Hi everyone. Welcome back to our podcast. Thank you to all the regular listens who tune in every day. I hope you're getting a lot out of this podcast. I certainly do as part of the research that I do to get ready for this podcast. I think it's always really good to go back to the literal sense of the scriptures, we should always start with that. What was the original author trying to convey to his audience and often?
We discover a whole level of richness so we never even have heard before and that's what this podcast is. Is all about today. We're continuing in Mark, we're in Mark. Chapter 7, verses 31 to 37. Returning from the District of Tyre, Jesus went by the way of sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, right through the decapolis region. And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech and they asked him to lay his hand on him, he took him aside in private away.
From the crowd, put his fingers in the man's ears and touched his tongue with spittle, then looking up to heaven. He sighed and said to him if fatha that is be opened and his ears were opened and the ligament of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted the more widely they published it. Their admiration was unbounded. He has done all things. Well, they said he makes the
deaf hear and the dumb speak. So the first thing to notice is while the last verse is fresh in your memory, there he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak. Those words should be familiar to you. If you go to mass regularly because that's part of the blessing that's given to as part of the baptism for infants. So the child is baptized and then the priest usually comes around and sort of does the sign of the cross on the mouth and the ears of the person who's
been baptized. And the priest says, the Lord makes the deaf hear and the dumb to speak. And that actually comes from this verse here. So, this particular story we're looking at here is only found in Mark, which is quite interesting because we're quite used to having Martin stories in Mark show up in Matthew and Luke because Matthew and Luke copy, pretty much everything that's in Mark and then they modify slightly.
But this is one story that need the Matthew, Luke or John took from Mark, for whatever reason, they decided not to include it. So this is the only place you'll hear this story in the entire New Testament. And that could be because Cuz it's so graphically physical. Jesus does some quite physical things here. And perhaps the gospel writers felt that their audiences might not be comfortable with it. Who knows? We're, just guessing so verse 31
at the start here. He's returns from the District of Tyre so he's returning from the northern region who is just in which is tire that's where he healed the sorrow. Phoenician woman's daughter in our last podcast and then Mark says he returned from tire and went through side on To the Sea of Galilee, right through the decapolis region, some Scholars have looked at this and said that Mark is a bit
geographically confused here. Because if you look at a map that route, doesn't really make sense Mark here says, he went through sidon to the Sea of Galilee, but if you're coming out of tire to go to side on, you actually would have to go a long way out of the way to the North and then go all the way back south again to go to the Sea of Galilee. And then it's sort of another way out to the east. Again to go to the decapolis region.
So it's most likely that what Mark is doing here is he's giving us an abbreviated way of saying that Jesus did a long Wide Circle to up of the surrounding Gentile regions before he comes back to the Sea of Galilee. So this is Mark's way of saying of summarizing. Jesus Gentile Ministry to various Gentile lands which Mark says he did before. He went back to the Sea of Galilee the Jewish area And this trip probably spends some
months. So we get to hear one healing story here, but we don't get to hear a lot of what Jesus did. So this is an important principle that we need to keep in mind. There's probably a whole lot of stuff Jesus did that we don't get to hear about. And this trip of Jesus spend quite a few months So he's going, he ends up at the end of this trip here that we're about to hear about. He ends up in a place called The decapolis which is to the south east of the Sea of Galilee.
And if you've been following this podcast, you remember that. Jesus is actually been here once already in the gospel of Mark. So the last time he was in the decapolis, he cast the demons out of the pigs and the people asked him not to return. So he cast the demons into the pigs. And He cast the demons out of the demon.
I I can remember in that story The Demon Ike went and told the whole town about Jesus. So possibly since then their hearts have been softened through the preaching of the demon I attack he was essentially the first Gentile convert or preacher of the kingdom of God and so perhaps people have now heard about him through the demon diac and then more welcoming of him. Verse 32, they brought to him. So some of the Gentile crowd, bring to him a deaf man who had
an impediment in his speech. So this guy has both conditions, probably means he might struggle to get employment, and therefore he'd be poor, outcast in society. They asked Jesus to lay his hands on him. So they've heard that Jesus can heal people when he lays his hands on them. Actually, Jesus doesn't do this here. Jesus doesn't really lay his hands on the man. He does something else.
So he takes the man, aside in private, so apparently he doesn't want the crowd to see this particular healing or it could be that. He understands the needs of this man, and he knows that this man would prefer not to be publicly healed. He knows that the man needs a private encounter with Jesus which of course is an important
principle for us as well. So, Jesus put his fingers into his ears, which might seem strange, but if we think about it, it's, I guess the most obvious way that Jesus can make contact with the interior of the man's ears is to put his fingers in there. And that would have cured the deafness, the healing for the deafness. But then he hasn't healed the speech impediment yet. So then Jesus touched the tongue with spittle. So firstly, Jesus spits to create spittle.
He puts spittle on his own hand and then Jesus puts his hand into the man's mouth and touches his tongue. So perhaps the idea here is that the Holiness of Jesus? Own mouth and saliva has the power to cleanse other people's mouths conditions. And we know that in the ancient world saliva that was considered to be quite powerful and to have therapeutic benefits. So he does the ears and then he puts the saliva on the Man's Tongue and then verse 34, Jesus
looks up to heaven. So that's probably like a mental prayer to God. Jesus does a silent prayer and then Jesus does something strange. He size or another translation, is he groaned? This is the only place in the gospels where Jesus groans and it's not entirely clear why Jesus does this. It's probably or what some Scholars have suggested is that. He's so grieved and saddened at the effects of the fall on, man. So he's looking at this man who has all these conditions and he
feel sorry for the man. He's so grieved that the Fall In the Garden of. Eden has resulted in man being cursed and his grave to see this in people. This same word for groans, although it's not used in the Gospels. It does appear later in the New Testament. In Paul's writings, You'll know, you'll probably remember that. Paul says, the spirit makes inexpressible groanings as the intercedes for us. And that's in Romans 8, verse 26. Same word they're used for groaning.
So just as Jesus intercedes for the man here, the spirit intercedes with groanings for us. And Jesus says this word, in Aramaic ephphatha, which translates as be opened. So Mark, you he has included the actual Aramaic and then the translation in the Greek. Usually, he just skips the Aramaic and just gives it to us all in Greek. So why does he include the
Aramaic here? Probably because it made such a deep impression on the original disciples, they remembered exactly what Jesus said and Mark includes it here for his Aramaic speaking hearers so that they can hear the strength. The very words that Jesus spoke Now notice here, the to heal the man, Jesus has to do something physical, and then say certain words, in order for the healing to happen, he needs both of
them. Apparently, this is similar to what the church does in the sacraments today. It needs there needs to be some sort of physical form and then some sort of words, SIDS, there's an interesting connection there. Verse 35, his ears were open. So, the man's ears opened and then the ligament of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. So that implies there's some part of his mouth that wasn't working properly that was causing his speech impediment
and that's Neil healed. So, Jesus heals, both the man's conditions here, the his deafness and his speaking problem. Perhaps, for some of marks readers, this healing of both conditions would help them. See Jesus as fulfilling roles that only Jesus, only God can fulfill. So, in Exodus 4 verse 11. God says this, who gives one man speech and makes another deaf and dumb or who give sight to one and makes another blind is not I the Lord And so, perhaps marks readers might have made a
connection here. That might have hinted that Jesus is God. So then Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it. So Jesus, again, like many places in Mark, he doesn't want word to spread about him too quickly. Otherwise his ministry could get too big and it will be cut short and it things won't go to plan. So, Jesus has a plan of how he wants his ministry to look and he's always careful to make sure that people don't spread the word too quickly. But they don't listen, this is
really interesting. It says here that the more he insisted so this implies that Jesus was earnestly and repeatedly telling them, please don't spread the word but the more he insists of the more widely they published it or another translation is the more zealously, they proclaimed it. So the word about Jesus spreads throughout the Gentile territory again. Verse 37, they admiration was unbounded. Our translation says, or another translation is they were astonished beyond measure.
And this is what they say he's done all things. Well he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak. So in other words, he can do even the hardest of things. He makes even the deaf hear and the dumb speak. So remember, this is a gentile crowd, so they probably don't have any concept of the Messiah. So they wouldn't fully understand his identity. All they know is that he can indeed do Miracles, they've seen it with his own eyes that he can heal any ailment and that's quite incredible.
So the healing we've just seen here at might strike some readers, as quite crudely physical Jesus, putting his fingers in someones ears, and spitting on his finger and putting his own saliva in Another Man's Tongue. Well, in a sense this the Bible here is affirming, the gods profound respect for the body as a vehicle of divine grace.
Some people like the gnostics would say that God only works on the spiritual plane but here, Mark and Jesus clearly teach us that the body and physical gestures are important for bringing about changes in the soul. So it brings it highlights the sacramental quality of the body, the body can be assigned an instrument of Divine grace and Jesus work in the kingdom of God, involves the healing of the
whole body and the whole soul. And there's a deep link there between the body and the soul, and that's brought out more in Catholic teaching. So how does the Catholic Church develop further teachings based on this passage? Where would we see it in the catechism? So in paragraph 1 504 which is about Christ. As the Healer, it says often Jesus asked the sick to believe he makes use of signs to heal spittle, on the laying on of
hands mud and washing the sick. Try to touch him for power came forth from him and he'll the mall. And so in the sacraments Christ continues to touch Us in order to help. He'll us. And then in paragraph 11 51, which is in the section of our signs and symbols, as an interesting reference to Jesus,
use of his body here, paragraph. 1151 of the catechism, says, In his preaching, the Lord often makes use of the signs of creation to make known the mysteries of the kingdom of God, he performs healings and illustrates his preaching with physical signs or symbolic gestures. He gives new meaning to the deeds and signs of the old, Covenant Above All, To The Exodus and the Passover for he himself is the meaning of all of these signs.
So here the church teaches that Jesus has no problems using physical signs, both as part of his healing process and also, as symbols of himself and of his salvation that he brings to the world. Thanks for listening again. Today, I hope you learn something new. Please continue to talk to other people about this podcast, share an episode with them, leave a rating on iTunes, so that more and more people can be exposed to it. And I'd love to hear from you through the various channels.
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