This coming Sunday we celebrate the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time. As noted previously, Jesus’ arrival in the “district of the Decapolis,” while technically Gentile territory, even in Jesus’ time was the home to many Jewish communities. The Decapolis (literally, “Ten Towns”) figures quite prominently in the ministry of Jesus (Mark 5:20, Matt 4:25, Luke 8:26). While many of the cities’ names would be foreign to our modern English ear (Gadara, Abila, etc.), one of the city names would be quite familiar: Philadelphia.

31 Again he left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. 32 And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; 34 then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”) 35 And (immediately) the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. 36 He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. 37 They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and (the) mute speak.”  

This narrative of the deaf man with a speech impediment appears only in the Gospel of Mark, although Matt 15:29–31 contains a summary of Jesus’ activity along the Sea of Galilee that includes healing of those who are unable to speak. As in the story of the paralyzed man lowered into the room through the roof (Mk 2:3-5), friends bring the deaf man to Jesus. Unlike the friends of the paralyzed man, these friends begged Jesus to heal him. Like the story of Jairus’ daughter (5:42), Jesus takes the person away from the crowd to perform the healing. And like so many Markan accounts, Jesus commands the person to remain silent about the miracle (5:43) – and as in the other accounts, to no avail. But one should note that ignoring Jesus’ command for silence on the matter seems counter intuitive since only way for the deaf man to show that he is healed is to talk to others

The man suffers with defective hearing and speech. The man was not born deaf else he would not have been likely to learn speech. Thus, it is most likely that injury or illness robbed him of his ability to hear. Mark uses a rare word to describe the man’s “speech impediment” (v.32; Greek mogilalos literally “difficult speaking”.) Many scholars find an allusion to Isa. 35:5 and following which celebrates God as the one who comes in order to clear the ears of the deaf and to provide song for the man of inarticulate speech.

And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him.

The request for Jesus to lay hands upon the person is not absolutely clear in what is intended.  In the encounter with Jairus the intention is clear, as the request is specific: “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” (5:35). So too when Jesus is rejected in Nazareth (6:5), “So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.” There is every warrant for assuming that healing is also being requested for the deaf man if one assumes that the crowd, friends, and the man are Jewish – but then they are in the district of the Decapolis, predominantly Gentile territory.  In other traditions, the laying on of hands is primarily a blessing action. Is this important? Perhaps. Looking ahead to v.37 we read “They were exceedingly astonished…” If “they” refers to the crowds then astonishment seems appropriate. But if “they” refers to the friends, then astonishment only makes sense if they were (a) asking for a blessing and received a miracle, or (b) really did not think a miracle was possible but “no harm in asking.”

Image credit: Domenico Maggiotto (1713-1794), “Christ Healing a Deaf and Mute Man” (Public Domain)