Journey of Healing: 4th of 6

         (They) begged Him to lay His hand on him. (Mk 7:31-37)

Points to Ponder/Discuss

Do you see yourself more as the deaf man or as the people?

What role do you see the crowd playing in these events?

How does intercession relate to our baptismal inheritance?

Do not forget that we, the Mystical Body of Christ, must also seek healing for one another. To do this is to emulate Christ Himself who interceded for us as High Priest on the Cross, but also in every miracle of healing.  Let us look at the healing of a deaf man with a speech impediment, a healing that will make clearer this aspect of reaching for the Lord.

          Jesus was in Galilee, and “people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him.”  Note here that it is not only an isolated person seeking intercession, perhaps a desperate mother or a frantic friend. Rather, it is a group of people with no evident relation to the man.  These people were perseverant in their request.  Unlike the woman with the hemorrhage who needed only to touch the Lord, these needed to beg.  But, it was not without value, to be sure, Jesus “took him off by himself away from the crowd.” 

           Again, the crowd is always a problem. Yet, it can always be gotten around. Here Jesus removes the man from the crowd in order to have a personal encounter. He “put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue.”  The broken man, the deaf man is removed from the common confusion and encounters Christ in an intimate way. (Note again the use of the sense of touch and the very personal actions performed by Christ.)  Beautifully, in this account, we also see very clearly Christ in his intercessory role.  “Then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’” 

          Already in this miracle we have one group of people who beg, then we have here Christ himself groaning, as if to beg the Father for the healing of this deaf man. Then, in only one word, “Be opened”, the man can hear and speak without any impediment at all.

          This man did not say anything up until this point, and it is not even noted what he said.  Apparently, it is not important. What is important to know is that all words passed between the people and the Lord, and between the Lord and the Father. Nor had the deaf man performed any action, the people brought him and Christ “took” him, “touched” him, and “groaned”.  And the man was healed.