Before Jesus heals the deaf man in Mark 7, he does something Mark could easily have left out: he sighs. Looking up to heaven, he groans — and only then speaks the word that opens the man's ears. Why would the one performing the miracle need to groan first? He's not the one who's sick.
In this reflection, we look closely at Mark 7:31-37: the Greek word *estenaxen* that Paul also uses in Romans 8 to describe creation groaning under the weight of the fall, the untranslated Aramaic word "Ephphatha" that Mark preserves exactly as Jesus spoke it — one of only a handful of eyewitness fingerprints in his Gospel — and the way this private, physical healing quietly fulfills Isaiah's centuries-old promise that God himself would come and open the ears of the deaf.
📖 Passage: Mark 7:31-37 (RSV-CE)
✝️ A Daily Gospel Reflection from The Faithful Fountain
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⏱️ Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:13 Reading: Mark 7:31-37
1:15 Reflection
7:24 Application
9:42 Closing Prayer
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