After his interaction with the Syrophoenician woman and healing her daughter, Jesus moves onto another Gentile territory, Sidon. He is approached by a group who ask him to heal their deaf and mute friend.
In one of the stranger healing stories of his ministry, Jesus puts his fingers in the man’s ears, spits and then touches the man’s
tongue.
Jesus healed many people throughout the Gospel accounts of his life and ministry. It is fascinating to note how differently Jesus relates to people during these healing stories.
In Mark 1, Jesus shouts at a man to drive out an impure spirit and heals a man with leprosy with a single touch. In Mark 2, Jesus heals a paralytic by telling him his sins are forgiven. In Mark 3, Jesus heals a man’s hand on
the Sabbath. In Mark 5, Jesus drives out a demon from a possessed man and sends the demon into a herd of pigs. Jesus also heals a woman unknowingly when she touches his cloak. In Mark 8, Jesus heals a blind man by rubbing spit on his eyes.
Why did Jesus not have one uniform way of performing his healings? Perhaps God knows our needs better than we know them ourselves, and God’s healing is personal to meet all of our
individual needs.
As Jesus touched the deaf and mute man’s ears and tongue in this story, he likely identified the challenges in his life to help him understand that God understood his pains and insecurities and cared about his worries and fears.
What are the “problem areas” or aspects in your life causing you to see yourself as an outcast or unworthy?
Do you believe Jesus is meeting you in your place of need and offering you a personal healing touch?
Reflections by Rev Joe Taylor
