Category: Reflections

For most of us there are areas of life that are foreign enough to us that we don’t even know enough to ask the right questions. Jesus asks his disciples the most important question in the world (and Mark records the question so that you too can answer), but as recorded in Mark 8:27–30 he leads up to the crucial question with a preliminary one.

Who do men say that Jesus is? This question is pivotal to Mark’s Gospel. Mark 1:1 introduced Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, but the tile has remained unused in the Gospel to this point. Those around Jesus fail to understand fully who he is. Jesus himself avoided the term because of the political associations which had come to be associated with the title, Messiah. Although it is a proper, one might say, the proper way to address Jesus, he is carrying out his Father’s plan, and use too soon might precipitate matters before his hour has come. Notice the warning to keep silent even at the end of our text. The revelations of Jesus’ dignity, person, and work have been somewhat veiled. And they have been misunderstood by many, even to a degree, by the disciples. The Gospel leads up to this question and answer. Think of the dove and the Father’s voice at Jesus’ baptism, Jesus’ use of “Son of Man,” casting out demons, healings (note especially the two in the paired context of Mark 7 and 8), and Jesus’ teaching. The rest of the Gospel flows from this question and answer. Mark ends the account of Jesus’ Galilean ministry and shows Jesus on a journey to Jerusalem, a journey marked by repeated emphasis on the suffering, death, and resurrection which awaits him there.

The preliminary question is, who do people (men) say that I am. Men give an inadequate evaluation of who Jesus is. Although “men” can be broadly translated “people,” it can refer to those who do not (at least not yet) believe the good news: Mark 1:17; 7:7; 9:31; 10:27; and 11:30. The setting of Caesarea Philippi, near Mt. Hermon, on the source of the Jordan River, provides an interesting geographic foil to the confession. Herod the Great had built a temple there to Caesar Augustus, and the name was changed by his son Philip, who also improved the town, from Paneas (Pan) in honor of the emperor who was worshipped there. His name was added to distinguish from Caesarea, the Mediterranean port city. In this location of emperor worship, a different King will be acknowledged. The evaluation of men is inadequate. They, as reported by the disciples, variously identified Jesus as John the Baptist, Elijah, or another prophet. The suggestions have in common a role of preparation for the Messiah, recognizing power, even divine power, but something less that who Christ really is. Similarly today men may honor Jesus with dignified, religious language, but fail to recognize his deity. Or they may give lip service, even using orthodox language, but in practice ignore his sovereign claims.

“In giving him this name [Peter], Jesus undoubtedly alluded to his loyal character, which was his despite his sanguine impulsive nature, and which came out most clearly at Caesarea Philippi when, in contrast to the people who with their earthly minded expectations were disappointed in Jesus and left him, held on to and openly articulated the confession of Jesus’s messiahship on behalf of his fellow disciples (Matt. 16:13–20; Mark 8:27–29; Luke 9:18–20; John 6:66–69).”

Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 4, p. 339

Jesus challenges his disciples with that most important of questions. Who do you say that Jesus is? Confess that Jesus is the Christ. “Christ” means “anointed one,” and Peter uses the term against the Old Testament background of the anointing of kings and priests. But it looks beyond that to the Anointed, to the Messiah, as Isaiah 61 indicates. Peter here speaks for the rest of the Apostles. This confession grows out of what Christ has already revealed about himself. In contrast to some who speculate that Jesus’ messiahship was hidden, perhaps even from himself, Peter’s confession appears without any new revelation, without any voice from heaven. Yet it is more than simply Peter drawing logical conclusions. Mark frames this confession in the mirrored context of miracles that open ears (and tongue) and eyes. It is as the Messiah does his work overcoming the effects of the curse that the hearts of Peter and the others are enable to recognize and trust Jesus as the Messiah.

“Contrary to the usual interpretation we think that there is nothing to suggest that Peter’s apprehension of Jesus originated at that moment, through a sudden revelation as to who Jesus really was. No such revelation is recorded or even implied as taking place at that time. The account tells rather of a retirement into Caesarea Philippi where, without the benefit of new acts or new teaching on Jesus’ part, and without any dependence upon a voice from heaven, Peer for the disciples expresses faith in Jesus as the Christ. What is new is not their recognition of Jesus but an open acknowledgment which is elicited by Jesus, and the recognition is evidently thought of as the result of the disclosures of the person of Jesus during the entire preceding period of their association with him. Jesus elicits the confession at this time, accordingly, not because now for the first time the disciples had emerged from the darkness of total ignorance into the light of knowledge of and faith in Jesus but because, on the background of open avowal of his messiahship, he wishes now to set forth the consummation of his messianic ministry and what it required of his followers.”

Ned B. Stonehouse, The Witness of Matthew and Mark to Christ, pages 66–67

Mark’s Gospel is written for you. Confess Jesus as your anointed Redeemer. As we will see next week, Jesus makes explicit to the disciples what his being the Christ will involve: suffering, death, and resurrection. That is there, even in the Old Testament prophecies, for Isaiah 61 follows Isaiah 53 and the description of the suffering of the Servant. Peter found that too much, and tried to rebuke the Savior. His understanding was weak and limited. You do not need further revelation to make that confession. On the basis of what Mark has recorded of Jesus’ ministry, you, like the disciples, have what you need to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. Mark’s Gospel summons you to share in the confession of Peter and the other disciples. It is not enough to know in your heart that Jesus is Lord and Christ. That must come to outward, verbal expression. It involves being baptized into his body. You make that confession as you come to the Lord’s Table–you proclaim his death until he returns. Your faith and confession may be Peter-like, weak and characterized by inconsistency. But trust and prayer to help our unbelief are not incompatible.

Mark’s Gospel confronts you with the most important question, one with eternal consequences, and provides you with the answer. Join in that confession!

How well do you know Jesus Christ? You may be tempted to say: “Pretty well. I understand that he is more than a great teacher or leader. I believe (without fully understanding) that he is God, become man for my salvation. I know he came into this world to die for sinners, myself included. I’ve been studying the Bible a pretty long time, so I have a relatively good idea who Jesus is.” Mark’s account of Jesus’ interaction with his disciples (Mark 8:1–21) pushes you to re-evaluate how well you think you know him.

Watch out for the wrong leaven. The Pharisees demanded a sign. Jesus has just performed another miracle of feeding a multitude, this time with seven loaves and a few small fish. There are obvious parallels with the feeding of the 5,000 (Mark 6:30–44), but also differences. This feeding apparently takes place in Gentile Decapolis. (His compassion here, verse 2, extends beyond Israel, as the healing miracles in Mark 7 indicate.) It is Jesus who initiates the plans for a meal, and the disciples are deterred, not just by the cost, but by the lack of places to buy food. The Pharisees had no interest in Jesus as their Messiah. Rather they demanded a sign, perhaps reflecting Deuteronomy 13 and 18, but in the spirit of Mark 3:22ff., where any sign, even casting out evil spirits, is attributed to the devil. The “request” is a testing, reflecting language used of Satan in the temptation of Jesus. Jesus’ refusal, verses 11–13, includes him sighing (for the second time in a few verses) and reflecting on “this generation.” The term is used twice in verse 12, and seems to contrast the world generally with the disciples. The demand of the Pharisees reflected a broader attitude towards Christ, and attitude that would ultimately force the crucifixion of Jesus. Rather than continue an unprofitable discussion, Jesus leaves with his disciples in a boat. Jesus leaves the questioners, and embarks with the twelve.

“Given the number of remarkable events already recorded in Mark’s gospel, some at least of which should have been known to these Pharisees, it is not easy to see what more they required, but perhaps they had not yet personally witnessed any of the miracles, and were not prepared to trust to hearsay. It must be remembered, too, that the scribes in 3:22 did not doubt the occurrence of Jesus’ exorcisms, but attributed them to demonic rather than to divine power. For them, even admitted miracles needed some authenticating sign to show that they were ‘from heaven’…. Coming from the Pharisees, the request denotes not a readiness to be convinced, but an excuse for refusing to respond to the clear evidence already available in Jesus’ teaching and ministry.”

(R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark, NIGTC,pages 311–312

With this boat trip, Mark is drawing to a close the public ministry of Jesus in Galilee. He is going to focus on Jesus’ progression towards Jerusalem to suffer and die.

On that trip Jesus warns his disciples, beware of the yeast of unbelief. About the time that the disciples discover the irony of having spent time handing out bread to 4,000 and collecting seven baskets of remnants, they had brought only one loaf with them on the boat, Jesus begins to talk to them about leaven, about yeast. He warns against the leaven of the Pharisees, and somewhat surprisingly, that of Herod. Both shared an interest in signs while being opposed to Jesus. But Jesus is focusing, not on the crowds, but on his disciples. Yeast is a minor ingredient in making bread, but the small amount used permeates the dough, and is crucial to successful baking. Jesus is warning about an attitude of unbelief, but the disciples don’ “get it.” They can’t get beyond talking about a loaf of bread. What is the yeast? A little bit of unbelief. It has an infectious, dangerous, quality. A little of that attitude leads to demanding a sign from Jesus (setting self up as the judge). It leads to a self-centeredness, an inability to recognize the majesty of the Savior present with them. It comes across in discontent. Some of that attitude infected the deaf man whom Jesus had healed. Even while Mark focuses on Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, he will recount the failures of the disciples to recognize their Savior. If the disciples, constantly accompanying Jesus and hearing his teaching, needed that warning, how much more do you and I, who may think we know him.

“Sometimes we think that only tragedy of major proportions could create hardness of heart and spiritual blindness in our lives. Jesus teaches his disciples otherwise. Here too little bread was a sufficient cause to show just how hard their hearts and how blind their spiritual understanding could be. Unbelief is like leaven: small, but influential; apparently insignificant, but all-pervasive in its influence.”

Sinclair B. Ferguson, Let’s Study Mark, p. 123

So Jesus challenges them (and you), asking, do you still not understand? Appreciate the way that Jesus reveals himself. Jesus rebukes the disciples for their hard-heartedness. He points out that their eyes and ears had failed to see and hear. Jesus echoes language of Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 12. And this passage is bracketed between miracles of healing the senses. Jesus asks them how many baskets they had picked up after Jesus used the five loaves to feed the 5,000. (Twelve). How many basketfuls after feeding the 4,000? (Seven). Here they are, arguing, blaming one another, over the failure to bring more than one loaf–and they forget that the one who fed the multitudes is there with them.

Trust the Savior, who is God’s ultimate provision for you. The questions Jesus asks push the disciples to reflect on who it is that is with them. If he has compassion on the crowds and feeds them, is he going to be uncaring about them? (Did the question asked in another boat come to mind: Don’t you care if we perish?) Jesus is drawing his disciples away from their worried discussion with one another about bread and to himself. Rather than the unbelief of the Pharisees and Herod (warnings which the disciples and we need), Jesus calls the them and you to trustful contentment. Mark’s Gospel is pointing you towards understanding who Jesus really is. Following two miracles of feeding, two encounters with the Pharisees over food, and two healings (deaf and blind), Peter makes his great confession. Mark is making a point that doubtless he had heard Peter make — such a confession does not have its origins in man. You need the healing, enlivening power of Christ to recognize who he is, what his work in your place is, and to live in quiet trust in him.

Appreciate the sweeping claims Jesus makes. Understand who he is. Understand with your mind, your heart, and your life. Serve him with all that you are.

How do you communicate with someone who speaks a different language? With someone who can neither hear nor speak intelligibly? Keep the question in mind as you look at what Jesus does in this incident recorded in Mark 7:31–37.

Recognize the Savior who meets your needs. The Lord reaches out to the Gentiles. In Jesus’ statement about cleanliness, verse 18, Mark recognizes that Jesus had declared all foods clean. That was a vital element in the church reaching out to the Gentiles, which would unfold in the Book of Acts. And Mark anticipates that spread of the Gospel in the next two incidents he records. Then, as we saw last week, Jesus left the land of the Jews, and went to Tyre. There a Syrophonecian woman begged for healing for her daughter, who was possessed by an evil spirit. She persisted despite Jesus’ comment about not giving the food of the children to the dogs, and, as Phil said, dogs became children as Jesus, in response to her faith-filled response, granted her request. In contrast with the attitude of the Pharisees, supposedly concerned about ceremonial washing, while opposing the Messiah, here a Gentile woman recognizes who Jesus is and becomes a child of God by faith. In the incident in our text, Jesus moves, possibly by a circuitous route avoiding Galilee, to the Decapolis, where he had cast a host of demons out of a man, Mark 5:1–20. Jesus had commanded him to go and tell how much the Lord had done for him. That may have had an impact, for as he again arrives in this pagan area on the east side of the Lake of Galilee, people come to him with the expectation that he can heal a man who is deaf, and probably as a consequence, impaired in speech, Mark 7:31. Mark is the only Gospel which includes this incident.

The Lord compassionately meets you where you are. Mark 6–7 parallels Mark 8 (broad structural elements include: feeding a multitude, crossing the lake, a negative evaluation of the Pharisees in the context of food, and healing. Mark 8 concludes with Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ–a confession that he could make only because the Lord had opened his heart to recognized the truth. Mark 7 concludes with an anticipation of that, with Jesus opening the ears and tongue of a man, and a recognition of Jesus’ messiahship by the crowd. It may be that for Peter, likely Mark’s human source, the significance of this event stood out as an anticipation of his own confession. Jesus takes the man aside — he is not putting on a public spectacle. This is not a magic trick. How do you communicate with a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment? Jesus begins the process by placing fingers in the man’s ears, then, having spat, touched his tongue. You may say, “unsanitary!” but both in Jewish and Greek circles there are references to the curative use of saliva. In any case, Jesus is indicating that his hearing and speech problems will be dealt with, and the look up to heaven points the man to his Father in Heaven. This is a divine healing, not some magic trick. Mark repeats, what he had doubtless hear from Peter, the Aramaic command, Ephphatha, which he translates for his Gentile readers: “Be opened!” The sign language is, as Ferguson observes, an acted parable of Christ’s incarnation. He has come into our sin-cursed world, and has taken upon himself our human flesh, bearing the burden and pain, as well as the guilt, of our fallen condition. The Lord’s Supper is one of the ways in which the Lord graciously draws near and gives himself to his church. It works! The man can suddenly hear and is able to speak plainly.

“The man could not hear Jesus and he was also incapable of verbal communication. So Jesus ‘spoke’ to him in the language he could understand — sign language. The fingers placed in his ears and then removed meant, ‘I am going to remove the blockage in your hearing.’ The spitting and the touching of the man’s tongue meant, ‘I am going to remove the blockage in your mouth.’ The glance up to heaven meant, ‘It is God alone who is able to do this for you.’ Jesus wanted the man to understand that it was not magic but God’s grace that healed him.”

“Many years before, Isaiah had prophesied that one of the blessing of the messianic age would be that ‘the ears of the deaf [would be] unstopped… and the tongue of the dumb [would] shout for joy’ (Isa. 35:5–6). That day those Scriptures had been fulfilled in the Decapolis.”

Sinclair Ferguson, Let’s Study Mark, pages l14–116

Trust the One who has done everything well. Understand the deep sigh of Jesus. Mark does not focus much on the emotions of Jesus. Why the mention of the sigh? Is it an expression of the emotional energy involved in the healing? But Mark fails to mention that in any of the other many healings he records. Perhaps it is an expression of sorrow at the dreadful ravages and effects of sin in God’s creation. There is no hint that this man’s disability was the result of particular sinful activity on his part. But his condition as he came to Jesus was pitiful. Mankind is made in the image of the God who speaks, who communicates. And here is an image who could only stammer and stutter, who could not hear the birds sing, the whisper of a loved one, the preaching of the Word of God. Jesus brings healing, and the man and his friends begin to praise God. We can talk and hear, some of us better than others. But the best of our speech is corrupted by sin. Our hearing as well takes place in the context of a fallen creation. And the culmination of Christ’s work involves a re-creation, a restoration, that will be as glorious a change for us as was this healing for the deaf man.

Praise the Lord who does all things well. Jesus did command this man and the others not to tell anyone. This contrasts with his earlier instruction to the healed demoniac, Mark 5:19. Now things were different, and Jesus does not want to stir up popular misconceptions of his messiahship. But they disobey, and the more he commands silence, the more they speak. Yet God is able to bring glory even out of disobedience. Without qualifying the sin involved in disobedience, they did get their notion of Jesus right. They are amazed (not a unique response to Jesus’ divine power). They recognize that he does all things well, including certainly the details of this healing, but also speaking more generally of what Jesus did. They exclaim, “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” We can speculate about how self-conscious these Gentiles were about the clearly messianic passage in Isaiah 35. But regardless, they did use the words, and Mark, who certainly did understand their significance, quotes them here.

“The narrative concludes with a confession of faith which focuses on the messianic significance of the incident…. Mark intends an allusion to Isa. 35:5f. The choral exclamation of the crowd is the response of faith which recognizes in all the works of Jesus the promised intervention of God.”

William L. Lane, The Gospel According to Mark, NICNT, p. 268

This event culminates in a doxology to the Messiah who reverses not just the effects of the curse, but who deals the deathblow to sin itself. As Mark draws a parallel between this incident and Peter’s great Christological confession at the end of Mark 8, recognize how completely you need this Savior, and turn to him in praise. You have ears opened by the Spirit of the Messiah so that you can hear God’s Word. That Spirit has also renewed your heart so that you can really hear and understand. He opens your lips to praise the Savior — you are under no limitation as were the original witnesses, not to speak of theses things. As the Lord gives you strength and ability, meet together this morning, this evening, week by week to hear God speak in his Word and to sound his praise. Go about your work day by day, knowing that you are the church of the Messiah, whose healing miracles were a foretaste of the renewal of all creation. Your daily lives are lived in his presence, are part of his kingdom, and are under his sovereign lordship.

Jesus comes to you knowing your need, your sin, your weakness. And he brings not just forgiveness, but ultimately the reversal of the curse. With the crowd exclaim, He does all things well! And sound his praise in your worship and your work.

You think of Jesus, appropriately, as compassionate. Why then, as Mark 7:24–30 records, when a woman is crying to him desperately for healing for her daughter, does Jesus tell her that it’s not right to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs? It seems out of character.

Jesus came as the shepherd of the lost sheep of Israel. A gentile woman pleads for mercy. Jesus may well have been avoiding the crowds of Israel. He had withdrawn with his disciples after John’s death (Mark 6:30–31), only to be followed by the crowds, whom he healed and fed. The withdrawal may also have defused and postponed confrontations with the Pharisees and other leaders of Israel (Mark 7:1), because his time had not yet come. In any case, Jesus is outside the bounds of Israel, in the vicinity of Tyre, in relative seclusion with his disciples. The Canaanite, whom Mark identifies as a Greek, someone outside the community of God’s covenant people, begs Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter.

Continue reading “Pet Dogs and Children”

“The Lord is risen indeed” is a refrain that is appropriate for every Lord’s Day. The Christian Sabbath was moved to the first day of the week precisely because that was the day on which our Lord was raised from the dead. Celebrate it annually, if you wish, but also celebrate it each Sunday! And don’t only look back to Christ’s resurrection. Recognize, as Paul tells you in 1 Corinthians 15:54, that your resurrection is part of his being raised — and that makes very practical changes in how you live.

You will be changed. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. A change is necessary because of the fall. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul is dealing with the bodily resurrection. Some Christians from a Greek background had no problem with the idea of an immoral soul, but failed to understand the resurrection of the physical body. 21^st century westerners may face similar skepticism. Paul can argue from a natural body to a spiritual one, verse 44b. However, that argument goes back to pre-fallen Adam, and from him, to the last Adam, Jesus Christ. These two represent their own groups. The resurrection of the last Adam guarantees yours. The first Adam fell. There are lasting consequences because of that fall. Adam’s sin brought death, decay, and corruption into the world. Your present body is not suited for heaven.

The perishable does not inherit the imperishable. Paul goes beyond the weakness and decay of our physical bodies. By nature we are corrupt and sinful, the antithesis of all that heaven is. Our life on earth, as well as death and burial, are described by the quadruple “sown” of verses 42–44. It is sown perishable, in dishonor, weakness, a natural body. One of the themes of C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce is that even if given the opportunity, fallen man prefers the separation of hell to the glory of God’s presence in heaven. Sinners are unsuited for the reality of heaven.

A change must take place, verse 52. The trumpet will sound! This is the sign of God’s activity for his people. Its origins lie in the trumpet blast each day before the nation of Israel set out through the wilderness, Numbers 10:5–9, 35, 36. Here it is a sign of judgment on God’s enemies and vindication for his people. This is the last trumpet, the introduction to the events of the last day, God’s final act in redemptive history. The dead will be raised. Those asleep in Christ, verse 18, are in view. They are raised incorruptible. (Though all the dead are raised at his point, Paul’s focus is on the dead in Christ.) There is no evidence of two or three separate resurrections. This is the last trumpet. The dead are raised with “spiritual bodies,” verse 44. These are not immaterial (saints in glory don’t sit around on clouds), but are bodies characterized by the Holy Spirit. All will be changed. Even those who don’t sleep (who are still alive) will be changed, verse 51. They undergo a change similar to that of the dead in Christ. Because this is the resurrection of the harvest of which Christ was the firstfruits, verse 20, your change parallels that effected in his human nature by the Savior’s resurrection. Through his resurrection he was constituted Son of God with power by the Spirit of holiness, Romans 1:4. In a somewhat parallel way, your resurrection marks your adoption as sons, Romans 8:23. His resurrection body was real, substantial, capable of eating. Your resurrection is the culmination of your union with Christ.

“We can measure the upreach of our faith, the depth of our love, and the outreach of our hope by the extent to which we gravitate in our thought to that event when the Lord himself will be finally glorified and when the people of God shall enter into the complete fellowship of him in that exalted and final glory.”

Collected Writings of John Murray, Vol. 3, pp.245–246

Because he was raised, death is swallowed up in victory! Death is defeated. Corruption and mortality end. This marks the end of the illness, sorrow, and decay of our world. Death itself is defeated. Death is still an enemy. There is still a place for mourning, but you do have hope, even as you face death. Your hope is not just your immediate presence with the Lord, but, beyond that, the glory of the resurrection. Death is swallowed up, verse 54. Paul quotes from Isaiah 25:8. Even the prophet recognized that great messianic feast involved the destruction of the shroud of death that had covered the nations. Isaiah, from his prophetic perspective, may have anticipated it sooner. We know that it follows the first coming of the Messiah by at least nearly 2000 years. Your resurrection is the direct result of (or better, part of) Christ’s resurrection.

“By his own bodily resurrection, as the ‘firstfruits,’ death’s final and complete destruction has already occurred for Christ personally an so is assured for the rest of the the harvest. But for them their actual, bodily participation in that destruction has yet to occur. Further, verses 50–52 make clear that the future victory over death in verses 54–55 will be at the time of the ‘last trumpet,’ that is, the final judgment (cf. 1 Thess. 4:16; Matt. 24:31).” “the culminating note on which the chapter ends (vv. 57–58) is consonant with this conclusion. Paul assures Christians, ‘your labors are not in vain in the lord,’ and that is so because of ‘God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. But, from the immediately preceding verses (the references to victory in vv. 54–55), for them that death-destroying victory, while secured and certain, is still future.”

Richard B. Gaffin Jr., “Justification and Eschatology” in Word and Spirit: Selected Writing in Biblical and Systematic Theology, pages 637 & 638

The strength of sin is broken. Join in the cry of victory. Paul’s song of triumph quotes Hosea 13:14. Death’s sting is sin. Sin is transgression of God’s law. But, Christ has triumphed, verse 57. He is the second Adam. His death paid the penalty for sin. He fulfilled God’s law. His death, and particularly his resurrection are the victory over death. The Eritrean death wail and our culture’s neo-pagan fascination with death can be replaced with the cry of victory in Christ. Be unmovable. Be steadfast, despite opposition. Be confident, even in the face of death. The Bible’s teaching about what we call the last things (eschatology) is not ivory tower speculation. Because Christ has been raised, your life is shaped by what he has done. Do the work God has given you. Trust Christ’s victory. Remember that you are called to serve God. Serve Christ, despite the cost, in all that you do.

The Biblical teaching of the resurrection leads, not to speculation, but to comfort and encouragement in obedience. Because Christ has been raised, because you will be changed, serve your Lord faithfully this week.