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The Episode of The Loaves and the Profession of Faith of Peter
The loaves section is a significant part of the Gospel of Mark, which he divides into two major sections. The first culminates in Peter’s profession of faith. This journey of Jesus with the disciples is divided into three distinct moments.
The third moment is the section on the loaves, where the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves is recounted twice. Several other episodes also involve bread. For example, the healing of the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter includes the reference “to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Still, at the end of chapter 7, Mark recounts another particularly significant miracle immediately after this episode.
It is unique to the second Evangelist and had a notable influence on the baptismal rite in the Christian community of Rome; it concerns the healing of the deaf and dumb. Jesus returns from Tire and Sidon and is in Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis, east of the lake. “And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself, away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”) And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.”
This deaf-mute man is a figure of humanity in general, precisely because being deaf also makes one dumb. By not listening to sounds and words, he does not learn to produce them. This is the condition of the deaf man toward the Word of God; he cannot understand, comprehend, or accept the Word, so, of course, it becomes an inability to communicate, speak, and recount the Word he received.
Jesus intervenes therapeutically and treats this man. Once again, Mark reports an expression spoken in Jesus’s Aramaic, then translates it while keeping it to give the ‘ipsissima vox,’ the perception of the same voice of Jesus. “Ephphatha!” That word he said imperatively: “Open up.” We have a closed man, and Jesus gives him the order: “Open up.”
Jesus can order the wind, the sea, the devil, and death. He calls this man, closed in on himself, to open up. His ears open, and the knot in his tongue is untied. It is an almost ridiculous image. That man had his tongue knotted. Jesus’ word lets it go. This rite has been maintained in the celebration of baptism, and we continue to do it with the children, too. After the other symbolic gestures of the anointing, the robe, and the light, we touch the ears and the mouth of the baptized, saying: ‘The Lord Jesus who made the deaf hear and the dumb speak grant you to hear his Word soon, and to profess your faith to the praise and glory of God the Father.’
Listen and profess. Listen to the Word and profess the faith. This is the itinerary. This deaf-mute man becomes the prototype of the catechumen, that is, the one who attends the catechism to prepare to receive baptism, to be open to listening to the Word, and to be able to announce his faith. The loaves section appears twice in the same narrative series.
In fact, in Chapter 8, we find a second narration of the multiplication of the loaves. Maybe it didn’t happen twice, with the same sign of Jesus, but it has been narrated twice. This second narration is set mainly in a Hellenistic cultural context. We notice that the numbers also change. There are four thousand people; previously, there were five thousand; the loaves are seven; before, there were five; the remaining baskets are only seven, but previously there were twelve. In the first narration, the typical Jewish numbers are preserved, but in the second, naturally, Hellenistic numbers are used, with slight variations.
They are different styles in which the first community has recounted this episode. And the Evangelist, having other narrations before him, has organized them consistently into an important literary presentation. Thus, in chapter 8, we find once more the narration of the multiplication of the loaves, followed by the passage of the sea, and again a confrontation with the Pharisees.
Jesus tells the disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” They had just asked Jesus for a sign to put him to the test … ‘What signs do you want … with all the ones I made for you to see?’ The signs must be understood and received. “No sign will be given to this generation.” If they can’t read, none of Jesus’ actions is significant as a sign communicating something. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” In other words, beware of this way of thinking, this attitude that leads to ruin.
While Jesus is catechizing the disciples, they are distracted by their problems. They forgot to buy bread and probably blame each other: ‘It was up to you… It’s your fault… if you forgot, why didn’t you tell me… it wasn’t up to me….’ While Jesus speaks to the disciples, they are distracted; they worry about their little problems and are not busy embracing Jesus’ teaching. They are deaf and dumb! They are deaf! “Why are you arguing that you don’t have bread?” In this episode, Mark puts a series of hammering questions in the mouth of Jesus: “Do you still not see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?” … Sure, they don’t understand because they have a hardened heart. So, they are hard-headed.
In biblical language, the heart is the head. A hardened heart signifies stubbornness and bullheadedness. “Have you eyes that don’t see and ears that do not hear?” Jesus says the disciples are deaf and blind. He has just healed a deaf man and, immediately afterward, will heal a blind man. “Don’t you remember when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand? How many baskets full of pieces did you take?” They answered him: Twelve. “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you take?” They answered him: Seven. “And he says to them: Do you still not understand?” You have seen the signs; you have seen many … you remember the details, and yet you don’t understand?
What is it that they do not understand? They do not understand that Jesus indeed has the power to feed them. Instead, they are locked in their problems. They have seen the facts but have not understood them. They have heard those words but have not received them in authentic faith. They remain close to their problems. They are blind and deaf.
“When they arrived at Bethsaida, they brought him a blind man and begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. He put spittle on his eyes, laid his hands on him, and asked, “Do you see anything?” Looking up, he replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.” His vision was still unclear. Further intervention was required. Jesus again placed his hands on the blind man’s eyes, and after this second intervention, the blind man from Bethsaida saw perfectly well. “He was healed, and from afar, he saw everything.”
It is an exciting episode and one that deserves a little attention. It may give the impression that Jesus could not cure it at first. A second intervention is needed. After the first intervention, the blind man begins to glimpse something but does not see clearly. A second phase is required, a second intervention by Jesus, and then the blind man can see clearly.
What does it mean? This is another exclusive Mark page, and it has remarkable symbolic and catechetical value. The two phases correspond to the two parts of the Gospel. Jesus’ work is an intervention of healing. It alludes to the disciples. They are people who are blind. They are deaf. They see but don’t understand. They listen, but they don’t believe. Healing intervention is needed. Jesus is healing the ears, eyes, mouth, and heart of the disciples.
The first part of the Gospel ends with the apostle Simon’s profession of faith. We found it immediately after the blind man from Bethsaida was healed. “Now Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi, from Caesarea de Felipe. Along the way, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’” It is the disciples who are being cured of their blindness and deafness. And Peter’s profession of faith, the climax of the first part, is not the last word. It is like the blind man who begins to see something. People are seen as walking trees.
Peter’s answer: “You are the Christ” is a first answer … it is already something. It is the recognition of Jesus’ messianism, but not the culmination of the Christian faith. Jesus asks: ‘What are the current opinions about me? The others, the outsiders, what do they think about me? They inform him of the various opinions that circulated among the people. They are all identifications with people already known … “What do they say about me?” They say you are John the Baptist … others say you are Elijah or one of the prophets.”
John the Baptist had just been assassinated, and someone imagined that he had returned prodigiously or that Jesus was Elijah … Elijah was expected to return before the big event. Therefore, it could be him. Or one of the prophets. They are all people from the past. It’s hard to imagine the novelty; there is always an attachment to what has already happened. Jesus is new; it is a surprise … it goes further. They do not expect what Jesus truly is. Peter tries an answer that goes further. ‘And you (Jesus insists), you who are my friends, you who have been with me, who have accompanied me inside and out, outside and in Israel, and have seen so many signs … what experience have you had? What did you understand from everything you have seen, sensed, and lived? Peter responds synthetically: “You are the Christ.”
Let’s pay attention not to mix the gospels. We have in mind the answer according to Matthew. We are now reading the Gospel of Mark. According to Mark, Peter’s response is essential: “You are the Christ.” Nothing more. That Jesus is the Son of God will be the second profession of faith. That will be the climax. And it will be proclaimed by the Roman centurion at the foot of the cross after seeing how Jesus died.
This is the second part. For that, a second curative intervention from Jesus is necessary. The revelation of the cross is necessary, and the disciple’s formative path requires more profound catechesis on the first announcement. A strong experience of the cross of Jesus is necessary.
After Peter said, “You are the Christ,” Jesus did not congratulate him. He didn’t praise him as if to affirm, ‘We have reached the vertex.’ No. He sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Severely. Be quiet! These things should not be said. No congratulations … Why? Because Peter still has not understood well. He said that Jesus is the Christ; that does not mean he understood who Jesus is, because he did not have clear ideas about Christ or what he should do.
It was a typical political title and could even be used in the military. It could denote the claimant to the throne or a political candidate for the command post to lead the army. Therefore, Peter’s profession of faith, simply recognizing Jesus’ messianism, is not the pinnacle.
It is the first stage of healing. A second, more profound phase of intervention is needed. It is not enough to say that Jesus is the Christ; it is necessary to recognize him as the Son of God, watch him die on the cross, and recognize that Christ gives his own life and wins by losing and saves by dying. “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly.”
We found the verb ‘ began ‘ in chapter 8, verse 31. It is an important indication. The Evangelist is telling us: ‘Here begins the second part.’ With Peter’s profession of faith, ‘You are the Christ,’ the first part ends. With the next verse, the second part begins.
He began to teach them. The first part was characterized by the verbs ‘to announce’ and ‘to proclaim.’ It is the first announcement leading to messianic recognition. The second part focuses on catechesis. Jesus teaches the disciples the deep meaning of his messianism. “The Son of Man must suffer greatly.”
Here is the central point of the second part of the Gospel of Mark, beginning at this point. Do you remember the first verse of the Gospel? Beginning of the Good News that says, first: Jesus is the Christ; second, Jesus is the Son of God. The first part is over, and now begins the second part, which is to have a clear and different vision of reality until reaching recognition that Jesus is the Son of God.