We need to have a clear understanding of the two categories of healing in Mark. The four cases in the first category are related to being enlivened. The four cases in the second category are related to the recovery of the crucial organs of hearing, speaking, and seeing, the spiritual organs necessary for contacting God.
In 5:21-43 we have the healing of a woman with a flow of blood and the raising up of a dead girl. The case of the woman with the flow of blood is a case of the leaking out of life. Since this woman’s case is merged with that of the girl and since the twelve years of the woman’s sickness equal the age of the girl and both are females, these cases may be considered the case of one person. In this view, the girl was born, so to speak, in the woman’s death-sickness and died of it. When the woman’s death-sickness was healed by the Savior, the girl rose up from death.
In 7:24-30 we have the case of casting a demon out of a Syrophoenician woman’s daughter. We are told in 7:26 that “the woman was a Greek, Syrophoenician by race.” She was Syrian by tongue, Phoenician by race (see Acts 21:2-3), and— the Phoenicians being descendants of the Canaanites—a Canaanite woman (Matt. 15:22). What made her a Greek— religion, marriage, or something else—is difficult to discover. Although this woman was threefold a Gentile, in the sight of God she was a “little dog” whom He loved (vv. 28-29).
If we put all these cases together, realizing that they make up a composite portrait of Peter, our representative, we shall see that these cases indicate that Peter was fully healed and recovered. In chapter two of Acts, Peter is not only alive; he is strong in life and in the ability to hear, speak, and see.
In 7:1-23 the Lord Jesus exposes the condition of man’s heart. In this section of Mark the Lord is a surgeon who opens our inner being and exposes its true condition. In 7:20 the Lord says, “That which goes out of a man, that defiles a man.” Then He lists a number of evil things that proceed “out of the heart of men” (vv. 21-22). After this, He concludes, “All these wicked things proceed from within, and they defile a man” (v. 23). We all need to see man’s inward condition. We all need to realize that there is nothing good in the heart of fallen man.
After the exposure of the heart, there are two cases of feeding: the feeding of the Gentiles as the “little dogs under the table” (7:27-30) and the feeding of four thousand (8:1-9). In 7:27 the Lord Jesus said to the Syrophoenician woman, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” The woman answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the little dogs under the table eat of the little children’s crumbs” (7:28). The Jews were regarded as God’s children, and here the Gentiles are portrayed as “little dogs,” not as wild dogs, but as pet dogs, little dogs under the family table. As the children were eating at the table, the pet dogs were waiting under the table for any crumbs that might fall. Those crumbs became the portion of the pet dogs. Here we see that the Lord is not only the children’s bread on the table, but also the crumbs under the table. He is even the portion of the “little dogs,” the Gentiles.
In 8:1-9 we have the feeding of the four thousand. After the people ate and were satisfied, “they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets” (v. 8).
In 8:27—9:1 we have the unveiling of Christ with His death and resurrection. Before that time, the Lord Jesus had not been unveiled to His disciples. They followed Him blindly, without realizing who He is. Then at the end of chapter eight the Lord brought them away from the religious atmosphere of Jerusalem to the clear atmosphere of Caesarea Philippi. On the way “He questioned His disciples, saying to them, Who do men say that I am?” (8:27). They replied, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but others, one of the prophets” (v. 28). Then the Lord questioned them, “But you, who do you say that I am?” (v. 29). Peter took the lead to declare, “You are the Christ!” He saw the vision that Jesus is the Christ. Immediately, the Lord went on to speak to them concerning His death and resurrection. Therefore, here we have the unveiling of the Person of Christ and also the unveiling of His death and resurrection. In these verses we have the crucial revelation of the Person of Christ with His death and resurrection.