The Powers of the Kingdom (preaching resource for Pentecost 15 & 16: 9/1 & 9/8/24)

This post exegetes Mark chapter 7 (plus part of chapter 8), providing context for the RCL Gospel readings on 9/1 & 9/8/24 (Pentecost 15 & 16). This exegesis draws on commentary from Alan Cole ("The New Bible Commentary"), John Grassmick ("The Bible Knowledge Commentary") and N.T. Wright ("Mark for Everyone"). 

Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman 
Etching by P. del Po after Annibale Carracci
(public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Introduction

In the seventh chapter of Mark's Gospel we come to the last segment in Mark’s powers of the Kingdom of God subsection (4:35 to 8:26) which is part of Mark’s lengthy Kingdom preaching section (1:1 to 8:26) presenting miracles demonstrating Jesus’ possession of the Kingdom’s powers. Doing so is paving the way for the climactic scene in Mark 8:29 where Peter confesses that Jesus truly is the Christ (the Messiah).

1. Jesus’ power over sin 

Mark 7:1-23

Jesus is taking a negative perspective to convey a positive and vital lesson concerning the nature of sin and its solution. He attacks the legalistic/ritualistic ways the Pharisees and teachers of the law are approaching sin as reflected in the way they are seeking to discredit Jesus, complaining that his followers are not washing their hands following accidental contact with Gentiles. This is not a matter of hygiene but of religious rituals based in Jewish tradition. Note that Jesus does not deny that his disciples are breaking these traditions. Instead, he justifies their action, noting that these traditions are merely of men. Worse still, observing them often goes hand in hand with rejection of God’s plain commands in the Law (the Torah), which these Jewish leaders are charged with upholding under the terms of the Old Covenant. The implication is that if tradition contradicts God’s command, it must be rejected, no matter how much loved. 

Jesus makes his point with a stinging quotation from the prophet Isaiah (Mark 7:6). Then he illustrates the quote with an example of how the Pharisees are denying a Mosaic command with a typically rabbinic trick: If a man vows to the temple the money that he will normally spend on caring for his parents, he is freed from the obligation of providing for them. As usual, Mark explains the technical word Corban (v11), used to describe this sort of offering-vow. According to Jesus, this legalistic trick, done in the name of religion, is sheer hypocrisy! Worse still, it is only one example out of many.

The Jewish ‘purity’ laws are another example of this legalistic hypocrisy, and Jesus takes this opportunity to explain to the crowds that the true nature of ‘contamination’ (sin) is not ritual but moral, and it springs from within not from without, as erroneously taught by the Pharisees (vv14-23). They, like most Jews of their time, view sin as a sort of germ—an infection caught by contact with outsiders (Gentiles in particular). In contrast, Jesus teaches that sin is like cancer, growing within us, Jew and non-Jew alike. This, of course, is far harder to deal with, for it cannot be avoided by avoiding ‘infection’ from others—rather, sin’s cure requires radical inner, spiritual surgery that will change one’s sinful nature. That is what John the Baptist was talking about in saying that the one coming after him (i.e. Jesus) would baptize with the Holy Spirit, whereas his baptism in water merely pictured what Jesus would do.

Jesus drives home the absurdity of the teaching and practice of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law with a commonsense illustration (called a parable in v17b). What goes into the stomach is not going to affect our spiritual lives, but only our digestion, and our digestive processes will deal with it in due course. The view of the Pharisees about defilement is crude, legalistic and over-literal. In contrast, Jesus shows that the heart (we would say today, the mind) is the source of defilement (sin). He then offers a sobering list of the awful things that can flow from it.

Mark, understanding that Jesus’ teaching here points forward to his death and resurrection, which will end the Law of Moses (the Old Covenant) and usher in the New Covenant, parenthetically notes that Jesus' words here mean that the food laws of the Old Covenant are no longer binding. Indeed, under the New Covenant, all food is clean and so may be eaten (v19). This point would have been a great relief to the first readers of Mark’s gospel who were both Gentile and Jewish Christians in Rome, for it would have made fellowship at the Lord’s table, and otherwise, much easier for them (see Gal. 2:12).

The important point here is that sin is not merely an external matter related to breaking of certain rules. Rather sin is a force; a power that infects and destroys humanity from the inside. The only power that can deal with it is not religious tradition/ritual; and not even the Law of Moses; but only God, who now is present in their midst, with the power of the Holy Spirit, in the person of Jesus, the promised Messiah. It is in Jesus then, that we trust to be delivered from sin’s power. Indeed, that is why he has come!

2. The faith of a foreigner 

Mark 7:24-30

Here Mark continues the theme of ‘impurity’ with a story of a Gentile, and thus from a Jewish perspective, an ‘impure’ person. In a sense, it is a missionary story. It seems as if Jesus is seeking a place of quiet in a Gentile region, but he cannot escape notice. This time, it is not a crowd, but a Greek-speaking local woman who comes, begging him to drive out an evil spirit from her daughter. In his answer (v27) Jesus is probably quoting a popular proverb, and therefore is not being as harsh as this sounds to us. In any case, the emphasis is on the first part of the sentence. While Jesus is on earth, his mission is first to Israel (Mat. 15:24). After the cross, the turn for the Gentiles will come in the universal mission that is so dear to Mark. But this Gentile woman’s faith is great and so is her persistence, for her need is very great. She accepts good-humouredly that she has no right at this stage to claim God’s grace but simply throws herself on Jesus’ mercy, turning his parable back in his direction. Is Jesus only testing her, to see if her faith is strong, pointed fully at Jesus? Such faith is rewarded. It is indeed a miracle of grace that Gentiles share in all the promises of God made to Israel (see Romans 11:18). 

3. The healing of a deaf and dumb man 

Mark 7:31-37

This story of a physical healing illustrates that even when people (like the Pharisees!) are deaf to God, Jesus can heal them. The actions used here by Jesus are intended to make the man understand that this is not healing by magic but healing by God in answer to prayer. Jesus wants to create faith in the man before he heals him. So, deafness is imitated by stopping the man’s ears, and healing of dumbness imitated by touching his tongue and spitting out. Looking up to heaven and sighing are visible pictures of prayer that a deaf and dumb man will understand. The word of command is then spoken in the man’s native Aramaic language, which Mark interprets for his non-Palestinian audience. As usual, Jesus commands silence and, also as usual, he is disobeyed. The excited people proclaim, ‘He has done everything well’, and they are overwhelmed with amazement. But do they believe? That question is not answered, though we suspect not. However, in a short while, Peter will make the leap of faith from amazement to a deep recognition of Jesus’ true identity. Indeed, ‘deaf’ Peter will hear, and ‘dumb’ Peter will speak!

4. The feeding of four thousand 

Mark 8:1-13

Now Jesus demonstrates again that he possesses the powers of the Kingdom of God. He makes this demonstrations before he deems his disciples ready for their final ‘test’. Have they learned who he truly is? Have they learned the lesson of the feeding of the five thousand? Here is an opportunity to show that they have. Sadly, they fail. Once again, there is a hungry crowd listening intently to Jesus’ amazing teaching. Once again, Jesus shows his compassion; and once again, the disciples show their helplessness (v4). Their thinking is still worldly; they have left Jesus out of their calculations. Once again Jesus patiently asks how much bread they have, and they report a pitifully tiny amount. Once again, he thanks God and breaks the loaves of bread and gives them to his disciples to give to the crowd. Once again, God’s provision for their needs is more than enough.

Some commentators see this story as a mistaken repetition of the feeding of the five thousand, but that view misses the whole point here. Mark is deliberately showing the slowness and dullness of the disciples, even when a second similar miracle is performed (see vv17–20). In any case, the number of the loaves and of the baskets of fragments (as well as the number of people fed) is not the same as before. Once again, Mark is conveying an eye-witness account (probably that of Peter).

5. The yeast of the Pharisees and Herod 

Mark 8:14-21

Mark tells this story to underline the failure of the Twelve to understand. In Jesus’ view, his disciples are still too much influenced by a worldly perspective. As a result, they fail to grasp the nature of the Kingdom now present in Jesus. Here they are preoccupied with blaming each other for forgetting to bring bread on the trip. And so Jesus rebukes them, using a little parable to indicate that the disciples have forgotten that Jesus can and will meet the bodily needs of those seeking God’s Kingdom—he has shown this commitment and power in the feeding miracles already. Jesus rebukes them quite bluntly (v21), indicating that the yeast of the Pharisees is their whole wrong-headed attitude toward life—a mindset that will infect the disciples unless they take great care to combat it. The point is that the way of Jesus is totally different from the way of the world, typed by the Pharisees (religious leaders) and Herod (the civil leader).

6. The healing of a blind man 

Mark 8:22-26

This last example of the powers of the Kngdom of God is probably intended to be a picture of the spiritual blindness of Jesus' disciples, who soon will receive spiritual sight. Here friends bring the blind man to Jesus; their trust (faith) in Jesus, as well as his, will be rewarded. They lead the blind man out of the shouting and confusion of the village so that he can listen to Jesus without distraction. To spit on the man’s eyes and lay hands on him are things that a blind man can feel. There is nothing magical about the spittle, even if it is the spittle of Jesus—it is only an outward aid to the man’s faith and understanding.

Why does this particular healing take place in two steps? Is it because the man’s faith is imperfect? Mark does not say. It is enough that Jesus does not leave the man half-healed but persists until he sees everything clearly. Is this a picture of the way that even Peter will only half-see the truth about Jesus at first? The healed man is warned to go straight home without going back to the village, where people who see him might be tempted to follow Jesus only as a healer, not as the Messiah, the Savior. There is always a danger where healing miracles take place in the preaching of the gospel that people will be drawn to Christ for wrong reasons.

Conclusion

Mark’s rapid-fire presentation of these miracle stories (and warnings about unbelief) is leading quickly forward to a great climactic moment in Mark: Peter’s confession of Christ.