Jesus Christ: The God Who Astonishes Beyond Measure

Jesus takes the man aside. His attention is personal and compassionate. Entering the man’s world, our Lord uses “sign language.”

The man could not hear Jesus and he was also incapable of verbal communication. So Jesus “spoke” to him in the language he could understand—sign-language. The fingers placed in his ears and then removed meant, “I am going to remove the blockage in your hearing.” The spitting and the touching of the man’s tongue meant, “I162 am going to remove the blockage in your mouth.” The glance up to heaven meant, “It is God alone who is able to do this for you.” Jesus wanted the man to understand that it was not magic but God’s grace that healed him. (Ferguson, Mark, 116)

As Jesus looked up to heaven, first He sighed. I believe this is an expression of our Lord’s love and compassion for this man and also His great grief over the fall of man and the terrible consequences of sin. It is the sigh of God over a broken creation. Second, He said, in Aramaic, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” The result is given in simple, straightforward language: “Immediately his ears were opened, his speech difficulty was removed, and he began to speak clearly” (v. 35). The original text says literally, “The shackle of his tongue was released.” Like a prisoner bound in chains, Jesus broke the fetters of his captivity and set him free.

One can only imagine the first words of clear speech uttered by this man. No doubt he was praising and glorifying God. Jesus charged him and his friends not to spread the news (v. 36), “But the more He would order them, the more they would proclaim it.” We cannot condone their disobedience, but we certainly can understand their response.

Mark’s conclusion has deep theological significance. “He has done everything well (good)” echoes creation and God’s work in Genesis 1-2. “He even makes deaf people hear, and people unable to speak, talk” recalls Isaiah, who wrote that when the Messiah comes, “the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for waters will gush in the wilderness, and streams in the desert” (Isa 35:5-6). Again James Edwards captures the great significance of this when he writes:

The allusion of Isaiah 35 is of supreme significance for Mark’s presentation of Jesus, not only because the restoration of speech signals the eschatological arrival of the Day of the Lord but also because the desert wastelands of Lebanon (Isa 35:2) will receive the joy of God. The regions of Tyre and Sidon are, of course, precisely the Lebanon of Isaiah 35. Jesus’ healing ... in the Decapolis becomes the firstfruit of the fulfillment of Isa 35:10, that Gentile Lebanon will join “the ransom of the Lord [and] enter Zion with singing”! Salvation thus comes to the Gentile world in Jesus, who is God’s eschatological redeemer from Zion. As we have noted before, the only categories adequate for Mark to describe the person and work of Jesus are ultimately the categories of God. Once again, as in the story of the Syrophoenician163 woman (7:24-30), “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). (Edwards, Mark, 224-25; emphasis in original)

Thus we see the “grand redemptive storyline” in a miracle put on display. Creation (what God does is good) → Fall (a man deaf because of sin) → Redemption (the miracle of healing) → Restoration (God’s kingdom has arrived). Oh, there is so much here we need to see! There is so much here we need to “zealously proclaim.”

A beautiful hymn written by Charles Wesley wonderfully captures the heart of this text as well as our joyful response. “Hear” the words of stanzas 1, 4, and 5.

1. O for a thousand tongues to sing

My great Redeemer’s praise

The glories of my God and King

The triumphs of His grace!

4. Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,

Your loosened tongues employ,

Ye blind, behold your Saviour come;

And leap, ye lame, for joy!

5. My gracious Master and my God,

Assist me to proclaim,

To spread through all the earth abroad

The honours of Thy Name. (Wesley, “Thousand Tongues,” 1739)

Jesus is the God who cannot be hidden. He is the Lord who does all things well!