August 17, 2025 - Mark 7:32-37 - "Healing the Deaf Mute Man"

Mark 7:32-37

"And 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. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak."

The LORD has come to save needy sinners. Christ said, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). This man’s deafness and dumbness were not due to his being a greater sinner than anyone else. That is often the thought when you see someone in such a condition—you think, “I wonder what they did that the LORD should so deal with them?” No, we are all sinners! But you can see the blessing for him in this: the greater the need, the greater the deliverance.

It is like Christ said of that woman who ceased not to wipe His feet with her tears, though she was a woman of ill repute: “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little” (Luke 7:47). For any of us, when we consider the greatness of our own need, that is where it all begins—when the LORD opens our eyes. This man could not hear the publication of the Word going out throughout the land. He was deaf. And so, in his need, those who knew him—who could hear—brought him to Christ. This is why I encourage you: what the LORD has taught you or me, bring others to hear.

Our case, before it pleased the LORD to reveal Himself in us, was much like this deaf mute man. We could not hear His Word. We read it, but we could not hear His voice. We could speak about the Scriptures, but we could not speak the Word plainly and clearly. Why? Because our ears had not been opened yet, and our tongue had not been loosed to speak. So if the LORD has been pleased to do a work of grace in us—knowing our need—we know that apart from Him we could neither speak His glories nor hear His Word.

We see Christ’s action in verse 33, where He took this man aside from the multitude. That is how the LORD separates His own—from the crowd, from all the noise and bluster of everything going on. Even though He performed miracles in a public way, this is an example of specific grace. There is no such thing as common grace. You will hear that term used, but there is nothing common about the grace of God. There are His common mercies, whereby He is merciful to the just and the unjust in His creation, but when it comes to grace, it is always specific. It is designed and it is purposed for the glory of Christ and the salvation of the sinner. That is why the LORD separated him—to show him that it was for him He had come, and not for everybody.

It may seem curious to us how He healed this man, but as you look back over the ministry of Christ, you cannot “cookie-cutter” Him. He employed various methods of healing. He could heal with a word, just as the centurion said: “The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed” (Matthew 8:8). Or He could heal without a word. He could heal in response to a sinner’s cry, or He could heal whether they cried unto Him or not—by the simple touch as He passed by. We see that it all boils down to God being sovereign in salvation, using those means He has ordained for the deliverance of those He came to save. The LORD putting His fingers in the man’s ears was a picture of His creative Power, by which He created even the world. So the fingers in the ears and the spittle on the tongue—all of that was to show that He alone could heal. This was the LORD proving Himself to be the LORD God.

Why was He looking up to heaven? It was to give His Father the praise and the glory. That is why He came. He did not come to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him: “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:38–39). This very act was one of intercession before the Father, on behalf of one the Father had given Him—even before the foundation of the world. The Father hears the prayers of His Son. That is why we know Christ did not come to save everybody, because He did not pray for everybody. He said, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine” (John 17:9). So even in His looking up to heaven—though He was God—yet as a Man, He lived in complete dependence upon His Father for everything He did.

“He sighed.” It was not that He sighed because He was faced with a case too difficult for Him. No! That word sigh is an expression of sympathy with an afflicted one in their afflictions. The Scriptures say He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He identified with the suffering of this man, and therefore the sigh. Was He not the Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief? Here we have Him as the High Priest identifying with this deaf mute. We never doubt the intercession of our LORD, nor what He endured in coming to this earth to take upon Himself the curse of our sin—that we in return might be healed and delivered.

We see Him here saying, “Be opened.” This was not some sort of hocus-pocus incantation, like the charms used by charlatans. When He said, “Be opened,” He spoke with Authority. He was not begging the ears to do something, nor the man to do something. No, He was declaring as the sovereign LORD God that those ears be opened and the lips loosed. Because of His work, this man would be free to hear and to speak freely, every restraint taken away.

Let us not be like some who, having had ears opened and tongues loosed, when they see others still deaf, do not speak but take them to task for not hearing. That is not what the LORD did here, nor should we. What we do is point sinners to Christ, trusting that if the LORD Jesus paid their debt, He will draw them.