What do you want for Christmas?

Many of us have made lists, which we’ve distributed, in the hope that we won’t get too many ugly ties that we can’t wear (or, worse, that we must wear).

Some of us include on our lists items that we probably should not get, something that won’t be good for us if we got it. But most of the items on our lists are probably innocuous or positive – we would indeed benefit to some extent from having them.

Now, let’s say I could guarantee that you could get one item on your Christmas list. Prioritize your list. What do you want more than anything else? What is your greatest desire?

In Philippians, Paul tells us what is on top of his Christmas list:

Is that on the top of your list? Can you say with Paul that you want to know Christ more than you want anything else?

Recall in our last look at Mark, we saw that chapter 7 returns to the theme of conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees ask why Jesus’ disciples do not engage in ceremonial handwashing prior to eating a meal. This handwashing was a tradition, not something found in the Law, so Jesus could have replied simply that there is no need to obey man’s traditions. But Jesus goes far beyond that statement. Indeed, he declares that all regulations regarding kosher foods and ceremonial cleanness no longer hold -- that their entire purpose from the beginning was to provide a picture of having a heart prepared to enter God’s presence. We become defiled not by external filth, but by internal filth: envy, pride, evil thoughts. Jesus therefore lashes out at the Pharisees for being hypocrites who are careful to obey even the minutiae of outward cleanliness, but are full of hate and pride on the inside.

Following this encounter, Jesus takes his disciples to a Gentile region, where they presumably ate food that was not kosher, with Gentiles, as Jesus lived out the teaching.

For our purposes today, it is especially important that we note three points from this previous section:

• In 6:53-56, crowds are pursuing him, bringing the diseased to him on pallets, entreating him just to let them touch the fringe of his cloak, to get physical healing. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands seeking him out for this purpose.
• In 7:6, Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites who elevate their own traditions above the word of God.
• In 7:18, when the disciples ask Jesus about his statements regarding kosher foods, Jesus responds, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand . . ." Jesus is clearly expressing frustration at their inability to understand his statements.

This is the background for today’s Scripture, Mark 7:31-8:26. This sermon is entitled "Deaf Ears, Blind Eyes, and Thick Heads," for in this passage Jesus heals a deaf man and a blind man: we will first examine those two healings. But we also find Jesus frustrated by the obstinate blindness of the Pharisees, and the thick heads of his disciples. He is offering the gospel, the good news of the Kingdom, but the Pharisees reject him and the disciples again and again misunderstand him. The question for us today is this: Does He have equally good reason to be frustrated by our own obstinacy and thick-headedness? Are we practically rejecting him by putting other wants and desires ahead of our desire to know Him? Are we even more thick-headed than the disciples?

Please turn in your Bibles with me to Mark 7:31. We will read through the end of the chapter, then skip ahead and read the healing of the blind man, 8:22-26: The section begins with Jesus taking a circuitous route from the Mediterranean coast to the east side of the Sea of Galilee, apparently remaining in Gentile territory throughout.

There are several common elements in these two healings. First, note that we find in both stories the same word "entreat" that we noted at the end of chapter 6. They are begging Jesus to heal these sick persons. They acknowledge the problem their friends have, and they believe that Jesus is able to heal -- so they bring the sick to him, and beg him to heal.

Second, note that Jesus takes both the deaf man and the blind man off alone, away from the crowds. Jesus clearly is not using these healings as a method to draw a crowd -- quite the opposite. Crowds have caused Jesus problems, hindering what He sees as His central ministry. So Jesus shows compassion to these two men, and heals their deafness and blindness, but does so alone.

Third, you surely noticed the use of spit in each case. I won’t pretend to understand why Jesus chooses to spit, but consider this: Unable to talk to the deaf man, He gives him this picture of linking his tongue to Jesus’ tongue. He makes a similar intimate connection to the blind man’s eyes. It is as if Jesus were saying, "From now on you will speak by my power, and for my purposes; from now on you will see by my power, and for my purposes."

With the deaf man, who cannot hear Jesus’ say anything about God, He looks up to heaven, indicating the source of the healing power. And then He gives a "deep sigh." This sigh is not just a breath, which might symbolize the power of the Holy Spirit. The same word is used several times in the New Testament and in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It always indicates some form of dissatisfaction. For example, it is used in Exodus of the Israelites, "groaning" under the oppression of Egyptian slavery. Paul uses the word in 2 Corinthians 5, "For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven." You see how in each case, the word connotes a desire that circumstances would be different.

Why does Jesus sigh in this way, right before he heals this man? What does Jesus long to be different?

We have indications of Jesus’ dissatisfaction throughout this section. We noted above that He declares the Pharisees to be hypocrites and reprimands his own disciples for lacking understanding. I believe Jesus is comparing the eagerness with which the crowds seek physical healing to their lack of interest in more important spiritual matters. Jesus may be thinking, "If only they would seek healing of the spirit with the same eagerness that they seek healing of the body! This deaf man knows he is deaf, and longs for healing; if only all the spiritually deaf would acknowledge their deafness, and long for healing!" So many are entreating Jesus, begging him to heal physically -- but we see no crowds coming to him begging for spiritual healing.

Now, physical suffering is real, and God promises to deal with it (Rev 21:4). The question really is one of priority. It’s as if you’re piloting an airplane, and you’ve lost control. You’re headed straight into the side of a mountain; destruction is imminent. Jesus, the master pilot, comes into the cockpit and says, "Let me take over. I’ll get you over the mountain." You reply, "Well, what I’d really like you to do is to fix my CD player; I lost my music five minutes ago!"

One of my earliest memories is of riding in the car with my mother when I was about four. I leaned against the door -- and fell onto the pavement, with the car travelling about 40 miles per hour. I had numerous abrasions and a rapidly increasing lump on the side of my head -- but all I noticed was blood on the little finger of my left hand. When my mother came back, greatly distressed, she found me sitting in the road, crying, "My pinky! My pinky!"

All these people are coming to Jesus, saying, in effect, "Heal my pinky!" All the while they are bleeding to death from a wound they don’t see. Does Jesus care about your pinky? Yes! But he cares much more about that mortal wound!

Do we do the same? Are you so focused on your monetary and health problems that you neglect your spiritual problem?

Let’s continue reading at 8:1.

For a second time Jesus feeds a multitude (see the sermon on the first feeding). Why does he repeat more or less the same miracle?

The first phrase -- "in those days" -- is somewhat ambiguous. Does Mark mean "in the next few months," in which case this event could have happened anywhere, or "while they were in the region of the Decapolis" (see 7:31). If the latter, then this is a predominantly Gentile audience, providing the disciples with yet more evidence that Jesus' ministry is not only for the Jews, and that the cleanliness regulations really are changed.

But I believe the primary reason Jesus repeats this miracle is that the disciples have not taken to heart the lessons of the first miracle. First, they have not learned that if Jesus is with them, they always have all that they need. Their question in 8:4 displays the same lack of faith in Jesus' ability to provide as their question in 6:37.

Second, the disciples had not learned that Jesus himself is the bread of life. John's gospel records that Jesus gave very explicit teaching in this regard after the first feeding of the multitude:

If the disciples had used their ears to hear, they would have responded in 8:4 by saying, "Lord, we know you are the bread of life, the only source of true spiritual nourishment; we also know that you can provide us with bread to eat if you so choose. Apart from you, we cannot feed these multitudes."

How often we respond to challenges in our life exactly in the same way as these disciples. We face an obstacle, and fret, and worry; sometimes we even accuse God of not caring for us. In such cases, we also need to say, "Lord, you are the source of all power and strength. I cannot solve this problem, or resist this temptation, or deal with these challenges on my own. I lean on you for the strength and wisdom to deal with this issue."

The Pharisees are not wondering whether or not Jesus is the Messiah, and desiring evidence; instead, their testing is aimed at discrediting Jesus. Here Jesus once again displays great frustration, "sighing deeply." The Greek word is the same as the one used in 7:34, but in an intensive form. Note particularly that he refers to "this generation," not to the Pharisees alone. Jesus is frustrated with the response to His ministry in general -- the crowds seeking only healing, the Pharisees trying to discredit him, the disciples failing to take his teaching to heart.

Jesus refuses to play their game, and leaves the area:

Presumably, the disciples had carried to Dalmanutha some of the bread left over from feeding the multitudes, but after their encounter with the Pharisees someone forgot to put the bread in the boat. They were probably discussing this on the journey, trying to assign blame: "Matthew, you were the last one I saw with the basket of bread. What did you do with it?" "I set it down on the shore next to the boat, and told Andrew to be sure to pick it up." "You did not! I never heard you say anything like that!" Jesus is not interested in their bickering; and takes this opportunity of their being together in the boat, away from the crowds, to offer a serious warning. He uses the image of a little yeast flavoring and changing an entire batch of dough to warn them against the insidious evil of the Pharisees and Herod. (Paul uses this same image in Galatians 5:9 and 1 Corinthians 5:6). What is this yeast, this leaven?

The yeast of the Pharisees is self-righteousness. The Pharisees turned God's word completely backwards, focusing on external minutiae at best, and violating God's explicit commands at worst. Their hearts were far from God, even while they supposed that their external obedience to the Law merited God's favor. How did they turn God's word backwards?

• God instituted the Sabbath so that men would learn to rest in Him, and not to depend on their own efforts.
• God instituted the cleanliness regulations so that men would learn that they were unworthy to enter God's presence, but that He in his mercy and grace prescribed a way to prepare oneself for that purpose.
• God instituted the law so that men could see His character, and thus love the law and love Him – even while they find that, left to their own devices, they have no hope of keeping the law.

Yet the Pharisees turned the law, the cleanliness regulations, fasting, and Sabbath-keeping into opportunities of showing their superiority to others. Instead of humbling themselves before God when confronted with His holiness and mercy, they used these institutions to exalt themselves.

Herod, on the other hand, rejects all of the external regulations of the Pharisees. Instead Herod looks to fulfill himself through indulging in a lust for pleasure and a lust for power, making these his gods. So in short, the leaven of the Pharisees is self-righteousness, while the leaven of Herod is self-indulgence and idolatry.

Why does Jesus tell the disciples to beware of these types of leaven? Because they both are lies.

• Self-righteousness in the end is no righteousness at all; instead, it leads to destruction;
• Self-indulgence, pursuing pleasure and power, leads to impotence, as we saw in chapter 6, and only fleeting pleasures at best. Herod ends up impotent and powerless, enslaved by his passions and pride.

We will examine this theme in more detail next week, when we consider Jesus' statement that whoever wishes to save his life must lose it.

Well, the disciples don’t get this at all.

As Matthew states in his account, the disciples, feeling guilty, hear Jesus say "leaven" and immediately think he’s upbraiding them for leaving the bread behind.

Jesus' frustration overflows into this series of questions, as He confronts the disciples with their thick heads. But as always, Jesus' actions are redemptive. The same one who opened the ears of the deaf-mute and who will open the eyes of the blind in the next verses here provides the disciples with a prescription to heal thick heads, a prescription intended to produce spiritual sensitivity. Let us consider these questions, and turn them into commands:

So what do you want for Christmas? What do you want more than anything else?

Amid all the Christmas lights and parties and Santa Clauses and tinsel; amid all the getting and spending, the wrapping and unwrapping, the hustle and haste; in the midst of the fake department store smiles and mall pseudo-happiness, I pray that you would listen to Jesus’ words: "Do you not yet see? Do you have a hardened heart? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod!"

This is what I pray for all of us this season:

That’s what I want for Christmas for Community Bible Church – and for myself.

This data file may not be copied in part, edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of Thomas C. Pinckney, tpinckney@williams.edu, c/o Community Bible Church, Harrison Ave, Williamstown, MA 01267.

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