Jesus insisted on their not telling anyone; but the more he insisted, the more perseveringly they made it known,
what a silly Jesus
clearing speech
with extravagant
poking and spitting
hiding the spoken
within parable
and the silenced
until harvest timeuntil paradise next
we wait in unknowing
wrapped in suffering
mute and still
any divinity obscured
stature and status bowed
quieted and tamed
awaiting a sprouting
Myers83 comments:
The inclusive Jesus can make even Gentiles “hear” and “speak” (7:37; see Isaiah 35:5f). Yet we will soon see that his own disciples remain deaf (see 8:18). This irony begins to refocus the narrative on the real mission of Jesus: to bring people out of denial toward discipleship.
While appreciating the irony, this verse would have the new hearing and speaking stand on its own without an ulterior motive. This comment is more about a subsequent church than it is the work of Jesus teaching and healing where opportunity presents. Particularly in the healings of Gentiles we have a setting right or work of merciful justice.
These last two healings are more about need taking precedence to clan or faith. We have returned to the second seed parable where the seed comes forth automatically, by night and by day. Jesus can say, “Shh!”, until he is blue in the face—to have ears opened and tongues unfettered mandates their use to go beyond a usual morality, cultural norm, or instruction to, “Shush”.
Whether this event is public or private, whether the man was healed out of compassion or as a test, the change in him is metanoic — as repentance is a change in heart and life. It must be revealed.
Discipleship today is an institutional technique of the latest in purity laws to keep power systems consistent and persistent.
Wright99, is part of the current power system but awake or open enough to recognize:
When Mark urges his readers to follow Jesus, he envisages, not a boring life of conventional religion, but things happening that would make people astonished [Ephphatha-ed]. If we’re still too deaf to hear what he is saying, the problem is perhaps with us rather than with the message [euangelion].