Mark 9:2-13: a warning against speaking too soon

There are many times in life when we don't know what to say.  Being speechless is okay.  In fact, it's far better than feeling so compelled to speak that we say the wrong thing.  If you've ever been through the process of grieving for a loved one who has passed, you probably know exactly what I am talking about, and have many stories of people who say the worst possible things, despite their good intentions.
 
Peter finds himself in that situation when he experiences, along with James and John, the transfiguration of Jesus.  Here they are on a mountain, a likely setting for the experiencing of the divine.  After all, it was Mount Sinai where Moses received the Law from God.  The Temple Mount in Jerusalem was the location of the Holy of Holies, the sanctuary of Yahweh.  Even Gentiles would see mountains as homes for their gods.  Mount Olympus loomed large in the Greek-speaking world as the home of the pagan pantheon, and many Gentiles made use of "high places" in their worship of pagan deities.  But this was no ordinary church service.  Here, before the very eyes of Peter, James, and John, Jesus is transfigured so that His appearance is over-whelming.  It is here, in describing Jesus' appearance, that the word for gleam, glitter, or glisten makes it's only appearance in the New Testament.  Christ literally changes forms, or undergoes a metamorphosis, albeit temporarily.  Perhaps the effects of Philippians 2, where it says Jesus emptied Himself, are being momentarily rolled back so that Peter, James, and John can get a glimpse of Jesus' true identity.
      
Whatever is happening, it's clear that it's big, and Peter feels that he must say something.  Feeling as he did that some response is necessary, Peter responds in a way familiar to him.  The Festival of Booths was a annual Jewish religious celebration where dwellings were made, and here, Peter suggests that dwellings be made for not only Jesus, but Isaiah and Moses as well.  Peter's suggestion is offer with the best of intentions, yet it inadvertently elevates Moses and Isaiah to the same status as Jesus.  I once heard it suggested that instead of offering to build three booths, Peter should have offered to build one throne.  Theologically that response is more appropriate, but I think it misses one of the points of the passage.  The main point is of course that Jesus is indeed God's Son.  It's emphasized by God speaking from the cloud, the symbol of God's presence, saying "this is my beloved Son, listen to him."  It's important that we not miss this.  However, what's also important is that we learn from Peter's response.  Peter responds in a clumsy and inappropriate way, because he fails to give himself time to process what he has just witnessed.

Furthermore, Peter doesn't fully understand what it is Jesus must suffer to fulfill his mission as not just Israel's, but the world's Messiah.  In all fairness, it's a confusing thing to think about.  Why must Jesus suffer after he has been glorified in such a visible way?   In a way, the transfiguration helps to reassure the disciples, and specifically Peter, James, and John, that despite what Jesus will endure very shortly, he is indeed the Son of God.  The commentator William L. Lane states that “the place of Jesus’ passion and death, together with his resurrection, was the unexpected and incomprehensible middle term between the present and the magnificent future assured by the transfiguration.”  By revealing who Jesus is, even if it was just temporarily, God is bracketing the passion of Jesus with Christ's glorification.  Jesus' suffering is neither the beginning or the end of  his story, but rather a difficult middle, which is outshone by his transcendent glory.

Fast-forward a few decades and we find on Peter's pen a much more appropriate, and well thought-out reaction to the events of that day:
"For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory,  “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.  And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
- II Peter 1:16-21
Is this really the same man who offers such a hasty response to Jesus transfiguration?  I think the contrast in Peter's initial response and the one he offers years later demonstrates that it takes a lifetime to comprehend the glory of Jesus Christ, and even then, we have only scratched the surface.  In a world where speaking before thinking seems to be the norm, perhaps as disciples of Christ we should be non-conformists and think deeply before we speak.  Perhaps instead of rushing to offer a response, we should spend more time reflecting on Christ, allowing that reflection to shape our witness to the world.  We find Peter writing at a time in his life when he had come to understand that Jesus' glory and suffering relate to one another.  In a very real way, Peter was participating in that suffering as Jesus' disciple, and was hoping that one day he would also share in Jesus' glory as witnessed in the resurrection.  It's not just that Peter became a writer in the intervening years between the transfiguration and the writing of his epistles.  In many ways, his life had undergone a transfiguration of its own.  Peter's experience on the mountain had shaped him over time, so that he finally realized that no matter how much we turn to other things or people- even if they are the most respected of people, like Moses and Elijah- there will come a time when Jesus is the only thing left standing in our life.    

Mark 9:1: to not taste death...

  As we reach the middle of Mark, Jesus drops something of the bombshell on His disciples.  He tells them, "there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power."  (Mark 9:1)  In Mark's gospel "power" is used to describe Jesus' miracles (Mark 6:2, 5, 14; 9:39); to refer to God (Mark 12:24; 14:62); and also when the heavenly "powers" and the coming Son of Man are referred to (Mark 13:25-26).  Since we all know that Jesus disciples all died, some very soon after Jesus' death, others decades later, Jesus referring to the coming of the kingdom of God must somehow be anchored in the time during or shortly after Jesus ministry.  After Jesus' resurrection, when the subject of the timing of the kingdom and it's restoration comes up again, he tells them plainly "it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.  But you will received power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:7-8)  Just one chapter later, in Acts 2, we see the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus' disciples as they are gathered together.  Armed with the power of this Spirit, Jesus' disciples not only witness the inauguration of God's kingdom on earth, they become agents that actively spread it's message.  The phrase "not taste death" is a Semitism, or Jewish way of referring to martyrdom.  Several of Jesus' disciples tasted death, in fact, a few of their deaths are vividly recounted in Acts.  The amazing thing is not that true to Jesus' promise, they saw the advent of the kingdom of God, but rather that their deaths came as a result of their efforts to spread that kingdom's message.  Who would have ever imagined that these disciples, timid and lacking in understanding throughout most of Jesus' ministry, would be transformed into martyrs for the kingdom they so longed to see.  The transformation is nothing short of amazing, and points to something at work greater than the disciples themselves.  As I mentioned before, they had done far more than witness the coming of the kingdom of God, they had been imbued with it's power, the power of the Holy Spirit.  Oh that we would be not just witnesses of the kingdom, but agents as well!  

Mark 8:27-38: I've got a confession to make...

Part of following Christ is coming to a greater understanding of who He is.  Just as a married couple spends a lifetime learning about one another, so we should spend a lifetime learning more about Christ.  That was certainly the case for those who followed Jesus day after day during His earthly ministry, and it should continue to be the case for His disciples 2,000 years later.

When Peter makes his confession, proclaiming who he believes Jesus to be, he uses a word that we haven't seen since the very first verse of Mark's gospel- Christ.  The Messiah, the Anointed One, Peter seems to have rounded a corner with his ability to correctly identify who Jesus is.  The significance of Peter's confession is found not just in what he says, but in where he says it.  Caesarea Phillippi was named after two men, Augustus Caesar and Herod the Great's son Philip.  Before it was named Caesarea Philippi, the town was called Paneas, in honor of the pagan god Pan.  It was also home to a shrine for the cult of the emperor, and at one point was a site where the god Baal had been worshiped.  In a town named for Augustus-  a man who claimed to be god, and yet was now dead- Jesus is first identified publicly as the Messiah.  In a city with a history of worshiping false gods, Jesus is revealed to be the Anointed One of the one true God.

I had a government teacher who, when lecturing us on the ins and outs of the political process, was fond of saying "the devil's in the details."  That maxim takes on new meaning when we see that Peter's proclamation was correct, but his understanding of what that proclamation meant was quite the opposite.  Jesus begins to hint at the fact that the part of the Messiah won't be the triumphant role that His disciples have envisioned.  In what becomes a theme, Jesus' refers to Himself indirectly as the Son of Man, and tells of the suffering that the Son of Man must undergo.  Jesus uses this title for Himself each of the three times that He foretells of His passion, or suffering.  Much of what Jesus' will endure is revealed in Isaiah 53, in one of the sections that deals with the "Suffering Servant" who is to come.  When speaking of this Suffering Servant, the prophet states that "surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed...Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:4-5, 12)  Peter is rebuked because in essence he is trying to alter the Messiah's mission.  Just a few chapters after the Suffering Servant section, Isaiah writes "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord." (Isaiah 55:8).  Peter sees, but only partially, just as the man who was cured of his blindness just a short time before saw only partially at first.  Peter rejects Jesus' suffering because that's all he sees, suffering.  He doesn't see redemption, and he isn't yet at a point where he can see the empty tomb.  For Peter, at least for the time being, the cross looms so large as to obscure his view of anything but the death that suffering will bring.  Peter will benefit from hindsight, when after Jesus' resurrection he looks back and sees how God can bring eternal salvation from death on a cross, seeming to snatch life and victory from the jaws of death and defeat.    

Being the master teacher, Jesus takes this opportunity to not only reveal His own path, but to also teach His disciples what their path will be like as well.  By calling the crowd over for this teaching, Jesus' is showing that the cost of discipleship is not to be born by only the "super-Christian", that the cross isn't just for the apostle, minister, or prophet.  The expectation of suffering for Jesus' disciples is universal.  The commentator William Lane would say "Jesus stipulated that those who wish to follow him must be prepared to shift the center of gravity in their lives from a concern for self to reckless abandon to the will of God...the central thought in self-denial is a disowning of any claim that may be urged by the self, a sustained willingness to say 'No' to oneself in order to be able to say 'Yes' to God."  If we wish to get in on Christ's resurrection, then we have to also endure His suffering.  When writing to the Roman church, Paul would put it this way: "the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." (Romans 8:16-17)  Lest the Romans become discouraged by the task ahead, Paul reminds them, and us, that the way of Jesus is not a road that we travel alone.  "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." (Romans 8:26)

In your walk with Jesus, have you come to a deeper appreciation of who He is, and what He has accomplished?  Are you still trying to force your idea of what the Messiah should be on Jesus, or have you embraced the irony that life comes through death, and that victory comes through what by all accounts seems like defeat.

Mark 8:22-26: when you're a fan, you don't have to be told when the game is starting

Have you ever noticed what comes right before Peter's confession in the gospel?  A miracle story, or more specifically a miracle story involving the healing of a blind man.  The story is told in just a few verses, but I can't help but wonder if there is a connection between this healing, and the confession that Peter is emboldened to make.  Upon seeing Jesus' heal the blind- yet again I might add- does it finally hit Peter like a ton of bricks, that Jesus really is the Messiah.  Perhaps for Peter the healing of this blind man served as an announcement that the kingdom of God was at hand.  Indeed, that is how the prophets would have seen it.  The prophet Isaiah writes that "in that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see" (Isaiah 29:18), and that "the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped." (Isaiah 35:5)  The psalmist declares that, "the Lord opens the eyes of the blind."  (Psalm 146:8)

The whole thing reminds me of my time at the University of South Carolina.  More specifically, it reminds me of my time spent in the stands of Williams-Brice Stadium, cheering on my beloved Gamecocks.  In the southeast, football is more than a game, it's a passion.  Each school has it's own pregame rituals that border on the religious.  For Carolina fans it's the blasting of "2001" over the loud-speaker and the swaying of the crowd, all culminating in the team running through the smoke-engulfed tunnel, and out through the band.  It's a moment that sends a chill up the spine of any died-in-the-wool Gamecock fan.  Such a fan knows what is about to happen, as soon as the band begins to march to the end of the field where the tunnel is located.  Certain movements and songs serve as markers, announcing what is about to take place.  The murmur of the crowd, and it's thousands of individual conversations begins to quiet, or more accurately it begins to redirect it's energy to the coming task of screaming and jumping up and down.  For someone that knew the signs, for a Jew who had read the prophecies of his or her own religion, Jesus' healing of the blind was a marker that the game was about to start.  I think that in our day we have become accustomed to seeing Jesus' ministry, and particularly His death, burial, and resurrection, as the happy ending that the story had been waiting for.  In reality, it is just the beginning.  Jesus' healing of the blind, and ultimately His resurrection, is a sign that God's counter-attack against the forces of sin and death is about to begin.

Lest we become too critical of the disciples and others who failed to see the signs of what Jesus' ministry was really about, we should be prepared to hold ourselves to the same standard.  We might not be living during the time of Jesus' earthly ministry, but as I said, His earthly ministry was just the beginning.  We find ourselves squarely in the middle of a story still being written.  Do we notice signs of God's love that we encounter everyday, or more importantly, do we live our lives so that they are a living breathing testimony to God's work in the world?  What God has done, and continues to do, is far more exciting than any football game; and if you know me, you know that's saying a lot!   

Mark 8:11-21: the story is the sign

Have you ever tested God?  Most of us would say, "of course not!"  But if we are truly honest with ourselves, there have probably been times in our life where we bartered with God to some extent, asking Him to confirm His presence with a sign, or to reveal the proper path on which to proceed.  Asking for wisdom and insight from God is certainly acceptable, even commendable!  And yet, sometimes what we are doing is less asking for insight, and more trying to commandeer God's agenda so as to make it look more like our own.  When we ask for signs to confirm God's presence, it's usually a sign that we have forgotten the story of God's work in our world.
That's what the Pharisees were doing when they asked for a sign.  Even though Jesus had just fed 4,000 people, they want a sign to specifically confirm that Jesus' is indeed who He claims to be.  What's so wrong with that you may ask?  Many of us are asked to confirm our identity every day, sometimes multiple times a day.  Why would it be so hard for Jesus' to simply give the Pharisees what they want?  To start with, the Pharisees were asking for a form of I.D. that would prove nothing.  If you dig back in your Old Testaments to Deuteronomy 13, you will see that God tells the Israelites that the ability of a prophet to give a sign is not grounds for accepting his message.  A prophet who performs a sign, but then advocates the worship of other gods is to be opposed (read executed).  In other words, the final word on the validity of a prophet's message is not the ability to do signs.  Jesus knows this, and so he refuses to fall into the Pharisees trap.  In fact, in denying their request Jesus' uses language that draws comparisons between the Pharisees, and the generation of the exodus.  He asks "why does this generation demand a sign?  Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."  It doesn't seem like much on the surface, but the only time the word generation is used in the Bible is when it is referring to a particularly faithless generation.  In referring to the exodus generation, the book of Deuteronomy says "they have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation." (Deuteronomy 32:5)  In Psalm 95:10 it is said that for forty years God loathed that generation because "they are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways."  Now, by referring to "this generation", Jesus is drawing attention to the similarities between His contemporaries and that faithless group of Israelites from the exodus.
That exodus generation, despite their lack of faith, was promised a new prophet like Moses.  When speaking to Moses, God said "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers.  And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.  And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.  But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die."  (Deuteronomy 18:18-20)  As Jesus hung on the cross on that Friday the Pharisees and His other opponents, indeed the entire world, thought that Jesus had been exposed for who He truly was, a false prophet.  Little did they know that Friday's false prophet would become Sunday's Messiah, as God in a twist of irony would use His resurrection to prove- using the Pharisees own logic- that Jesus' message was more than true, it was the very word of God.
So how could they get it so wrong?  How could the Pharisees ask for a sign after Jesus' miraculously feeds 4,000 people?  How can the disciples fails to understand who Jesus is after not one, but two miraculous feedings?  Jesus' warning to avoid the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod is a reference to their constant desire for a sign, it's a warning against a faith based on miracles.  We can see with our eyes and hear with our ears, but if the message never makes it's way to our heart, then faith will never take root.  The imminent preacher and New Testament scholar Fred Craddock once remarked, "the longest distance is that from the head to the heart."  I'm not sure if Craddock came up with that on his own, I suspect he didn't, but it aptly illustrates what Jesus is trying to say here.  The words of Israel's prophets show that this wasn't just an issue in Jesus' day.  Jeremiah would say, "hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but see not, who have ears, but hear not." (Jeremiah 5:21)  The word of the Lord came to prophet Ezekiel saying, "Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house."  Finally, God commissions Isaiah saying: "Go, and say to this people, 'keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." (Isaiah 6:9-10)
The words to the prophet Ezekiel are the ones I find ringing in my ears, "for they are a rebellious house."  God's story is forever unfolding before us, if only we have eyes to see.  By asking for a sign, the Pharisees were ignoring the story and instead going in search of a sign.  They were rebelling by seeking to make God work according to their agenda.  God's work in our world is much larger than one event, however miraculous it may be.  The disciples lived the story, but failed to recognize it's significance.  It wasn't until Jesus' resurrection that we see them finally beginning to understand the scope of what was playing out before their very eyes.  We may know the story, we may have read our Bible cover to cover several times over, but do we grasp it's significance?  More importantly, do we understand that God is continuing to write page after page of the story, all the while longing to see us play our part in the drama as it unfolds according to His plan?

Mark 8:1-10: Encore!

It was as if the crowd had shouted "encore!", and in response Jesus' had again fed a large crowd, just a short time after His first miraculous feeding.  Some Biblical scholars have argued that this is a re-telling, with a slight twist, of the same story.  Their opinion emerges from an effort to explain why there would be two stories, so similar in nature, in such close proximity within Mark's gospel.  I think to truly understand why there are two feeding miracles- and I do believe that these are two distinct stories- we must look at the differences rather than the similarities.

Whereas Jesus' first miraculous feeding was to benefit a group of Jews, here Jesus is feeding a mixed group of both Jews and Gentiles.  As we have seen previously, by taking His power and authority beyond the traditional boundary of Judea at the time, Jesus is sending a powerful and unmistakable message.  When the disciples ask Jesus', "what do you intend to do?", He responds with a question, "how many loaves do you have?"  It is clear that Jesus already has a plan in mind to respond to the hunger of the crowd.  How He goes about distributing the food takes into account that this is not a strictly Jewish audience.  Whereas in Mark 6 Jesus blesses (the Greek word eulogy) the bread, here He gives thanks (the Greek word eucharist) for it.  To bless the bread would have been a very Jewish way of acknowledging God's provision, to give thanks is more of a Gentile way of praying.  Obviously whether he blesses or give thanks, the object of Jesus' gratitude is the same, God.  And yet, He is showing that as God's kingdom breaks out of the confines of Israel, there will be new ways of accomplishing the same task.  It is telling that in Mark's account of the Lord's Supper, Jesus blesses (eulogy) the bread and gives thanks (eucharist) for the cup.  If Mark really did write this gospel with a Gentile audience in mind, perhaps even the church in Rome, how encouraging would it be for them to see Jesus tending not only to needs of Jews, but also of Gentiles.  In many ways, this second feeding is a sign of things to come.

Think about a church like the one in Corinth, which Paul writes to in his first Corinthian letter.  A church of Jew and Gentile would have looked very similar to the audience of Jew and Gentile that Jesus' ministers to in this story.  It makes me think of today.  When we gather on Sundays and take part in Communion, how many other Christians are doing the exact same thing all over the world?  Some call it the Lord's Supper, some Communion, some the Eucharist (which as we have seen is a Biblical way of referring to it).  Whatever we call it, through this meal the story of Jesus is being recounted in dozens, if not hundreds of languages.  Imagine the amazing diversity, in not only appearance, but also social status, wealth, and occupation.  So many differences, and yet one thing in common that makes all the difference in the world, Jesus Christ.

Mark 7:24-37: Jesus, healing holistically before holistic healing was cool

When we enter into the heart of Mark 7, we see Jesus begin to operate outside the defined limits of Israel or Judea, both culturally and geographically.  In healing two people Jesus' shows that the scope of God's kingdom is much broader than we might imagine at first.  In fact, God's kingdom isn't about restoring the political fortunes of Israel, but instead about reconciling all of creation with the God who created it.

In the first case, that of the Syro-Phoenician woman, we see that faith can be found in a variety of places.  Jesus' contemporaries would not have chosen a woman, and especially not a Gentile woman as a model of faith. And yet, here she is, in a way anticipating the universal nature of Jesus mission.  When she asks for Jesus blessing in the life of her daughter, he first responds by saying "let the children first be fed."  While the gospel is for all, it was first for the Jew, and Jesus' statement implies that the moment for the Gentiles has not yet arrived.  The woman's response opens up an intriguing possibility, when in her own way she asks if the moments must be sequential?  Would Jesus healing of this woman impinge on the Jews and their ability to hear the good news proclaimed?  This is what the woman means when she says "yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."  In a profound way, this woman was expressing faith not just in Jesus, but in the fact that His mission is to bring salvation to all.  Eventually the disciples themselves would come to embrace the universal aspect of Christ's mission.  Paul would say when writing to the Romans that, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)  When preaching to a group in Antioch of Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas would say that "it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first.  Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles." (Acts 13:46)  The position of this woman's story between the two feeding miracles, one performed for a group of Jews, the other for a group of Jews and Gentiles, points to it beginning a new phase in Jesus ministry.  The occurrence of the words "bread", "eat", and "satisfied" echoes the first feeding miracle, and foreshadows the second.  The exchange between the woman and Jesus also serves to demonstrate that God is never distant.  The woman's daughter is healed without Jesus touching her, or even explicitly saying anything to heal the girl.  He governs reality so that by simply stating that it has happened, the little girl is in fact healed.  Even more remarkably, the woman's faith extends so far as to allow her to trust in His word when he tells her, "go your way, the demon has left your daughter."
Jesus' second encounter is with a deaf-mute man.  Those with disabilities, those shunned by society, are allowed to approach Jesus.  In fact, His compassion for and ministry to them is a hallmark of His identity as the Messiah.  When speaking of the time when the Lord would restore the fortunes of Israel, the prophet Isaiah says "then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shout for joy." (Isaiah 35:5-6)  It is a tragic irony that those of Jesus' day were looking for demonstrations of military might, when they should have been looking for gestures of kindness and compassion, accompanied by signs of healing and restoration.  Indeed, Jesus' actions were meant to be a way for Him to enter the man's world, and communicate and sympathize with Him.  The author of Hebrews would take note of Jesus' compassionate demeanor when he wrote that "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, and yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)  Notice the response of the crowd to this miracle, when Jesus brings words to the mute and hearing to the deaf.  They say, "he has done all things well.  He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."  In the original Greek, their statement bears a striking resemblance to one in Genesis from the account of creation: "and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good." (Genesis 1:31)  Jesus does more than save us spiritually, he also restores us physically.  By restoring sight and speech, Jesus is putting things back the way God intended them to be from the start, and in the process showing that God's future for us is brighter and grander than we ever imagined.