The healing of the deaf and dumb man follows the record concerning the Lord as the children’s bread. This indicates that after we enjoy the Lord’s feeding, we need further healing. In particular, we need the healing of our deafness and dumbness. The healing is another step, a progressive step, in the carrying out of the Slave-Savior’s gospel service.
We have pointed out that the Gospel of Mark is a progressive book. Step by step we go from the Lord’s feeding to His healing of our deafness and dumbness. We need to say, “O Lord Jesus, thank You for Your feeding. You feed me in order to heal me. Lord, Your feeding is for the healing of my deafness and dumbness.”
If we do not enjoy the Lord’s feeding, it will be very difficult for us to speak for Him. Many of us can testify that before we enjoyed the Lord’s feeding in the church life, it was difficult for us to pray publicly in a meeting. Not only did we not have the proper hearing, the hearing that becomes our speaking; we did not enjoy the Lord as our food. But since coming into the church life, we have been enjoying Him as our bread. The feeding follows the exposure of our heart and is followed by the healing of our deafness and dumbness. According to the sequence in Mark 7, after the case of the Syrophoenician woman, we have the case of the healing of a deaf and dumb person.
We have emphasized the fact that speaking depends on hearing. We should not try to speak without listening. If we speak without listening, we shall speak in a nonsensical way. First we must have the proper hearing, and then we shall be able to speak. We need to listen with the intention of speaking, with the intention of repeating what we have heard. If we all listen this way, many of us will be able to speak without difficulty in the church meetings. Because we are no longer deaf, we shall no longer have difficulty in speaking.
It is rather easy to have our person healed in a general way. To experience such a healing it may not be necessary for the Lord Jesus to touch us. For example, in chapter five the woman was healed simply by touching the hem of the Lord’s garment. However, if we would receive the particular healing of our ears and tongue, we need the Lord to touch us in a definite way.
According to verse 33, the Lord took the deaf and dumb man away from the crowd privately, thrust His fingers into his ears, and then touched his tongue. This indicates that if we want our ears to be healed, we need the Lord to take us away to a private place. Then, in private, He will thrust His fingers into our ears and touch our tongue with His spittle.
The healing of the ears requires only the thrusting of the Lord’s fingers into them. But for the healing of our tongue we need something that proceeds out of the Lord’s mouth to be applied to our tongue. This signifies that we need the anointing of our speaking organ with the word that proceeds out of the Lord’s mouth.
Oh, how much we need the Lord to open our ears! For too long our ears have been closed to the word of God, to God’s speaking. We also need the essence of the Lord’s word to be applied to our tongue. We cannot speak, we are dumb, because we lack the Lord’s “spittle,” the essence of the word that proceeds out of His mouth. Our tongue needs to be touched by this essence. We need to let the essence of the Lord’s word become an ointment applied to our tongue. If we allow the Lord to anoint our tongue with the essence of His word, then our stammering tongue will be able to speak fluently.
After healing the deaf and dumb man, the Slave-Savior fed the four thousand (8:1-9). Mark 8:2 says, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have remained with Me now three days, and they do not have anything to eat.” The Slave-Savior’s virtues of compassion, sympathy, and tender care are vividly and sweetly displayed here in His humanity.
The case of the feeding of the four thousand indicates that after we have been healed and are able to hear and speak, we are qualified to feed others. Today many Christians are not qualified to feed others, because they themselves are still deaf and dumb. If we do not listen carefully to God’s speaking and if we do not have an anointed tongue, we shall not be able to feed others. Only when we have been healed in a particular way, not merely in a general way, shall we be qualified to feed others.
In the case of the Syrophoenician woman the Lord Jesus was the only one doing the feeding. But in the case of the feeding of the four thousand all the disciples became the feeding ones. This indicates that after we experience the healing of our listening and speaking organs, we become those who can feed others. I expect that this will be the situation in the Lord’s recovery. I believe that when the saints have been healed particularly in their listening and speaking organs, they will all become feeders. They will be able to feed others by presenting the truth to them. For this feeding, we need a particular healing, the healing of our ears and our tongue.