Mk 7:31-37
31[Jesus] left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. 32And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. 33He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; 34then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”) 35And [immediately] the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. 36He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. 37They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and [the] mute speak.”
He put his finger and, spitting, touched his tongue: There are times when Jesus is so detailed in his healing. At other times he just touches the sick or allows them to touch him. Sometimes he ministers to a crowd; this time, in the Gospel, he heals just one person. If we are looking for a pattern, we will get lost. If we are studying a system, we will not find one.
Maybe there is no pattern after all, no system or step-by-step procedure as to how Jesus heals. He does give one common instruction: Tell no one! But the more he orders the beneficiaries not to, the evangelist notes, the more they proclaim it. Sometimes, one way to assure the spread of a good rumor is to instruct people not tell anyone.
The Gospel story, thus, is not so much about the healing as it is about Jesus’ goodness and kindness. He wants them to tell no one about the healing. He wishes them instead to share the kindness and spread the goodness around.
Decapolis: Decapolis is a league of “ten cities” formed after the conquest of Palestine by the Roman general Pompey in 63 BC. These mostly Hellenistic cities probably formed a federation not only because they were in the frontier position on the desert but also to protect themselves from Jewish immigration and aggression. People came from the Decapolis to hear Jesus (Mt 4:25), and Jesus performed a miracle of healing in the territory of the Decapolis.