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Jesus left the town of Tyre and went up the coast, north to Sidon and from there He went east through the region of Decapolis. This region was north of Israel and contained about 10 towns many of which had been founded by Greeks under Alexander the Great. He was headed toward the Sea of Galilee. As He traveled through this region, they brought to Him a man who was deaf and dumb. We are not told who it was that brought him, surly they were his friends who had heard of the wonderful healings of Jesus.
Notice what they ask Jesus to do. They wanted Him to lay His hand upon their afflicted friend. Why didn't they ask Jesus to heal him? Perhaps they were not as presumptuous as we might have been. They only wanted Jesus to be aware of the man's affliction. They knew that whatever Jesus did would be the best for the man.
So what did Jesus do? He took the man aside. Perhaps to show to His Disciples the virtue of doing good works where others cannot see. In the past, Jesus had healed by His word, His will, His prayer and by His touch. They had asked Him to lay His hand upon their friend. Notice what Jesus did. Remember, the man could see. It was his ears and tongue that was afflicted? Jesus placed His own fingers upon His own n tongue and ears, indicating to the man that He was going to do something for him in those areas. He then looked up toward Heaven to signify that it was by divine power that he would be healed and to instruct the man to look there also for His healing. Then Jesus simply said, "Be open", and his ears were opened and his tongue loosened. Isaiah 35:5-6 written some 500 years before, said of the Messiah, "By His power the ears of the deaf shall be opened and the tongue of the dumb shall be made to sing."
The great commandment from Christ to those whose ears have been opened by His Grace and whose tongue has been loosened by His understanding is to tell others, too rejoice, to be happy, to be enthusiastic and full of joy. Here, He tried to get these people to do the opposite, to tell no one, but the more He charged them the more they celebrated. They were astonished beyond measure. "He has done all things well." They witnessed to the fact that not only had He done no evil, but that He had done a great deal of good and had done it without pay, even desiring no display of gratitude.
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