Mark - Lesson 11...Continued from page 4

DAY FIVE:  All Things Done Well

Please carefully read Mark 7:31-37 and answer the following questions.

1.  As we read verses 31-37, it helps us to keep in mind that Jesus never intended to have a ministry among these people, just a brief respite from the Pharisees’ hypocrisy.[xx] Yet Mark chose to include this passage because again it would be appreciated by his Roman readers, as this area was considered by many as “Rome away from Rome.”[xxi]  What happened as Jesus passed through the area (v. 32)?

2. It isn’t clear from the Greek text whether this man was a Jew or Greek, if he “could hardly talk” (niv) or was completely mute, i.e., unable to utter any sound; the word in Greek, mogilalon, properly means speaking with difficulty and is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, and appears in the Septuagint only in Isaiah 35:6, where it translates a Hebrew word meaning mute.[xxii]  Despite this, what significant thing though would this mean for Jesus’ claims to Messiahship (Isaiah 35:5-10)? 

3. What unique things did Jesus do in the process of ministering to this man, and what was the result (v 33-35)?  Jesus’ sigh was an inward groan, our Lord’s compassionate response to the pain and sorrow sin has brought into the world, and was also a prayer to the Father on behalf of the man. How was this word also used about Jesus’ reaction to the situation over the death of Lazarus (John 11:33, 38) and about our prayer life (Romans 8:23-26)?

4.  Jesus didn’t want a big scene made over this incident because He had no intention of staying and ministering in this area for any length of time.  What did He strongly ask of the people, but what did they do all the more (v. 36)? 

5.  What was their two-fold reaction to Jesus’ work there (v. 37)?

NOTES: Telling the people to be silent is surprising since the miracle could not be hidden. “Ironically the Gospel that most emphasizes the ‘messianic secret’ also indicates it could not be kept even in Jesus’ lifetime. Nevertheless Jesus did not want to be known as a Hellenistic miracle worker...Jesus’ true identity could not be understood until after the passion and resurrection.”[xxiii]  The people were, as the King James Bible puts it, “beyond measure astonished,” which meant to be superabundantly above out of their senses! “Their astonishment at the miracle was so great that it almost deprived them of their self-possession, and it was in superabundance, and then some on top of that.”[xxiv]  Jesus did all things well among them, meaning He did things beautifully, fully, excellently, and honorably did good to others. Interestingly, Jesus told the mute man to talk and the talking people to be quiet; He restored the man to his full senses while knocking the people around him out of theirs!

Scripture Memory:  Can you write out this week’s passage by memory here below?  Give it a try, and keep reviewing the passage several times throughout the day.

Mark 7:21a, 23: