If you could heal someone with a single word, why would you need to do all this? Jesus had already healed many people with a single word, even at a distance. Yet in this encounter with the deaf man, Mark carefully records every movement Jesus makes. Why?

This story is deeply personal to me. My grandmother was deaf and unable to speak, and we communicated through sign language. People with this kind of disability often become especially attentive to facial expressions and body language. During those years, society was not prepared to treat people like my grandmother with dignity. Many mocked or laughed at them. Because of that, she was always trying to understand what was happening around her. She carefully watched people’s faces, expressions, and lip movements. That was not simply her personality—it was the reality for many deaf people at that time.

Why didn’t Jesus simply heal this man with one word, as He had done so many times before? Why all these actions that seem so unusual to us? Many Bible scholars believe there is a reason for them.

The man could hear little, if anything at all. Jesus first leads him away from the crowd so that the man’s full attention is on Him. Then Jesus touches his ears and tongue and looks up toward heaven. Every action becomes a message: “I know what you are going through. I understand your need. God is at work for you.”

This was not a magical ritual. It was the compassionate care of a Savior who wanted to do more than perform a miracle. Jesus chose to speak to this man’s heart in a personal way he could understand. The psalmist writes, “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me… you are familiar with all my ways” (Psalm 139:1–3).

God knows every detail of who we are. He rarely reaches every person in exactly the same way. Only one thing never changes: God always knows how to reach every heart.

This is exactly what God did for all humanity. He did not wait for people to find their way to Him. He came to us in the person of Jesus Christ and spoke a language we could understand.

He still says to us, “I know what you are going through. I understand your need. God is at work for you.”

That is the beauty of the incarnation: God came near to us so that we might come near to Him.

Practice: Do not limit God by expecting Him to speak in only one way. Today, ask Him to open your eyes to the ways He may already be speaking to you—through Scripture, circumstances, people, or the quiet prompting of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps God is already speaking. You simply need to fix your eyes on Him to hear.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for knowing me better than I know myself. Thank You for never giving up on finding a way to reach my heart. Help me recognize Your voice and stay open to how You speak through Your Word, through people, and through the circumstances of my life. May my heart hear You today. Amen.