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July 21, 2016
The Living Word In Plain Sight
Psalm 119:18 says, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your Law.” Imagine that it is not only possible but inevitable that those who pursue God’s Word would find themselves amazed at the wonderful revelation that God has left His people! I never cease to be amazed when God uses the Word to give me a glimpse of His majesty and glory revealed therein. Such was the case recently as I was reading through the Gospel of Mark, chapters 7 and 8.
The overview of the headings in Mark 7 and 8, according to the ESV, looks like this: Traditions and Commandments, What Defiles a Person, The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith, Jesus Heals a Deaf Man, Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand, The Pharisees Demand a Sign, The Leaven of the Pharisees, Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida. As is often the case, we tend to look at these headings and focus on the few versus that are placed under them. While this may be helpful at times, it can distract us from the greater context which Mark has included in order to more fully reveal his (and God’s) intention. Remember, the headings (as well as chapter and verse numbers) in your Bible were placed there by an editor and are not part of the inspired text.
On this particular occasion I was considering Mark’s recording of Jesus’ healing of the deaf man. It’s one of those stories that you read and wonder, “what am I going to do with this?” The details of the story are striking and raise numerous questions. Why does Jesus place his fingers in the man’s ears? Why is it important for us to know that Jesus touched the man’s tongue after spitting? While I would agree that the details are significant to Mark’s purpose, I concluded that the greater significance is found in the conclusion of the story with the quoted response of the people. “They were astonished beyond measure saying, ‘He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak’” (emphasis mine). My mind immediately went to the occasion in Luke 7:22 where Jesus told John’s disciples to tell John that the blind receive sight, the deaf hear, etc. in response to his question about who Jesus really was. It is clear that the miracles that Jesus was performing were about more than Jesus meeting felt needs in this life. They were a demonstration of the fulfillment of God’s promise to send Messiah. So, I turned my attention toward the Old Testament to find where in God’s promise this expectation would have arisen. To my surprise there were few verses that came up in my search. If you do a simple search for “deaf hear” in the Old Testament, it will result in only three verses: Psalm 38:13, Isaiah 29:18, and Isaiah 42:18. If you are familiar with or have read the greater context of the story contained in Mark 7:31–37, you might recognize as I did that this isn’t the first time Isaiah 29 arises in this text. In the earlier episode with the Pharisees, Jesus rebukes them and quotes Isaiah 29:13, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me: in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” At this point, my interest was piqued but even though the healing of the deaf man seemed to be related to Isaiah 29:18, that verse speaks also of the blind seeing and therefore might not be directly connected. If you keep reading through Mark into chapter 8, although you will find several intervening episodes recorded by Mark, we eventually arrive at Mark’s recording of the blind man healed at Bethsaida in 8:22–26.
Mark 7 begins with an episode pointing to Isaiah 29:13 and ends alluding to Isaiah 29:18. At the very least this warrants a serious consideration of Mark’s interest in this particular text. Isaiah 29 begins by building upon God’s people’s inability to see or hear God’s truth leading to God ultimately pouring out a spirit of deep sleep upon them (vs. 10). God’s Word is as a sealed scroll and cannot be accessed by them. While the hearts of God’s people were far from Him, God promised to do wonderful things with His people. In verse 17, God reveals that “Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field.” It is this verse that makes Mark’s use of Isaiah 29 almost certain! The intervening story in Mark 7 that connects Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees and His healing of the deaf man is the account Jesus entering Tyre and Sidon. It is here that He is met by a Syrophoenician woman who believes. Interestingly enough, Tyre and Sidon are geographically located in southern Lebanon (see Judges 3:3) and it is here, above all other places, that faith in Christ is revealed.
It seems more than coincidental that Mark seeks to order the selected events of Jesus ministry in such a way to closely align them with the Word of God by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah in chapter 29. In fact it seems that (at least) this portion of Mark’s Gospel is very much like a sermon on the text of Isaiah. There is, however, more support provided in the intervening text between Mark’s recording of the the deaf man (7:31–37) and the blind man (8:22–26).
Among other clear themes in Isaiah 29 is the theme of those who lack the ability to see, hear, and understand. It is a clear expansion of Isaiah’s initial commission in Isaiah 6:9–10;
“And he said, ‘Go, and say to this people: “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.” Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
The episodes that lie between the deaf and the blind miracles serve to emphasize the above reality. Jesus once again proceeds to feed a crowd of people with little resource. Although Jesus had done this very thing in 6:30ff, the disciples can’t seem to understand how this is possible. Somehow they developed a kind of spiritual amnesia. Yet, Jesus once again provides for the people in abundance and they are ‘satisfied!’ Then the Pharisees come on the scene for another brief moment demanding a sign. Look around! What exactly did they consider to be a sign? The deaf hear, the blind see, the lame walk, etc., etc. Seeing they were unable to see. No sign would be given to this “unbelieving” generation. Finally, with a bit of irony, the disciples get in a boat with only one loaf of bread (an interesting detail). When Jesus warns them of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, they can’t understand. Why did they need to be concerned about leaven? They only had one loaf of bread. Jesus responds to them, “Do you not yet perceive or understand?” Jesus’ concern was the leaven of spiritual stupor resulting from unbelief. Jesus commands faith, but even the disciples were missing it. Jesus, therefore, proceeds to remind them of both the crowd feedings concluding with yet another question, “Do you not yet understand?”
These intervening episodes provide further support and emphasis to the underlying text of Isaiah 29. In fact, Mark 7 and 8 are a clear picture of God revealing His Word through the person and work of Jesus Christ the Messiah. Isaiah was God’s prophet. A prophet was one who spoke the Word of God. Mark views God’s spoken Word as now being “fleshed” out in the person and work of Jesus during His ministry. In the words of yet another Gospel writer we could say, “The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. . .” (John 1:14). What Mark fleshes out through historical narrative, John summarizes and states emphatically. John goes on in 1:18 to say, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known (exegeomai).” In other words, Jesus has exegeted (revealed clearly, unpacked) God. And this is absolutely worth getting excited about!