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. (Mk 7, 32-36)
The man in today’s context is deaf and dumb. He is brought to Jesus. Jesus heals him without any show. He does not want the people to see the miracle. But we wonder why Jesus orders them not to speak about it.
He has given the speech back to the deaf man. If he has received the gift of speech then he has to speak about it. Why the need for secrets. He could have made everyone dumb and no one would have revealed what has happened. If Jesus did not want to be seen or talked about then why did he do this at all? He could have just preached the word of God and taught the message to the people and carried on with his work. Why only miracles are not to be made known to the others. Why this secrecy?
What Jesus has done cannot remain hidden. The man who was not talking is talking now. That is not a secret for anyone who, sees him talking. Jesus tells the people around not to spread it, but they cannot stop talking.
Probably Jesus needed some more time before he is made known to the wider public. Or he was intending to travel some more, preaching and teaching. He wanted to gather some more support by passing on his message. So he wanted to be alone and wanted to move around unnoticed. But already the crowds were gathering around him and they were reaching the place of his arrival before he could even reach. The officials were already at him to close in on him. Just a couple of miracles more then they will bounce on him.
He couldn’t stop his work for the kingdom. He came for that work only. So also, he could not stop the people talking about it. Kingdom spreads this way also.
