8. The Episode of the Loaves and the Profession of Faith of Peter

The loaves section is a significant part of the text of the evangelist Mark, who divides his gospel into two major sections. The first culminates in Peter's profession of faith. This journey of Jesus with the disciples is divided into three moments.

The third moment is the section of the loaves where the story of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves is told twice. And several other episodes have something to do with bread. For example, the healing of the daughter of the Syrian--Phoenician woman contains a reference "to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs"; but immediately after this episode, at the end of chapter 7, Marcos recounts another miracle particularly significant.

It is exclusive to the second evangelist and had a notable influence in the rite of baptism in the Christian community of Rome; it is about the healing of the deaf and dumb. Jesus returns from abroad, from the region of Tire and Sidon, but he 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 it also becomes dumb. By not listening to the sounds, not listening to the words, he does not learn to make sounds and words. It is the condition of the deaf man to the Word of God; it is their inability to understand, to prehend, to accept the Word, so of course it becomes an inability to communicate, to speak, to recount this Word that he has received.

Jesus intervenes therapeutically, treats this man. Once again Mark reports an expression said in the language spoken by Jesus, in Aramaic. Then translate it, but kept it to give the ‘ipsissima vox,’ the perception of the same voice of Jesus. "Effatá", that word that he said imperatively: "Open up." We have a closed man and Jesus gives him the order:"Open up."

Jesus is capable of ordering the wind, the sea, the devil, death. He orders this man, closed on himself, to open up. His ears open, the knot of the 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, of the robe, of 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 able to announce his faith. The loaves section takes up the same narrative series twice.

In fact, in Chapter 8 we find again a narration of the multiplication of the loaves. Maybe it's not that it happened twice the same sign of Jesus, but it has been narrated twice. This second narration it is set mainly in a Hellenistic cultural context. We notice that the numbers also change. Now there are four thousand people, previously there were five thousand; the loaves are seven and before there were five; the remaining baskets are again seven and previously twelve. In the first narration, the typically Jewish numbers are preserved; and the typically Hellenistic numbers preserved in the second narration.

Small variations. They are different styles with which the first community has recounted this episode. And the evangelist having different narrations before him has organized them consistently in an important literary presentation. Thus, in chapter 8 we find again the narration of the multiplication of the loaves, to which the passage of the sea follows again; and again, a confrontation with the Pharisees.

Jesus says to the disciples: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees." They had just asked Jesus 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, they must be received. "No sign will be given to this generation." If they can't read, none of Jesus' actions it is significant, a sign that communicates something. "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees." In other words, beware of this way of thinking, of this attitude that leads to ruin.

While Jesus is catechizing the disciples, they are distracted ... they have their own problems. They forgot to buy the bread, and probably, blame each other: ‘It was up to you… it's your fault… if you forgot why you didn't tell me… it wasn't up to me….’ While Jesus speaks to the disciples they are distracted, they worry about their little problems and not busy embracing the teaching of Jesus. They are deaf and dumb! They are deaf! "Why are you arguing that you don't have bread?" In this episode Mark puts in the mouth of Jesus a series of hammering questions: “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 of head.

In biblical language, the heart is the head. The hardened heart it is stubbornness, bull-headiness. "Have you eyes that don't see and ears and do not hear?” Jesus is saying that the disciples are deaf and blind. And Jesus just healed a deaf man and immediately afterward he 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 you don't understand?’

What is it that they not understand? They do not understand that Jesus has the power to truly feed them. Instead, they are locked in their own problems. They have seen the facts, but they have not understood them. They have heard those words, but they have not received them with authentic faith. They remained closed in their own problems. They are blind and deaf.

“When they arrived at Bethsaida, they brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on him and asked, “Do you see anything?” Looking up he replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.” Obviously, the vision is not transparent. Further intervention is required. Jesus again places his hands on his eyes and after this second intervention, the blind man from Bethsaida sees perfectly well. "He was healed and from afar he saw everything clearly."

It is an interesting episode and one that deserves a little attention. It would give the impression that Jesus was not able to 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 needed, a second intervention by Jesus and then the blind man can see clearly.

What does it mean? This is another exclusive Mark page and has remarkable symbolic and catechetical value. The two phases correspond to the two parts of the Gospel. Jesus' work is an intervention of healing therapy. And it alludes to the disciple. They are the 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, the eyes, the mouth, the heart of the disciples.

The first part of the Gospel ends with the profession of faith of the apostle Simon. Actually, we found it immediately after the healing of the blind man from Bethsaida. "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, of their deafness. And Peter's profession of faith, vertex 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 the messianism of Jesus, but it is 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 imagines that he has returned prodigiously; or that Jesus is 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 actually 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 they deduce from everything you have seen, sensed, lived? Peter responds synthetically: "You are the Christ."

Let's pay attention not to mix the gospels with each other. 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 vertex. 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. A second curative intervention is necessary from Jesus. The revelation of the cross is necessary, the formative path of the disciple is necessary, of a deeper catechesis regarding the first announcement. Strong experience of the cross of Jesus is necessary.

After Peter said to him: 'You are the Christ', Jesus does not congratulate him. He doesn't praise him, as if he wanted 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, in fact, it does not mean having understood who Jesus is because he did not have clear ideas about Christ and what he should do.

It was a typically political title and could even be used in the military field. It could be the claimant to the throne, a political candidate to take the command post to guide the army. Therefore, Peter's profession of faith, simply recognizing Jesus' messianism is not the vertex.

It is a first stage of healing. A second phase and deeper intervention are needed. It is not enough to say that Jesus is the Christ, it is necessary to come to recognize him as the Son of God, watching him die on the cross; recognizing that the Christ gives his own life. Wining by losing. Saving by dying. "He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly."

In chapter 8, verse 31, we found the verb ‘began.’ 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 verb ‘to announce’, ‘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 that begins 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 it begins the second part to have a clear and different vision of reality, until reaching recognition that Jesus is the Son of God.