MARK 7:31-37

[R E LANGFORD JR]

Greetings All: Christ is risen!

                                             
Here is the next pericope. It's quite important to remember that Mark tells us

everything he thinks we need to know in order to understand the gospel tale.

All too often we moderns get all tangled up in questions that seem relevant to

us, but only side-swipe what Mark wants us to hear and learn about Jesus and

his ministry of inaugurating the kingdom of God.

As N.T. Wright would have us hear the tale, Jesus initiates the kingdom of God
here on earth as it is already in heaven. This is a good reflection, worth a few

meditative moments.
--

1revd: *MSG* MARK 7:31-37
1revd: *MSG* there it is
joegabe1: *MSG* and we shall begin
1revd: *MSG* good
joegabe1: *MSG* Dear Lord
joegabe1: *MSG* Hear our prayer as we pray for guidance for our teacher
joegabe1: *MSG* and for his health
joegabe1: *MSG* and also for health and protection of the following people
joegabe1: *MSG* kricket and zeke who we dont know how they are luna that just got out of hospital
joegabe1: *MSG* pks father who is still on oxygen and for all the people who are having medical ailments
joegabe1: *MSG* also lift up pk who is having bad axiety problems and needs love and care from you
joegabe1: *MSG* we ask all of this from you through
joegabe1: *MSG* your son jesus
joegabe1: *MSG* amen
joegabe1: *MSG* Jesus Heals a Deaf and Mute Man
joegabe1: *MSG* 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.[a] 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
joegabe1: *MSG* 
joegabe1: *MSG* 33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man???s ears. Then he spit and touched the man???s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, ???Ephphatha!??? (which means ???Be opened!???). 35 At this, the man???s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
joegabe1: *MSG* 36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. ???He has done everything well,??? they said. ???He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.???
1revd: *MSG* neat, TY
joegabe1: *MSG* yw
1revd: *MSG* we still agree that "???" stands for quotation marks?
joegabe1: *MSG* ye
joegabe1: *MSG* yes
1revd: *MSG* grand
1revd: *MSG* MARK 7:31-37 Bible Study for Christian Friendship chatroom, 8 JULY 2011, @ Talk City, revised and edited for Royal Family Coffee Chat on FRI., 27 APR 2012

                             
1revd: *MSG* If you allow some comments about the social context, ... Today's bible study gives us a unique insight into the way Jesus dealt with politics and political pressure, whether it came from the "church" or the "state." Those terms, so familiar to us today, do not match anything going on during his era. In many ways the Herods were puppets of the Roman overlords, and they had their collaborators: the Saducees of the priestly and scribal authorities of the temple cult.

                                       
1revd: *MSG* When the text says "so and so from the temple, or "from Jerusalem," it usually infers the latter. When it gives place names, or names a Herodian king, or his domain, it's usually inferring a political matter. This is a broad, whitewash approach, I know. Let me reiterate the thought for the USA readers that "state" or "church" were not considered to be in conflict, indeed it was expected in that era that they worked "hand in glove" a totally normal and ordinary state of affairs.

                         
1revd: *MSG* In our most recent cameo a Syro-Phoenician woman's daughter was healed by Jesus in non-Jewish, pagan territory, and the faith, as such, of the woman or her daughter are NOT mentioned. Think of that! Now Jesus continues his travels in pagan, formerly Phillistine/Phoenician, territory. He goes further north along the coast to Sidon. It's about a twenty-five mile hike, so if he just ambled along in a determined "gonna get there" fashion it may have taken about two and a fraction days. 
1revd: *MSG* About half way there he'd have passed Zarephath, where Elijah had fled and had been fed by a widow. When Jesus reaches Sidon, he would have been far north of the original limits of the Twelve Tribes' territory. The best guesses of the archaeologists put the northerly edge of the Tribe of Asher just a tad north of Tyre, at the Litani River along the coastal plain, and likewise the northerly edge of more inward or easterly to Asher's range the Tribe of Naphtali, keeping the Litani in mind. The territory (Tetrarchy) of Herod Antipas extends no where near that far north.

                                          
1revd: *MSG* Jesus is now totally "outside." He is not in Jewish territory in any sense of the word. Furthermore, he doesn't seem upset by any thought that he "could become unclean" by being so far from Jewish territory.
1revd: *MSG* So Jesus goes to Sidon. Why? Does he do or say anything there? What happens that he would turn around, and go back toward Jewish settlements?
1revd: *MSG* Any ideas or guesses?
joegabe1: *MSG* no
1revd: *MSG* me neither

                                 
1revd: *MSG* Follow the rule of knowing only what this gospel author tells us!
1revd: *MSG* We have no idea. Mark tells us nothing. Thus from the point of view of Mark's tale, we know only that Jesus wandered. Mark does not even tell us, except for such hints, what Jesus was up to.
1revd: *MSG* Now the specifically peculiar part: "31 Then Jesus left the area of Tyre and went through Sidon. He went down to the Sea of Galilee and into the area known as the Ten Cities." [NIRV]

                                           
1revd: *MSG* If Jesus is headed out, away from Galilee, (and that is a huge assumption) if you go north to or "through" Sidon, it's an incredible leap of imagination for anyone knowing the geography of the Holy Land to imagine you then are going "down" to the Sea of Galilee into the easterly shore area called the "Decapolis," or "Ten Towns" area south of the realm/territory (tetrarchy) of Philip. IMO, he's avoiding confrontations of a "political sort."

                                      
1revd: *MSG* Jesus goes north into pagan territory, further north out of Tyre, and then skirts around Herod's territory to get to the "Ten Towns" (again pagan) area.
1revd: *MSG* Did Jesus want to wander the so-called "King's Highway?" Did he want to see Mount Hermon, at the northerly fringe of the original Twelve Tribes' range? How serious was he about avoiding a confrontation with Herod Antipas? Did the scribes and Pharisees who kept pestering him in Galilee hunt for him even outside Jewish territory? 
1revd: *MSG* Lots of questions, I know. They're in many of the commentaries.

                                            
1revd: *MSG* As I've already written, we have NO idea. Mark tells us nothing. Thus from the point of view of Mark's tale, we know only that Jesus wandered. Mark does not even tell us, except for such hints, what Jesus was up to. From the viewpoint of MARK, what's important is "Jesus wandered."
1revd: *MSG* doubts, questions, problems?
joegabe1: *MSG* no
1revd: *MSG* so far, so good

                                        
1revd: *MSG* IMO, This wandering comes to a conclusion in the region of the "Ten Cities," (if you can call them cities). Following my suggested division, I put it to you that Mark is saying that, at this time in his ministry, Jesus is avoiding political confrontations. Whether with what WE would call the "state" or what WE would call the "church."

                                        
1revd: *MSG* Continuing, then, as we have in the past, verse by verse. "32 There some people brought a man to him. The man was deaf and could hardly speak. They begged Jesus to place his hand on him." [NIRV] This seems to be a standard "set up" or introduction by Mark to another healing episode. Yes?
1revd: *MSG* - - -
1revd: *MSG* [32] And they bring to him one deaf and dumb; and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. [33] And taking him from the multitude apart, he put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue: [34] And looking up to heaven, he groaned, and said to him: Ephpheta, which is, Be thou opened. [35] And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. [36] And he charged them that they should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal did they publish it. [37] And so much the more did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well; he hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." [Douay-Rheims version] Again, I choose this version because it was a favorite of Pouncycat (if a tad old fashioned). If you find the "thee, thy, thou, thine" a tad thick English, at bible gateway dot com are several, more modern, translations.
1revd: *MSG* - - -
joegabe1: *MSG* 1revd
1revd: *MSG* I'm here

                                
joegabe1: *MSG* with all due respects may i make a sugestion if i may ok
1revd: *MSG* sure
joegabe1: *MSG* trim the pastes shorter cause talkcity has flood control and that much pasted
1revd: *MSG* ack
1revd: *MSG* sorry
joegabe1: *MSG* talkcitry kicks and gags for that
1revd: *MSG* i do forget that
joegabe1: *MSG* talkcity does
1revd: *MSG* my apologies
joegabe1: *MSG* may i sugest a 6 line limit
1revd: *MSG* i do not want to interfere with their rules
1revd: *MSG* OK
joegabe1: *MSG* sorry carry on
1revd: *MSG* I'll try to remember "six (6) lines"
1revd: *MSG* I pray you do not believe I'm trying to be troublesome; frankly, I forget.
joegabe1: *MSG* i know lol
1revd: *MSG* It's hard to remember just what I'm doing even, I get so wrapped up in excitement over what Jesus says or does.
1revd: *MSG* I apologize.
joegabe1: *MSG* tis ok
1revd: *MSG* TY TY, you are always so kind and understanding

                                                
1revd: *MSG* In our most recent cameo a Syro-Phoenician woman's daughter was healed by Jesus in non-Jewish, pagan territory, and the faith, as such, of the woman or her daughter are NOT mentioned. Think of that!

                                         
1revd: *MSG* Jesus functions the same way whether in Jewish or pagan territory! Jesus heals whether people show signs of faith in God, and specifically the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or not. Jesus responds to requests whether people know the Law of Moses or not, obey the Law of Moses or not!

                                     
1revd: *MSG* Now Jesus continues his travels in pagan, formerly Phillistine/Phoenician, territory. He goes further north along the coast to Sidon. It's about a twenty-five mile hike, so if he just ambled along in a determined "gonna get there" fashion it may have taken about two and a fraction days.

                                        
1revd: *MSG* About half way there he'd have passed Zarephath, where Elijah had fled and had been fed by a widow. When Jesus reaches Sidon, he would have been far north of the original limits of the Twelve Tribes' territory.
1revd: *MSG* Far from the temple; far from Herod; totally away from potential hassles, away from confrontations.
1revd: *MSG* The best guesses of the archaeologists put the northerly edge of the Tribe of Asher just a tad north of Tyre, at the Litani River along the coastal plain, and likewise the northerly edge of more inward or easterly to Asher's range the Tribe of Naphtali, keeping the Litani in mind. The territory (Tetrarchy) of Herod Antipas extends no where near that far north.

                                 
1revd: *MSG* So, to rehearse it again::: Jesus goes to Sidon. Why? Does he do or say anything there? What happens that he would turn around, and go back toward Jewish settlements?
1revd: *MSG* And then again::: We have no idea. Mark tells us nothing. Thus from the point of view of Mark's tale, we know only that Jesus wandered. Mark does not even tell us, except for such hints, what Jesus was up to.

                                      
1revd: *MSG* So, in this arena on pagan territory, "33 Jesus took the man to one side, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue." [NIRV], or better "[33] And taking him from the multitude apart, he put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue:" [Douay-Rheims] to avoid the strange English "he spit."

                        
1revd: *MSG* Ah, ha! Says a 21st Century skeptic. The first use of a transfer of bodily fluids in healing. Come, come, dear soul. It's just a first century way to say Jesus "intervened personally." Spitting at or on people even today is a way of showing disgust and declaring how inconsequential a person is. That's not it either. Just take the tale the way Mark provides it to you. The "spit" was related to the "healing." 'nuf sed?

                             
1revd: *MSG* "34 Jesus looked up to heaven. With a deep sigh, he said to the man, "Ephphatha!" That means "Be opened!" " [NIRV] Here again, MARK preserves the original Aramaic, transliterated into Koiné Greek.
1revd: *MSG* This is one of the ordinary languages of the Holy Land in the first century. It's probably the language Jesus and his disciples commonly spoke, especially if they wished to converse with anyone in the marketplace. Notice that Jesus looked at the sky again, as he did when giving thanks in the cameo about feeding the five thousand. Notice also that Mark carefully tells the "meaning" of the mismash sounding Greek for his partially Gentile audience.

                                                      
1revd: *MSG* "35 The man's ears were opened. His tongue was freed up, and he began to speak clearly." [NIRV] Did we expect anything less? Are we getting into the mind-set of a first century audience? Do we hear the wonder and amazement of Mark's first audiences?

                                        
1revd: *MSG* It always causes me to marvel! Invariably, I am amazed simply to hear it read in a worship service. It reminds me of how Jesus (God) works, even today!

                                      
1revd: *MSG* "36 Jesus ordered the people not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it." [NIRV] Notice the transition? Previously, when Jesus told folks to keep quiet about a healing [MARK 1:44] he was in a Jewish community where people might begin to get "messianic" ideas prematurely.

                                                    
1revd: *MSG* Now he's in a, as I've called it, "mixed bag," area. Now even here, what he does gets reported, and Jewish folk may begin to get the wrong ideas. What Jesus is actually doing, if one takes a few moments to remember and ponder it, is what God promised to do through the prophet Isaiah.

                                    
1revd: *MSG* "5 Then the eyes of those who are blind will be opened. The ears of those who can't hear will be unplugged. 6 Those who can't walk will leap like a deer. And those who can't speak will shout with joy. Water will pour out in dry places. Streams will flow in the desert." [NIRV - IS 35:5-6]

                                   
1revd: *MSG* Remember the very first thing Mark tells us that Jesus has to say? Repent and believe the good news! The kingdom of God is breaking into this world through me, and it is as close to you as your own right hand. You don't have to wait until you die to go to heaven! Heaven is where God rules, and it is here and now!

                                              
1revd: *MSG* Isaiah (a neat poem, IMO) tells what it will be like when God comes personally to redeem his people. Got the idea? In this Jewish fellow, Jesus of Nazareth, God is inaugurated his long awaited keeping of the promise to all peoples everywhere. From my POV, this is yet one more sign that Mark is doing a very credible job of unfolding his opening verse or title. This Jesus is God's Messiah for the whole of creation, for all peoples on the earth.

                                            
1revd: *MSG* "37 People were really amazed. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes deaf people able to hear. And he makes those who can't speak able to talk." " [NIRV] When Mark says "people," remember that in this locale he purposefully includes Gentiles. These are folks who probably were not familiar with the prophesy of Isaiah. They would have heard, perhaps, of their Jewish neighbors' desire for the Jewish messiah to come, as perhaps a political figure.

                                                          
1revd: *MSG* This episode would tend, I put it to you, to cause a Gentile to rethink what he or she knew of Jewish messianic hopes. It would do so in just as powerful a way that it would trigger a Jewish person's recollection of what Isaiah had said and written. Should we likewise re-assess what we think of what God's messiah is like?

                                            
1revd: *MSG* Ha! My ancestors in the British Isles were painting themselves blue and robbing cows and sheep and women from other folks across the border. My family was 100% pagan. Yet they came to understand that the Jewish messiah ... God's Messiah ... was coming with good news for them.

                                                  
1revd: *MSG* Do we, who presume to know this story well, consider what it means for us in North America to know that Jesus comes among us today (through the working of the Holy Spirit) to heal and help not just "religious" people of our sort, but all people everywhere?

                                 
1revd: *MSG* There's something to ponder until next time. The session's bible study ends here, today. I pray it's enough to think about!

                                  
1revd: *MSG* Joegabe, will you please lead us in a closing prayer?
joegabe1: *MSG* ok
joegabe1: *MSG* Dear heavenly father
joegabe1: *MSG* We give you thanks for all you do for us
joegabe1: *MSG* and as we go toward another week
joegabe1: *MSG* please keep us safe and healthy and
joegabe1: *MSG* keep us grateful for all we got and do not let us yearn
joegabe1: *MSG* for what we do not deserve
joegabe: *JOIN* Entered room.
coffeebot: *MSG* joegabe Welcome to The Coffee Shop, we are glad you could come.
coffeebot: *MSG* 4Administrator: joegabe. Type !x to view coffeebot's Control Panel.
joegabe: *MSG* am i here
1revd: *MSG* wb joegabe
joegabe: *MSG* ty
joegabe: *MSG* what line i finish at
1revd: *MSG* "for what we do not deserve"
joegabe1: we ask this in jesus holy name
joegabe1: amen

 

--

I think I recall writing an "amen" to the prayers to open and conclude the session,
though I may be wrong. In any case, here is my "amen" to the prayers.

 
The Rev'd R E LANGFORD JR, FAPC, ELCA pastor  ! retired !
       39.58°N by 75.98°W

My clarity of conscience and my purity of heart are undisputed

evidence that my memory is failing me.        

`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸..·´¯`·...¸ ><(((((º> `·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><((º> `·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.· ><((º>