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Loving the Isolated

"Jesus left Tyre and went to Sidon, then back to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Ten Towns.  A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and the people begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him.  Jesus led him to a private place away from the crowd.  He put his fingers into the man's ears.  Then, spitting onto his own fingers he touched the man's tongue with the spittle.  And looking up to heaven, he sighed and commanded, 'Be opened!'  Instantly the man could hear perfectly and speak plainly!  Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone, but the more he told them not to, the more they spread the news, for they were completely amazed.  Again and again they said, 'Everything he does is wonderful.  He even heals those who are deaf and mute.'" Mark 7:31-37 (New Living Translation).

This story is precious and very different from most stories in the gospels.  Jesus heals a man in a very different way.  First, he takes him to a private place.  Then he puts his fingers into the man's ears.  Then he spits onto his fingers and puts some of his own saliva on the man's tongue.   Then, he dramatically looks up to heaven.  Finally, he sighs deeply and heals the man.  How strange.  Why does Jesus do all these things?

The answer reveals to us the tender heart of God toward those who suffer in isolation because of disease or struggle.

First, this man could not hear.  People who cannot hear tend to be very conscious of the fact that they cannot hear.  I speak from experience, for in my family there is a genetic trait that has robbed my mother of her hearing, and is now slowly causing my siblings and me to lose our hearing.  Though I still hear well, I don't hear as well as I used to.  I find myself not hearing noises that others do.  I also find myself saying, "Could you say that again, I didn't hear you."  I especially have more difficulty hearing people's words when there is background noise.  It is frustrating.  What's more, it is very hard when others become angry at me because I can't hear them.  It is embarrassing and humiliating.  What's more, for the person who can't hear at all, it tends to drive them into a lonely isolation from the rest of the world with which they cannot adequately communicate.  No doubt, the man Jesus' healed felt this way.

So Jesus takes him to a private place, I believe, to make him feel safe and save him embarrassment and humiliation.  What a beautiful picture of the tender heart of God who even cares about our embarrassments! 

But there's more.  Jesus puts his fingers into the man's ears and spits on his fingers and puts some of his saliva on the man's tongue.  Don't you see?  Jesus is communicating with this man in sign language!  He is talking to him in the only way this man could understand.  He could not hear Jesus tell him what he was doing, so Jesus shows him what he's doing!  Then, Jesus looks up to heaven.  Why?  To communicate to a deaf man that he is praying and communicating with God.  Finally, Jesus sighs.  Why?  To show the deaf man that he, Jesus, hated this man's disability and what it was doing to him.  Sure the deaf man couldn't hear the sigh, but Jesus' facial expression would have unmistakably communicated his anger at this man's suffering.

What a God we serve!  His love is fathomless and his compassion endless!  He cares about every detail of our lives.  He cares for those with disabilities.  He cares about the pain and embarrassment and humiliation these people suffer through.  He cares deeply about their isolation from the rest of the world. 

He cares about those who live in the isolation of deafness; the seclusion of blindness; the remoteness of muteness.  He cares about speech impediments, memory loss, and disabilities that leave us motionless or unable to live normal lives.  What's more, he cares about those who are isolated from life for other reasons.  The isolation of guilt for past wrongs; the isolation that divorce or lost love brings; the isolation of failure or abuse; the isolation of those who have been ostracized and rejected; the isolation of a single mother struggling to raise children all alone - - these isolations and more touch the heart of God. 

He loves the isolated; the humiliated; the disabled and rejected.  What's more, he looks for ways to ease your pain and reach into your isolation to unmistakably reveal his love to you.  Watch for it, for it will happen. 

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