1 This supposed prophecy is also referenced elsewhere – most notably in Isaiah 6:10 (“Make the mind of this people dull. Stop their ears and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes or listen with their ears or comprehend with their minds and thereby turn and be healed” – see also Jeremiah 5:21 & Ezekiel 12:2), a verse that is openly cited in both Matthew 13:15 & Mark 4:12 (see also Luke 8:10 & Acts 28:27, as well as the similarly active repentance mentioned in Luke 1:17, Acts 3:19, Acts 11:21, Acts 15:19, Acts 22:32, & Acts 26:18) – though it is worth noting that Jesus does so with a completely different context; one in full alignment with his ministry of humble mercy (see Matthew‘s “that I might heal them” & Mark‘s “so that they might be forgiven” – both of which employ the Greek epistrepsosin/Strong’s #1994 to imply that his listeners are to return to his selfless Way [intriguingly, see Isaiah 35:8]; essentially to “become again as young children”), and in stark contrast to the message of harsh retribution provided by the author of Isaiah 6 (who uses the similar Hebrew wasab/Strong’s #7725 to preclude a similar return to all deemed unworthy thereof).

2 NOTE that returning sight to Bartimaeus (also mentioned in Matthew 20:29-34 & Luke 18:35-43) is the last healing miracle attributed to Jesus in Mark‘s Gospel and tellingly (and quite critically) unifies Mark‘s common emphasis on the disciples’ “blindness” (i.e. their astounding inability to comprehend the fundamental purpose of Jesus’ ministry of radical selflessness) with the necessity of following Jesus to Jerusalem – where his pre-arranged crucifixion would finally make his message unmistakably recognizable to Jews & Gentiles alike (or so Jesus thought/intended) … Also of interest & intrigue, Bartimaeus’ exclamation at this juncture of Mark’s story was the very first public acknowledgment of Jesus as being the Christ (and coming just after Peter had privately proclaimed Jesus to be the same in Mark 8:27-30 – a mistake for which Jesus himself sternly rebuked him immediately thereafter); a claim fittingly made while Bartimaeus was still blind … NOTE as well that some scholars have identified a conjunctive significance between Mark‘s story about Bartimaeus and Plato’s tale of Timaeus, with the latter delivering one of Plato’s most important cosmological treatises – one that happens to announce sight as being the foundation of all knowledge.

3 Interestingly, though all four Gospel accounts mention a servant losing an ear in the Garden of Gethsemane (see Matthew 26:51, Mark 14:47, Luke 22:50, & John 18:10-11), only Luke has Jesus healing that loss of hearing.

4 Of obvious NOTE regarding Jesus supposedly bringing Lazarus “back from the dead” is the irrefutable fact that John is only Gospel author to mention the event at all – and this, even though the tale without question recounts by far the most stunning of Jesus’ “miracles.” While a minority of scholars explain this remarkable omission by claiming that Peter – one of the primary sources of information for the Synoptic authors – was not present for this particular resurrection, it is far more likely that this “miracle” was simply no such thing; that the story instead either recounted Jesus providing staged medical assistance to one who was (pretending to be) gravely ill, or that it was fully fabricated by the Gospel authors and never took place at all. Indeed, there is scriptural evidence for the former in the shockingly lackadaisical manner in which Jesus journeys to his friend’s aide after hearing of his illness, the self-assuredness with which he announces – even from afar – that “This illness does not lead to death” and that “Our friend Lazarus has [merely] fallen asleep”, and Jesus’ obvious distress (see verses 36-38) when he arrives and finds that Lazarus was much worse off than originally thought – an emotional trauma that would not have been evident had Jesus been an actual miracle-working “Son of God.” The latter theory – that this particular “healing” was in fact a literary fabrication – is supported by Jesus callously slow tempo of travel after being informed of Lazarus’ condition, coupled with Lazarus then being drawn forth from his tomb after four days, seeing as how Jewish legal tradition at the time (due to the regularity with which supposedly dead individuals “rose” after being misdiagnosed) did not pronounce actual death until a body had lain in its tomb for four full days.