In Mark 7:32–37 we have a scenario in which a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment was brought to Jesus for healing. As Jesus so often had done before in His infinite kindness and mercy, He healed this man. However, it is interesting to note that He did not heal this man as He had healed so many before. The Bible says that He put his fingers into the man’s ears, and He spit and touched His tongue. It is also interesting to note that the man had a speech impediment which infers that he was not completely dumb but rather spoke quite unclearly and people had a very hard time understanding what he was saying. In verse 35 of Mark 7, it says that once the man’s tongue was loosed he spoke plainly, which is evidence that he had the ability to speak beforehand, but his speech was limited. We must also take note of the fact that this man’s speech impediment was quite possibly due to his deafness.
In verse 34 it says that Jesus looked up to heaven and sighed. This is the only instance recorded in the Gospels where Jesus looked up into heaven before He healed someone. One very possible reason that Jesus did this was because He was seeking to direct the deaf man’s mind towards heaven and the heavenly Father. Through this action Jesus attempted to show the man that all true healing comes from above and is a gift of God’s grace (Nichol 1980). Also in verse 34 immediately before healing the man, Jesus sighed. This sigh had significance as it came from Jesus’ lips as a result of Him seeing an example of human suffering right before His eyes. Also it brought to His mind that He had such a beautiful message of hope to bring to this world; however the majority of the people were turning a deaf ear and closing their heart to His message. These people had the ability to hear Him speak, but they chose not to heed His words and rather to continue living unfulfilling lives; therefore they were spiritually deaf (Nichol 1980).
Deafness is the partial or total inability to hear sound. The total inability to hear sound is not hard to pinpoint, and all individuals will notice such a drastic change in their ability to hear. However, partial hearing loss may be harder to pinpoint particularly if it is gradual. If it is gradual, then people may get used to having a diminished sense of hearing, and to them it may seem normal. Age-related hearing loss or deafness may begin to become apparent when the individual is unable to hear higher pitched sounds well or confuses words that sound similar. Signs of hearing loss in infants or young children are evident when they tend to respond slowly to noises in the environment around them or not respond at all. In addition, their speech is often quite delayed, and they may even be delayed in their levels of coordination and ability to walk (Body & Health 2011).
There are a variety of different causes for deafness, and each cause affects the physiology of the ear in a different way. For example, being exposed to very loud noises over a prolonged period of time tends to destroy the hair cells in the inner ear. On the other hand, an ear infection tends to cause temporary hearing loss due to the accumulation of fluid in the middle ear (effusion). Although in most cases the hearing loss is temporary, if the child experiences recurring ear infections, it may turn into a chronic problem. The end result of multiple ear infections could be conductive and sensorineural hearing loss (The Merck Manual 2010).
A speech impediment is a type of communication disorder that disrupts normal speech. An individual who is unable to speak at all due to their speech impediment or disorder is considered to be mute (Wikipedia 2008). There are a number of different types of speech impediments, and each one is caused by different factors. Certain speech impediments are caused by an underlying disease or condition. This disease or condition will often not only impede the speech but will alter another system of the body. An example of this is dysprosody which is an extremely rare neurological speech disorder. A major sign or symptom of this disorder is as follows: when an individual who has it attempts to speak, they have an issue with controlling the pitch and timing of their words. It is predominately caused by some neurological damage that has been sustained as a result of brain trauma, severe head injury, or stroke (Speech Therapy 2010). This disorder directly affects the physiology of the brain due to the neurological damage which has been inflicted. A side effect of this neurological damage is the aforementioned inability of an individual to control their words.
The vast majority of the world in which we live is not experiencing partial hearing loss but rather complete spiritual deafness. God does all He can to impress people’s hearts through the moving of His Holy Spirit and pleads with human beings to consider the sacrifice of His Son Jesus upon the cross. However, many people choose to completely ignore His calls of mercy, and His words go unheeded. These individuals are not literally deaf, and they are able to hear and comprehend many other matters; however, they choose to tune spiritual matters out. If they hear of the love of God and His desire to save them but choose not to acknowledge this fact or change their course of action in the slightest, then this is equal to spiritual deafness. However, God will hold them accountable for what they have heard. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, it talks about how the natural man cannot understand the things of God because they are spiritually discerned. Therefore, if the natural man does not hear or understand the words of God, then he certainly cannot speak on them. If he is completely spiritually deaf, then this will mean that he has the worst kind of speech impediment possible, which is being completely unable to speak or being mute.
Spiritual deafness is caused not only by not listening to God when He calls us to Himself but also by a regular indulgence in sinful habits and lusts. These sinful habits and lusts slowly eat away at our spirituality, and we go from mild hearing loss to eventual deafness. Similarly, when an individual listens to loud noises over a long period of time, they gradually go through the stages starting with mild hearing loss and ending with deafness. The loud noises are equal to the sinful habits and lusts that eat away at our spirituality and affect our ability to hear and dwell upon godly and uplifting themes. Very loud and worldly music which we hear all around us in today’s world can actually lead to both spiritual and physical deafness. Over time it will damage an individual’s actual hearing as well as their ability to hear and discern spiritual matters.
When an individual experiences partial hearing loss in a spiritual sense, we can say that this person hears and accepts some of God’s words. However, due to the fact that they don’t hear and accept all His words and precepts, they are still unable to speak clearly about godly matters. They are not completely mute, but they are dealing with a speech impediment which limits them greatly.
Our sense of hearing is one of the five senses that God has given us, and it helps us greatly in connecting with the world around us. When a person becomes deaf for whatever reason, this can limit their ability to communicate with those around them. If their hearing loss also affects their ability to speak effectively, this may make it even more difficult for them to interact with the world around them. With Jesus Christ in our heart and lives, the most important matter becomes our ability to hear and discern spiritual matters. Therefore, even if an individual is completely deaf physically, the Lord can speak to him. If the deaf and possibly even mute individual listens, he will feel the working of the Holy Spirit in his heart and will hear the voice of Jesus calling him to the foot of the cross loud and clear.
Richard Eaton
Reference List
Body & Health. 2011. Deafness. Retrieved from
www.bodyandhealth.canada.com/channel_condition_info_details.asp?
The Merck Manual. 2010. Causes of deafness. Retrieved from
www.merckmanuals.com/home/ear_nose_and_throat_disorders/.
Nichol, F. D., ed. 1980. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary. Review and Herald Publishing Association.
Speech Therapy. 2010. What is dysprosody? Retrieved from
www.speechtherapy.ygoy.com/what-is-dysprosody/.
Wikipedia. 2008. Speech disorder. Retrieved from