Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE QUESTION OF JESUS' SELF-UNDERSTANDING §15.7
allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of
James. 38 When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw
a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 And when he had entered,
he said to them, 'Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is
not dead but sleeping'. 40 And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside,
and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him,
and went in where the child was. 41 Taking her by the hand he said to her,
'Talitha cumi'; which means, 'Little girl, I say to you, arise'. 42 And immediately
the girl got up and walked (she was twelve years of age), and they were
immediately overcome with amazement. 43 And he strictly charged them that
no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
7.31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the
Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to
him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought
him to lay his hand upon him. 33 And taking him aside from the multitude
privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his
tongue; 34 and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, 'Ephphatha',
that is, 'Be opened'. 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released,
and he spoke plainly. 36And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he
charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished
beyond measure, saying, 'He has done all things well; he even makes
the deaf hear and the dumb speak'.
8-22And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind
man, and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand,
and led him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his
hands upon him, he asked him, 'Do you see anything?' 24 And he looked up
and said, 'I see men; but they look like trees, walking'. 25 Then again he laid
his hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and saw
everything clearly. 26And he sent him away to his home, saying, 'Do not
even enter the village'.
The evidence of Mark's retelling is clearly visible — particularly the typical
'immediately' 302 and the endings with their choral effect (2.12; 7.37) or interplay
of silence and publicity (1.44-45; 5.42-43; 7.36). Nor is it hard to hear the
voice of the story-teller adding the sarcastic comment about doctors (5.26), a not
unfamiliar motif, 303 but no doubt borne out by the hard experience of several in
302. Mark 1.29, 30, 42, 43; 2.8, 12; 5.29, 30, 42.
303. 2 Chron. 16.12; Sir. 10.10; 38.15; Tob. 2.10; lQapGen. 20.20; Philo, Sac. 70;
m. Qidd. 4.14.
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