating it at the time, but in my mind
now, it is a tender memory. This
seemingly unsanitary detail in the story above also recalls an article I just
read about saliva (spit). Apparently,
saliva contains many anti-microbial properties and can actually promote healing
of small wounds in specific situations. Maybe
Jesus knew this before anyone else. Go
figure.
My mom
would generally not use her spit to clean my face in public and I am grateful
for that. That, for me, connects my own experience
with my mother to this story. Jesus
takes the man away from the crowd to perform this healing. Jesus is doing this to care for a single
human being with tender care, not perform a miracle for public consumption. He didn’t want the healed man to become a public
spectacle; Jesus desire was simply that the man’s need be met. Afterwards, he even tells the people to not make
big deal about it.
Of
course, the crowd was not able to comply; they told everyone they knew. I’m thinking Jesus knew this would happen,
but out of concern for the healed man, he tried to keep a lid on it. This concern for the man as a human being is
what runs through the story from beginning to end. I mentioned a few reflections ago that I have
personal knowledge of more than a few healings in my years. The interesting thing to me as I recall them
now is that only a couple of them occurred publicly. In most of those cases, only a couple people witnessed
the miracle personally. In a few of
them, only the person healed knew that it happened. It seems that God prefers to heal people in
response to their suffering, not so people will hear about the healing and be
impressed or even have faith. In my
experience as a pastor, I can confirm that miracles are an unreliable basis for
lasting faith. I know way too many
people who have witnessed and acknowledged God’s power to do the miraculous who
no longer have no active faith. Faith that requires a constant “feeding” of miracles
fails quickly. Lasting and resilient faith
is built on the basis of an ongoing relationship with God that based on
personal interaction with God through the spiritual disciplines. In the context of such a faith, miracles are
welcomed and celebrated, but not required.
Question: What role
do miracles play in your day-to-day faith?
Prayer: Lord, heal me
of my brokenness, blindness, and sickness.
Make me whole again. In Jesus name
I pray, Amen.
Prayer Focus: Take
time to pray for people who have wandered away from their faith in God.
Song: Even If – MercyMe
