"Deaf, Dumb, Blind, and Hungry" | Mark 7:31-8:26 | The Gospel of Mark Series | Hillside Baptist Church

A traveler visits a foreign land and receives a special gift card to a local restaurant, good for an unlimited amount of meals.

But the gift card is written in a language he doesn't understand.

So he thinks the card is only good for one meal.

When his funds start to run low, he begins to fret about the cost of each meal and whether or not he'll have enough to feed himself on his journey.

All the while he had everything he needed in that special gift card.

Sometimes people don't realize what they have in front of them.

What's obvious to some is completely missed by others.

As we'll see in our passage today, Jesus continues to perform miracle after miracle after miracle, and the disciples still don't get it.

It couldn't be any more obvious, and yet we see them remain oblivious to who Jesus is and what he is capable of doing to provide their every need along their journey.

So let's turn to Mark chapter 7, beginning with verse 31.

Mark 7 · chapter mention

Last week we left off with a Gentile woman's faith being rewarded as Jesus healed her daughter by casting out a demon.

And as we get ready to continue, let's first go before the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father, as we have just sung, open our eyes, open our ears, help us to see you this morning.

We ask for your help in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Mark chapter seven, beginning with verse thirty-one.

And again he went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.

And they brought to him one who was deaf, and spoke with difficulty, and they pleaded with him to lay his hand on him.

And Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself, and put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting he touched his tongue, and looking up to heaven with a sigh, he said to him, Ephatha, that is, be opened.

And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly, and he gave them orders not to tell anyone, but the more he was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.

And they were utterly astonished, saying, He has done all things well, he makes even the deaf to hear, and the mute to speak.

Once again we see Jesus on the move.

However, as he leaves the region of Tyre, he remains in Gentile territory.

First he goes north to Sidon, and then southeast along the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, before arriving in the Decapolis.

This is one of only three times that the Decapolis is mentioned in the New Testament.

We already saw one example earlier in Mark 5.20, where the exdemoniac is healed by Jesus and stays there to proclaim the message of the gospel throughout the Decapolis region.

The other reference is found in Matthew 4.25, where large crowds of mostly Greeks and Canaanites followed Jesus during his early ministry.

Why is this important?

Let's remember that Jews and Gentiles didn't get along, and for good reason.

Jews didn't associate with Gentiles, they were considered barbaric, unclean, and unworthy of any blessings of God.

After all, they were pagans who demonstrated every form of depravity, and yet Jesus makes a point to minister to Gentiles, even on their home turf.

You can imagine how uncomfortable this must have been for Jesus' disciples.

But as we learned from the encounter with the Serophonician woman, God's plan of salvation extends even to the Gentiles.

When Jesus arrives at the Decapolis, it doesn't take long for him to draw a large crowd.

As we see in verse 32, they bring to him one who is deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they pleaded with Jesus to lay his hand on him.

What happens next is a bit unusual.

Jesus takes this man to a private space, and he sticks his fingers into the man's ears, and then Jesus spits into his hands and touches the man's tongue.

This is weird, even knowing what we know about Jesus.

But here's something cool.

The finger of God wrote the Ten Commandments.

The finger of God brought plagues upon Egypt.

The finger of God made the heavens.

And elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus drives out demons by the finger of God in the arrival and power of God's kingdom.

And so the finger of God has become an expression of God at work.

And that's what I believe Mark intends for his audience to recognize as Jesus uses his fingers to heal a deaf and dumb man.

And just to clarify, by dumb, that is to say, one who speaks with great difficulty.

Do you see this?

Jesus is yet again performing what only Yahweh can do.

He says, Be opened.

And immediately the man's ears were opened, the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began to speak plainly.

And one of the first things that this man hears is Jesus telling him not to tell anyone.

In fact, the entire crowd was ordered to remain silent about this miracle.

But as verse 36 goes on to say, the more he was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.

The more Jesus demonstrated his power and authority, the more his recipients were urged to remain silent about it.

This continues a theme that we see develop throughout the early part of Mark's gospel, known as the messianic secret.

Jesus is on an important mission, and if his true identity is revealed too soon, it could threaten his ability to accomplish this mission.

As we will soon learn in Mark's gospel, this mission requires Jesus to suffer and die.

But it's not his time yet.

He still has much work to do in his earthly ministry.

Not to be overlooked is verse 37, and they were utterly astonished, saying, He has done all things well, he makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.

Let's remember that these are mostly Gentiles.

And here they were commending Jesus and proclaiming his praises.

This is the proper response to the mighty work of God.

And yet, this is not the response we've typically seen amongst the Jews.

In many cases, Jesus offended his own people, but to these Gentiles who were utterly astonished, all they could do was praise his name.

This goes to show that even those who are most familiar with God can have the hardest time appreciating God.

The same is true even for us in the church.

We often take God for granted.

This shows up in our daily routines, whether it's through mindless and heartless prayers, or even in our workplaces, where God gets put on the back burner as we focus on the tasks at hand.

We often lose sight of God, especially in the mundane parts of life.

Take, for example, living near the ocean.

For those who don't live near the ocean, they yearn for sights of crashing waves and the scent of salty air.

They become mesmerized by how vast the ocean is and feeling small by comparison.

They even plan special vacations just to go to the beach.

But for those of us who live near the coast, the ocean becomes somewhat ordinary to us.

It starts to lose its effect.

In fact, we think about how awful it can be to sit through beach traffic and come home with sandy toes.

It becomes an inconvenience.

Now, don't get me wrong, that's not the case for everyone.

You might think I'm crazy for even mentioning this as an illustration, but I think that you get my point.

Being around something magnificent and beautiful can cause us to eventually take it for granted.

And the same is true about God and the works of his hand.

Fresh perspective should remind us just how good we have it.

Let's continue with chapter 8, starting in verse 1.

In those days when there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples and said to them, I feel compassion for the crowd, because they have remained with me now three days and have nothing to eat.

And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way.

And some of them have come from a great distance.

And his disciples answered him, Where will any one be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?

And he was asking them, How many loaves do you have?

And they said, Seven.

And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and taking the seven loaves, he gave thanks and broke them, and he kept giving them to his disciples to serve to them.

And they served them to the crowd.

And they also had a few small fish, and after he blessed them, he ordered these to be served as well.

And they ate and were satisfied, and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.

Now about four thousand were there, and he sent them away.

On the surface, this might seem almost identical to the feeding of the five thousand plus back in chapter six.

And while there are definitely similarities between the two, there are also significant differences.

First, it's likely that the first feeding miracle was in Jewish territory with predominantly a Jewish audience.

As we already covered in our current passage, Jesus is operating in Gentile territory.

There's other information in this passage to support that this second feeding miracle is amongst Gentiles.

One example is the term used for basket in verse 8.

This is a different word than the word for basket in the first feeding miracle.

Whereas the word used in chapter 6 was more specifically a Jewish term, the word used here in chapter 8 is a more general term for basket that would be familiar to a Gentile audience.

Another indication that this was a Gentile audience in the second feeding miracle comes from the phrase, some of them have come from a great distance.

A more literal translation is to refer to them as the distanced ones, understood to be referring to Gentiles.

And for those of you who like to pay attention to numbers and their significance, do you remember how many baskets were left over in the first feeding miracle?

Twelve.

Even the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament that was used universally, is literally the Latin word for the number 70, which refers to the 70 or 72 Jewish scholars who completed the translation.

And then we have the difference of the 5,000 plus who were fed in the first feeding miracle compared to the 4,000 plus we see in the second feeding miracle.

It's possible that the number 4 may represent the four corners of the universe, meaning the breadth of the entire world.

And while some of this might seem like a stretch to make this connection, it's still worth speculating.

These two feeding miracles are not identical, and I believe that our gospel writer Mark wants his readers to see that.

This is not a copy-paste story.

I've heard some people claim that these feeding miracles might actually be the same story with the gospel writers being confused about the details and making a mistake by including them both.

But that's not what we see with the internal evidence of the text.

In fact, if we keep reading on, we'll see that even Jesus refers back to the first feeding miracle with his disciples as being distinct and in addition to the second feeding miracle with the 4,000 plus.

There is a different point to this miracle.

This is evident in the way Jesus shows a different kind of compassion for them compared to the first crowd.

This time Jesus displays his compassion for the sake of demonstrating pure mercy and care for these people, a crowd of Gentiles.

They've stayed with him for three days, a substantial amount more than the crowd did in the first feeding miracle.

And now this crowd was on the verge of starving, and seeing their need, Jesus provides.

He provides for these Gentiles in the same way he provided for the Jews, and in the same way Yahweh provided for the Israelites in the wilderness.

Now Gentiles were being included in Yahweh's special provision for his people, a precursor for the redefining of God's people and the new Israel.

Let's continue with verse ten.

And immediately he entered the boat with his disciples and came to the district of Damanutha.

And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, testing him.

And sighing deeply in his spirit, he said, Why does this generation seek a sign?

Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.

And leaving them, he again embarked and went away to the other side.

It's no surprise that we see the Pharisees begin to argue with Jesus again.

That seems to be all that they're interested in doing.

Some people don't actually care about what you have to say, they just want to argue with you.

That's the situation Jesus finds himself with these Pharisees.

And knowing their hearts, he doesn't even engage with them as they test him, asking for a sign from heaven.

Jesus knows that the Pharisees' hearts were so hardened and that they were so spiritually blind, it didn't matter what he did to prove himself to be the Messiah, because they still wouldn't believe.

No amount of signs and wonders, no amount of reason, and no amount of evidence would ever be enough for them to recognize and accept Jesus as Lord and Messiah.

And that's why Jesus refuses their request and moves on.

It's a hard thing to consider, but sometimes you need to discern when to move on from somebody.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't continue to pray for them, and that doesn't leave out the possibility that in God's sovereignty he still might save them.

But we often waste our time and efforts on people who either refuse to accept truth or aren't ready for it.

It requires faith and trust in God in the work of evangelism.

If someone is seeking truth and wants to know about Christianity, we ought to know our Bibles well and to minister to them through the Word.

We can get stuck in all kinds of rabbit holes and evangelistic conversations, but what's most important is to focus on the person and work of Jesus Christ.

He is the ultimate revelation of God, and his word is the mightiest weapon we could ever wield as we contend for the faith.

A person does not remain in unbelief for lack of evidence.

The whole world is evidence for God.

And yet people still suppress the truth.

The reason is because they love their sin and their hearts are hardened.

Only God can take a heart of stone and turn it into a heart of flesh.

Our job is to faithfully proclaim the truth and uphold it in our daily lives.

The harvest is plenty, meaning that there are many people who are ready to receive Christ.

But the laborers are few, which means that we as Christians need to know when it's time to wipe the dust off our feet and move on, just as Jesus did when he encountered hardened hearts.

Let's continue with verse 14.

And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.

And he was giving orders to them, saying, Watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.

And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread?

Do you not yet perceive or understand?

Do you have a hardened heart?

Having eyes, do you not see?

And having ears, do you not hear?

And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand?

How many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?

They said to him, Twelve.

When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?

And they said to him, Seven.

And he was saying to them, Do you not yet understand?

Jesus fed the five thousand plus.

He fed the four thousand plus.

And it appears that the disciples have learned absolutely nothing about Jesus' ability to provide for the needs of his people.

Instead, they fret about the fact that they only have one loaf of bread left to eat.

Imagine being a math teacher, spending an entire class period going over two plus two equals four.

Then the lesson is repeated again, just in case some students didn't quite understand that two plus two equals four.

Now you can imagine the frustration of the teacher when on the quiz, not a single student understood that two plus two equals four.

Not a single one.

Now, if the class was a bunch of toddlers, you can understand why maybe they didn't understand that two plus two equals four.

But if this was a fifth grade class or even an eighth grade class or even a high school class, it would be enough frustration for a teacher to contemplate putting in their resignation letter.

After all, if students can't understand that two plus two equals four, how will they ever understand anything else?

And as we see here, Jesus has just about had it with these disciples.

He says, Do you not yet perceive or understand?

Having eyes, do you not see?

And having ears, do you not hear?

Do you have a hardened heart?

Do you not yet understand?

Indeed, the disciples' ears have not heard, and their mouths, when they open them, remain dumb.

They are no better off than the man Jesus healed earlier in our passage today.

By all accounts, the disciples look more and more like outsiders when they've had the inside track the entire time.

They are without excuse.

They have been given the secrets of God's kingdom and seemingly have nothing to show for it.

Perhaps most alarming is the way Jesus describes them as having hardened hearts.

At this point, they are no better than the Pharisees.

Both the disciples and Pharisees should have, by this point, understood the true identity of Jesus and convinced of his power.

Now it's easy to rail on the Pharisees, but you have to be disappointed in the disciples as we read this.

They, above all people, should be the last ones worrying about food.

It appears that they have been corrupted by the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

This concept of leaven in the New Testament is an illustration of influence, typically an evil influence that leads to sin.

The leaven of the Pharisees included both their false teaching and their hypocritical behavior.

And the leaven of Herod Antipas was his immoral, corrupt conduct, in which the Pharisees and the Herodians were allied against Christ and the kingdom of God.

Jesus is trying to warn his disciples about this leaven in light of the bread miracles he performed and the disciples' current worries about having only one loaf of bread left in the boat to eat.

The disciples are so concerned about their physical needs, they are completely oblivious to the grave spiritual dangers that Jesus is trying to warn them about.

And it's not like they are unaware of the mighty works of Jesus.

They are able to recount each of the two feeding miracles to the detail of how much was left over after each one.

And yet, they still don't understand.

They were unable to understand the spiritual truth from these miracles because their hearts were hardened.

They have yet to grasp the true identity and provision of Jesus.

What's obvious to us as the readers, like two plus two equals four, remains hidden to them.

The disciples are spiritually blind.

But there is hope, as we will see in the rest of this passage.

Though the disciples have eyes that fail to see and ears that fail to hear, the good news is that their teacher is able to heal deaf ears, restore speech of the dumb, and open blind eyes.

Let's close out with verses twenty-two through twenty-six.

And they came to Beth Seda, and they brought a blind man to Jesus and pleaded with him to touch him.

And after and taking the blind man by the hand, he brought him out of the village, and after spitting on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he was asking him, Do you see anything?

And he looked up and was saying, I see men, for I see them like trees walking around.

Then again he laid his hands on his eyes, and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.

And he sent him to his home, saying, Do not even enter the village.

As we've seen throughout the Gospel of Mark, there is often an inner story sandwiched between two outer stories.

The same happens in our passage today.

We began with Jesus healing the deaf and dumb man, and now we close out with Jesus healing the blind man.

Notice the same phrases they brought and they pleaded, along with the presence of Jesus' spit and use of his hands.

Between the two healings, Jesus restores hearing, speech, and sight, and they both end with the messianic secret motif.

However, there is something striking about this particular healing.

The blind man's sight is not completely restored at first.

It's essentially a two-part healing process.

At first, the man is able to see, but it's blurry.

Then after a second attempt, he's able to see clearly.

Some speculate that somehow Jesus failed on the first attempt.

Like somehow he whiffed and needed to take a second crack at it.

However, there's good reason to believe that this was intentional and meant to communicate something deeper.

Spiritually speaking, when God gives us eyes to see, we don't quite see everything clearly.

We know that we were once blind and now we can see.

But there's still a gradual process where our spiritual sight gradually becomes more clear.

The same is true of these disciples, as we'll see throughout the rest of Mark's gospel and into the rest of the New Testament.

At this point, though they are oblivious, they are on their way to understanding Jesus' true identity.

They often seem to have eyes without seeing and ears without hearing, but they are not a lost cause.

Jesus' work is not yet finished in them.

Everything is still blurry to them.

But there will come a point later on where their sight will become clear and they will recognize and worship Jesus as he deserves.

But there will be growing pains.

What makes this whole passage as a unit so interesting is that the outer stories point to the spiritual reality of the inner story.

The deafness, dumbness, and blindness we see in the outer stories are physical representations of the spiritual deafness, dumbness, and blindness we see in the disciples in the inner story.

Our gospel writer Mark does this intentionally.

That should give us hope.

If Jesus can heal the physical, surely he can heal the spiritual.

And if he can do it with this motley crew, surely there must be hope for us too.

That's exactly what he does in each and every one of us who truly know him.

He has given us eyes to see, ears to hear, and tongues to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

God's will is our sanctification, and he is committed to our spiritual growth.

Maybe you're in a season where your faith feels stagnant.

Hopefully you've prayed about it and asked the Lord to help you.

He works in mighty ways when his people find themselves in the spiritual wilderness.

Be patient and look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith.

He will give you eyes to see what you're currently not able to see.

Also look to our church as a source for guidance and encouragement.

We are not meant to complete our faith journey alone.

God designed his church to strengthen and build each other up in the faith.

If your faith seems stagnant, consider your commitment to the church.

Are you making it a priority to seek fellowship and pray for other members in our church?

Or are your eyes only focused on yourself and your immediate needs?

Don't be like the disciples who stressed about having only one loaf of bread to eat when the God who supplies our every need is right there in the boat with you.

You have everything you need and more in Christ.

He is enough.

And he gives us his church to reflect his love and provision.

We are all called to support one another with the same compassion and care of Jesus Christ Himself.

In just a short moment, we will sing Amazing Grace.

You've probably sung this song hundreds of times in your life, but I'd like you to consider these lyrics in light of our passage today.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

The grace of God healed the deaf man to hear the sweet sound of Jesus' voice.

And it's the grace of God who gives us ears to hear his voice, to follow him.

Was blind, but now I see.

The grace of God healed the blind man, to see the Son of God and long expected Messiah.

And it's the grace of God who gives us eyes to see him for who he truly is, our Lord and our Savior.

It is purely the grace of God to save a bunch of wretches like us.

Apart from His grace, we too would remain like the oblivious disciples and the Pharisees in this passage today.

That's why we can sing, Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.

How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.

We all deserve the wrath of God for our sin.

None of us would seek Him on our own.

And there certainly isn't anything we could do in our own strength or righteousness to make us right with God on our own terms.

God's grace should cause us to sing his praises and fill our hearts with joy.

His grace is unmerited favor.

That means we get the best of God as a free gift, not because we deserve it, but because he is good.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come, tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

Our faith is preserved in God's grace, not in our own strength, but in his.

We are able to remain faithful only because he is faithful.

When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun.

God's grace should cause us to worship him now and forevermore.

And his grace is sufficient to provide our every need.

Let's pray.

Oh Father in heaven, we thank you for your grace and your love, which is deep for us.

You owe us nothing, and yet in your grace, you give us everything to those who place their faith and trust in your Son Jesus.

God, we pray that you would turn our hearts to worship you in a new, fresh way this morning.

Some of us might be struggling in our faith.

Maybe we've been struggling for a long season.

But God, would you do a new work in our hearts?

Would you bring life again?

Because you are worthy.

You are worthy of our praise.

You are worthy of our worship.

Help us not to look to ourselves and focus on our own needs, but to look to your Son Jesus, to fix our eyes upon him daily, for he is the author and perfecter of our faith.

We come to you through him in Jesus' name.

Amen.