31Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. 32Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. 33And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. 34Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."
35Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. 36Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. 37And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
I am not sure of the significance of Jesus putting his fingers in the ears and touching the tongue of the man with His spittle. Before this Jesus healed many by simply laying on his hands, by Jesus commanding them, or by people simply touching His cloak. And in the last story, he healed a possessed girl who was not even in his presence. So I can only assume these gestures of Jesus were not required for Jesus to heal the man, but for the sake of the onlookers or to comfort the man who he was healing.
This is another story that makes me feel sad. Jesus' purpose was to preach, yet he always took time to show compassion. And what do people proclaim about? Do they proclaim Jesus' teachings? No, they proclaim that he is a great healer. They always seem to miss the point! But maybe the reason this makes me feel sad is because I can feel a kinship in their actions. In their joy and excitement in the healing they missed the point. In the joy and excitement of Christmas, do we sometimes miss the point? In the joy and excitement of a wedding, do we sometimes miss the point? Sometimes it is harder for us to recognize that we may be doing something wrong when we are full of joy and excitement.
Also, do we sometimes mistake the feeling of joy and excitement for reward for doing good? They felt overjoyed at being healed and seeing all the miracles. They probably reasoned that it can only be good to tell others about the healing so they too can be healed. How can it be bad to want to help as many other people as possible? Here again, people were commanded to tell no one. Do we sometimes in our joy and excitement think we know better than God, that in our particular case we feel that we do not need to follow what God commands? This can happen very easily.
As an onlooker I feel sadness as I see what these people are doing. It is too easy to get caught up in the joy and excitement of the moment. No one is perfect. We all need help. It is helpful to have someone else you trust and admire to help you even in times of your joy and excitement to be your onlooker, to help you see what you may have missed. Or at least don't let your joy and excitement let you get carried away. Always try to look for what God wants of us.