Sermon Tone Analysis

*“Who Do You Say That I Am?”*

*Mark 8.22-38*

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            This morning we have come to a pivotal section in Mark’s Gospel.

We will see several transitions in this text that will set us on a different path for the remainder of our study.

To this point, Mark has recorded the demonstration of Jesus’ authority.

Jesus has shown himself with the authority over sickness, nature, and the demonic world.

He has also called forth his disciples and sent them out.

And Jesus has also demonstrated great authority in his teachings that have repeatedly left people astonished.

The latter section will now deal with Jesus as Messiah, and Suffering Servant – two concepts that are not often associated with one another.

Let’s begin by reading the text.

We are in Mark 8.22-38.

*READ.*

We have just witnessed the unbelief of the Pharisees and the dangerous position of Jesus’ own disciples regarding their unbelief.

They had ventured out into the land of the Gentiles and watched as Jesus also ministered to them.

He healed the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter and the deaf man from the region of Tyre.

Then Jesus and the disciples journeyed south to the Decapolis region of the Sea of Galilee where they were met by a great crowd.

Believing this to be a primarily Gentile gathering, Jesus spent several days teaching them and feeding them despite the misunderstanding of the disciples.

Today we find them venturing back into the Jewish territory of Bethsaida.

(Show Map).

An interesting thing about this account is that, though this is a healing event, I think the emphasis here is on the spiritual truth behind the healing.

And in many ways, this paragraph and the next serve as the transition.

The first point is *Partial and Complete Understanding.

*Jesus and his disciples return to the northern side of the Sea of Galilee, to Bethsaida.

And it isn’t long before a blind man is brought to Jesus.

They beg Jesus to heal him.

And Jesus does something familiar.

He leads the man out of the village.

Remember that he just did this also with the man from Tyre.

There, Jesus took the man from the crowd privately.

He was not interested in the fame, or “wowing” the crowds.

But he was interested in the connection with the man and healing him.

The same is true here.

Jesus takes the man out of the village, spits on his eyes and lays his hands on him.

Also, recall that Jesus does not need to touch people in order to heal them.

He even was able to release the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter of a demon while he wasn’t even present.

But in the case of the deaf man of Tyre and the blind man here in Bethsaida, he chooses to connect with them and likely communicate with them.

These both have disabilities with their senses.

Jesus clears up any doubt that it is he, himself, who is the Healer.

Jesus asks the man after laying his hands on him, “Do you see anything?”

The man responds by indicating that he sees men that look like trees walking.

This story has often puzzled me.

First of all, the interaction evokes the question, “how does the man even know what trees look like?”

I think that could easily be solved by either, a) he had some concept of what trees were by touch, or b) he was not born blind.

But secondly, and more importantly, why wasn’t the man healed completely and instantly?”

Hold that thought.

Verse 25 says that Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again, the man opened his eyes, his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly.

And then Jesus told the man to go home without entering the village and telling everyone.

Jesus did not want to be put in the limelight.

It wasn’t yet time.

This is a gradual healing that conveys several significant points.

First, this will demonstrate the gradual understanding of Jesus’ disciples in the text to follow.

So, in this instance, it serves as a transition.

And it will be significant as it demonstrates physical and spiritual sight that is divinely given.

For this man of Bethsaida, he is an example of how God gives a gradual understanding to his people - and yet the fulfillment of complete understanding in the future.

And we see this transpire in the next section and second point, *Personal Confession.

*Leaving Bethsaida, Jesus and his disciples return north to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

As we see these events played out, it will seem ironic that Jesus has chosen this place for such weighty spiritual truths.

If Caesarea Philippi was chosen for its physical features alone, it might make more sense.

This was a beautiful place consisting of waterfalls and plush greenery.

Based on externals, it might make for a nice spiritual retreat.

It was located at the foot of Mount Hermon, on the main source of the Jordan River.

It was peaceful.

Probably no crowds.

But this was not a place of God-fearing people.

In fact, Caesarea Philippi was known for its rampant paganism.

Baal was the deity worshipped here in Old Testament times and the Greeks worshipped Pan.

Pan was half-man, half-goat.

He was the guardian of flocks and nature and worshiped in a grotto at the foot of Mount Hermon.

They made a sanctuary to him and were quite hostile to Judaism.

And this is where Jesus takes his disciples.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t waste the opportunity and takes the time to teach them and question them.

The line of questioning is significant in light of their past struggles with unbelief.

Jesus begins by asking, “Who do people say that I am?” “Let’s debrief a little bit and see how the people are interpreting things to this point.”

And what are some of the responses?

John the Baptist.

Ok.

Do you remember Mark’s brief digression as he explained the relationship between King Herod and John the Baptist?

In Mark 6, Jesus sends the twelve disciples to go out two by two with nothing but staffs, sandals, and clothes.

They went out proclaiming a message of repentance, casting out demons and anointing the sick and healing them.

The reports about Jesus got back to King Herod and he believed that John the Baptist, whom he beheaded, had come back to life.

And so did other people believe as well.

Others believed that he was Elijah.

The reason for this lay in the report that Elijah had been taken bodily to heaven in the chariot of fire.

And he was believed to oversee the deeds of mortals, to comfort the faithful and help the needy, and to return as the forerunner of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

Malachi 3:1 says, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.

And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”

And in chapter 4, verses 5–6, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

And then others said that he was one of the prophets.

Perhaps they remembered the prophecies spoken in Deuteronomy 18, 15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers.

And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”

From all these examples spoken of by the disciples, we see that Jesus was deemed quite popular.

To identify him with John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the other prophets would have put him in a significant category.

Yet none of them are accurate or sufficient to describe Jesus.

And so he turns the line of questions onto the disciples themselves.

“Ok.

That is what others say.

You’ve been with me for quite a while now.

You must know that I’m not John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the other prophets.

Do you know who I am?” To this point, Jesus has given the disciples time to process this question.