The Deaf Hear The Mute Speak

⏱️ 6 minutes.

Greetings!

Today, let us take a look at Jesus’s ministry along the Sea of Galilee, as He ministers to the deaf and the mute.

And again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.
— Mark 7:31

The regions Jesus traveled to during this time were predominantly Gentile territories. He was far north of Jerusalem, away from the concentration of Jews. As He ministers to the Gentiles, we get a preview of the global mission He would later entrust to His disciples — to go into all nations and make disciples.

Here we see a glimpse of where the Gospel was always meant to go. This is important because the Jewish mindset at the time believed salvation was exclusive to the Jews — the descendants of Abraham. However, as Jesus reaches out to Samaritans and Gentiles, we see that from the beginning, God was not only the God of the Jews but of all nations.

And I will sow her for Myself in the land.
I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion,
And I will say to those who were not My people,
‘You are My people!’
And they will say, ‘You are my God!’
— Hosea 2:23

There can sometimes be a tendency to assume salvation is meant only for certain people — perhaps those who look like us or come from familiar backgrounds. But this is not the nature of the Gospel. God is the God of all mankind, and He has ordained that people from every nation and tribe would be gathered to Himself.

This is the beautiful picture we see in heaven:

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
— Revelation 7:9–10

This is a good place to pause and examine ourselves. Perhaps we sometimes look at people who don’t belong to our group or culture and think they don’t deserve the same salvation we’ve received. Yet here, we see Jesus Himself crossing borders and social barriers to minister to the Gentiles.

And they brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they pleaded with Him to lay His hand on him.
— Mark 7:32

Next, we see a beautiful act of faith — people bringing someone in need to Jesus. This man was both deaf and had a speech impediment. It’s worth asking ourselves: are we the kind of people who bring others to Jesus?

These friends saw a need, and they knew the only one who could truly help was the Lord Jesus. So they brought the man to Him. This reflects the essence of the Christian life. We may not have miraculous powers ourselves, but we know the One who does. Our role is to bring people to Jesus — the same Savior who brought healing and redemption to us.

And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven with a sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”
— Mark 7:33–34

What happens next is peculiar. Jesus does not heal the man in front of the crowd to show off His power. Instead, He takes him aside and has a private moment with him. This shows us something about Jesus’s heart — He is deeply personal. He cares about individuals, not just crowds.

Jesus’s healings weren’t meant to be performances. They were acts of love, aimed at reaching individual hearts. This teaches us humility. When Jesus showed kindness to this man, He did it away from the eyes of the crowd. The testimony would come not from public spectacle but from the man’s personal experience of Jesus.

This miracle also reminds us of Jesus’s divine power. He restored the man’s hearing and speech — something only God could do. This brings to mind God’s words to Moses:

And Yahweh said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh?”
— Exodus 4:11

Jesus’s ability to heal the deaf man points directly to His divinity. This was not a mere man performing natural acts — this was God in the flesh restoring what was broken.

Another profound point is that Jesus used only His words to heal. Just as God created the world by His word, Jesus brings healing by speaking.

In these last days [God] spoke to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds,
— Hebrews 1:2

The words “Be opened” were powerful and effective. Jesus, by His word, brings into existence what was previously not there.

And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.
— Mark 7:35

The healing was immediate and complete. This reminds us of what we can look forward to as believers — the full restoration of all things when Jesus returns. No matter what brokenness we experience in this life, God is able to restore everything to its original goodness.

And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.
— Mark 7:36

Jesus once again instructs people not to spread the news. This may seem counterintuitive, but it shows us something important. Jesus was not seeking fame — He was on a mission. His time had not yet come, and everything had to happen in the fullness of God’s plan. The miracles pointed to who He was, but the mission would be fulfilled at the cross and resurrection.

And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
— Mark 7:37

The people were amazed, and rightfully so. Jesus had done what no one else could do.

Even more amazing is that these miracles were foretold by the prophets:

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
— Isaiah 35:5

I pray that after reading this account, we are reminded and encouraged:

• To bring people to Jesus.
• To see Jesus’s heart for the individual.
• To recognize His divinity through His mighty works.
• And to believe in Him as the fulfillment of all the promises given in the Old Testament.

Grace and peace.