Pocket Journey (2)

In the first twenty chapters of JOURNEY we considered the sacred literature of the People of God concerning the origins of the world and mankind. We reflected on Abraham and his vocation as the father of the People and the model of faith. We saw the mighty act of God saving his People out of slavery and binding them to himself in the Covenant. In these events the extraordinary leadership of Moses was pointed out.

We then followed the growth of the People as they took possession of the land and struggled with the new forms of leadership and organization which this new life demanded. We considered how David brought peace to the People and made kingship the normal form of leadership. We heard the voice of the prophets as they protested the evils of their day and directed the hearts of the People to the future, a future which could be full of disaster or full of blessings, depending on the choices the People made. We read the passionate poetry in which they looked to a future act of God, an act of deliverance.

We also reflected on the sacred writers of the wisdom tradition and saw in them a love for mankind, a reverence for the goodness of the world, the beauty of all things human. We read how the People wrestled with the problems of survival without kings after the Exile; how they became a People revering the written Word of God and hoping for a final saving act of God. We saw how, in the last century before the coming of Jesus, the People began to hope more and more desperately for the final act of God. The first part of the history of the People ended in a fever of hope.

When Jesus came and announced that he was the fulfillment of true hope, many followed him at first. It was not long, however, before it became clear that the hope he offered was not the hope which most of the People wanted. The crowds fell away; opposition grew. His message of love and forgiveness was not enough for some and too much for others. He could have chosen to escape a violent death, yet he chose not to escape it. But the death of Jesus was the occasion for God's mightiest act of all, his most definitive: He raised his Son from the dead. A handful of his closest followers were at first stunned by his resurrection, and then were filled with new life. The Spirit of the Lord came upon them, giving them the courage of Jesus himself. They began to proclaim him as the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. The community of followers grew in number and began to spread throughout the Roman Empire.

As the communities grew and time passed certain writings came to be: letters written by great leaders, collections of sayings of Jesus, accounts of events in his life, and especially of his suffering and death. In time a new kind of literature was developed which was called Gospel (Good News). Eventually ail the writings which we know as the books of the New Testament were recognized as inspired by the Holy Spirit. These are the writings which we will consider in the following chapters.

These forty chapters will have touched upon most of the important aspects of the literature concerning our journey of faith. The rest of the literature is written by our lives as we give ourselves to the task of being a blessing to the nations, while we await the return of the Lord in glory. And it is only his return which will make final and complete sense of human history and of our journey.

Approach to the Books of the New Testament

All of the books of the New Testament were written out of faith and for the sake of faith. We attempt in these chapters to respect this approach. Our goal is to confirm, to enrich and to inform the faith, the same faith which gave birth to the books of the New Testament. While that faith has developed and has been expressed in a variety of ways in our history, it remains the one faith.

Jesus is Risen

Central to this faith is the resurrection of Jesus. The main message of the whole New Testament rests on the fact that he is risen. In him the goal of our human journey - life with God - has been reached: Jesus who was, is, and always will be one of us has by his resurrection become us with God. The true significance of his oneness with us can only be seen through his eternal oneness with God: since he has passed through all the constraints of earthly human life he is able to be present with all people, and so he is not only us with God, but also God with us.

Because of the resurrection everything else about Jesus became significant: his suffering and death, his teaching, his deeds, his works of power, his birth. It was because of his resurrection that these events were put into writing and preserved. Indeed the whole experience of the People of God contained in the books of the Old Testament took on a new significance because of the resurrection.

Jesus, the Christ

With the resurrection it became clear what was meant when Jesus was called the Christ, the Anointed One of God. In its broadest sense this title meant that Jesus was the fulfillment of all the hopes of the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. To the Law, Jesus is the New Adam, the first to reach the fullness of humanity in God; Jesus is the descendant of Abraham through whom all the nations of the world will be blessed; he is the new Moses leading mankind through the final Exodus from death to life; he is the new Covenant uniting God and mankind forever; his Good News fulfills the Law given on Sinai. To the Prophets, Jesus is the Anointed One in whom the promises made to David are fulfilled and surpassed; he is the one who not only defended the poor but became one of them, their brother and their God; he is the Servant who took upon himself the sins of the world, laying down his life that others might live. To the authors of the Writings, he is the great Praise of God, the one of whom the Psalmists sang; he is the Wisdom of God, the one in whom the search for truth is satisfied.

Jesus, the Lord

When the Gospels and the other New Testament books speak of Jesus, it is not in order to tell us something of a great man, an exceptional teacher, an extraordinary prophet. In all the books of the New Testament Jesus is the one whose name is above every name. His name is one which was once reserved for God alone: the Lord. To him belong all the power and authority of God. To him therefore obedience is due.

This is the faith which gave birth to all the books of the New Testament. This faith was the gift given to the People called together by the risen Lord - the Church. It is in and through the Church that Jesus, the Lord, continues his ministry and makes present to us the mystery of his death and resurrection. It is through the Church therefore that we will come to know Jesus who is presented in the New Testament, and it is in the same Church that we will be made one with him, sharing that life and that victory which leads to union with our Father. No amount of study of the books of the New Testament can substitute for the life of faith lived daily in the community called together by Jesus the Lord.

The faith we profess has never been blinded to the role of reason. In these chapters therefore we use the best of scholarship available to us. Our objective, however, is not to make scholars out of our readers; we will not enter into long and detailed discussions on points which are the duty of scholars, but not the duty of our readers. On points where scholars do not agree with each other and where we are obliged to express an opinion, we will usually point out that there is disagreement among scholars and take a position which we believe is tenable. In the last analysis we will always try to be true to the faith of the Church which gave us the books of the New Testament.

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Chapter 1- The Mystery Of The Kingdom

Chapter 1a How the Gospel according to Mark was formed

When we study and pray over the Gospel 'of Mark it is very easy to come to believe that it was written right there, on the spot, by a reporter. There are many passages which are so lively, so realistic, that they seem to suppose eye-witnesses. Certainly eye-witnesses are involved in the formation of the Gospels, but there is more. The Gospels were not written during the lifetime of Jesus, but many years later. Basically we can speak of three stages in the formation of the Gospel according to Mark: Jesus, the Church, the Evangelist.

Jesus

In the years of his public life Jesus taught and did many things, so many that the whole world could not likely hold all the books that would have to be written if all were recorded (John 21:25). But Jesus was an excellent teacher. He taught his disciples well, explained things to them. Jesus knew how to write (John 8:6f), but as far as we know he left none of his teachings in writing. He depended entirely on his disciples and on the work of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). As far as we know, no one wrote down the words and deeds of Jesus during his time on earth.

Jesus left it to the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, to sort out what was to be preserved in writing. And this is what the Church did in the years after the Resurrection of Jesus. However, what the Church preserved of Christ's life in her preaching was not necessarily preserved with a view to writing. As her life progressed, the Church preserved what was essential to her knowledge of the Lord and to her life in union with him.

The Church

Preaching. The Church did not get right down to writing the Gospels as soon as Jesus was raised from the dead. The very first thing that the Apostles did was to preach about Jesus (eg. Acts 2:14ff). When we use the word preaching here, we are using it in a special sense: proclaiming the essentials about Jesus, the Lord, in order to bring people to believe in him. They proclaimed that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, the Promised One, the Messiah; that through him sins were forgiven. They proclaimed his death, his resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit to form the Church, the renewed People of God. They received into the first Christian community all who came to believe their preaching. In all this they were aware that it was Jesus, present among them, who was speaking and acting through them.

Teaching. Preaching alone was not enough. In order to know Jesus, present and working in their midst, there was a need, especially for those who entered the Church, to learn more about him and what he said and did. So his parables were taught, accounts of different events in his life were told. In these first years of preaching and teaching, we are dealing mostly with eye-witnesses. But as time went on and new members who had not known Jesus personally in the flesh had to preach and teach, these had to rely on the witness of those who came before them.

Pastoral needs. The first and second generation of preachers and teachers had to look after the pastoral needs of their communities. For example, when problems arose about marriage, they would recall what Jesus had said about it; when greed and selfishness sprang up, they would teach what Jesus had said about that subject. When non-Jews began to enter the Church, the leaders of the communities had to recall what Jesus has said and done which could help them deal with this new pastoral question. What gave value to their words was not so much the fact that these had been the very words of Jesus as the awareness they had that Jesus was now present among them, speaking in and through them.

Liturgy. From the very beginning the Christian communities celebrated liturgy. They met for the Breaking of Bread (the Eucharist), where they recalled the death of Jesus. They met to baptize new members, to pray for the sick and anoint them with oil. At each of these and other liturgies some event or teaching of Jesus would be used, much as we do today. At the Eucharist the last supper would be remembered, possibly an account of the passion and death of Jesus would be recited. At a baptism they would recall the baptism of Jesus, or how Jesus forgave sinners, how he healed the sick and cast out evil spirits. Many other examples could be given. All of these words and accounts served to heighten their awareness of the invisible Lord whose presence with them they celebrated at these important moments of their lives.

Oral tradition. In these ways the sayings and deeds of Jesus were used and remembered. The requirements of the life of the Church dictated what would be remembered. In the first years there was no real need to write down everything. It was enough that people could recount his parables and his acts by heart. It is also important to notice that there was no particular order in all the parables and actions of Jesus which were preserved in this tradition. For example, it was not especially important when and where Jesus put his arms around the little children; all that mattered was that he did do it. It was not important whether it was in Galilee or in Jerusalem that Jesus taught about marriage, as long as his teaching about marriage was accurately repeated. In this way, the truth about Jesus was preserved, but there was no real need to remember just where and when he said and did everything he said and did. What was essential to know was what he was saying and doing, then and there, in their midst.

At first it seems that almost everything about Jesus was preserved in the memory of the leaders and the communities. Many incidents and sayings of Jesus were memorized; people could recount them word for word as they had been taught them. As you would expect, as new communities were formed, and as these oral traditions about Jesus were handed on, some changes could take place in the tradition. But it is well known that people had much better memories then, than most of us have today. Still it is not surprising that one community might remember a saying of Jesus in one way and another in a different way. Exact uniformity in every detail was not important as long as the truth about Jesus was preserved.

From Aramaic to Greek. In the first decades after the Resurrection of Jesus the Church began to spread to Greek-speaking peoples. Most of the traditions about Jesus had been preserved in Aramaic, the language of Jesus, as long as most of the Christians spoke Aramaic. But when Greek-speaking people started to respond to the preaching and teaching of the leaders of the Church, then everything had to be translated into Greek. As you would expect, some changes naturally had to take place to make sure that the Greek-speaking people understood correctly what Jesus said and did.

From oral to written tradition. No one knows exactly when people began to write down the traditions about Jesus. It is very understandable that the Christian communities, as they moved further and further away from the eye-witnesses and as they found that there was a danger of too many variations in the oral tradition, started to put things into writing. Parables were written down, important events in the life of Jesus were put into writing as they had been handed on to the communities. The passion and death of Jesus was probably written down quite early, because it was so important. It is very possible that people began to make little collections of his parables, or collections of his actions, his arguments with the Pharisees, and so on. But these writings were all separate. They had not all been joined together to make a smooth continuous account. This is where the Evangelists come into the picture.

The Evangelist

Mark was one of the very first to tackle the job of gathering, selecting and organizing the oral and written traditions about Jesus. He did a marvellous job. He had, from the tradition, a general framework of history — Jesus started his public life by being baptized; he began his ministry in Galilee where he was very popular at first. As time went on opposition began to form. He made one final trip to Jerusalem when the tension was at its highest. He was enthusiastically welcomed by the crowds, but the authorities felt very threatened. They took action against him, arrested him, tried him and had him crucified. It was a general kind of framework of the public life of Jesus which Mark inherited, but this broad outline did not tell Mark exactly when and where Jesus spoke this or that parable, or for example, when and where he argued with a Pharisee about this or that. It was Mark who had to decide on a fitting time and place in his Gospel for all the sayings and events for which there was no clear setting.

Some events did have a clear setting (eg. Peter's profession of faith took place at Caesarea Philippi, Mark 8:27). Whenever the tradition gave Mark a clear indication of time and place, Mark would of course use it.

Mark the evangelist had to connect all these pieces of tradition together; he had to write connecting links. He also had to compose parts on his own, based on his personal knowledge of the faith. Mark was a compiler and an editor, but more than these, he was a true author. He served the traditions of the Church — he was not free to invent whatever he liked — but he was free to emphasize some things more than others; his own insights into the meaning of Jesus came through his work. Mark also was conscious of the special needs of the communities which would read and study his Gospel.

How did Mark organize his materials? Does his little book have a clear plan? These are difficult questions. Saints and scholars have for centuries probed Mark's work and have come up with dozens of different plans Mark might have followed. We propose one plan. It is not the only possible plan, but it is general and does not seem to force anything onto the Gospel.

The plan we propose centres on the answer to Mark's most important question, Who is Jesus?. Mark gives us two kinds of answers, both saying the same thing — Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God. The first kind of answer is revealed by the Father and by Jesus himself. This occurs at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the Gospel.

Baptism of Jesus (1:11)---Transfiguration (9:7)-----------------Trial of Jesus (14:61f)

You are my Son----------"This is my Son----------------------I am (the Son of God)"

The second kind of answer to the question "Who is Jesus?" comes from the Church in the words of Mark himself representing his community, the words of Peter, leader of the Church and the words of the Roman soldier at the foot of the cross, representing the Gentiles. These too are found at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the Gospel.

Mark (1:1)--------------------------Peter (8:29)-----------------------Roman soldier (15:39)

"Jesus Christ, the son of God-----You are the Christ---------This was the Son of God."

Mark seems to have given his Gospel a clear beginning, a mid-point and an ending. In each there is revelation of the identity of Jesus, and in each there is the response of the Church echoing this revelation.

We will consider the Gospel of Mark in three sections:

Chapter 21: Mark 1:1 - 6:6a. This section is set in motion by the words of Mark and the voice of the Father, both declaring Jesus of Nazareth to be the Son of God (1:1, 11). Jesus begins to announce the Kingdom of God in word and in acts of power. He begins to gather followers to establish the new People of God. His popularity is great, but opposition begins to form. The action centres on Galilee.

Chapter 22: Mark 6:6b - 10:52. This section builds up to and flows from the confession of Peter (8:29) and the words of the Father (9:7). Jesus spends much more time with the disciples and the Twelve in particular. He begins to teach them about the necessity of his suffering, his death and resurrection. His teaching is heard but not accepted. The qualities of the renewed People of God are more clearly described. The action takes place both inside and outside Galilee; the last part of the section has Jesus approaching Jerusalem.

Chapter 23: Mark 11:1 - 16:8. We use this chapter to describe the kingship of Jesus. This section of Mark builds up to the words of Jesus at his trial where he openly admits he is the Son of God, and to the words of the Roman soldier (14:61f; 15:39). The final days of Jesus are spent in or near Jerusalem. The high point of the whole Gospel comes in the simple words of the angel at the empty tomb: "He is risen" (16:6).

Who was Mark? We would all very much like to know for certain, but we simply have to live with some uncertainty. The traditional answer to the question is that he was the Mark (John Mark) who accompanied Saint Paul and who was with Saint Peter for a while (Acts 12:12, 25; 13:13; 15:37ff; Col 4:10; PhIm 24; 2 Tim 4:11; 1 Pet 5:13). We have to admit, however, that Mark was a very common name and it could be that another Mark was the author. What we do know for certain is that Mark was a man of extraordinary talents, talents brought to perfection by the Holy Spirit in the service of the Church.

When was the Gospel of Mark written? We are not certain here either. it could have been written as early as 55 AD or as late as 70 AD; a date somewhere between these two is satisfactory. Whatever the exact date, we are treating the Gospel according to Mark as the oldest of our written Gospels. This is a theory which has been very commonly held for the last hundred years or so. It is only a theory, not a proven fact. It has more support than any other theory about which Gospel is the oldest, and it has proven most helpful in explaining the Gospels.

Chapter 1b The mystery of the Kingdom (Mark 1:1 - 6:6a)

The Beginning (1:1-20)

Note: While Mark does not use the expression the "People of God" in his Gospel, we have chosen to use it throughout. We do this for two reasons: 1) because we want to stress the continuity with the first twenty chapters of JOURNEY; and 2) we want to make explicitly clear what is only implicit or suggested in Mark.

For several hundred years before Jesus came, the People of God had not had any great prophets: of this they were very aware. To them it was as though God had abandoned them, leaving them without any signs and prophets (Ps 74:9). They looked forward to the day when God would once again send them a true prophet (1 Macc 4:46; 14:41). Many of them believed that God would send back Elijah the prophet. Since Elijah had been taken up in the fiery chariot into heaven, it was believed that he was still alive and would one day come back to earth. (See 2 Kings 2 and Malachi 3:23.)

Many of the People also believed that when God sent them a true prophet again, it would be a sure sign that he was about to send them the Messiah, the great promised one who would bring an end to all their troubles. So when John the Baptist appeared, crowds rushed to see and hear him. They all wanted to find out whether he might be the hoped-for prophet.

John was a man who spoke like a prophet, powerfully, convincingly. His message had all the marks of prophecy: he boldly convicted the People of their sins, he called them all to repent, he threatened them with the judgment of God. He even dressed like a prophet. It seemed clear that in John the Baptist God had finally broken his centuries of silence by sending a true prophet. The Messiah must be very near.

Reading Mark 1:1-8

Mark and all the Christians he served saw in John the Baptist the beginning of the fulfilment of all the hopes of the People of God. He uses two short quotations as examples of this: "Behold I am going to send my messenger. . . This is from the Book of Malachi (3:1f). The second quotation is adapted from the Book of Isaiah (40:3-9): A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare a way for the Lord.. ." John is in fact the one through whom God renewed prophecy.

John himself expected something more to happen after him. He too hoped that God would send one greater than himself, the Messiah. John's own work brought forgiveness through a simple human gesture, washing with water; but the Messiah would produce the very work of God himself, a cleansing with the Holy Spirit of God.

In John the Baptist God seemed to have begun to come close to his People again. They were looking for the Messiah to appear. Mark, however, is about to show us that what God did was much more than the People expected. In fact it was more than the greatest hopes of the prophets. Ezekiel had hoped that God himself would come to look after his People (Ezek 34:11); Isaiah had hoped that God would come to be with his People (Isa 7:14). Another prophet longed for the day when God would "tear the heavens open and come down" (Isa 64:1, or 63:19). Mark is about to show us that God did all of this and more.

Reading Mark 1:9-11

Using the few words of John the Baptist as introduction, Mark presents Jesus "from Nazareth in Galilee. It is clear that Jesus is the Lord" whose way John prepared. But Jesus is a man, a man who comes from the little village of Nazareth, a real place on this earth. As though that were not startling enough, Mark underlines the fact that Jesus too went to hear John preach, that Jesus was moved to undergo the baptism of repentance along with all his fellow citizens. Even though we know that Jesus was without sin personally (Heb 4:15 - 5:10), he did not think of himself as being above his own people. He considered himself one with the People of God. All the People as a whole were in need of conversion, and Jesus, as a member of his People, did what was expected of all the others. Jesus was not ashamed to unite himself to sinners and to be taken as one of them. This attitude marked his whole public life, from the beginning here in his baptism to the end on the Cross as a convicted criminal.

". . .he saw the heavens torn open. The People of God thought of God as enthroned above the waters above the heavens (see diagram Chapter 1, p. 10). The heavens were thought of as a firm kind of dome holding back the waters above, and separating mankind from God. The real barrier, however, was not the firmament of heaven, but the sinfulness of humanity. It is precisely as Jesus identifies himself with sinful humanity at his baptism, that he sees the heavens torn open"; the barrier between God and humanity is torn apart. In Jesus God is showing his love, his acceptance of humanity as it is.

It would have been easier to believe that God would first purify, take away the sins of humanity before taking the human race to himself. The unexpected, surprising act of love for the human race consists in God's loving us while we were still sinners (Rom 5:8). This is made known to us in the very first public act of Jesus, his baptism.

". . .and the Spirit descending on him like a dove." The Spirit of God which anointed Moses and the elders (Num 11:16-30), the Judges (Judges 6:34), David (1 Sam 16:13), the prophets (eg. Ezek 11:5) now anoints Jesus. The new and perfect leader (the Messiah, Anointed One) which Isaiah had hoped for and upon whom the Spirit of God would come fully (Isa 11:1ff) is Jesus.

"You are my Son, the Beloved. On you my favour rests. Jesus is not simply the Messiah, the great man whom God would send to save his People, as he once had sent David. Jesus is the Son of God himself. In Psalm 2:7 David had been referred to as son of God by adoption; here in Jesus we have the true Son of God. In the Book of Isaiah the prophet had promised that God would one day declare to his Chosen One, Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am well pleased" (Isa 42:1). Now at the baptism of Jesus this declaration is made: Jesus is the Son of God, the Servant of God.

It is very possible that Mark and his readers saw something deeper in the words of the Father at the baptism. "You are my Son, the Beloved suggests the words of God to Abraham, Take your son, the beloved, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering (Gen 22:2). If this is so, then we have from the very beginning, at the baptism of Jesus, a hint of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. (The Greek word translated beloved, agapetos, can be translated either as beloved or only son". The same word is used in Mark 1:11 and in the Greek of Gen 22:2.)

Jesus, after his baptism, undergoes temptation in the wilderness. (The number 40 is symbolic and means enough time to do what is necessary.) Mark gives us no details on the nature of these trials except to say that they were an encounter with Satan, the enemy of all that is of God. Jesus is victorious in this contest with Satan.

Reading Mark 1:12-13

The whole of the public ministry of Jesus will be a fight against evil in all its forms. (More details on the temptations of Jesus will be given in Chapter 24.)

The message of John the Baptist emphasized the sinfulness of the People and the fact that his own work was only a preparation for the one who was to come after him. By contrast Jesus places all the emphasis on the action of God: Good News from God! The Good News from God is that now in the person of Jesus, God's Kingdom is at hand. This means that the will of God is finally about to be accomplished on earth. Since God is good, and his will is concerned only with what is for the good of the human race, then the realization of his will in this world is Good News.

Reading Mark 1:14-15

Jesus begins his work in Galilee many miles north of Jerusalem. He announces the coming of the Kingdom of God. The faith of the People had spoken of God as king, the king who is known for his kindness, his faithfulness, his mercy, his love of justice and integrity (see Pss 97, 98, 99). When the Rule of God is accepted then kindness, faithfulness, mercy, justice and integrity are lived out among people. God's Rule is only really effective, he only really rules as king, when his will is obeyed by people on earth. When people obey the will of God then the Kingdom, the Reign or Rule of God is revealed.

Jesus invites his hearers to accept the great truth that God is about to make his will prevail upon earth. We know, as Mark and his first readers knew, that it was in the person of Jesus that God's will was perfectly lived, so that we can say that the Kingdom or Rule of God breaks into our history in Jesus. We also know that the full expression of the Rule of God will come only at the end of time, when God's goodness will bring to perfection what he has made. But this great, final day has begun to make itself felt on earth in Jesus. In Jesus the Kingdom of God has come. Jesus calls people to believe that this Good News is true and that they should turn to it and live accordingly.

Mark immediately brings us to the call of the first disciples; they are the ones who first accept the Good News. In Mark these four begin to follow Jesus, even before any miracle is reported. Three of these first disciples, Peter, James and John, are the core of the group which will form the renewed People of God.

Reading Mark 1:16-20

Jesus calls and these men follow him. The action of Jesus and the immediate response of the four disciples is written in such a way as to suggest that Jesus is acting with the power and authority of God himself, as when God called Moses, the prophets or other leaders. It is clear from the way Mark has placed this call of the first disciples immediately after his statement of the preaching of Jesus (vss 14-15), that Mark intends us to understand that repenting and believing in the Good News is the same as following Jesus.

Peter, James and John will share in the most personal experiences of Jesus; they will be witnesses to his work from the beginning of his public life. Later, after the Resurrection of Jesus, they will become known as the "pillars" of the Church (Gal 2:9).

New and powerful teaching (1:21-35)

The expressions "Kingdom, Rule or Reign" of God have basically the same meaning: God's desires for the human race are being accomplished. When, at the end of time, God rules completely, all human suffering, all sickness, all disability will come to an end for those who have entered the Kingdom. In our present world suffering, sickness, death and sin all point to the incompleteness of the Rule of God. In the language of the Gospels suffering, sickness, sin and death are not the direct work of God, but the work of God's enemy, Satan and his demons.

In the days of Jesus people who suffered from epilepsy, insanity or severe emotional disorders were considered to be possessed by spirits (demons) who made the sufferer unclean, that is, unfit for the company of men and God. Such sufferers were looked upon with suspicion and barely tolerated. Today we would not use the same language, we would not call sicknesses "possession by evil spirits for fear of making the suffering of such sick people even worse. Nevertheless we should retain the idea that illness is not what God wants for the human race. When God really has his way, every tear will be wiped away" (Isa 25:8; Rev 7:17). Sickness represents not the Rule of God, but the rule of Satan, the enemy of God.

When Jesus sets out to make the Rule of God present, he does so by healing, by casting out devils who keep people bound in sickness and insanity. He overcomes the rule of Satan and makes the future Kingdom of God begin to be present on earth.

Jesus makes the Kingdom of God present by the power of his teaching. Mark tells us that his teaching had such authority, such power, that it astounded people (1:22). Jesus did not teach like the scribes, the scholars who were trained in the traditional interpretations of the Law of Moses. These scribes only repeated the opinions of their teachers, but Jesus taught with the force of personal conviction, with an authority which he had from God. The teaching of Jesus was powerful not only by the force of the way he spoke, but by the fact that when he commanded evil spirits, his word cast out the spirit and healed the suffering person. Jesus taught not only by his words, but by his actions: a simple gesture could bring healing.

He went to her, took her by the hand and helped her up. And the fever left her and she began to wait on them. Mark 1:31

Reading Mark 1:21-31

The healing of Peter's mother-in-law was probably remembered simply because Peter was very important in the early Church. The incident points out that the relatives of leaders such as Peter were not to be served as though they were nobility, but were called themselves to serve: "she served" Jesus and the disciples (vs 31).

The striking newness of his teaching and his great healing power drew huge crowds to Jesus. He healed as many as came in order to make clear that the healing Rule of God was breaking into history.

Reading Mark 1:32-39

His popularity in Capernaum did not lead Jesus to make the most of it. He spent the early hours of the day in prayer and decided to leave the anxious crowds in order to make a tour of other towns which had not yet felt the power of his teaching. Mark indicates a lengthy journey took place, possibly involving months (vs 39).

The last event in this short section deals with a leper. Leprosy was and remains today one of the worst of human illnesses. (For a description of leprosy and the procedures to prove a cure, see Lev 13:9-17; 14:1-32.) Lepers were obliged to live away from towns. People were not to touch them and most people simply stayed away from them altogether. The person whose case was diagnosed as leprosy was declared to be "unclean, that is, forbidden to associate with clean" people, and especially forbidden to take part in worship at the Temple. While this regulation made good sense by preventing the spread of contagious leprosy, the result was that the plight of lepers was doubly horrible: a leper was seriously sick and abandoned by family and friends. The rabbis considered the healing of a leper to be as great a miracle as raising the dead. When Jesus heals the leper, this cure causes such a stir that Jesus ends up as restricted in his movements as the leper had been (vs 45). Nevertheless, the work of Jesus continued because people came to him.

Reading Mark 1:40-45

Jesus orders the healed leper to go to the priest to have his cure verified ac-cording to the Law. This would allow the man to be reintegrated into the social and religious life of the People. In spite of Jesus' stern command to keep silent, the man broadcasts the news everywhere. Jesus was not looking for popularity: he did not work miracles in order to draw crowds. He worked miracles in order to show clearly that God is not indifferent to human suffering, and that the Rule of God brings about what is good for the human race. The future Kingdom of God was making inroads into time in the work of Jesus.

Conflict begins (2:1-3:6)

Jesus was very popular and therefore had to be taken seriously by both the religious and civic leaders. No doubt he was being closely watched. The most important and influential people in the religious life of the People of God both in Palestine and throughout the Roman Empire were the Pharisees. The Pharisees formed a kind of movement, mostly among the lay people. They promoted devotion to God and held to certain traditions which had developed over the centuries. Their centre of activity was the synagogue, a lay organization which had spread to almost every community of the People of God (see Chapter 16, p. 27).

The Pharisees were completely dedicated to doing the will of God in all things. They were very religious, very devout. To them God was most important, and everything in their daily life had to be pleasing to him. They understood the will of God as being first of all what God had revealed in the Law, and then all that flowed from the Law, according to the tradition of their great teachers. They encouraged generosity in following the Law and the traditions of their great teachers (rabbis). They did not like people who did the minimum to stay within the Law; they fostered doing the maximum.

When Jesus began to preach that the Reign (Kingdom) of God was at hand, they no doubt were interested. This meant that the time when the will of God would be fully accomplished was arriving. Since they were so dedicated to the will of God, they were anxious to have Jesus on their side. It might even have seemed that Jesus was going to be on their side; after all, he did attend the synagogue on the sabbath and took part in their services.

Beginning in 2:1 Mark gives us a series of stories which illustrate the conflict which began to form in the midst of Jesus' great popularity. The religious leaders, the Pharisees and the scribes, object to things which Jesus says and does. The first conflict revolves around the forgiveness of sins. The religious leaders held that only God himself could forgive sins. This he would do on the last day, the day of judgment. God also forgave sins, according to them, through certain sacrifices and rituals in the Temple (eg. Lev 17:1ff). The claim which Jesus makes in the following incident is very shocking to them. But Jesus backs up his claim with an act of healing which all can see.

Reading Mark 2:1-12

For the first time in Mark Jesus refers to himself as "son of man. In itself this simply means a human being, one who is born, who lives and dies (see Ezek 2:1 - 3:3; Chapter 14, p. 10). Jesus uses it to underline his humanity. He wishes to be known as one of us. After the death and resurrection of Jesus the expression Son of man came to have a much deeper meaning for Christians: the Son of man" was Jesus who died, rose again and would return in glory, always retaining his humanity.

Jesus claims that as "Son of man" he has authority here on earth to forgive sins. He declares the man's sins to be forgiven by a simple word. Jesus does not deny that divine power is needed to forgive sins; what he does say is that divine authority has been placed in his human hands.

The scribes (experts in the Law) who were probably Pharisees (2:16) are shocked; they accuse Jesus of blasphemy. When Matthew reports the same incident he makes it very clear that what is at issue is not only the authority of Jesus to forgive sins here on earth, but the authority given to followers of Jesus to do the same (Matt 9:8). The teaching of this passage, which expresses itself in part in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, still shocks people today who want to believe that forgiveness comes directly from God without any mere human agent.

In their anxious desire to be pure, holy and undefiled before God, the Pharisees avoided all sinners as much as possible. Tax collectors were especially to be avoided, because they cooperated with the pagan, unclean Romans by collecting the hated taxes for them. Levi, in the passage you are about to read, collects the duty-tax which was imposed on goods being transported from one town to another. A sinner was one who was publicly breaking some part of the Law of Moses or some of the customs which Pharisees expected of pious people. In the next short reading, Mark goes on to narrate in the briefest possible way one of the habits of Jesus which the Pharisees found most disturbing.

Reading Mark 2:13-17

As at the moment of his baptism, so during his ministry Jesus shows no hatred of sinners, but identifies with them. Because he had such an attitude towards those whom the Pharisees considered to be the rejects of God, it is not surprising that sinners enjoyed the company of Jesus; they felt comfortable with him. The meals with tax collectors and sinners were not quick lunches, eaten in prayerful silence, full of sentiments of sorrow for sins. Mark uses a Greek word which means recline at table (vs 15), a leisurely meal. Having a festive meal with someone was an expression of the closest kind of intimacy. To the Pharisees, having such a meal with sinners was shocking.

The Greek of vs 15 is a little difficult to translate, but it seems that the idea is that there were many tax collectors and sinners among those who followed Jesus. To follow Jesus is to be a disciple. Mark seems to be underlining the fact that just as during the lifetime of Jesus sinners followed him, so also in the time of the Church, there will be sinners among those who follow Jesus. For those who know themselves to be sinners, the presence of Jesus at table with them causes humble, but joyful wonder, and gives strength for continued efforts at conversion. Those who consider themselves sinless think that Jesus is the one who should be grateful for their company. The virtuous cannot stand the thought that Jesus should be present in anything but a perfect community; only in that kind of community could the virtuous feel at home. It is always difficult to believe that God truly loves sinners. It is much easier to believe that God loves only good, virtuous people.

Mark now moves from the scene of Jesus dining with sinners to a discussion on fasting. There was only one obligatory day of fasting according to the Law (Lev 16), but many Pharisees fasted twice a week, a hundred times more than required by the Law. The Pharisees encouraged doing much more than the Law required; they saw this as a show of generosity. If one day of fast was pleasing to God, surely a hundred days would be a hundred times more pleasing. Jesus sees through this false reasoning. He does not promote an exaggerated practice which makes God appear to be bad news.

Reading Mark 2:18-22

Jesus came announcing Good News. Such a message cannot be delivered in mournful customs of fasting. The Good News announced, he also lived out in a way of life that was closer to a wedding feast than to anything else. Jesus does not condemn fasting altogether, but he indicates that the time of his ministry on earth is a time of rejoicing in which there is no room for sadness.

In the last verses of the passage (vss 21f) Jesus makes a very strong statement on the great differences in religious life and practices which his corning will introduce into the People of God. Jesus brings newness which affects the whole life of the People; his coming, his ministry is not a new patch on old clothing; it is not new wine in old skins. Jesus is not bringing in a new way of life which is to be fitted into the old practices of the Pharisees. A new way of life means new customs. The Pharisees would certainly not miss the message in these words: their customs, their way of life was coming to an end in the ministry of Jesus.

The sabbath day had become the subject of all kinds of rules and customs. The Pharisees wanted to do everything in their power to assure themselves that they were doing the will of God perfectly. God had ordered rest on the sabbath. The practical question, according to the Pharisees, was, what is rest? and what is work?. They had developed a long list of things which were forbidden on the sabbath. One of these things was harvesting grain. But the Pharisees were not interested in a cheap, minimal observance of the will of God. If harvesting was forbidden, then so was rubbing grains of wheat in one's hand and blowing away the chaff.

Reading Mark 2:23-28

To the Pharisees God is the only centre of their lives; his will is everything to them. In fact God is so important that pleasing him comes before everything else. God had commanded rest, so rest and rest alone is important on the sabbath. Jesus also claims that the will of God (his Reign) is all important to him; but for Jesus there is absolutely no possible way in which the will of God can compete with the needs of people. Jesus reminds the Pharisees that God himself gave the People the sabbath not in order to be obeyed and revered, but for the good of human beings. The sabbath was given for man's sake; man was not created for the sake of the sabbath (Chapter 5, p. 8). For the Pharisees making God all-important meant considering people as secondary; for Jesus making God all-important meant dedication to doing good for people, because God himself is dedicated to doing good for people.

As God had given it (see Deut 5:12-15) the sabbath day was to be a day celebrating human freedom. It was intended to be a day where all — from slaves to masters — would enjoy the rest which declared that people are important in themselves and not only for the work they can do. It was clear that God who commanded the sabbath, commanded it not for his sake, but for his people's sake. Instead of being a day celebrating life and freedom, the sabbath had become at the hand of the Pharisees a day of slavery demeaning life. Saying that this type of oppressive, rule-filled day was willed by God only made matters worse, because it made of God one who was against life, against freedom, against what is good for people. In fact it made God into an unreasonable and thoroughly self-centered god who wants nothing but attention for himself and cares nothing about people. (See The Genesis of Sin, Chapter 1, p. 18.) To the Pharisees, healing was work, therefore forbidden on the sabbath.

Reading Mark 3:1-6

Defiantly, angrily, Jesus heals the withered hand. His act proclaims the goodness of God, God's love for people, God's will to heal, to free. If such is God, how fitting that a person should be healed, freed, given life on the sabbath, the day which was meant to reflect the will of the saving God.

At this point the Pharisees understand just how much distance there is between themselves and Jesus. They realize that there is no way in which Jesus can be won over to their side. If Jesus cannot be an ally, he should be done away with as soon as possible. Jesus was not only contradicting the teachings and customs of the Pharisees, but also by the power of his teaching and healings he was thoroughly discrediting them. He was a serious threat to the Pharisees. He also was a serious threat to the king, Herod Antipas, who ruled over Galilee. Politics and religion cannot be separated; the Pharisees seek out supporters of Herod to work together to rid themselves of Jesus.

Renewing the People of God (3:7-35)

Reading Mark 3:7-12

Mark presents the unclean spirits as having a superior knowledge of the truth: Jesus is Son of God. On this occasion as on previous ones (1:24-25, 34), Jesus silences them, because it is not right that the truth about Jesus should be publicly proclaimed before he has finished the whole of his work. It is only after he has done the Father's will to his death on the cross that his divine sonship can be announced (15:39). The unclean spirits want the title "Son of God" to be connected, not with the cross, but with the miracles and the great popularity of Jesus.

Jesus decides not to take advantage of his popularity to gain control of the people. He resists the temptation to become a popular revivalist, stirring up the enthusiasm of the crowds and then passing on to other crowds. Jesus accepts the much more difficult but necessary task of renewing the People of God as a people, not as a mass of individuals. There are crowds following him, and among the crowds there are some disciples. Now Jesus introduces a structure into the group of disciples, a structure which is symbolically all-important.

Reading Mark 3:13-19

If Jesus had intended simply to renew the individual members of the People of God, much as a roving preacher, or a John the Baptist, then he would not have had to pay attention to the structures of authority. Jesus, however, clearly intends to renew the People of God as a community, as a people, and so organization is essential.

The choosing of the twelve apostles is made solemn by the fact that Jesus withdrew into the mountain away from the crowds, and then called to him those destined to be the founders of the renewed Israel. the new twelve patriarchs. As God had called Moses and all Israel's tribes up to the mountain, so Jesus, the Son of God, calls the founders of the renewed People to himself on a mountain. (The Greek, often translated hill, actually means mountain. No particular mountain is intended. It is only significant as a symbol suggesting God's calling Israel to the mountain. See Exod 19:3.)

The most singular honour of the Twelve is that they are to be with him, that is, they are to be specially close to him, his intimate companions. Their work is, like Jesus' work, to serve the Kingdom of God by preaching the Good News and fighting against the forces of evil, by casting out demons.

The first name on the list is Simon to whom he gave the name Peter. To change a person's name is to have a particular authority over that person (see Chapter 2, p. 17). Jesus' action underlines the special authority which Jesus will have over Peter (the Rock), the leader of the Twelve. When God changes a person's name, it is to give that person a special duty, a special role in his work (see Gen 17:5, Chapter 2, p. 8). While Mark does not elaborate on the role of Peter or the meaning of his new name, it is clear that the tradition which Mark is using saw a particular significance in it. Matthew will make this tradition much clearer (Matt 16:13ff).

James and John together receive one name, "Sons of Thunder". This seems to indicate for them a special status among the Twelve along with Peter. These three witness the Transfiguration (9:2-8) and the agony in the garden (14:3242). Peter, James and John are also allowed to be present when Jesus raises the official's daughter to life (5:37).

It is most interesting to note one feature of this group of twelve men. They represent the broadest spectrum of opinion among the People of God. We have Matthew who was a tax collector, an unclean person who cooperated with the Romans in extorting money from the people (Matt 9:9). In the same group is Simon the Zealot, representing the passionate Roman-haters of the day who believed in ousting the Romans by violence. We can presume that the other ten represented various positions in between. When we are told that the Twelve argued among themselves about who was the greatest (eg. Mark 9:33ff), we can assume that some of their arguments were fierce, and very political. Mark also points out the presence of the traitor, Judas Iscariot.

We have seen the large crowds, the disciples and the election of the Twelve. Now Mark moves to a more delicate area, the relatives of Jesus from Nazareth. Mark points out that the crowds were such, and Jesus was so busy, that he was neglecting to look after himself. Since it was the responsibility of the relatives to look after one of their own who was not providing for himself, the relatives decide to take on their duty towards Jesus.

Reading Mark 3:20-21

The self-neglect of Jesus leads people to believe that he is out of his mind. Motivated by concern for Jesus, the relatives set out to see for themselves and to take action if such is necessary. The rumors which were going around suggested that Jesus was crazy; this was only a small step away from suggesting that he was possessed by an evil spirit. A group of scholars from Jerusalem make exactly this accusation.

Reading Mark 3:22-30

The scribes try to discredit Jesus by accusing him of being possessed by a devil. It is not clear just what Beelzebul stands for, but it is clearly a prince among the devils. Jesus points out by a few short parables that it is not possible that he is devil-possessed. Only persons who are blind to all the good which Jesus has been doing, only people of not interested in the obvious truth could attribute his work to the power of the devil. The unforgivable sin is the sin of attributing the obviously good work of Jesus to the devil. Mark, with a little irony, has already told us that even the devils know better (3:11).

Mark told us earlier that the relatives of Jesus were concerned about his health, both physical and mental. Now he shows us that they have arrived from Nazareth and are wanting to see him. The passage forcefully illustrates the suffering of the mother of Jesus.

Reading Mark 3:31-35

Note: We will comment on the brothers and sisters of Jesus when we deal with Mark 6:1-The Gospel of Luke describes Mary as the model of faith seeking understanding (see Luke 2:33-52). The purpose of this passage in Mark, however, is not to underscore the reaction of the relatives of Jesus; this is done more clearly in Mark 6:1-6. In this passage Mark sums up what is the one necessary characteristic for belonging to the renewed People of God. The new Israel will form a family, members will be as brothers and sisters and mothers to each other; they will not be a blood family (as Israel had become), but a family formed by those who sit in a circle around Jesus and do the will of God. Belonging to the blood family of Jesus has no advantage; belonging to the same blood nation as Jesus gives no edge on all those who are not of his family, nor of his nation. The new