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Before we read this session’s passage, let’s recap where Jesus has taken us so far.  In Mark 7:1 – 23, Jesus makes a statement that the ritual distinctions, which would have previously separated Jews from Gentiles, are no longer in effect.  In Mark 7:24 – 30, Jesus moves into Gentile territory, and heals the daughter of a Gentile woman.

In this session, Jesus is going to continue moving throughout an area that has a large Gentile presence.  He is going to heal a man who may be a Gentile, and then engage a large group of what may be Gentiles.

Was Deaf but Now I Hear

Read Mark 7:31 – 37.  This is one of the few stories that occur only in Mark—this story is not in any other Gospel.

The area Jesus moves into is mixed; it has both Gentiles & Jews.  The stories we’re reading don’t necessarily need to be about Gentiles (there were Jews in the area); but there is a possibility that Jesus is broadening his ministry out to include Gentiles, and if so, these two stories tonight are significant.

The man Jesus heals is not entirely mute; he has a speech impediment, perhaps stemming from his deafness (which he likely was not born with).  The word Mark uses to describe him has a certain theological significance, but let’s talk first about the act of healing him.

Secular healing of such things was not pleasant.  There was a Roman prescription for healing blindness:  three-day application of a balm made from blood of a white rooster, mixed with honey and eye salve.  Jesus doesn’t need to do that.  But he does do something interesting:  Jesus heals the man by taking him aside, putting fingers in his ears, spiting and touching the man’s tongue.  When Jesus healed the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter, he didn’t need to do any of this.  We asked the question:  what’s going on here?  Here are some of the answers we came up with:

• Because Jesus can’t speak to the man, he is showing the man what he is going to do—it’s a kind of sign language.

• The people of that time were used to healers engaging in elaborate rituals.  Jesus may be going through the motions for their sake.

Mark 7:35 translates literally as:  “And his hearing was opened, and the chain of his tongue was set free, and he was speaking correctly.”

The word for “mute” is used in only one other place:  Isaiah 35.  Leading up to this chapter has been a series of judgments against Gentile countries—including Tyre, where Jesus was last session.  Isaiah 35 marks a shift from judgment to joy.  Read Isaiah 35:1 – 2, 5.  Tyre & Sidon (where Jesus just was) are in ancient Lebanon (which Isaiah references).  V. 5 here is speaking of the Gentiles being included in God’s glory; by fulfilling it literally (healing a deaf man), Jesus is also signaling the inclusion of the Gentiles into God’s ministry.  The Gentiles are no longer “out.”

V. 36 is funny.  The grammar of the commands in v. 36 are in the “Imperfect” Tense.  It can mean something incomplete, or ongoing:  “Jesus kept on commanding them not to tell anyone.  But the more he did so, the more they kept on proclaiming it.”

V. 37 is the highest praise Jesus has received in Mark’s Gospel thus far.  And here’s the irony:  it was not from God’s people.

People Get Fed Up

Read Mark 8:1 – 10.  Does it sound familiar?  Is this the same story as the feeding of the 5,000?  Similarities between these two stories have caused many scholars to suppose it’s just the same story, mistaken for two different ones and told twice.  However, there are some problems with this view:

• Why?  Why could this have only happened once?  Was Jesus’ power so limited, or the feeding of a multitude so great, that Jesus only got one shot at it?

• There are sufficient differences in detail, including (later on in Mark’s Gospel) Jesus specifically referencing two feedings.

• It doesn’t give Mark much credit as a writer.  D.A. Carson perhaps puts it best:  “It is difficult to understand how an editor could be sensitive to such fine literary subtleties while being such a dimwit that he failed to perceive the problem that the alleged transposition introduced.”

• It isn’t in keeping with Mark’s sparse writing style.  There are many stories Mark leaves out altogether in his short Gospel.  Given the similarities of the stories, it would have made sense if Mark had only told one of them; he could have told just one of the stories, and still communicated Jesus’ power.  That he didn’t would seem to indicate Mark saw a certain significance in telling both stories.

What might that significance be?  If indeed this is a Gentile crowd, then Jesus has been ministering progressively to the Gentiles.  He first announces that the barriers between the Jews and the Gentiles are no more, he then heals the daughter of a Gentile woman who engages him in a pleading conversation.  If the deaf man was a Gentile, then ministry has continued; and now Jesus feeds a large crowd.  If this is what is happening, then the two feedings are distinctly different:  the first for God’s people; the second, now, demonstrating that those who had once been considered outsiders are outside no longer.

The Gentiles are Coming

Regardless of whether an increasing Gentile ministry is indeed happening, the Gentiles do play an important role in the formation of the early Church and into today.

Historically and traditionally, there has been animosity on the part of the Jews towards the Gentiles.  And yet, God had intended the Jews to be a blessing and light to all other nations:

Genesis 18:18—“Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.”

Isaiah 42:6b—“I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles.”

As we discussed last session, there is a great irony:  God’s people were less likely to accept God’s Son:

Acts 13:48, 50—When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; but the Jews stirred up persecution.

Their inclusion, coupled with Jesus’ sacrifice, has defined who we are today.  This is the reason we baptize instead of circumcise, why we can eat both SPAM & ham, why we sacrament instead of sacrifice, why we meet in Sanctuaries instead of Synagogues…and so on.

Next session, trouble (again) with the Pharisees.  See you then!
 

In Christ,

--Pastor Dan