Lesson

#8
Interlude
(7: 1 8: 26)

With the murder of John the Bap2st in Lesson #7, Jesus faces
the stark reality that if he con2nues teaching, preaching and
healing in Galileeas he has been doinghe will face the same
brutal death as his cousin, John.
Understanding this marks a turning point for Jesus in the Gospel
according to Mark. Un2l now as readers we might ques2on
whether Jesus fully understood the consequences of his
ac2ons, whether he knew the ul2mate price he would pay for
them, and whether he fully comprehended the implica2ons for
himself and for his disciples.
AEer Johns murder Jesus night on the mountain there is no
longer any doubt: Jesus will go to Jerusaleminto the mouth
of the beastwhere he will confront head-on the religious
leaders and the Roman authori2es, be arrested, tried and
brutally crucied.

His decision made, Jesus reengages the growing conict that has
accompanied his public ministry in Galilee. As we enter Lesson #8 we
learn that Jesus ac2vi2es in Galilee have aOracted the aOen2on of
the religious leaders in Jerusalem, for when the Pharisees with some
scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him . . . they
began to ques2on him regarding details of the Law: Why do your
disciples not follow the tradi2on of the elders but instead eat a meal
with unclean hands (7: 1, 5)?
Juxtaposed to the murder of John the Bap2st and Jesus night on the
mountain, this otherwise appropriate ques2on on a minor point of
the Law ignites a deep rage within Jesus: He responds, Well did
Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites . . . (7: 6), and he goes on to
savage the religious leaders, throwing gasoline on a smoldering re.
When his disciples ques2on him about the encounter, Jesus blasts
them, too: Are you likewise without understanding (7: 18)? Jesus
frustra2on and anger are visceral, virtually leaping o the page!

Jesus then leaves Galilee and heads north toward Tyre (in
modern-day Lebanon), where he encounters a
Syrophoenician woman (whom he deeply insults!), and he
then heads back by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee.
Once home, nothing has changed.
With that, Jesus makes a pivotal decision. He takes his
disciples 43 miles north of the Sea of Galilee to Caesarea
Philippi, a Greco-Roman town at the southwestern foot of
Mt. Hermon, where the turning point in our story will take
place.

As we saw the tone of our story change

entering Lesson #7 where Jesus seemed
deated, so does the tone change again in
Lesson #8 as Jesus reengages the conict in
Galilee.
In Lesson #8 we learn that the religious
authori2es in Jerusalem have taken note of
Jesus, and he is now on their radar.
Jesus responds to the scribes from Jerusalem
like a pit bull going aEer raw meat!

Why do your disciples

not follow the tradiEon
of the elders but instead
eat a meal with unclean
hands? (7: 5)

The Rabbi says . . .

Since God provides the food we eat, it is

holy. Therefore, we bless God for the
food he has provided, and we perform a
hand washing called NeElat Yadayim to
sanc2fy ourselves before ea2ng the food
God has oered. It is a ceremonial
washing, having nothing to do with
hygiene.

We wash our hands with a special 2-

handled cup, pouring water 3 2mes over
the right hand and then 3 2mes over the
leE hand, while reci2ng a blessing.

Likewise, in the Roman

Catholic Church when Mass
is celebrated and the giEs of
bread and wine are being
prepared at the altar, the
priest ceremonially washes
his hands, saying, Lord,
wash away my iniquity;
cleanse me from my sins.
The priests ac2on descends
directly from the ceremonial
hand washing before meals
in Judaism.

The Greek word translated

hypocrites is uJpokritw:n
[hupo-kri-ton], a masculine,
plural noun meaning in classical
Greek a stage actor,
pretender, or dissembler.
It is a scathing indictment of the
professional theologians, the
religious leaders from Jerusalem,
and the most incendiary insult in
Jesus vocabulary.

And then Jesus con2nues . . .

How well you have set aside the
commandment of God in order to
uphold your tradiEon! For Moses
said . . .

Im outta
here!

! Tyre

! 34 miles

! 38 miles
! Capernaum

In one of the most dicult passages in

the synop2c gospels, Jesus clearly insults
the Syrophoenician womana gen2le
who asks for his help by calling her a
dog.
There is no gejng around it: calling someone
a dog in the Near East is an insult, both in
biblical 2mes and today:
Golaith, insulted by David, says: Am I a dog
that you come at me with a s2ck? (1 Samuel
17: 43);
When evil king Ahab dies dogs licked up his
blood as its washed from his chariot where
the pros2tutes bathed (1 Kings 22: 38); and
When Ahabs vile wife Jezebel dies, dogs
devoured her esh and she thus becomes
dung in the elds (2 Kings 9: 36-37).

But everyone
likes me!

Dr. C s BuOercup (RIP)

?
!Decapolis
Region

Why does Jesus go

north to Sidon and
then back to Galilee by
way of the Decapolis?

Makes no sense
to me!

We need to look at this

scene very carefully.
AEer Jesus heated encounter
with the scribes from
Jerusalem and his frustrated
clash with his disciples, he
heads north to Tyre,
withdrawing from Galilee in
anger.
In Tyre he clashes with the
Syrophoenician woman, calling
her a dog, his frustra2on and
impa2ence again clearly
evident.

If thats the case, one would

expect the Syrophoenician
woman to strike back at the
insult, but she doesnt; instead,
she responds with humility and
kindness.
Jesus seems taken aback!
He grants her wish, and then
moves on, not returning to
Galilee, but con2nuing north to
Sidon.
Where is he going?

Jesus con2nues pujng another 30

miles between himself and
Galilee!
Once at Sidon, however, Jesus
seems to change his mind, heading
back to Galilee, but in a rather
circuitous route, entering through
the eastern region of the
Decapolis.

?
!Decapolis
Region

Could it be that having leE Galilee

in anger and frustra2on, Jesus is
determined to give up the ght?
And could it be that the
Syrophoenician womans
response gave him pause and
prompted him to reconsider?
And could it be that on his
con2nuing walk north to Sidon he
determined to go back to Galilee
and con2nue the ght?
And could it be that by taking a
circuitous route he had 2me to
think and to plan his next moves?

Yes, that could

very well be the
case!

Bartholomeus Breenbergh, Jesus Healing a Deaf and Dumb Man (oil on

canvas), 1635. Louvre Museum, Paris.

Jesus Mul2plies the Loaves & Fish

Mark 6: 31-44
Decapolis
Late in the day
5,000 men

Mark 8: 1-10
Decapolis
3 days later
4,000 men

(masculine, plural)

(masculine, plural)

5 loaves


2 sh


12 baskets leE

7 loaves
a few sh
7 baskets leE

Dalmanutha "

Possible site of Dalmanutha.

Map courtesy of Biblos.com

Sea of Galilee (Google Earth)

!Bethsaida
3 Heals blind man
1

Dalmanutha " 2
Demand for Sign

Decapolis
Heals deaf man
Feeds 4,000

Gioacchino Assereto, Christ Healing the Blind Man (oil on canvas), 1640.
Carnegie Museum of Art, PiOsburgh, PA.

On three occasions Jesus

heals a person by spijng!
1. The deaf man in the Decapolis
He put his nger into the mans ears
and, spi\ng, touched his tongue (Mark
7: 33);
2.

The blind man of Bethsaida

He took the blind man by the hand and
led him outside the village. Pu\ng
spi^le on his eyes he laid his hands on
him . . . (Mark 8: 23);

3. The man born blind in Jerusalem

When he had said this, he spat on the
ground and made clay with the
saliva (John 9: 6).

How odd is that!

I have read countless explana2ons for why
Jesus spits in these three healings, from the
early Church Fathers to contemporary
biblical cri2cism, and I have yet to encounter
a convincing explana2on.
Clearly, Jesus can heal in a variety of ways:
1) laying hands on someone (Peters mother-
in-law); 2) speaking to someone who is
present (the paraly2c); 3) speaking about
someone who is not present (the
Syrophoenician womans daughter); and so
on.
I have no idea why Jesus spits in these three
healings.

(Dont let that get out!)

1. Why does Jesus react so aggressively when

the scribes from Jerusalem ques2on him
about he and his disciples ea2ng with
unwashed hands?
2. What is signicant about the scribes from
Jerusalem asking him this ques2on?
3. Why does Jesus go to Tyre and Sidon?
4. What does Jesus mean by calling the
Syrophoenician woman a dog?
5. Why does Jesus take such a circuitous route
back to Galilee from Sidon?

Copyright 2014 by William C. Creasy

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