It's hard to visualize Jesus' unique approach to healing the deaf man without thinking of that childhood prank of wetting our forefinger and sticking it into some unsuspecting person's ear! You can be sure that their intent was not to heal the deaf. Though that's not exactly what happened (after placing His fingers in the man's ears, He spit and touched the man's tongue), thinking of it this way makes it more memorable.
But Jesus was serious. It wasn't that his saliva had special magical powers, and Jesus was certainly not putting on some kind of magic show. The point here is that Jesus "looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh" and said "be opened" (Mark 7:34). Jesus did nothing on His own, but only what the Father taught Him (John 8:28).
Maybe God has a sense of humor; maybe the point was to be obedient in all things, no matter how strange; maybe there are elements of our world we don't understand. But whatever the reason, Jesus did what the Father told Him, and a deaf man who could barely talk was healed.
Will our obedience allow us to heal people like that? I'm not sure - I don't think I've ever met anyone who was as obedient as Jesus Christ, and I doubt that I ever will. But we can draw some lessons from this passage:
- Whether we're deaf or not, we're all spiritually sick or disabled (Mark 7:32)
- Even if we don't know to call out to God, maybe there are some who will bring us to Him (Mark 7:32)
- When we're separated from the influences of the crowd, we can focus on God (Mark 7:33)
- God's ways are not man's ways (Isaiah 55:8)
- Look to heaven in unwavering faith in believing prayer and petition (Mark 7:34)
I wouldn't recommend the wet willie approach to healing the deaf - unless, of course, you're as obedient as Jesus and and God commanded you to do it. But I can wholeheartedly recommend looking up to heaven and praying to God for all your needs - and don't forget to thank Him for sparing you of "wet willie" therapy.