Home > Jesus is God in Mark's Gospel
The chapter ends with the healing of a deaf-mute man. Jesus says, "Ephphatha" (Be opened). This is not just as a display of power, but as a direct fulfillment of Messianic prophecy and a challenge to the spiritual deafness of the era. No other Gospel directly mentions this miracle. The uniqueness of this account in Mark is a strong argument for eyewitness testimony.
Mark 7:31–37 - Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
This is a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and Jesus mentions it in Matthew 11:4–5 in a response to be relayed to John the Baptist.
Isaiah 35:5–6
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert
This miracle became so foundational that the early Church incorporated it into the Liturgy of Baptism. In the "Ephphatha Rite," the priest would touch the ears and mouth of the candidate, saying "Ephphatha," symbolising the opening of their senses to hear the Word of God and confess the faith.
The crowd’s reaction — "He has done all things well"—is a deliberate echo of Genesis 1:31 ("And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good").
Mark is signaling that in the person of Jesus, the Creator has returned to "fix" His broken creation.