Problems Of Belief
PROBLEMS OF BELIEF
MARK 8:11-26
Remembering God’s care in the past is to make us less anxious about the future and encourage our faith.
In the first of the three incidents in this section the Pharisees asked Jesus for some kind of divine authentication of his message. Not even the feeding of hungry crowds was enough to convince them (cf. John 6:30). This suggests that although the Pharisees were asking Jesus for proof of his divine power they had made up their minds in advance. A belief which depends simply upon the compulsion of mighty deeds is not true belief, and involves no real change of heart (cf. Luke 16:30f.).
Nevertheless, Jesus had performed mighty works and would continue to do so. His words (8:12) must be taken to mean that although he would not perform conjuring tricks to overawe the unbelieving, he would continue to perform his works of compassion and salvation through which those who were prepared to believe might perceive the gracious rule of God at work in himself and find their faith confirmed.
Then Jesus set off with his disciples for Bethsaida. He was trying to instruct them to beware of the evil influence of the Pharisees and of Herod (why is he mentioned here? Is there a clue in Luke 13:31f.?), but their minds were taken up by what they thought was a much more pressing problem: there was no food on the boat! For the third time they failed to realize that with Jesus on board their wants were fully taken care of, and they had fallen into that hardness of heart which ought not to have been found in disciples (4:10-12). Jesus strongly reproached them: had they forgotten his power to provide enough and to spare for their needs?
Finally, there is the brief story of the healing of the blind man. The healing of the blind, like that of the deaf and dumb, is a sign of the era of salvation (Isaiah 35:5). The story is unique for its two-stage cure, and commentators have wondered if there is something symbolic about it. The story comes just before the incident at Caesarea Philippi in which Jesus gave his disciples a deeper insight into his person. Is, then, the two-stage cure a picture of two stages in their understanding of Jesus? This is rather speculative, and it is safer simply to see in the stories of the opening of the ears of the deaf and the eyes of the blind a commentary on the opening of the ears and eyes of the disciples (8:18!).