It is an invisible disability. If you were in a crowded room looking around, you would not be able recognize those who were deaf. But a crowded room is the loneliest place for someone who has lost the ability to hear. People who cannot hear are often misjudged. Sometimes they are thought to be arrogant because they don’t respond when spoken to, when in reality they simply cannot hear what is being said. If they have the added disability of a speech impediment, often their intellect is questioned. Sometimes people avoid them because it can be so irritating to try to communicate with someone who is deaf or even hard of hearing. The deep desire to know and to be known often is denied. How do I know this? Because I am one of them, I am partially deaf.
When I first read the story about Jesus healing the man who was deaf and had speech difficulties, I confess I thought it was an odd story. In fact, when I was teaching it I had to simply confess that I had no idea why Jesus would stick His fingers in that man’s ears. I was puzzled. However, as I continued to meditate on this picture and pursue understanding, it came. And when at last I understood, I was humbled by a God who tenderly, compassionately, and uniquely healed this man’s disability.
“They brought to Him a deaf man who had a speech difficulty, and begged Jesus to lay His hands on him" Mark 7:32). The first thing that comes to my mind is, who were “they”? In Mark 2 we have the story of a group of friends carrying their friend to Jesus. But in this story I wonder if this deaf man was brought to Jesus because “they” wanted to see a miracle performance. I also wonder how the man felt. After all, he couldn’t hear, so how could he understand why he was being brought into this crowd of people?
When I began to look at this story through the eyes of someone who is deaf, it was like being given a key that unlocked a mystery. First of all, knowing that one of the most uncomfortable places you can be when you're deaf is in a crowd where you are unsure of what is going on, I see Jesus’ compassion. Jesus took him away from the crowd, He refused to make this man a spectacle. Next, Jesus used sign language! That is why Jesus put His fingers in the man’s ears. Jesus used His own DNA when He spit and touched the man’s tongue. When Jesus looked up to heaven He was using a visual clue for the deaf man about where the healing was coming from. I had also wondered why we have the Aramaic expression He spoke when He said “Ephphatha!” until I looked at it from the man’s perspective. The man could read Jesus’ lips! With a deep sigh of compassion Jesus released this man from the disability that had isolated him.
I think that the deep sigh of Jesus was not only for the physical disability of being deaf, but it was for our spiritual deafness as well. There is an ancient baptism prayer called “Ephphatha” (Be opened). The pastor touches the ears and the mouth of the one coming for baptism and says, “The Lord has made the deaf hear and the mute speak. May He touch your ears to receive His words and your mouth to proclaim Him to the praise and glory of God the Father. Amen.”
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