Jesus’ power to heal had reached the ears of many. Wherever he went, crowds of people followed him and many sickly people were brought to him for healing. Many who followed him, would have already witnessed his power to heal when they brought this deaf and mute man to Jesus and begged him to enable this man.
When Jesus first saw this man, He did not question the man as to how and why he had these handicap, nor did he judge this man nor cause the man to feel inferior because of his condition. He simply took the man to one side, away from the main crowd and quietly worked his miracle on this man.
First, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears, spit and touched the man’s tongue. Jesus putting his fingers into the man’s ears and after that spitting and touching the man’s tongue ………. All these actions were common during the days of Jesus. Other faith healers would do the same thing.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus needed to do all these where he could have easily spoken the words and the man would likewise be healed ?
Yes, Jesus wanted to show us that we needed to be proactive, “lift up our hands”, be prepared to soil our hands when we reach out to help someone in need; sometimes, we may even need to do things that may seem out of the ordinary in order to bring about that help to the person in need. We need to be personally involved in rendering the help and not just sit back and direct others to do the chore or plain wishing for a miracle to take place without lifting our fingers.
James says to us today, that if we show special attention to a man based on the fine clothes he wears and discriminate against the poorly attired, we have already become judges with evil thoughts.
Notice how Jesus did not question the deaf & mute man nor judged him based on his physical conditions; he simply took him aside and healed him.
Jesus shows us that when we extend our help or hospitality to others, it is not to be rendered according to the person’s status nor the state of sinfulness of that person.
By Belinda Syn