Healed and Saved
In Mark’s Gospel, the way in which Jesus healed the deaf man with a speech impediment was quite different from other healing miracles. Jesus took the man aside from the crowd, put His fingers into the man’s ears, spat and touched the man’s tongue, looked up into heaven and then said, “Ephphatha!” (Mark 7:33-34)
The healing of the man born blind in John’s Gospel is quite analogous. There, Jesus spat on the ground, made clay with the saliva, smeared the clay on the man’s eyes, and said: “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam.” The man went and washed, and came back able to see. (John 9:6-7)
Why did our Lord choose these actions, when He could have just spoken a word to actualize the miracles? One commentary suggests that these symbolic actions must have had a great meaning for the afflicted men. Jesus wanted these men to witness their healing process in a way that is both personal and meaningful to them. In a similar way, Jesus chooses to act in such a way in our lives so that we can witness our own healing process in a way that is personal and meaningful to us.
Sometimes we are like that deaf man and the man born blind. We are spiritually deaf and blind when we do not allow the Word of God to permeate into our lives. Most of the time when we hear a homily, or when someone gives us good advice, the message does not have much impact on us and we do not act on it. But if we personally experience something which reinforces it, then it makes a lasting impression. At times, our personal experience is so strong that we actually begin to make changes in our life.
For those of us who hope for physical, psychological or spiritual healing, are we searching for a formula with the expectation that our healing would come in the same way that others had been healed? Do we say: if that worked for him, then it should work for me? Perhaps it will, but isn’t it more fitting that Jesus would heals us in a way that would be most meaningful to us in a personal way, such that the manner in which we are healed would make a lasting effect in us? Jesus does not want us merely to be healed, but to be saved.