Jesus moves to the Decapolis in Gentile territory. According to Matthew's account, he healed many people there. But Mark picks out just one: a man deaf and almost completely mute (or dumb). This was a terrible handicap because, unlike most others, he looks normal until spoken to . Then he has to go through the humiliation of being thought stupid (which soon became the connotation of "dumb"). In an oral society in which most information was spoken, not written, he did not have benefit of education. Mark uses this real scene as a symbol of the healing and model of ministry Jesus presents.
Scripture: Mark 7:31-37