Giuseppe wrote: ↑Tue Nov 21, 2017 12:28 pm
Mark 7:31-37 :
Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.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.
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.
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.
If it is the
heaven that is addressed by Jesus, and not the deaf man, then the real author of the miracle is God, not Jesus. The same allusion to a Jesus who "spit" alludes to the his mere tools of primitive shaman, in deliberate contrast to the rapid Power of Healing emanated immediately and directly from the Heaven.
God from Heaven is "opened" to give the grace on the Gentiles (the "Decapolis").
I think that's a really good question you ask. As with all the events in gMark I suspect something more going on here than just a peculiar healing story of some Gentile. I also think this has something to do with God "giving grace on the Gentiles". However, since this event is just one single Gentile being healed and nothing else, it must be symbolic in some sense. There is the long awaited coming-to-faith by the Gentiles, which is foretold in Scripture in so many ways, and according to much NT literature this event is exactly the event that has happened now, following the Christ event. Luke narrates in Acts both the pouring of the spirit at Pentecost, which fascilitates the Jewish mission, but also the pouring of the spirit to the Gentiles in the story about Peter and Cornelius (Acts 10:1-11:18). Now, finally, the Gentiles have turned to God their creator, and so the mission to all the world must begin. Also there are seven Gentiles chosen to minister in Acts 6:1-6, along with the twelve Jewish apostles, and apparantly these seven Gentile 'deacons' seem to be missionaries as well. I wouldn't rule out that such a tradition of twelve Jewish apostles and seven Gentile apostles (Steven dies, but he is 'replaced' by Paul, so there is still seven Gentile apostles) is what is witnessed in Mark's two miraculous feedings, with the twelve and the seven baskets of 'surplus teaching/eucharist bread'. (Also the seven Gentile? churches of Rev.)
The mission to the Gentiles is of course a most central thing in all of Paul's theology. In Rom 1:19-25 he uses the known Jewish motif of the ingrateful Gentiles that worship the creation instead of the Creator, when he has all along been evidenced by all his glorious creation: "Because what is known about God is visible among them, because God has shown it to them. Since creation the invisible things of God, his eternal power and divinity, have been understood and seen clearly through all the created things, so they are without excuse ... and they worshipped the creature instead of the creator".
Anyway, this passage with "effatha" comes just before the miraculous feeding with the seven baskets, which some interpret as a number symbolic for the Gentile world. Which could mean that there will be a mission to the Gentile world, just like the twelve baskets similarly meant the mission to Israel. This would fit into the whole section of 7:1-8:21 which then revolves around this theme, the inclusion of the Gentiles. 7:1-23 redefines cleanness/uncleanness which opens the door to the Gentiles. Afterwards, in 7:24-30, we hear that the Jewish mission must come first, but that this doesn't mean that the Gentiles still cannot have some "crumbs" (7:27-28). Then comes our passage and then the miraculous feeding with seven baskets of bread left over, 'bread' for the Gentiles. Then in the end, Jesus warns about the teaching (the "yeast") of the scribes and pharisees. It is significant that this section about the Gentile mission in gMark, 7:1-8:21, is exactly the section that is omitted from gLuke. In gLuke there is nothing about a Gentile mission, and I'm convinced that this 'great omission' in gLuke is in fact an omission by Luke, because he has an opportunity to tell this story when it happens, i.e. in Acts. But neither Mark nor Matthew had the opportunity to narrate this event, so they need to narrate it symbolically in Jesus' earthly ministry.
Now, in accordance with Mark's method of storytelling, as I see it, I think this is a tiny event that happened so as to be understood symbolically or proleptically for the later, huge event in salvation history: the Gentiles finally coming to faith in the creator.
I also entertain the idea that Jesus is addressing heaven here. And actually the Greek is ambiguous and allows it, since heaven in this case is singular (sometimes it is plural):
And looking up at heaven he sighed and said to it/him (αυτῳ): 'Effatha' (=singular, if Aramaic אתפתח), which means 'be opened' (=singular, διανοιχθητι). And straight away his ears (=plural) were opened and the bond of his tongue loosened and he spoke rightly.
Why the fingers in the ear, why the spitting, why the sighing? I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the spitting is symbolic of the baptismal waters and the sighing is symbolic of the spirit. It is perhaps a tiny type for the other, later, event: The Gentiles hear the word preached (fingers in ears), they are baptized (the spit), the heavens open (effatha) and the spirit comes down on the Gentiles (the sighing), and they now percieve the truth (open ears) and then go out and proclaim the Word (speak "rightly").
If this is about Gentiles coming to faith in the creator, then the reaction from the Gentiles in the event here is a give-away:
"He has done everything well". What does this mean? Why have them say such a thing? Because with the Greek wording it might very well be a reference to Gen 1 (without the characters in the story realising it themselves, of course), and another translation is: "He has created everything good (or: well)". It is a type for the great event about to happen after Jesus' resurrection: finally the Gentiles see it, God is the creator. Is it far-fetched? Probably