Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 7:33

"And he took him aside from the multitude privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue;" — Mark 7:33 (ASV)

In order to deal more personally with the mute, Jesus took him aside from the crowd. Here his actions seem to be done to help the man exercise faith—the fingers placed in his ears apparently indicate they were to be unblocked and the saliva on the tongue indicates it was going to be restored to normal use.