Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 5 Study # 1
September 27, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(Download Audio)
(343)
Thesis: The critical issue toward which Jesus had been building from the beginning is: Who Is "Jesus"?
Introduction: As we have been looking for some time now into Mark's record regarding the enormous danger of "leaven", we have seen that Jesus was intent upon getting His disciples to a point of "clarity". In our last study, we looked into Jesus' entrance into, and departure from, Bethsaida as a focus upon "blindness". He did not linger in Bethsaida as its "blindness" was incurable (
Matthew 11:21), but He did go there to give sight to a blind man so that He might illustrate how important it is to "look intently" when considering the truths of His words and actions.
The terrible danger of the "leaven" was Mark's major thesis from chapters 6 through 8, but it was not the most dangerous issue. From a look into the details of this next paragraph, there is a greater danger: what being entrapped by the "leaven" will do to the one snared by it.
This greater danger is given in this paragraph: missing the (meaning of the) boat when it comes to "seeing" Jesus for Who He actually is.
- I. This Paragraph Concerns Jesus And His Disciples.
- II. This Paragraph Is, Again, Linked To A Geographical Area That Has Its Significance To Mark's Record In Terms Of What It Calls Up Out Of The Myriad Details Rather Than Its Actual Geographical Area.
- A. Literarily, we have come to a major turning point in Mark's record.
- 1. There is a deliberate switch from "identifying Jesus" to "establishing the meaning of that identity" (8:31).
- 2. Thus, we expect that we are going to be exposed to the facts regarding how Jesus began to prepare His disciples to be able to live with the massive contradiction in the culture to what it means for Jesus to be "The Christ".
- B. As a literary technique, Mark's reference to Caesarea Philippi has nothing to do with the region as a geographical region.
- 1. The identification is "Caesarea of the Philip": the brother of Herod who was the legitimate "husband" of Herodias according to John.
- 2. That this issue (Herod's marriage to Philip's wife) is raised here is highly significant because of what is called "the leaven of Herod".
- 3. Added, then, to Jesus' strong warning regarding the "leaven" of Herod, this mention of "the Caesarea of the Philip" dredges up the former text of Mark 6.
- C. Continuing with Mark's literary technique, the questions Jesus ask of His disciples are all about the exact same issue that was raised in Herod's claim in Mark 6 that Jesus was John, raised from the dead: the questions are of His "identity".
- III. At Issue Is The "Link" Between The "Leaven" And Jesus' "Identity".
- A. It is clear from the "Herod material" in chapter six (Herod's identification of Jesus as a "John raised from the dead") that there are significant, underlying, swells of uplift that drive men's conclusions about Jesus.
- B. It is also clear from the "decision" chapter of Mark (chapter three) that the same reality exists, made more potent by the "decision" of the physical family of Jesus, including Mary.
- C. And it is clear from the following paragraph that the issue that affects "the disciples" the most is the fact that Jesus was to be murdered in Jerusalem, and the disciples were not ignorant of the probable repercussions upon them as "disciples of Jesus".
- D. In all of these contexts, the issue is, invariably, "the leaven": Isaiah 2:22.
