13 Feb 26 | “Be Opened”: When Christ Restores What Has Closed
Jesus restores hearing and speech in Gentile territory, revealing that the Messiah’s saving power re-creates what sin and exile have closed.
The Gospel: Mark 7:31-37
Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man's ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
"Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!")
And immediately the man's ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
"He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."
Today’s Focus
In Gentile territory, Jesus heals a man who cannot hear or speak, revealing the Messiah who restores what exile and sin have silenced. Through an intimate, embodied act, Christ fulfills Isaiah’s promise that the deaf will hear and the mute will speak, showing that the Messianic Age is breaking into history through Him. The miracle is not performed for spectacle, but for restoration, and it leads naturally to praise of God rather than focus on the act itself. In this encounter, Mark presents Jesus as the divine restorer whose saving power cannot be contained and whose works rightly return glory to God alone.
In the Margins
We open this Gospel in the Decapolis. As the name implies, this was a group of ten separate cities on the eastern part of the Roman Empire in Syria. Culturally, this would have been a Greek dominated area. Jesus heading here shows the universality He intended for His mission, beyond the Jewish crowds and incorporating the Gentiles. He is doing this without abandoning the priority of Israel in salvation history, but still opening the hearts of these people. The cities He uses in His journey are Phoenician cities associated with idolatry and opposition to Israel.
The man that is referenced is deaf and has a speech impediment. Biblically, this often symbolizes humanity’s inability to hear God (Isaiah 6:9–10) or an inability to praise God properly (Psalm 38:13–14). It also pulls a prophecy from Isaiah as well, where it says that the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped (Isaiah 35: 5-6). Jesus, through the healing of the deaf and mute man, fulfills these prophecies, demonstrating that the Messianic Age is being inaugurated in Him.
The way he heals is significant here. The crowd is calling for a physical intervention, which would have been very common in both Jewish and Greco-Roman healing practices of the time. Jesus takes the man off alone. This shows a personal encounter with Jesus and signifies that we can each have individual and personal love and attention. The detail is great in this passage, showing us the exact process and even the Aramaic command that Jesus uses, one of the most intimate scenes in all of the Gospels.
Without stating it, Mark shows that Gentiles are included in the salvation plan, that Jesus’ authority knows no boundary, and that Jesus is in full communion with God, able to show divinity over all things. What happens at the end is echoed in many other miracles. Even though Jesus asks people to keep this to themselves, people continue to proclaim. They don’t proclaim the miracle alone, they proclaim the greatness of God.
This is something we are all called to do in all things. We can use this passage to remind us that we alone do not accomplish amazing works. Even the Apostles could only accomplish their miracles through His name. As we rush through our busy lives, we can remember that God is not seeking glory out of a need for it, yet He is the only one truly worthy of the glory. All things good are because of God, we are just lucky enough to live in His grace.
Reflection Question
What areas of my life remain closed to hearing God or speaking His truth, and am I willing to let Christ open them?
A Small Invitation
If this reflection helped you, consider sharing it with someone who may be carrying more than they were meant to.