Mark 7: 31-8: 21
Why Does This Generation Seek A Sign?

But we also saw that this woman did the right thing (demonstrating remarkable faith) when she did not take offense but simply accepted her place in his parable.  By faith, she allowed Jesus to define her, and she allowed Jesus to define himself.  She is happy to take her place as a Gentile dog just so long as she gets to stay at the table with her Master.  “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  Jesus accepted her appeal and healed her daughter as a political declaration that she was right, even the Gentile enemy nations surrounding Israel will be included at the table, indeed, by faith, they will also become children of Abraham. 

In today’s text Jesus continues to operate in foreign Gentile territory, and he continues to demonstrate that, though, in his mission, he came first as a Jew to the Jews, yet as the True Jew he will singularly fulfill the call of Abraham, long neglected, to become a blessing to all nations – and he will also provide bread for Gentile dogs like you and I. 

The Syro-Phoenician woman understood Jesus, and she trusted him.  But will the Jewish leaders understand him?  Will even his own disciples open their eyes and ears to understand and to trust Jesus? 

Scripture Reading 

Prayer 

“Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 

It’s one thing to seek a sign from God, but it’s another thing to actually recognize/ read a sign when it comes our way.  It’s one thing to demand more direction, but it’s another thing to accept direction when it’s in front of our face(s). 

***When we make demands to see God move the problem is that we are usually asking for God to fit exactly into parameters which we ourselves have laid down beforehand.  We are, in effect, saying that we will accept God if only he will fit into our mold for him.  We’ve heard great teachings from Jesus; we’ve seen his power in the church community where people are changed, where there is love and mercy – forgiveness of sins.  But just show me a clear sign from heaven God and then I will be filled with faith to follow you. 

***After all, we do live in a world that is filled with lies, with deception and corruption, where trust is daily broken, promises forsaken, contracts cheated.

(That’s why we have contracts, after all.  We must have things written down and signed in order to hold one another accountable.)  It makes good sense in a sinful world to ask for some verification. 

But whether we realize it our not, when we seek signs from God we are often asking for God to bless our own agenda, to confirm our own perspective, and, in so doing, we are not really looking for God to reveal himself.

(Like it or not) We have strong pre-conceptions about how God ought to act, so much so that if we find that he seems to act differently than we had anticipated, then we may simply refuse to see any work by God as a true sign. 

We think that we want to see a sign from God because we believe that when such a sign comes our way it will be the best thing for us; it will clear away our doubts, and lead us down the right road exactly as God is supposed to do.  But, again, we are not typically ready for signs that will redirect us, instead we want signs to verify we were on the right path in the first place. 

The problem is that when we already stand convinced of our own wisdom seeking a sign can function as a ruse which provides a convenient excuse to disbelieve.  It’s a misunderstanding of faith in the first place which demands to see the end before starting the path – there’s no trust involved there. 

Today’s passage confirms what we learned from the parable of the Sower. 

Prop:  God only gives signs to those with ears to hear and eyes to see. 

(1)  The Deaf-Mute Pharisees   (Pharisees vs. Isaiah 35: 6) 

The healing of the deaf-mute man is one of the most powerful and intimate wonders which Jesus has yet performed.  Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears; he spit and touched his tongue.  This personal touch seems Jesus way of communicating with a man who cannot hear him speak the word, “Be Opened”.  Jesus wants the man to know that it is power from within him, from his person, which enables him to hear and to speak.  The language Mark uses here indicates that by opening this man’s ears and loosing his tongue Jesus is acting in direct fulfillment of Isaiah 35. 

(Isaiah 35:4-6) 4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God.  He will come and save you." 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.  For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

Indeed, the strange word Mark uses here for “mute” -mogila,lwn-, tongue-tied, is only found in one other place (Isaiah 35). 

The point is that by placing this story and the feeding of the four thousand in close juxtaposition to the Pharisees’ demand for a sign, Mark highlights the fact that Jesus has been doing many wonders worthy of notice and in direct accord with the Hebrew prophets (of Old Testament). 

The Pharisees must know about these things, that’s why they approach him – because of all the fuss about him.  They know about his mighty deeds, but they are asking for something more.  They want a confirmation of the source.  You remember they are the ones who have accused Jesus of working by the power of “the prince of demons”.  They ask now for “a sign from heaven”.  It’s a different word than the word that’s used for Jesus miracles in the synoptic gospels.  They want a word from on high or a manifestation from the sky as sometimes occurred with the Old Testament prophets. 

It’s the sort of sign that we know Jesus will show the 12 disciples in his coming transfiguration on the mountain in the next chapter.  But he won’t show these men.  Why?

It’s because they come “to argue” and “to test him”.  After all, Jesus’ most recent works have been done among the Gentile dogs.  He is pressing all boundaries of Pharisaic religious piety.  He refuses their request because they already approach him from a stance of committed unbelief, even hostile opposition.  Jesus will never give such men a sign because they will never see one.  Even if a man were to be raised from the dead they would not, could not believe. 

The deaf-mute man was healed but the Pharisees will remain dumb.  They cannot hear the proclamation of the Son of God.  So long as they cling to their own self-content religious confidence they will remain as “those outside” for whom everything is in parables. In contrast the Gentiles of v. 37 who can so gladly proclaim, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.", the Pharisees remain mute to the praise of God as he is revealed in Jesus of Nazareth. 

May we also Watch out lest we allow our religious confidence and our proud Christian experience to leave us deaf and mute to the power of God in our lives.  Do not mistake religious confidence for faith in Christ.  The Pharisees (after all) did not think of themselves as sinister, they were ostensibly seeking a sign to try to protect the Jewish crowds from running after a false prophet.  The trouble was that they had already made up their mind that he must be false.  He did not fit their pattern for the Messiah, and so he must be brought to heel and exposed for who he is.  How often do we approach Jesus and the word of God in the same way? – not allowing that God should speak or do anything outside of our comfort zone or outside of what we thought God should do if he were a good Christian?  So remember, if God is God then he is not you.  He may have some things in store which you have never expected.  Are you willing for him to reveal himself today in surprising ways, or have you already got him figured? 

Tom Wright spells things out for us, he says, “When Mark urges his readers to follow Jesus, he envisages, not a boring life of conventional religion, but things happening that would make people astonished.  If we’re still too deaf to hear what he’s saying, the problem is perhaps with us rather than with the message.” (Wright, 99) 

And further on Wright says…

“Jesus seems to regard their request for a sign as being itself a kind of sign – a sign to him that ‘this generation’, that is, the main stream of life and thought among his Jewish contemporaries, was determined not to hear the message he was announcing, determined to go their own way, to struggle for the kingdom on their own terms rather than his.” (Wright, 103) 

So let me warn you again, if you are seeking God’s kingdom on your own terms you may find that you have only walled yourself in, building your own kingdom without windows to the realm of God. 

And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.  (8: 13) 

"Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." (8: 15) 

(2) The Dumb Disciples.

Jesus warns his disciples to watch out for this sort of hard-hearted unbelief, blind and deaf-mute to the Kingdom of God, the sort of dullness and confusion which leads to the execution of God’s prophets just as Herod did away with John. 

We’ve seen repeatedly that the Pharisees are proud and over-confident, we’ve come to expect their unbelief and hostility toward Jesus.  But now we are in the boat with the disciples, the ones who have stayed with Jesus and witnessed all his mighty deeds.  The ones who have received private instruction and who have twice passed out the bread which Jesus multiplied in the wilderness.  And Jesus warns lest they also, in their dullness, remain as outsiders without eyes to see or ears to hear.  The disciples do not argue and test Jesus directly, but Jesus warns that if they remain so dull they will, by default, remain in collusion with the hostile unbelief of the Pharisees. 

Jesus senses that the days are growing short and he sees that his efforts in training the twelve are failing up to now. 

(Mark 8: 16-18) And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.  17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?  18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?

The disciples do remember exactly the number of leftover baskets collected each time Jesus fed thousands of people with just a few loaves.  They collected the baskets.  Jesus’ frustration is warranted, and it is demonstrated with a barrage of nearly ten questions which paint the disciples in the starkest of terms recalling God’s words of judgment on his people Israel spoken through Jeremiah. 

Jeremiah 5: 21-25   21 "Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.  22 Do you not fear me? declares the LORD; Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.  23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.  24 They do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.'  25 Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. 

The disciples do not yet know who Jesus is.  The do not yet understand that every meal they have ever eaten has been provided by the one who resides with them in the boat. 

Where is their trust?  Did they think it was a coincidence or just a lucky break that they fed all those people in the desert on two occasions?  Are they concerned they will now somehow starve to death in the boat with Jesus?  Do they think he can only multiply bread on the land? 

APP) Even when we think we are in step with Jesus we will remain out of step with him if we are not trusting him for every meal.  It’s not that the disciples don’t believe, it’s that they don’t understand. 

We can believe a lot about Jesus and still fail to recognize who he is. 

We can believe a lot about Jesus and still fail to trust in him for our lives.

“James says even the demons believe – and shudder!” 

James Edwards catches this well…

“If intellectual and spiritual blindness lead to hardness of heart, blind faith without content must inevitably lead there as well.  The faith for witch Jesus appeals is a faith born of understanding and insight.  The disciples are not chastised for not believing but for not seeing and understanding.”  (Edwards, 240) 

The good news is that God wants you to know who he is; Jesus wants the disciples to understand him.  But he also know they will betray him before they genuinely do understand. 

Watch out lest you remain content to believe some things about Jesus, without ever truly understanding who he is.  You may even believe the heart of the gospel – that Jesus is the Christ of Israel, that he died for your sins to restore you to life and salvation in God.  You may believe all this about Jesus and know it to be true in your heart of hearts, but still not be trusting Jesus for your daily bread.  He can provide.  He will provide.  If you are a member of this church, by God’s grace, we will not let you go hungry.  We are committed to it for we are one body in Jesus Christ and we look to Him together for daily bread.  Do you trust with your life?  If not, I ask, though you believe, do you really know who he is?  The solution is to fill your faith with content.  We don’t believe in an ethereal Messiah out of touch with the needs of mankind, but with one who knows our need and enters the mess to save us – even unto death on a cross. 

In conclusion I just want to say something about the feeding of the four thousand. 

There are a number of things in the text which highlight that we are dealing with Gentiles.  Jesus has been in the region of Tyre and Sidon in the north and is now in the Hellenized Decapolis on the east side of the Sea of Gallilee.  There are no strong overtones of the exodus and wilderness wonderings here as there were in the feeding of the five thousand.  The first feeding was a very Jewish feeding; this second feeding is a Gentile feeding – or, at least, the feeding of a mixed multitude.  Even the word used for ‘baskets’ is different.  In the case of the five thousand the basket refers to the small basket that many Jews would carry with them.  In the case of the four thousand a more common word for basket is used. 

So the first feeding (of the five thousand) indicates Jesus provision of bread for the Jews, but the second feeding (of the four thousand) demonstrates provision of bread for the world. Jesus is making clear that the SyroPhoenician woman was right – even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.  Jesus ministry is spilling over into Gentile lands.  The blessing of the Messiah will provide blessing for the world. 

Let us be among those who receive his compassion without shame and who praise him without seeking more signs.  Let us be those with eyes to see and ears to hear the signs he has already given us.