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Scripture Reading: Mark 7:31-37; 8:1-26
In this message we shall consider 7:31—8:26. In this section of the Gospel of Mark five matters are covered: the healing of a deaf and dumb man (Mark 7:31-37), the feeding of four thousand (Mark 8:1-9), not giving a sign to the Pharisees (Mark 8:10-13), warning the disciples concerning the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod (Mark 8:14-21), and the healing of a blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26).
In 7:31-37 we have the healing of a deaf and dumb man. Before chapter seven, most of the healings in the Gospel of Mark were healings of a complete person. For instance, Peter’s mother-in-law was sick of a fever (Mark 1:30-31). She was healed, and that was the healing of a complete person. Another example of this kind of healing is the healing of the paralytic (Mark 2:3-12). When the paralytic was healed, the complete person was healed. The same is true of the cleansing of the leper (Mark 1:40-45). But in Mark 7:31-37 we do not have the healing of a complete person; instead, we have the healing of specific organs. In fact, all the healings after Mark 7 involve particular organs, not complete persons. Mainly these healings are of three organs: the eyes, the ears, and the tongue.
We may say that in the Gospel of Mark we have the following sequence related to healing: general healings, the exposure of the condition of man’s heart, the Lord as bread, as the supply of life, and the healing of specific organs. This also is the sequence in our spiritual experience. When we were saved, we experienced healing in a general way. Later the condition of our heart was exposed. Then, probably after coming into the church life, we learned to enjoy the Lord inwardly as our bread, as our life supply. Following this, we have the healing of our ears, tongue, and eyes. Some who have been in the church life for years still need the specific healing of these organs.
Mark 7:32 says, “And they bring to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they entreated Him that He would lay His hand on him.” This deaf and dumb person signifies one who is spiritually deaf and dumb, one who is unable to hear the voice of God and praise Him (Isa. 35:6) and speak for Him (Isa. 56:10). His dumbness was due to his deafness. The Slave-Savior’s healing salvation is fully able to heal such a one’s deafness and dumbness by dealing with his ears first and then touching his tongue.
Verses 33 and 34 say, “And taking him away from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and spitting, He touched his tongue; and looking up into heaven, He groaned and said to him, Ephphatha! that is, Be opened!” The Greek word rendered “put” in verse 33 may also be translated “thrust.” The Slave-Savior’s thrusting His fingers into the deaf one’s ears signifies His dealing with his hearing organ (see Isa. 50:4-5; Job 33:14-16), and His touching of his tongue with His spittle signifies His anointing the dumb one’s speaking organ with the word that proceeds out of His mouth. This was a healing.
The deaf and dumb man in 7:31-37 portrays our condition today. Verse 32 tells us that this one spoke with difficulty. Is it not your situation that in the church meetings you speak with difficulty? I believe many among us will admit that they have difficulty speaking in the meetings. Therefore, the case of the deaf and dumb man in chapter seven depicts the need of us all.
Deafness is often the cause of dumbness. In many cases, a person who is deaf is also dumb. The reason for this is that speaking is based on hearing. A child learns to talk by listening to others speak. Eventually, a child speaks what he hears. By this we see that a child learns to speak by listening. We may say that his hearing becomes his speaking.
Do you know why we speak with difficulty in the meetings? We speak with difficulty because we are careless in listening to the Lord’s speaking. If we were more careful in our hearing, we would speak spontaneously.
We need to practice listening to the Lord’s speaking. As we listen to the Word, it will penetrate our being. Then we shall be able to speak fluently. But many cannot speak without difficulty because they do not hear properly. If we take care of listening to the Word of God, this listening eventually will become our speaking.
Sometimes the leading ones in the church encourage the saints to speak in the meetings. But when some try to speak, they seem to have nothing to say. The problem is with their hearing. Apart from listening to the Word, we do not have anything to say in the meetings.
The healing of the deaf and dumb man follows the record concerning the Lord as the children’s bread. This indicates that after we enjoy the Lord’s feeding, we need further healing. In particular, we need the healing of our deafness and dumbness. The healing is another step, a progressive step, in the carrying out of the Slave-Savior’s gospel service.
We have pointed out that the Gospel of Mark is a progressive book. Step by step we go from the Lord’s feeding to His healing of our deafness and dumbness. We need to say, “O Lord Jesus, thank You for Your feeding. You feed me in order to heal me. Lord, Your feeding is for the healing of my deafness and dumbness.”
If we do not enjoy the Lord’s feeding, it will be very difficult for us to speak for Him. Many of us can testify that before we enjoyed the Lord’s feeding in the church life, it was difficult for us to pray publicly in a meeting. Not only did we not have the proper hearing, the hearing that becomes our speaking; we did not enjoy the Lord as our food. But since coming into the church life, we have been enjoying Him as our bread. The feeding follows the exposure of our heart and is followed by the healing of our deafness and dumbness. According to the sequence in Mark 7, after the case of the Syrophoenician woman, we have the case of the healing of a deaf and dumb person.
We have emphasized the fact that speaking depends on hearing. We should not try to speak without listening. If we speak without listening, we shall speak in a nonsensical way. First we must have the proper hearing, and then we shall be able to speak. We need to listen with the intention of speaking, with the intention of repeating what we have heard. If we all listen this way, many of us will be able to speak without difficulty in the church meetings. Because we are no longer deaf, we shall no longer have difficulty in speaking.
It is rather easy to have our person healed in a general way. To experience such a healing it may not be necessary for the Lord Jesus to touch us. For example, in chapter five the woman was healed simply by touching the hem of the Lord’s garment. However, if we would receive the particular healing of our ears and tongue, we need the Lord to touch us in a definite way.
According to verse 33, the Lord took the deaf and dumb man away from the crowd privately, thrust His fingers into his ears, and then touched his tongue. This indicates that if we want our ears to be healed, we need the Lord to take us away to a private place. Then, in private, He will thrust His fingers into our ears and touch our tongue with His spittle.
The healing of the ears requires only the thrusting of the Lord’s fingers into them. But for the healing of our tongue we need something that proceeds out of the Lord’s mouth to be applied to our tongue. This signifies that we need the anointing of our speaking organ with the word that proceeds out of the Lord’s mouth.
Oh, how much we need the Lord to open our ears! For too long our ears have been closed to the word of God, to God’s speaking. We also need the essence of the Lord’s word to be applied to our tongue. We cannot speak, we are dumb, because we lack the Lord’s “spittle,” the essence of the word that proceeds out of His mouth. Our tongue needs to be touched by this essence. We need to let the essence of the Lord’s word become an ointment applied to our tongue. If we allow the Lord to anoint our tongue with the essence of His word, then our stammering tongue will be able to speak fluently.
After healing the deaf and dumb man, the Slave-Savior fed the four thousand (8:1-9). Mark 8:2 says, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have remained with Me now three days, and they do not have anything to eat.” The Slave-Savior’s virtues of compassion, sympathy, and tender care are vividly and sweetly displayed here in His humanity.
The case of the feeding of the four thousand indicates that after we have been healed and are able to hear and speak, we are qualified to feed others. Today many Christians are not qualified to feed others, because they themselves are still deaf and dumb. If we do not listen carefully to God’s speaking and if we do not have an anointed tongue, we shall not be able to feed others. Only when we have been healed in a particular way, not merely in a general way, shall we be qualified to feed others.
In the case of the Syrophoenician woman the Lord Jesus was the only one doing the feeding. But in the case of the feeding of the four thousand all the disciples became the feeding ones. This indicates that after we experience the healing of our listening and speaking organs, we become those who can feed others. I expect that this will be the situation in the Lord’s recovery. I believe that when the saints have been healed particularly in their listening and speaking organs, they will all become feeders. They will be able to feed others by presenting the truth to them. For this feeding, we need a particular healing, the healing of our ears and our tongue.
After the feeding of the four thousand, “the Pharisees came out and began discussing with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, tempting Him” (8:11). Groaning in His spirit, the Lord Jesus said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly I tell you, No sign shall be given to this generation” (v. 12). This time the Pharisees did not come to accuse or find fault but came to seek a sign. Like many today, they pretended to be spiritual. However, the Lord knew their heart, and he refused to give them a sign.
Today certain Christians are sincere. They have received the Lord’s particular healing, and they have become those who can feed others. But meanwhile some are pretenders, hypocrites. They pretend to seek spiritual signs; they pretend that their purpose is spiritual.
In 8:14-21 the Lord Jesus goes on to warn His disciples concerning the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. In verse 15 the Lord says, “Watch! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” In the Bible leaven signifies evil things (1 Cor. 5:6, 8) and evil doctrines (Matt. 16:6, 11-12). The leaven of the Pharisees was their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1), and the leaven of Herod was his corruption and injustice in politics. The Lord warned His disciples to beware of these two kinds of leaven, the Pharisees’ leaven of hypocrisy and Herod’s leaven of injustice.
In 8:16-21 we see that the disciples did not understand the Lord’s word concerning leaven. They were occupied by the thought of bread: “They reasoned with one another because they had no bread” (v. 16). When they heard the word “leaven,” they immediately thought of bread, because they realized that they had not brought an adequate supply with them in the boat. We today are often like the disciples: we may hear a message, but we do not interpret it correctly.
In 8:22-36 we have the healing of a blind man: “And they came to Bethsaida. And they bring to Him a blind man, and entreat Him that He would touch him.” This blind man signifies one who has lost his inner sight, one blinded spiritually (Acts 26:18; 2 Pet. 1:9).
Verse 23 says, “And taking hold of the hand of the blind man, He led him forth outside the village; and having spit in his eyes and laid His hands on him, He asked him, Do you see anything?” By taking hold of the blind man’s hand the Slave-Savior expressed His intimate and loving care in His humanity for the needy one.
The Lord took the blind man outside the village. This may indicate that the Slave-Savior would not let what He intended to do for this blind man be seen and known by the crowd, since He later charged him not even to enter into the village (v. 26). Spiritually, this may also indicate that the Slave-Savior wanted the blind man to have a private and intimate time with Him so that He could infuse him with the element that could recover his sight. All who are spiritually blind need such a time with the Slave-Savior.
For this further particular healing, the Lord then spit in the blind man’s eyes and laid His hands on him. Blindness is related to darkness (Acts 26:18). For sight there is the need of light. The Slave-Savior’s spittle may signify the word that proceeds out of His mouth, a word that conveys the divine light of life to the receiver for the recovery of his sight. The significance of such spitting of the Slave-Savior, plus that of His laying on of hands, was much richer than the significance of His touch. Those who wanted to help the blind man requested only the Lord’s touch. The Lord’s laying His hands on the blind man indicates His identification with him in order to transfuse His healing element into him.
When the Lord asked the blind man if he saw anything, he answered, “I behold men; I see them as trees walking” (v. 24). This may illustrate a person’s spiritual sight. At the initial stage of his spiritual recovery, he may see spiritual things like this blind man beholding men as trees walking. After a further recovery, he sees all things clearly as this man did.
Verse 25 says, “Then again He laid His hands upon his eyes, and he looked intently and was restored, and he saw all things clearly.” This may indicate that after we receive the complete healing of our eyes, we have a clear view concerning the things of God.
Verse 26 concludes, “And He sent him to his home, saying, Do not even enter into the village.” Throughout His ministry the Slave-Savior, as the Slave of God, did not like publicity.
In this message we have seen that the Slave-Savior took a further step to heal people particularly in their hearing, speaking, and seeing organs. After we have been healed in this way, we have the ability to see the things concerning God. In the next section, therefore, the disciples began to see Christ and to know Him.
