Communication has never been easier than it is today. The internet has allowed even a small church in Southwest Mississippi to publish daily devotionals and even to make live video broadcasts available to people all over the country. But with everyone espousing so many different points of view at the same time, is anyone really listening? Or are we just seeking out the kind of information with which we already agree? Are we just trying to shout one another down?

Of course, the man who was brought to Jesus in today’s passage had a much more serious problem – because he couldn’t hear, he also had great difficulty in speaking. And Jesus clearly demonstrates that He is not only the source of healing, but the author of all communication. The living Word through Whom all things were spoken into existence (John 1:1-3) has no trouble at all in restoring this man’s ability to hear and speak.

But did you notice the intensely personal way in which Jesus healed this man? Jesus put his fingers in the man’s ears. Jesus put his own saliva on the man’s tongue. It couldn’t be more obvious that contact with Jesus is what restored this man’s ability to communicate.

Could the same thing be true for us as well? For if Jesus has risen from the dead, He isn’t just another prophet – He is God. So, unless we come to Him, acknowledging His Word as the only inerrant source of truth, we’ll never have any truth to share with one another. And unless we admit our sin and thus our radical need for healing, we’ll never have the humility truly to listen to one another.

Isaiah predicted that God’s people would “see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.” And at that time, he said, “the eyes of the blind will be opened, and ears of the deaf will be unstopped” (Isaiah 35:2,5). That was certainly true for the deaf man in this passage. Could it be true for us today as well?

Mark 7:31-37 (NASB)

31 And again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis.
32 And they brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they entreated Him to lay His hand upon him.
33 And He took him aside from the multitude by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva;
34 and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”
35 And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.
36 And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.
37 And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.”