Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 3 Study # 2
March 21, 2023
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: The crowd is seriously "shaken" by the failure of The Nine.
Introduction: In our study last week, we considered the return of Jesus and The Three as they descended from the mountain, and the experience they had there, and the antagonistic situation that they walked into when they got back to The Nine.
The "attack dogs" (the scribes) thought they had a situation they could use to humiliate the disciples and undercut the claims of Jesus regarding His message of The Kingdom. Mark's use of this event is in line with his regular use of healings/exorcisms to validate the identity of Jesus as "The Mighty One"; the "Lord" John the baptizer was commissioned to precede in accord with Isaiah 40:3.
In this record, Mark does something that none of the other authors of the Gospels did: he told of the "upset" that this failure of The Nine had produced in the souls of the crowd.
- I. The "Great Amazement" Of The Entire Crowd.
- A. Mark, alone, used the word translated in this text as "greatly amazed" (ekthambeo). His uses begin with our current text (9:15) and include 14:33; 16:5; and 16:6.
- 1. The questions are two: what does ekthambeo mean? and why is Mark the only one who describes the situation as being filled with the issue called ekthambeo?
- a. The first question is partially answered in the two uses found in 16:5-6 and also partially in 14:33.
- 1) These verses indicate an attitude of heart/mind that has been generated by extraordinary experiences that tend to make a person feel completely out of his depth and significantly insecure.
- a) In all of the four cases, there is a strong sense of potential and significant danger.
- b) Thus, we must consider what is considered "dangerous".
- i. In 16:5-6, the issue is one which crops up whenever human beings are suddenly confronted by visible angelic beings.
- ii. Zacharias, the father of John the baptizer, demonstrated this reaction when he was serving in the Holy Place and Gabriel suddenly appeared in his angelic glory (Luke 1:12). Daniel, the prophet, and John, the author of the Revelation, both had similar reactions when they were suddenly visibly in the presence of angelic persons.
- iii. These examples make the "danger" a kind of combination of anticipation of really bad news or violent behavior ... something that makes the person feel a deep sense of insecurity.
- 2) In 14:34 Jesus described His heart/mind condition by saying that it was His soul that was deeply grieved unto the very point of death. The meaning, then, is that there was something on the horizon that made one's "soul" shudder.
- b. The second question is harder to answer: neither Matthew, nor Luke, even mention this condition of the crowd.
- 1) To describe this condition of the crowd, Mark pulls up a word that is used by no one else in the New Testament (ekthambeo).
- 2) Mark's statement is that this great crowd had this sort of reaction as soon as it "saw Him", but he also says that the crowd's response was to "run to Him" and to "greet Him".
- a) This indicates that those in the crowd were not antagonistic toward Him, but they were "shuddering in their souls" because of what was happening in respect to Jesus' arrival upon the scene of angry conflict between The Nine and the scribes.
- b) Thus, Mark apparently wanted to give his readers a sense of "fearfulness" in the crowd, but of what were they "afraid"?
- i. The only answer that comes to mind is that the crowd had invested a great deal of their "souls" in Jesus and were seriously aware of the "scribes" and the failure of The Nine.
- ii. Could these people be "fearful" that Jesus was about to be proven to be false in His teaching and power?
- ((a)) There is a lot at stake at this point in respect to "doctrine" and "power": eternity hangs in the balance.
- ((b)) Because Jesus excoriates "the crowd" for its "unbelief", it is probable that this fearfulness was the outcome of the hostile debate.
- 2. The setting is deliberately enhanced by Mark's record in 9:17-18.
- a. Mark records the father's significantly detailed explanation of the "problem" to Jesus.
- 1) His son is possessed by a speechless spirit.
- 2) But it is not his "speechlessness" that is the problem: he is being wasted by this spirit because it seizes him, casts him to the ground and he foams and grinds his teeth.
- b. These terrifying events have the father and the son in desperate shape.
- c. Their desperation caused them to seek a solution from The Nine but they did not have the resources within them to do anything.
- 1) The issue, in the father's mind, is the "insufficient inner resources (ischuo) of The Nine.
- 2) The outcome of the failure of The Nine is that now the father wonders, in fear, if that lack of "sufficient inner resources" applies to Jesus also (9:23).
