The Way of the Lord in This Healing
The Lord displayed a special, personal interest in this case of the deaf stammerer, and the record shows very fully how the Lord performed this cure, and how deeply He was affected by the sad condition of the sufferer. It is interesting to note in the next chapter that a similar fullness of detail is found in the narrative of the other miracle peculiar to this Gospel. There is also a general correspondence in the Lord's procedure in the two cases, as may be seen from the following comparison of the sevenfold descriptions of the recorded actions and words, though it also reveals peculiarities in each of the cases.
Placing the clauses of the two accounts side by side, we find that the Lord-
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1. took the deaf man aside,
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1. took the blind man by the hand,
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2. put His fingers into his ears,
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2. led him out of the town,
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3. spat,
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3. spat on his eyes,
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4. touched his tongue,
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4. put His hands on him,
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5. looked up to heaven,
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5. inquired whether he saw,
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6. sighed,
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6. put His hands again on his eyes,
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7. said, Ephphatha (7:33, 34).
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7. made him look up (8:23-25)
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Taking the features which are analogous, the Lord in both instances,
(a) healed privately,
(b) touched the afflicted members,
(c) spat,
(d) spake.
But, distinctively, the Lord, in the first instance, looked up, sighed, and said, “Ephphatha"; and in the latter case He took the man by the hand, inquired whether he saw after He put hands on him, and made him look up. Thus, there is general agreement in four of the clauses, and differences in three.
A few remarks upon these various points are offered by way of suggestion.
(1) Privacy. The Lord took the deaf man aside (κατ’ἰδίαν). This Greek phrase is used in several instances in the Gospels, and is variously translated “apart,” “privately,” “when alone,” as well as “aside.”
On seven occasions the Lord sought privacy for Himself alone; or in company with a few of His disciples, separately from the multitudes. They were as follows:-
(5) when He impressed upon the disciples their exceptional privileges (Lu. 10: 23);
In addition to these, there are two instances of the use of the same phrase, when the disciples sought the Lord in private, viz.-
From these references, as well as from other instances where the exact Greek phrase under consideration is not used, though the occasion was similar, it appears that retirement was sought by the Lord (1) at specially solemn epochs in His ministry in order that they might be spent in communion with His Father, and (2) for the communication of such instruction as was of particular interest and special importance to the disciples as distinct from the crowds. It was on such occasions that the apostles were prepared for their future service in the world as the Lord's witnesses, when He Himself should be absent.
In the present case it would certainly be for the, man's own moral and spiritual benefit that he should be alone with the Divine Healer, while the Lord, with delicate regard for the acute sensibilities common to most persons so afflicted, spared him in this way from the coarse and curious gaze of the gaping mob. With a similar observance of due propriety in circumstances of solemnity and sorrow, He removed the hired mourners from the death-chamber of the daughter of Jairus. While in a matter of moral wrong and personal offense, the Lord taught His disciples the value of a private interview, enunciating His golden rule for the adjustment of differences between man and man: “If thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone” (Matt. 18:1515Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. (Matthew 18:15)).
If privacy has its value in an interview between man and man, how much more was this so when the interview was between the man and His Savior? There were spiritual impressions, of the rarest character to be received as well as a physical benefit. The Messiah of Israel was present; was it not important that the man should experience for himself the loving regard which He showed in the case of every individual sufferer? Such an experience would be ineffaceable. Hence the deaf man was taken apart from the curious crowd and from his excited friends, so that his attention might not be distracted from the Master, and that His demeanor, His words and His doings, in their full sweetness and power, might ever live in his memory.
(2) The touch.-The kindly friends besought the Lord to lay hands upon the man. Accordingly, when He had gone aside privately with him, He put His fingers into the deaf ears, and touched the fettered tongue. Without pretending to assign specific motives to the Master for these actions, we may surely, without presumption, learn from the incident how thoroughly the Lord in His exquisite sympathy placed Himself in contact with the infirmities of those whom He blessed. If in Him there had been power alone, He might have exhibited it from afar, but there was love also, and this in its exercise must be near at hand.
Hence the Savior in His compassion came near enough to touch the ear and the tongue, that in an undisturbed privacy the deaf and the dumb might learn the marvelous ways of the God of love present to restore His sin-blighted creation. For the divine love for the sinner was even more wonderful than the divine power to heal. Had He not, by that same power, first fashioned the organs of hearing and speech? Should He not therefore well understand how to recover them when their functions were deranged?
The Lord therefore touched, communicating healing and strength, but contracting no defilement. It was as the touch of the sunlight upon the noisome places of the earth, which vivifies and purifies, but is never soiled. In the service of His healing mercy, Messiah fulfilled what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet: “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matt. 8:1717That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. (Matthew 8:17)).
(3) The upward look and the sigh.-With His hands upon the five loaves and two fishes, the Lord had looked up to heaven and blessed, and thereupon the tiny store of food was multiplied to satisfy the famished multitude (Mark 6:4141And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. (Mark 6:41)). Here with His hands, as it were, upon the ears of the deaf and the tongue of the dumb, He looked up to heaven and sighed. As food and gladness are associated gifts of God (Acts 14:1717Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. (Acts 14:17)), awakening thanksgiving, so sickness is accompanied by sadness and sorrow, which are audibly expressed by sighing. The perfect adaptability of Christ is seen in each of the two instances. Looking up to heaven was His habit, whether the occasion called for joy or grief. We also see that while He rejoiced to dispense divine bounties to the hungry and the weary, He mourned to see before Him the mutilated image of God without a tongue to bless His Maker's name, or ears to hear the voice of His Sent One.
Heaven, as we learn from the Lord's attitude is the only resource for the sin-stricken earth. There the Father is, and thence His kingdom will in due course come. Meanwhile, the presence of sin abides below, and sighing over its grievous fruits is the lot of all, wittingly or unwittingly. The prevalence of this under-current of sadness the apostle expressed when he declared that “the whole creation groaneth [lit., is sighing] and travaileth in pain together until now, and not only, so, but ourselves also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan [lit., are sighing] within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:22, 2322For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:22‑23)). In another Epistle, Paul wrote, referring to the body and its infirmities, “In this we groan [sigh]... for we that are in this tabernacle do groan [are sighing], being burdened” (2 Cor. 5:2, 42For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: (2 Corinthians 5:2)
4For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. (2 Corinthians 5:4)). It is to be observed that in each of these instances the Spirit, in conformity with the action of our Lord in the presence of the deaf man, directs the eye of hope upwards for that release from bodily imperfection to be granted when the Father's kingdom shall come.
For in the day of God's glory in the earth, this constant burden of the spiritual heart will certainly be removed, and the sigh or groan of the needy and of the imprisoned (Psa. 12:5; 79:115For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. (Psalm 12:5)
11Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die; (Psalm 79:11)) will no longer be known. Then will be the fulfillment of that prophecy of which this Galilean miracle was the earnest: “Behold your God... will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped... and the tongue of the dumb shall sing... and the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion... and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa. 35:4-104Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. 5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. 7And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. 8And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 9No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: 10And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:4‑10)).
(4) The word of authority.-Following His touch of sympathy, the Lord uttered His word of command, Ephphatha. The Servant of Jehovah, in the plenitude of His rights as the Son of God, spoke, and it was accordingly done, for His word was equally potent to control and to correct as it was to create. Had He not “planted the ear” (Psa. 94:99He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? (Psalm 94:9))? If He made the hearing ear (Prov. 20:1212The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them. (Proverbs 20:12)), should He not cause the deaf ear to hear His voice? Addressing therefore the impotent member rather than the man himself, the Lord said, Be opened, and accordingly the ears of the deaf man were unstopped, and the bond of his tongue loosed, so that he spake aright.
The miracle was wrought in secret, and not as a public sign. Hence the Lord, having opened the ears and mouth of the man brought to Him, gave direction that no one should be told. But this command fell upon the deaf ears of disobedience, for the more He charged this upon them, so much the more a great deal they published it.... Being beyond measure astonished they said, “He hath done all things well: he maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.”
[W.J.H.]