The Feeding of Four Thousand (8:1–12)
Jesus’ compassion prompts him again to feed a large crowd that had been with him for three days without anything to eat (8:2; see 6:34). In this second feeding, the number fed drops from five thousand to four thousand. The loaves and fishes increase from five loaves and two fishes (6:41) to seven loaves and a few small fish (8:5, 7).
Seven basketfuls (8:8). The number of baskets of fragments left over diminishes from twelve (6:43) to seven (8:8). The word kophinoi (6:43; 8:19) is associated with Jews by Juvenal, but that does not make the common word spyrides (8:8; 8:20) into a Gentile basket.189
He got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha (8:10). Jesus sets sail with his disciples to Dalmanutha, a place that is never mentioned elsewhere in ancient literature. The best guess is that it refers to the anchorage of the district of Magdala.
MAGDALA
Magdala was located on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee.
He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it” (8:12). This generation, represented by the Pharisees, asks Jesus for some apocalyptic sign to signal Israel’s final deliverance from her enemies. A sign from heaven is something that “is apocalyptic in tone, triumphalistic in character, and the embodiment of one of the ‘mighty deeds of deliverance’ that God had worked on Israel’s behalf in rescuing it from slavery.”190
The English translation misses how sharply Jesus refuses. The text reads literally, “If a sign shall be given to this generation.” It comprises part of a vehement oath formula that would begin or conclude: “May God strike me down” or “May I be accursed of God” if a sign is given to this generation. Only false prophets will give signs to this generation (13:22, 30).
The Disciples’ Incomprehension (8:13–21)
Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod (8:15). “Yeast” connotes to moderns something fresh and wholesome that makes dough rise and gives bread a pleasing light texture. “Leaven,” the word used, was far more dangerous. It was produced by keeping back a piece of the previous week’s dough, storing it in suitable conditions, and adding juices to promote the process of fermentation, much like sourdough. This homemade rising agent was fraught with health hazards because it could easily become tainted and infect the next batch. In the Old Testament, leaven symbolizes corruption and the infectious power of evil. This image was widely understood. Plutarch wrote that leaven “is itself also the product of corruption, and produces corruption in the dough with which it is mixed … and altogether the process of leavening seems to be one of putrefaction; at any rate if it goes too far, it completely sours and spoils the dough.”191
Healing a Blind Man (8:22–26)
They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him (8:22). Bethsaida was reached by sea, not by land, from Capernaum. After refusing to give the Pharisees a sign (8:11–13), this healing reveals that Jesus does miracles to meet genuine needs. Dust, poor hygiene, and the bright sun made eye diseases common in the ancient world. Mark describes Jesus taking the blind man away from the village, where he probably had come to beg.
When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him (8:23). Pliny recommends the use of saliva for eye diseases.192 Jesus’ first attempt to heal the man meets with only partial success. This detail communicates two things. First, his blindness is stubborn and hard to cure but Jesus has power to heal even the most difficult cases. Second, on a literary level, curing the stubborn spiritual blindness of the disciples will also take a second touch.
Announcement of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection (8:27–9:1)
This passage is the axis on which the two halves of the Gospel turn. The first half reveals Jesus performing mighty works; the second half shows him bound for the cross and crucified in weakness.193
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi (8:27). Caesarea Philippi lay twenty-four miles north of the Sea of Galilee at the southwestern base of Mount Hermon range. It was the capital of Herod Philip’s tetrarchy. Jesus may have retreated to the territory of Herod Philip to escape danger from the more threatening Herod Antipas. Originally, the city was called Panion, which refers to a cave sanctuary dedicated to the Greek God Pan, and the cult was still thriving in the first century. Josephus describes the cave as near the source of the river Jordan.194 Ironically, Peter’s confession occurs in the area where Herod the Great built a grand marble temple to honor the emperor195 and where his heir enlarged the city and renamed it to honor Caesar.196 It is “theologically significant that Jesus’ dignity was recognized in a region devoted to the affirmation that Caesar is lord.”197
THE JORDAN RIVER AT CAESAREA PHILIPPI
The waterfall at Banias, near the source of the river.
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets” (8:28). Popular opinion regards Jesus as some kind of prophet figure (see also 6:14–15). Identifying Jesus as a prophet attributes significant status to him and should not be missed. Many Jews in this time believed that the prophetic Spirit had been withdrawn from Israel. In 1 Maccabees 4:41–46, Judas Maccabeus has cleansed the sanctuary and torn down the altar defiled by the pagan sacrifices of Antiochus Epiphanes. He stored “the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them” (4:46). The end of 1 Maccabees records the decision that Simon (and the Hasmonean line) should be “their leader and high priest forever, until a trustworthy prophet should arise” (14:41). This view presumes that trustworthy prophets have left the scene, and this prophet is yet to come (Deut. 18:15; Mal. 4:5). Some expected the great prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah to return at the end (5 Ezra 2:18).
You are the Christ (8:29). Under Jesus’ interrogation, Peter makes the right confession. By the time of the first century the word Christ (i.e., Messiah) was understood by most Jews to refer to a king-like figure who would triumphantly appear in the final days to deliver Israel from her enemies. The dream did not die even after the debacle with Rome.
Peter’s answer is correct since it corresponds to the title of the Gospel (1:1), but Jesus modifies standard expectations by announcing his impending suffering (8:31). Jesus will not take up the crown but the cross. Suffering, rejection, and death will be God’s means of deliverance. Only then will resurrection follow.
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things … , and that he must be killed (8:31). Mark records three instances when Jesus informs his disciples that the Son of Man must suffer, die, and then be raised (8:31; 9:30–31; 10:32–34). Significantly, he speaks about this suffering plainly (8:32), not in parables (cf. 4:33). Each time, however, the disciples demonstrate in some way that they fail to grasp his meaning. They may have shared the expectations of most Jews, who hoped for a Messiah. He would be a kingly figure who would reign triumphantly as David had (see “Messianic Expectation in Judaism”). No wonder the disciples have trouble assimilating Jesus’ announcements about his suffering if they believe he is the Messiah. It runs counter to their every expectation about the Messiah.
And after three days (8:31). “After three days” can mean “a short time later.” The third day is the time when God has been known to intervene.198 The intention of this prophetic utterance was not to pinpoint in advance the timing of his resurrection but to certify that it will happen in fulfillment of God’s plan. “The full import of the prophecy cannot be grasped until after the event.”199
Get behind me, Satan! (8:33). The archenemy appears in Jesus’ most prominent disciple. It is satanic to plot Jesus’ death for selfish reasons (3:6, 23–26); it is equally satanic to try and block it for selfish reasons (8:33). Ironically, Satan uses one disciple, Peter, to try to turn Jesus away from death, and another disciple, Judas, to lead him to death.
Jesus’ stern rebuke is a teaching tool, not a rejection of Peter. In the Qumran literature, chastisement by God was considered to be a requisite for spiritual growth and something for which to be grateful to God.200 Harsh censure was considered appropriate in the case of recalcitrant students. Philodemus, for example, believed that teachers should use harsh remedies as wise doctors do and show benevolent care by using blame.201
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (8:34). Jesus does not speak only to the twelve disciples but also to the crowds. He does not want them simply to marvel but to follow him. The cross is a startling image because only criminals and slaves were crucified and carried crosses to the place of execution. Plutarch reports, “Every criminal condemned to death bears his own cross on his back.”202 Dionysius of Halicarnassus gives this account:
A Roman of some note had handed over a slave to his fellow slaves for them to execute. In order to make the punishment generally known, their master ordered them to drag the condemned man first through the forum and other public places and to scourge him while doing so…. The slaves who had been thus commanded stretched out both the man’s arms and tied them down to a piece of wood which reached across breast and shoulders to his wrists. They chased him and lacerated his naked body with their lashes. Overcome by this cruel treatment, the convict not only uttered the most heartrending cries, but under the painful impact of the lashes he also made indecent movements.203
Besides the cruel horror of crucifixion, the Jews also believed that anyone who was hanged on a tree was accursed of God (Deut. 21:22–23). By inviting followers to take up a cross, Jesus offers them a shameful stigma to go with agonizing suffering.