St. Mark 8:10-9:1: "8:10 [He] immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha. 11 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. 12 But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, 'Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation.' 13 And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. 14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. 15 Then He charged them, saying, 'Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.' 16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'It is because we have no bread.' 17 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, 'Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? 18 Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?' They said to Him, 'Twelve.' 20 'Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?' And they said, 'Seven.' 21 So He said to them, 'How is it you do not understand?' 22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. 23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. 24 And he looked up and said, 'I see men like trees, walking.' 25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. 26 Then He sent him away to his house, saying, 'Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.' 27 Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, 'Who do men say that I am?' 28 So they answered, 'John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.' 29 He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered and said to Him, 'You are the Christ.' 30 Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him. 31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke this word openly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, 'Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.' 34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, 'Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.'9:1 And He said to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.'"
This pericope comes immediately after (as the Evangelist St. Mark points out with his favorite word, "immediately") the feeding of the 4,000. What is interesting about this is that after performing this miracle, our Lord doesn't stick around to socialize. He "immediately" gets in a boat and departs for another region. There are two reasons for this, one, so that those who have been fed both spiritually and physically, do not have a cause to rush Him off and make Him a King. Second, our Lord rushes off to go to another area, so that His Word may be proclaimed to yet more people. So our Lord Jesus, and His disciples go to Dalmanutha.
And upon His arrival in this territory, He is confronted by the unbelievers, the Pharisees, which are the people who need to hear His Word the most. The Pharisees represent the assaults of the devil upon Jesus, and it seems whenever He goes to a new place the devil is there in the form of someone or something to create a roadblock to His spreading the Gospel. And so the Pharisees, to test Him, ask Him for a sign. This is particularly odd, since our Lord has just completed a sign, by feeding 4,000 men plus women and children. To the Jew, one could not help associate this feeding with the feeding that Moses provided to the Israelites in the wilderness through manna.
There is in this pericope and the preceding narrative of the feeding of the 4,000 a contrast. Those who believe the Word of our Lord Jesus, who run after Him and chase Him down to hear His holy Word, are given a sign. The Pharisees on the other hand, being unbelievers, and only wishing to test and temp our Lord, do not receive a sign. And our Lord Jesus tells them no sign will be given. Most significant about this sign of the feeding of the 4,000, and the not giving of a sign to the Pharisees, is our Lord Jesus' reaction in both cases. His reaction to the 4,000? He gives thanks. To the Pharisees? He "sighed deeply in His spirit," that is, He groans.
Our Lord Jesus is not alone in His reaction, for this is the common response of those who preach the Word of God. When met with great faith, and desire to hear God's Word, there is much giving of thanks. However, when met with unbelief and resistance to the things of God, there is much groaning. And our Lord Jesus shows us what to do when met with much unbelief and testing of God, He leaves. And this is quite right and proper, for where there is hope of correction, one should stay, and seek that correction, but where people show themselves incorrigible, we should depart, for the evil will remain with these people.
Therefore, He gets into a boat, and goes to the other side. But even in the boat, our Lord does not get any rest, for after warning His disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod, meaning their evilness and unbelief, which is masked by good works and a religious life, they start thinking amonst themselves that He is chastizing them for not bringing bread. We see in this the unbelief of the Pharisees rubbing off onto the disciples.
This also is odd, as our Lord Jesus points out, because they had not only just been witness to the feeding of the 4,000, but earlier had seen the feeding of the 5,000. And in both of these cases, as our Lord points out, there were basketfuls left over. So that their bellies need not wonder about how it is going to get its next meal, for our Lord Jesus will supply it.
All this unbelief and doubt from the Pharisees and disciples, or to say it another way, their spiritual blindness, is met by an actual blind man. This man is physically blind, but spiritually he sees that our Lord is the Messiah. He has faith and trust, and can see who the Lord is, even though he cannot see the Lord. There is yet a whole other level to this miracle that is to be understood mystically.
For Bethsaida, the place where the Lord Jesus went to, and from where the blind man was from, means "house of the valley." This calls to mind the 23rd Psalm, where we pray, "yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." Bethsaida, represents the world, or the place where sin, death, and the devil rule, and the blind man represents all those who are spiritually blind within this world. Therefore, our Lord Jesus brings the man out of Bethsaida, that is, He takes Him out of the world of sin, death, and the devil, so that He might give Him eyes to see. Mystically speaking the Lord brings Him into the Church, where He preaches to Him His holy Word, represented by the spittle, which comes from His holy mouth. The touching with His hand represents the means of grace, whereby the Holy Ghost, creates and sustains faith and life.
Therefore, in this healing, we see how we are healed of our own faithlessness and doubt, that is, our own spiritual blindness. We are healed by the preaching of the Word and the Sacraments, where the Holy Ghost imparts to us faith and life by these means, so that we see the good gifts of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Upon this healing, the Lord Jesus heads toward Caesarea Philippi, and along the way He inquires of His disciples of whom people say Him to be. Here we have the bold confession of St. Peter, who rightly calls our Lord Jesus, the Son of God. We are told that this was revealed to St. Peter. He did not come to this revelation by himself, but it was given to him by the Heavenly Father. Here it is then that our Lord after hearing the confession and belief of the disciples that He was believed to be the Son of God, He now reveals to them what the Son of God must do, and that is, that He must suffer many things, be crucified, buried, and arise on the third day.
The Evangelist St. Mark, seems to be just throwing a bunch of narratives together haphazardly, but there is a rhyme and reason to the order of these events. For after the sign of the feeding of the 4,000, and the unbelief of both the Pharisees and disciples, we are given the enlightenment of a blind man. It is here that the disciples reveal their own ability to see whom our Lord Jesus is, He is the Messiah. They know this through the revelation that has been given to them through the preaching and miracles of our Lord. But having confessed to know Who our Lord Jesus is, He tells them exactly what that means. It means a cross and death. To this St. Peter objects. Perhaps he believes he is speaking on behalf of all the disciples. Our Lord even turns to look at the disciples to suggest this may be the case. But the objection to our Lord's crucifixion and death, comes from only one individual, and that is Satan, the Accuser.
For without the cross, the Accuser, can go on accusing people of their sin. But with the cross, this accusation is rendered useless. So to stop our Lord from fulfilling the work for which He was born into our flesh, is to be in league with Satan, for only he desires this to be.
Our Lord then, after calling the crowds and the disciples to Himself, tells everybody to take up their cross and follow Him. Their cross, is His cross. This is just another way to say, "Do not be ashamed of the cross of Christ, for it is our life and salvation. It is the power of salvation for those who believe." This is the reality of the Christian life. Our life is one lived under the cross of our Lord. And that may include persecution and trial from the Pharisees and unbelievers of our day. But more than that it is the means by which our forgiveness, life and salvation has been won for us. To live under the cross, for us Christians, is no different than living in one's Holy Baptism, for in it we daily drown the Old Adam, or to say it another way, we crucify our sins and evil desires once again through the remembrance of our Lord's death and burial. And as He rose from the dead, we too, rise to new life every time we drown the Old Adam, and live as redeemed children of the Lord.
Therefore, let us cast off the leaven of the Pharisees, and rejoice that our eyes have been opened up to see that our Lord Jesus is the Son of God come into the world to suffer and die for our salvation. And let us take up this cross of His, and follow Him, by hearing His holy Word, and enjoying His Blessed Sacraments.
May God be with you!
Deacon Dulas
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