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Lights and Shadows of the Story of Healing for the Deaf
Series “Theology of Interdependence and Disability,” Part 5 (Mark 7:31-37)
Mari Ikeda
This July, we began a series of readings from Kathy Black’s book to reconsider the Bible from the perspective of people with disabilities, and today is the fifth in the series. Today we will look at Mark 7:31-37. This is the only passage in the Bible that records an episode in which Jesus heals a deaf man, unrelated to the casting out of demons. Because it is the only passage in the Bible, this passage has been important for deaf people in both good and bad ways. Today, after reading the whole thing, I would like to first talk about some misconceptions about this passage. So let’s start reading.
31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. 33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. 36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
A. Misconceptions about this passage
1. Rationale for the oralism movement?
In this story, Jesus “opened” the man’s ears and mouth so that he could hear and speak. This gave rise to the misconception that it is God’s will to train the deaf person to speak. This is oralism, which rejects sign language. The oralism movement forbade deaf people from using sign language and forced them to speak by reading the movements of others’ lips to understand what they were saying and by speaking vocally. It is said that this was sometimes accompanied by physical abuse. But there were many deaf people for whom learning to speak orally was impossible. The oralism movement was a one-sided and violent arrangement by people who did not recognize sign language as a single language. It was not God’s will or anything else, and it is a wrong interpretation of this passage.
2. Is it a sin to be deaf? (Romans 10:17)
Another interpretation, which has been more widely used, is to take the entire passage metaphorically and treat deafness as synonymous with being in a state of sin, which is also incorrect. This way of interpreting the passage is related to what Paul says in Romans 10:17, where he says this.
(Romans 10:17) Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
From these words, theologians have traditionally associated “having an ear to hear God’s word” with “having faith.
But such a metaphorical interpretation is discriminatory against the deaf because it equates physical deafness with a spiritual state of sin. While deaf people are in a state of physical inability to hear, sin is a state of refusal to hear God’s Word. A deaf person does not have the choice to hear or not to hear, but sin is choosing not to hear when one can hear. The two are essentially different.
Moreover, to take this story only metaphorically is to disregard the personal character of the deaf man here, as well as the people who brought him to Jesus. This story describes in detail the situations and how Jesus related to them, and it would be a great loss for us to overlook their significance.
So what does this story tell us? From here, we would like to consider the bright side of this story.
B. What is the salvation that Jesus gives us?
1. God’s love that is not limited by ethnicity or race
The first thing to note is the scene of this narrative: in verse 31 we see the names of various regions, all of which are Gentile lands. Also, in the overall flow of Mark’s Gospel, this passage is in the midst of a period in which Jesus left the Jewish inhabited areas for a time and entered the Gentile inhabited areas. What is unique about this period is that in contrast to the opposition from the Jews, it is reported that many of the Gentiles believed in Jesus. The conclusion of today’s passage, in which those who saw the healing of the deaf man praised Jesus and spread the word about Him even when they were discouraged, shows that God’s love reached beyond the ethnic or racial boundaries of the Jewish people. After Jesus’ death, this was shared with the whole world through his disciples. Today’s story was the forerunner of this event.
2. The promise of deliverance from all suffering (Isaiah 35)
Let’s read people’s praise in verse 37.
He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.
People praise Jesus for saying that he did everything good, which is linked to what God said in Genesis when he finished creating this world. Everything God made was “good.” Jesus came to this world because we humans have distorted this world that God created, and he came to make it good again, just as God wanted it to be. Jesus’ coming was the coming of that new age.
And the world that Jesus was trying to restore was a world where “the deaf can hear and the mute can speak. In fact, today’s passage is closely related to Isaiah 35, and if we read Isaiah 35, we can understand what kind of world Jesus was aiming for. Let’s read it.
(Isaiah 35) 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened / and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness / and streams in the desert. 7 The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. 8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. 9 No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, 10 and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Here is a picture of a world in which various disabilities and diseases are healed, the weak are not oppressed, and justice is realized. All suffering and sorrow will be removed, and the joy of God’s presence will fill the world. Jesus actually demonstrated by his actions that this is the world that God originally wanted.
But the reality is that disability, disease, and injustice have not disappeared from this world. Except for those contemporaries of Jesus who had direct contact with Him, many of us live without being healed of our individual sufferings. If we are not healed, does that mean that God’s love has not reached us? Are illness and disability a sign of God’s punishment or indifference? No, it is not. Where suffering remains, it is in order for God’s love to be more fully manifested there. And this is made possible by the miracle of God’s love for us to love one another.
3. It uses our love for each other
Let me read verse 32 again.
There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
It is said that this deaf man was brought by people. The people asked Jesus to lay hands on him – to bless him, as this indicates a blessing action. In response, Jesus did more than they asked. Instead of laying hands on him and blessing him, He touched his ears, touched his tongue, prayed for him, and made him able to hear.
In reading the Gospels, there are many stories of family members and friends who asked Jesus for healing on behalf of those with disabilities or suffering from illnesses. I don’t think they get much attention, but we must not forget that God uses our hearts for our family and friends. God certainly uses our hearts of love for one another to bring about His love.
Here, too, is the theology of interdependence as taught by Kathy Black. Our weaknesses, whether disability or illness, are for God’s love to be realized in our interdependence. It is the miracle that God makes possible for us.
4. Unconditional love
Finally, I would like to mention the relationship between this deaf man and Jesus.
As we have read, this passage does not tell us anything about the will of the man himself. People brought him here, but we do not know if it was his will. There is no record of this man’s own reaction after his ears were healed. This gives the impression that he was very passive, just doing as he was told by those around him. I don’t think we should assume that he was really such a passive person. Maybe people were ignoring his will, even if they had good intentions for him, or maybe Mark did not pay attention to him and did not record his words and deeds.
In contrast, the record of what Jesus did to this man is very specific and detailed. Let’s read the situation again.
After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
As we can see, Jesus’ attitude toward this man was very personal and intimate. Even if the man himself was very passive, no matter how people treated him, Jesus touched him directly and healed him. Here we see the unconditional love of Jesus. Jesus did not ask for any conditions or anything in return from him or the people in order to heal him. Even faith was not a condition. Not once did Jesus say to anyone, “If you believe in me, I will heal you.” Jesus died on the cross before anyone understood Him. We believe in Jesus because He loved us first before we believed in Him.
I mentioned earlier that God uses our love for one another to make His love possible, but this is possible because first and foremost, God Himself loves each of us. Before we love one another, God loves us unconditionally, so we can ask Him for help for one another without fear. Today’s story teaches us that as well.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1Corinthians 13:13)
The story of one deaf man’s healing shows us the new world that God’s love and our love for each other can make possible.
Let us pray. Lord Jesus, please teach us more about Your unconditional love. We each have our own pains and problems, but please help us to believe that You know them all and that You will surely open a good path for us to walk on. Also encourage us through the presence of someone concrete. Give us the courage to bear one another’s weaknesses. Give us the humility to try to understand one another. Lord Jesus, we pray in your name.
(Prayer) Lord Jesus, please teach us more about Your unconditional love. We each have our own pains and problems, but please help us to believe that You know them all and that You will surely open a good path for us to walk on. Also encourage us through the presence of someone concrete. Give us the courage to bear one another’s weaknesses. Give us the humility to try to understand one another. Lord Jesus, we pray in your name.
Summary
<This is part 5 in a series of readings of Kathy Black’s “A Healing Homiletic -Preaching and Disability.”> This passage, the only biblical story of healing for the deaf, has a history of being used as a basis for forbidding sign language for deaf people and forcing them to speak verbally. Understanding physical deafness metaphorically as a symbol of sin that prevents us from hearing God’s word is also discriminatory against the deaf. This passage proves that it is God’s will to deliver us from all difficulties, including disability. At the same time, what this passage teaches is that what is necessary for God’s love to be realized is that we have a heart of love for one another rather than individual faith.
For Discussion
- In what ways has this passage been interpreted in an oppressive way toward the deaf?
- What does it mean for God’s love to be realized in a person with a disease or disability that cannot be healed?