The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications of the Holy Gospel for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, Mark 7:31–37, as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.
III. A deaf man, who was mute. (v. 31–37)
31. And when He had departed again from region of Tyre and Sidon, He came to the * Galilean Sea, in the midst of the region of the Decapolis.
* Compare Matthew 15:29f.
Greek: And when He went back from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came again to the Galilean Sea through the –
32. And * they brought to Him a deaf man, who was mute (the one who spoke evil, whom the devil through God’s appointment had almost completely robbed of hearing and speech) and they asked Him that He lay hands on him (and give him his hearing and speech again).
* Compare Matthew 9:32; Luke 11:14.
No possession is thought of here. What is written in Matthew 9:32 is a different history.
33. And He took him aside from the people, and placed His finger in His ear, and * He spat, and touched (with His spit) his tongue (to show that His flesh, through the personal union, is endowed with the power to do miracles, as well as to make health and living).
* Compare Mark 8:23; John 9;6.
34. And * He looked up to heaven, sighed (over the miserable condition of the human race) and said to him: “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be thou opened.”
* Compare John 11:41.
35. And immediately his ears his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right.
36. And He forbid them that they should tell no one. (The cause of such prohibition is told in Matthew 8:4) But the more He forbid them, the more they spread it.
37. And they were astonished beyond measure and said, * “He has made all well (in this miracle and in His entire way of life); He makes the deaf to hear, and the speechless to speak.
* Compare Genesis 1:31.
Greek: Also – (For they had not yet seen the like, even they they had seen other miracles.)
Useful Applications
III. COMFORT: That Christ the Lord makes all well and good, everything that was corrupted in us by the devil, as the people praise Him, v. 37; DOCTRINE and COMFORT: That also our wretched body shall partake of this [blessing], if the heart remains steadfast in Him, v. 33–37.
PATTERN OF SOUND WORDS 