Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Today, I point to an interesting pattern in chapters 7 to 9 of Mark’s gospel. 

In Mark 7, after feeding 5,000, Jesus walked on water and stilled a storm. The disciples were so astonished at his power over the storm that Mark comments, “Their hearts were hard. They didn’t understand about feeding the 5,000” (Mark 6:52).

Then Jesus got into an argument with the Pharisees about clean hands and clean hearts. Again the disciples didn’t understand, and Jesus said to them, “Are you so dull?” (Mark 7:18). 

Next, Jesus healed the daughter of a Gentile woman who asked him for crumbs under the Jewish table, and he healed a man who was deaf and mute. 

What an interesting sequence of stories. Throughout, the disciples have no clue what Jesus is up to as he feeds the 5,000, stills the storm, and teaches about clean hands and clean hearts. They are deaf to his message and blind to his mission. But the woman? The one who wanted crumbs from under the table? She understood, and so did the deaf and mute man who received healing. 

So . . . why doesn’t Jesus heal his disciples too, by helping them hear and understand his message. Why doesn’t he heal their blindness and deafness? 

In the next sequence of stories, Mark repeats the pattern. 

This time, Jesus fed 4,000 and argued with Pharisees. Later, he warned his disciples about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod. The disciples still didn’t get it. “Is Jesus talking about yeast because we didn’t bring enough bread?” they asked (Mark 8:16).

Jesus replied, “Don’t your eyes see? Don’t your ears hear? There were lots of leftovers when we fed the 5,000 and the 4,000. This isn’t about bread. Don’t you understand?” (Mark 8:21). 

Then Jesus met a blind man, healed him just enough so he could see people like trees walking, and touched his eyes again to give full eyesight. 

That completes the second pattern. Jesus fed a crowd, argued with Pharisees, dealt with disciples who didn’t see or hear or understand, and then healed a blind man. 

I sympathize with the disciples. I’m not much better than they in seeing a connection between feeding 5,000 and walking on the water. Or a link between feeding 4,000 and warning about the yeast of the Pharisees. 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, we are like your disciples. We hear the stories we have always heard, and live the lives we’ve always lived, and see the things we have always seen, and we fail to understand the life of faith you teach. 

What is the meaning of your miracles? Does healing a blind person mean you can heal our inner blindness? Does healing the deaf mand mean you can heal our spiritual deafness? 

O Jesus, open our eyes. Unstop our ears. Loosen our tongues, until we see and hear and speak for you. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube