Strange Healings & Sharp Questions

We are in a study for those who have not been able to be with us. We are in a study of the life of Christ and we've been moving at a snail's pace through the life of Christ but digesting. Hopefully some of the wonderful lessons that Jesus models for us in his ministry. And we're in a time period now where Jesus really is impressing lessons on his disciples. He has been actually rejected by the religious leadership of Israel so he has begun a period of his ministry that lasts for about six months. It's about a year before his death and this period lasts about six months where he's focusing upon training the twelve disciples. And so he withdraws from the hotbed of controversy, from Galilee where he's made three tours and had a lot of run-ins with the Pharisees. He withdraws from that several times. One of those we looked at last week where he withdrew from Galilee and went north to the city of Tyre which is in Gentile territory. So he's actually withdrawing from Israel and while he was there he ministered to a woman who had a child who was possessed with a demon tormented. The Bible says by a demon and this woman admitted that she was a Gentile and did not have any right to expect blessings from Israel's Messiah. And Jesus was very careful to maintain the integrity of his ministry which was to focus on Israel. And it seemed as though he was neglecting her and even going to reject her. She admitted I am a Gentile dog but she said even the dogs eat the crumbs from the children's table. And when Jesus saw that faith, that willingness to admit that she was indeed helpless on her own did not deserve any of God's mercies, did not expect to receive blessings but had a sincere faith in who he was as the Messiah. Jesus said your faith is great and he cast a demon out of her daughter. Now we pick up at that point in Mark chapter 7 tonight. Mark chapter 7, Jesus had preached a hard sermon as you see on the screen in John chapter 6 verses 22 to 71. Then he withdrew in the midst of controversy, controversy with the Pharisees over tradition in Matthew 15. Then the withdrawal to Tyre and Sidon. And he ministers to the woman there. He leaves now the region of Tyre but the fascinating thing is he does not go back to Galilee. He goes even further north. Let's pick it up and we'll look at a map in just a moment. Let's pick it up in Mark chapter 7 verse 31. Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the decapolis. The decapolis is a region of the Ten Cities. That's what the word literally means. Now let's trace the movements of Jesus and this withdrawal took to decapolis. Let's trace his movements. Here he is in Tyre which, okay this is a satellite view. Here's the Sea of Galilee. Here's Copernum at the north end of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus made his home base. We see that he ministered out of Israelite territory to the coastal city of Tyre but rather than coming back to Galilee he goes north to Sidon and then back the Bible says to the Sea of Galilee most believe it was along the Sea of Galilee. He scurried to the northern side down the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and went to decapolis which is again over here in Gentile territory. Possibly to keep from getting back into the region of Herod who has heard about him and wants to see him but also as we've seen primarily to get away from the Pharisees who are dogging his every step when he is in that region. The crowds who have been trying to almost kidnap him and take him to Jerusalem and make him a king and overthrow the Romans. All of this is going on now and so Jesus recognizes that it is the part of the Father's timetable for him to be focusing upon his 12 disciples and so he withdraws to be able to minister to them. That's what's going on here but look at what happens in verse 32. There in decapolis there some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk and they begged him to place his hand on the man. This is a man that had been deaf and it affected his speech maybe he had been deaf from birth and had not been able to learn to talk very well but he could not talk plainly. Then notice verse 33 after he took him aside away from the crowd. Why do you think Jesus did that? If you're looking ahead in the story you know that he's actually going to heal him but why does he take him aside away from the crowd? Any ideas? Personal interaction? Personal interaction? Okay. More focused interaction with this man that could well be. Great. There's a crowd here. Matthew's gospel talks about a huge crowd and we'll see in a moment it leads to feeding in the 4000. So this huge crowd Jesus is possibly wanting more focused attention on this man because of the crowd. The miracle will be done in that sense possibly. There's a lot of that going on. He's wanting to emphasize the ministry of preaching and every healing, every miracle is whipping up the frenzy of the crowd and that's not Jesus' intention obviously. The miracles are miracles of compassion and miracles to train his disciples now. He's not giving signs, sign miracles anymore. We've already seen that interaction with the Pharisees. So the text doesn't really tell us why he did this but all of those reasons may have contributed to why Jesus takes the man aside. Certainly there is a more focused attention upon him. There's a more personal interaction just with the two of them happening. But notice what Jesus does next in verse 33. Jesus puts his fingers, put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. What do you think is going on there? Forget about the spit for a moment. I'll explain that in a moment because we're kind of clueless about that but there's a reason for that. But what do you think he was doing by touching his ears and tongue? Pardon me? He was healing him. He hasn't healed him yet. He's touching his ears and tongue first. Okay. In a moment he's going to say be open so maybe he's specifying what's going to be open. I think you're on the right track there. There's a crowd. This man cannot hear. He cannot speak very well. How is Jesus going to communicate to him? What is about to do? It's almost like sign language, isn't it? It's almost Jesus' I think physically demonstrating this man what he's preparing to do. Possibly to arouse faith in this man's heart. I don't know. The use of spittle is interesting. It was tradition in the first century that spittle had curative powers. Now obviously Jesus is not doing it because of that. But touching the ears, touching the tongue, spittle communicates to this man. I'm going to heal you. That's the only way this man can grasp that. This man would understand the traditions of his day. Jesus is not healing him by using the spittle but he's communicating to this man because this man understands that. In their way of looking at things that has curative power, Jesus is communicating to him. I am getting ready to heal you. I think that's probably what's happening there. Look at verse 34. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, effetha, which means be opened. Effetha is aero-mayek, the spoken language of the first century Jew, kind of a hybrid of Hebrew. But he said with a deep sigh, effetha, which means be opened. It's interesting that he sighed deeply. We don't know why, obviously. It might have been a prayer. It may have been just a sign of pity for this man. It may have been something similar to what happened at the grave side of Lazarus. Do you remember what happened when Jesus in John chapter 11 saw the weeping and the grief of Mary and Martha over the death of their brother and the Jews who were weeping. The Bible says, he deeply groaned. This is a very strong word here too. It's a sigh which is not just a sigh. It's very possible. I think that Jesus is showing his compassion and his anguish over what sin has done to the human race. It's not specific. This man has sinned to bring this on him. That's not the issue. The issue is that sin entering the human race has brought the curse. All the physical implications, all illnesses, all... Everything is because of man's sin. Jesus is burdened. He groans. He sighs at seeing what sin has done to the human race. This man is just a pitiful example of that. But he does say be opened and the man's ears are open. Verse 35, this man's ears were opened. His tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. The completeness, perfection of the miracle is seen in the fact that here's a man who because of not being able to hear had not been able to learn to speak. But when his ears are opened, he also knows how to speak. Again, the completeness of the miracle, he doesn't have to learn how to speak. He automatically knows how to speak. It's plainly because of Jesus' miraculous power. Verse 36, Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone that is becoming very common by now, isn't it? Jesus is not wishing to stir up the crowd again into a premature thrusting of him into a kingship that is not based upon spiritual transformation in people's hearts. We've seen that several times. But, verse 36 says, the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. He has done everything well they said, even makes the death here in the mute speak. Remember, this is the area where Jesus previously on this side of the Sea of Galilee had cast a demon out of the man in the tombs. Remember that? In Mark 5. And throughout this whole region, we have the capitalists over here. But this whole region is the area of the ten cities, the decapolis. It was not just one city. Remember Jesus told that man to stay there and be a testimony. And maybe there has been some seed planted. Remember how the people responded when Jesus healed that man, cast a demon's out of him? Remember what happened where the demons go? In the pigs, where the pigs go. See, we have Galilee, where the money go. The bottom of the Sea of Galilee. People were upset with him. Remember, they wanted him to get out of there. And so maybe this man's ministry of testimony and he's changed life and seeing that this was not just a one day wonder of this man's life has genuinely been changed. Maybe that's had an impact in this whole area. And now the people, Matthew's gospel, Matthew 15 says that a large crowd was coming bringing all kinds of sick people to heal. And so maybe they're much more responsive to his ministry now, but cause of the testimony of that man. I think it's interesting that it happens in close proximity. Okay, we're moving into chapter 8, but before we do any comments or questions on the healing of this man. Okay, chapter 8 continues the story. One of those chapter breaks that if you stop reading, you lose the train of thought. So chapter 8 just keeps right on going with the story. During those days, another large crowd gathered since they had nothing to eat. Jesus called his disciples to him. I have compassion for these people. They've already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way because some of them have come along distance. Okay, so at the picture in mind, large crowd has gathered. Again, I mentioned earlier Matthew's gospel. Let me just read Matthew's account of this in Matthew 15 and verses 30 and 31. Where is it? There it is. Verse 29, Jesus left there, went along the sea of Galilee, went up on a mountainside, sat down. Verse 30 says, great crowds came to him bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others and lay them at his feet and healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, including the one that is mentioned in Mark. The crippled, made well the lame, walking, the blind seeing and they praised the God of Israel. And then Matthew goes right on into the story that we're in in Mark 8. So get the scene here. This is three days of huge crowds gathering, bringing all kinds of sick people and Jesus healing them. This is going on for three days because Jesus says, I have compassion for these people. They've been with me three days, have nothing to eat. Now evidently these people came intending to stay for a little while, right? Because they must have had some provisions with them that lasted around three days, but now those have run out and they don't want to leave. Now that tells me something about this crowd and this is probably mostly a Gentile crowd. But they have no more food, but they still don't want to leave. And Jesus talks about his compassion for these people and he doesn't want to send them home hungry. Verse four, his disciples answered, but where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them? Now what do you think they're thinking? I mean, this is a fascinating story to me. I can almost I can almost feel the hair and the back of their neck beginning to stick up here. Is it going to do it again? It's just been we don't know exactly how long because like, you know, three days have passed here. It's just been a few weeks at most though. That he fed the 5,000. It's not been long ago that we looked at that passage. We have it. So that's not been very long ago. But if you compare the two passages, you will notice a difference in tone. In in John 6th, the feeding of the 5,000, there's a there's just a incredible sense of disbelief on the part of the disciples. There's no way this can happen. We can't feed these people. And we don't have enough food. 5,000, 2,000 fish. We can there's almost a matter of fact, what are you thinking, Lord? And here, there's a sense of where can we get enough food to feed these people? And it's almost like they're kind of saying, Lord, are you are you thinking what we're thinking? You wouldn't do this again, would you? There's a really really difference in tone here. Now, I think they are hesitant because Jesus did not feed every multitude that gathered. I mean, there's more than twice that Jesus is in the midst of great multitude. It's almost a daily thing. He didn't do it every time. So they're not being presumptuous. They're not expecting he's going to do it because he doesn't always do that. In fact, he's only done it one time. So that makes playing their hesitancy. Jesus will later talk about their unbelief. There's some of that here too. But there's a difference in this crowd and the other crowd. What is that difference? Not just difference in number. These are Gentiles, probably mostly. Some Jews may have come from Galilee and other regions, but these are probably, this is heavily Gentile territory. There's probably mostly Gentiles. And so they're not sure he will do the same with this crowd as he did in Galilee. A lot of stuff going on here, probably, that they're hopeful. They're anticipating, Lord, are we going down the same path? We went down a few weeks ago, and yet they're just not real sure that that would happen again. So Jesus, when he says this in verse 5, I can almost see them starting to smile at each other. He says, how many loaves do you have? And I can almost see Peter looking over at Andrew and they're kind of winking you and, and I can just see the anticipation, the excitement starting to arise in their hearts. Seven, they replied. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. And now I can just see them high five on each other. We're going to get to see this again. Wow. And they know what's coming now because this is exactly what Jesus had done before. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people and they did so. They had a few small fish as well. He gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven baskets full of broken pieces that were left over. And I've seen the pictures you have, too, in your little children's bibles, you know, the little baskets that look like offering plates, that's not the word here. The word for baskets here is a large rope basket, kind of like a clothes hamper type thing. It's huge. Okay, that's the word that's used here. Seven basket full of broken pieces that were left over about 4,000 men were present. So this happens again. Jesus feeds on this occasion, 4,000. We know it's not the same as before. Differences in number, difference in location. And when you put all the gospel accounts together, obviously the difference in time as well. So this has happened again. Okay, comments or questions before we leave Jesus, Jesus ministry as he withdraws to decapitalists. Any comments or questions? Okay, the next thing that happens is a controversy with the Pharisees and Sadducees over a sign. And we're going to go to Matthew's gospel for this account. Matthew gives us a little bit more information than Mark does. Matthew 16. Mark does say at the end of our story there in verse 9, having sent them away. In other words, the crowd having sent the crowd away. He got into a boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalman, Yuta. And Matthew is going to use a different word at the end of chapter 15 in Matthew verse 39. After Jesus sent the crowd away, got into the boat and went to the city of Magadan. And this is basically further down in Galilee than where he has typically ministered if we can see that map. I think there's a map that yeah, that map going from decapitalist back to the sea of Galilee going back across to the other side. Okay, so on this side is going to this side. This is probably the route that he follows. Magdala is right here down in the Yuta that right here in this area up here is where he's mostly ministered, cappernum, that area. That's up here. This is a little different area where Jesus is. So he hasn't gone back to his home base yet where all the controversy has been and where he's running to the Pharisees so much. But they find him chapter 16 verse 1. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. Okay, he goes back across to the west side of the sea of Galilee and the Pharisees and Sadducees finding remember he had left the Pharisees defeated humiliated, embittered, but they have regrouped and brought reinforcements and the reinforcements are the Sadducees. The Pharisees and Sadducees didn't go long too well, but they become strange bedfellows, I guess you could say, when it comes to their opposition to Jesus. Theologically they were on opposite sides of the spectrum. Pharisees were ultra conservative Sadducees ultra liberal, but they were both united in their hatred of Jesus. And so they both come together and it says they tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. They demand a sign. Now the word tested here is a word which communicates a argumentative spirit. There's not a spirit of real truth seeking, of wanting to really see him do a sign. They're argumentative, they're testing him. But isn't it interesting they ask him for a sign? In light of what we have seen in recent weeks, that's an interesting request, isn't it? Jesus has already told them that they will not get a sign. Jesus has already said there will be no more miraculous signs, but they are not asking for another miracle. They're not asking for a miracle like he's been doing. They're not asking for another feeding of the 5,000 or another healing or even raising somebody from the dead. Because they have already attributed those miracles to the power of Satan, haven't they? They made that clear in Matthew 12. They've already discounted those. They're not asking for another one of those. They don't believe in those. So what are they asking for here? Any idea? I think so. But why would they be asking for that? Something like that. Want to mock him? Okay. The new Old Testament stories, the fire being brought down. I think Walt is on to something there. The key to understanding what they're asking is understand two words. They are testing him as religious representatives of the Nation of Israel. They're presenting a test to him. And that test must come in their minds in the form of a sign. Now, if you'll hold your place here and go back to Deuteronomy 18. God makes a promise to the Nation of Israel through Moses. Verse 17, the Lord said to me what they say is good. Now, verse 18 of Deuteronomy 18, I will raise up for them a prophet like you, like Moses. From among their brothers, I will put my words in his mouth and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name, anything I have not commanded him to say or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods must be put to death. In other words, the real test of a prophet is whether or not he leads people to the true God or away from the true God. But now look at verse 21, you may say to yourselves, how can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord? In other words, how can we know whether it's a true prophet or not? Verse 22, if what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, do not be afraid of him. Okay, the religious leaders of Israel knew Deuteronomy 18. They knew that anybody that came to Israel claiming to be a prophet had to pass this test. How do you know whether it's a true prophet or not? Give him a test. If he speaks anything. So they're not asking for a miracle of healing or something like that. They're asking for something that is spoken. That's the test. If a prophet speaks anything and it doesn't come true, he's a false prophet. Now do these people want to prove that Jesus is a true prophet? No, obviously not. They've already concluded he isn't. They're hoping they can back him into a corner by basically saying to him, give us a prophecy like maybe something like what Walt suggested. Prophecy that tomorrow at 2 o'clock fire will come down from heaven. And they're probably thinking of that kind of spoken thing, you know, fire like Elijah or Elijah calling down fire from heaven or something like that. The sun standing still in Joshua's day or the sun actually moving back in time in Isaiah's day has a kind of day. You know, they're asking for something like that tomorrow at 2 o'clock fire will come down from heaven. I'm going to state a prophecy. And if it comes true, I am a true prophet. If it doesn't, I'm a false prophet. I think that's what they were asking for. They don't believe in these miracles, the kind they've seen. They already believe Satan's given them the power to do those. So they're not asking for another healing. They're not asking for another even raising some of them to dead. They're asking for a spoken prophecy. They are giving him the test of Deuteronomy 18. Give us a spoken prophecy. And we'll see whether or not it comes true. And they had every presumption in their heart that it would not and they could once and for all prove him to be a false prophet. So they're trying to test him. Pardon me? They could have. They could have had grounds to get rid of him as a false prophet because Deuteronomy 18 says he must die. They say he'd deal with a false prophet, supposed to. So I think that's what they're doing. Remember, they are the religious leaders. They feel they have the responsibility to check out any prophet that comes. Remember, they did the same thing to John, the Baptist. They came to John and said, who are you? Are you the Messiah? Are you Elijah? Who are you? They were checking him out. His credentials. Now with Jesus, this has gone on for two years. And so now they're desperate and they're trying to give him the ultimate test of a prophet. Tell us a prophecy and we'll see whether or not it comes true. That's the sign they're asking for. I believe. And notice what Jesus does. The way Jesus answers, it clues me into the fact that that's what they're asking for. Because Jesus answers in verse two, he replied, when evening comes, you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red and in the morning today it will be stormy for the sky is red and overcast. Red sky at night. Sailors delight. Red sky in morning. Sailor take morning. Okay. They just have a little different way of saying it back then. But what he's saying is you can you can tell the signs of the sky is real well. In fact, it goes on to say, you know how to interpret the appearance of the sky. But you cannot interpret the signs of the times. Signs of the times. Okay. If they're asking for a sign of a spoken prophecy that must come true in order to prove that he is the true Messiah, that he is a true prophet. What Jesus is saying, you've already got those. You don't know your Bible. That's your problem. You've got signs all around you and you don't know them. I mean, you can look at signs in the sky and you can interpret those signs. But you don't know how to interpret the signs of the times. What times? The times prophesied in Daniel 9, for instance, where Daniel laid out the time when the Messiah would come. And it's that time. If they knew how to interpret Daniel 9 as every good dispensationalist knows. If they knew how to interpret Daniel 9, they would know that this is the time for the Messiah to be. You're all they got to do is figure out the 69 weeks. And they know it's the time for the Messiah to be there. And all the other spoken tests, the Messiah must be born and Bethlehem. The Messiah will come from the house of David and on and on and on. All the Old Testament prophecies, the miracles in Isaiah 35 that Messiah will do. Jesus has done them over and over and over again. You've already got spoken prophecies that have already come true. And you don't understand them. You can't interpret them right. That's what Jesus is saying. Oh, you can look at the sky. You can interpret that fine, but you can't. You don't know your Bible. You don't interpret the signs you've already got. The sign that this is the time for the Messiah, the sign of the time. And so he answers in verse four, a wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign. This was the problem. They were so far from God in their hearts. They were spiritually adulterous. They were so far away from God in their hearts. Their hearts were so wicked and evil. They couldn't see the spoken prophecies revealed in Jesus Christ and fulfilled in Him. Although they were right in front of Him. They couldn't see them. Look at the sky. Tell what the weather is going to be, but they can't see the spoken prophecies right in front of them because of their wicked and adulterous heart. So Jesus says for the third time, by the way, in His ministry, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. That was the only sign left is the resurrection. Now Jesus will continue to do other miracles. But the only spoken prophecy, he said it back in John 2, tear down this temple. I'll build it back in three days. That's a spoken prophecy that if it comes true, then he's the Messiah, he's the prophet. He says, that's the only one I'm giving you. That's the only one I'm giving you. I've already given it to you. Twice. John 2 and Matthew 12. Here's the third time. That's the only spoken prophecy that serves as a sign. I spoke it. I said, tear down this temple. Three days, I'll raise it back up. If it comes true, I'm the true prophet. It would come true. But he says, that's the only one you're going to get. That's it. Now he will do other miracles, but that's not what they're asking for. They're asking for a spoken prophecy to prove that he is who he says he is. And Jesus says, I've already given you one. That's the only one you're going to get. It's the prophecy, the resurrection. And then look at verse four, Bible says, Jesus then left them and went away. And there is this is a leaving in haste. Mark's gospel says that he got in a boat and immediately departed for the other side of the Sea of Galilee. There is a sense here. And please understand how I'm saying this. There is a sense here where there is a holy indignation and frustration with the Pharisees. And so he gets out. He just gets out and goes across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. By the way, Mark's gospel in his account in chapter eight says that when Jesus replied to them, he sighed deeply. And this sigh is actually a side deeply. It's a very intensive word. It's the idea of groaning audibly. He groaned audibly. A sign of weariness, grief, at their hardness of heart, a holy exasperation with them as it were. And after he says, you're not going to get any more signs. I've told you the one prophecy of the resurrection. That's it. And he turns around and goes. He leaves. In fact, he leaves so quick that the disciples didn't have time to get provisions together. And that's going to play into the next story. When they get out on the Sea and Jesus starts talking about 11, they think, oh, he's calling us to account because we forgot bread. We didn't have time to get any bread. And I wish we had time to get into that story because it flows so naturally from this one. Jesus fires eight questions point blank at them before they have a chance to answer. And his holy indignation and exasperation turns on his disciples because they too don't understand. It's a gripping story as they go across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee again, but we'll have to wait on that one till next week. Next week, I won't be here two weeks. Okay. Any questions, comments? All right. Let's close in prayer.