John Calvin 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)

And when He had taken him aside from the multitude. This was done, partly to give those who were ignorant and not yet sufficiently qualified to be witnesses an opportunity to perceive from a distance the glory of His divine nature, and partly so that He might have a better opportunity to pour out earnest prayer.

When He looked up to heaven and sighed, it was an expression of strong feeling; and this enables us to perceive the intensity of His love toward men, for whose miseries He feels so much compassion. Nor can it be doubted that by conveying the spittle from His own mouth to the mouth of another, and by putting His fingers into his ears, He intended to show and express the same feeling of kindness.

Yet that He has supreme power to remove all our defects and restore us to health is proclaimed by Him when He simply orders the tongue and ears to be opened; for it was not without good reason that Mark inserted that Chaldaic word, (ἐφφαθά) Ephphatha, be opened, but to testify to the divine power of Christ.

Among other foolish practices with which baptism has been debased by foolish men, the ceremony used by our Lord is turned into a piece of buffoonery; and this instance shows us that there is no end to lawlessness when men wantonly change the mysteries of God at their own pleasure.