Portraits of the spiritual Seeing in Mark's Gospel. Origen ... - Redalyc

Jesus and the Demons:...
317
Metaphorically, the verb signifies to see with the mind’s eye, to
have the power of understanding, to discern mentally, to observe, to
perceive and to discover until the point that can imply a feeling, to turn
the thoughts or direct the mind to a thing, to consider, to look at, to
weigh carefully, to examine, to look deeply into, to see through, and
to become aware of the essence 21 . In relation to the mental functions,
the verb implies directing one’s attention to take notice of something
or somebody, to regard or consider (1 Cor 1:26), to discover, to find,
to become aware of (Rom 7:23). Additionally to these notions, it can
indicate to take warning, e.g.: «watch, beware, be on guard or take heed»
in Mark 13:9 (Blépete).
Mark prefers to use Horáō rather than Blépō in order to speak more
explicitly of Jesus’ seeing, but nevertheless Blépō and its compound
forms have a total of 32 occurrences in Mark’s Gospel, from which 9
appearances refer to the action of Jesus’ seeing, i.e.: Mark 3:5.34; 5:32;
6:41; 7:34; 10:21.23.27; 11:11.
Theōréō has the connotation of viewing mentally or spiritually
something in order to consider it. This notion indicates a physical
perception that does not stop in the superficiality of the circumstantial
events or persons but it signifies a deeper level of insight. Therefore
theōréō other than having the basic meaning of seeing as being a spectator,
to look at, to observe, to perceive with the physical eyes, also has the
nuance of the perception by the mind or spirit, signifying the one who
can perceive the true nature of the gods as it is already established in
antiquity (Sallustius: 4.4,24), or the sublime connotation of the spiritual
perception of the one sent by God. It is a seeing possible only to the one
who believes, e.g., John 14:17.19; 17:24 22 .
Theōréō has a modest presence in Mark’s Gospel, appearing only
7 times in it. It is worth mentioning the subjects of this verb in the
markan narrative: Jesus appears twice in Mark 5:38; 12:41; the Demons
once in Mark 3:11; the Crowd seeing the demoniac who had been cured
emerges in Mark 5:15, and the Women who appear, as the predominant
subject of the verb, three times in Mark 15:40.47; 16:4.
21
Cf. W. Bauer, W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich and F.W. Danker, Greek-English
Lexicon… , 143-144.
22
Cf. W. Bauer, W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich and F.W. Danker, Greek-English
Lexicon…, 360.