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Lesson OneServant of God, Servant of All (Mark 2–7)18 Activities2 Assessments
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Lesson TwoGood News and the Son of God (Mark 1, 8–9, 11–12, 15, 16:1–8)14 Activities
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Lesson ThreeSecond Exodus (Isa 40–41, 61, Jer 31)15 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FourProphet and Son of Man (Deut 18:18, Dan 7:13–14, Mark 10, 13–14)14 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FiveAuthor and Audience14 Activities1 Assessment
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion1 Activity1 Assessment
Participants 28
Lesson 1, Activity 8
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In | Workbook: Two Parallel Healing Narratives in Mark
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Grab your Workbook Journal!
[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]
There are two accounts of healing in the middle of Mark’s Gospel that are extremely similar. The healing of the deaf man and the healing of the blind man are nearly identical in their narrative pattern. Each opens with a description of a trip and each mirrors the other in the phases of the story.
| Mark 7:31-37 | Mark 8:22-26 |
| Description of a trip | Description of a trip |
| and they brought him a deaf man | and they brought him a blind man |
| and they beseeched him that he lay his hand on him | and they beseeched him that he touch him |
| and taking him away from the crowd privately | and taking his hand he led him out of the village |
| he put his fingers into his ears and spitting he touched his tongue | and spitting on his eyes, he put his hands on him |
| And looking up to heaven he [Jesus] said … | And looking up he [the blind man] said … |
| “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) | “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” |
| Healing takes place | Healing takes place |
| and he commanded them not to tell anyone. | and he sent him back to his house saying, “Do not even go into the village.” |
Source: Joel Marcus, Mark 1–8: A new translation with introduction and commentary, 2000, p. 476.
- The common element in these two accounts can be understood in light of an Old Testament echo. Read Isaiah 35:2 and explain how Jesus’ healing ministry may be understood figuratively and theologically, and not just literally.
Assessments