Mark 5

Mark 5 is one of miracles, but they can't be more contrasting. In the first half you have Jesus casting out demons from a ridiculously strong man, then Jesus healing a woman and a a young girl.

Jesus sent out the impure spirits into a herd of pigs, who subsequently rushed over a cliff and into the sea. This wasn't a pig herd of about 5 or 6, this had about two thousand pigs in. Imagine watching two thousand pigs jump into the sea. It would have been crazy. Again, Mark fails to comment on what the owners thought. That herd would have been pretty expensive or time consuming to replace. What was strange about this episode was how the crowd reacted to the possessed man. When they saw him sitting there perfectly normally, they were afraid. Not relieved. Or surprised. Or curious. Instead, they are afraid and ask Jesus to leave.

The next miracle isn't even instigated by Jesus and takes him by surprise as much as anyone else. A woman with constant bleeding comes through the crowd and touches Jesus' cloak. This woman would have suffered a lot from her condition (some people have suggested it to be due to a fibroid tumor of the uterus). This bleeding would have made her ritually unclean and ostracised from society. In her desperation she had spent all the money she had for treatment, but for nothing. So here was her chance. The huge, crushing crowds didn't put her off and she reached out and touched the hem of his cloak.

But what I always used to wonder was why she thought touching his cloak would heal her. It could have been because she had remembered what she had heard about the Sun of Righteousness. He would have healing in his wings. In Hebrew wings and edge (in this case of a garment) were the same word. This same piece of linguistics sheds light on why Ruth asks Boaz to cover her with his cloak (see Ruth 2:12 and Ruth 3:9).

This woman has faith that he is indeed the Sun of Righteousness, and she touches his hem and she receives healing from his wings. It is amazing that Jesus was so powerful even the tassels on his cloak could heal people.

Quick Questions

1. What are you opinions on Mark 5?
2. Are you sometimes angry at the good God does? Are you a bit of a Jonah?
3. Tenuous image?

Mark 4

Mark 4 is filled with Parables, that almost sound like riddles. For the first one, The Parable of the Sower, we helpfully get the study notes. It's about how sometimes the Gospel falls on deaf ears. It's both encouraging and true, that often people don't respond to what you say, or appear to and then get withered by the sun. There is hope, still, in verse 8. The seed that does take root produces a crop of multiplication.

The other parables didn't come with the York Study Notes provided, but fortunately I have the NIV mahussive Bible with all the answers. The Growing Seed Parable shows how the Gospel has it's own power and agency. God's Kingdom comes to fruition at the end, symbolised by the harvest. The next parable shows how God's Kingdom can grow exponentially from something seemingly insignificant.

Jesus constantly says, "If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear." I think this should be a pray that we Christians repeat again and again, whilst sower generously and relying on the power of the Gospel.

When then leave the Parables for Jesus calming the storm. Here the poor disciples seem to get told off for asking Jesus for help. Mind you, Jesus was probably exhausted and was accused of being uncaring. He calms the storm and they ask "Who is this guy?" They don't seem to quick on the uptake, do they?

Quick Questions

1. Why do you think Jesus used Parables? Is it something we don't do often enough?
2. What did you think of Mark 4?
3. Tenuous link? I didn't even explain it did I?

Mark 3

Yesterday we left with Jesus annoying the Pharisees about the whole Sabbath. Today that's where we start. Mark 3 begins with Jesus healing a guy on a Saturday. Which is wrong to do, apparently. Jesus, however disagreed and thought the Sabbath was the perfect time to do good works.

Jesus heals quite a few people, and preaches some more, and then appoints the twelve disciples. The crowds get so immense that they have no time to even sit down and eat, which worries Jesus' family. Jesus' family thought that he crazy, and wanted to tell him what they thought. When his family arrived (in the meantime Jesus was being berated by the Pharisees, once again), Jesus seems to dismiss them. He states that everyone who obeys God is his mothers, brothers and sisters. Imagine trying to write out that family tree.

Jesus' family tree in a pretty window

Jesus really knows what he's about and what he's there for. He doesn't compromise himself, not for the religious leaders and not for his family. We don't have any of that clarity, although I think the Bible provides it for us (Matthew 28:19-20, for example). Anyone who tries to prevent him fulfilling his purpose is quickly set straight.

Quick Questions

1. What is your purpose?
2. What did you think of Mark 3?
3. Tenuous picture?

Mark 2

Yesterday I had a look a Mark 1, and it was pretty much all in motion lines. Mark 2 begins with a forerunner to today's air ambulance.

A paralysed man gets hoisted through the roof of a house. As usual, Mark doesn't pad it out and leaves out any detail about the reaction of the crowd: or the house owner, for that matter. When Jesus says, "Get up and go home," I expect the house owner shouted, "Not before you fix my roof!" Also, when Jesus asked the "which would have been easier?" questions, my answer probably would have "Get up, take your mat and walk." I would have explained that "we wouldn't have got into this whole debate and you ended up saying it anyway." I think I slightly missed the point, though.

Jesus really knows how to annoy the Pharisees (a theme that becomes apparent throughout the book of Mark), although they never really manage to catch him out. In Mark 2 he forgives sins, picks grain on the Sabbath and eats with tax collectors. Sometimes I wonder if he did these things just to get on their nerves.

I love verse 17. Jesus is not for those who have it sorted and who are middle class and polite. Jesus is for the outcast, and the rude and those who don't belong. I love the Mother Teresa quote

If I ever become a Saint — I surely be one of "darkness". I will continually be absent from Heaven — to light the light of those in darkness on earth.

I think we quite often fortify ourselves in our holy huddles and forget to show the way in for those on the outside.

Quick Questions

1. Could someone explain the whole wineskins thing? It always baffles me.
2. What do you like about Mark 2?
3. On a scale of 1-5 how tenuously linked is image in this post?

Mark 1

Duncan and I have been reading Wordlive together but it was becoming out of habit so we decided to freshen things up a bit. We're now reading a chapter of Mark a day.

We chose it because we wanted to go New Testament. Duncan prefers narrative style books rather than letters (apparently, Paul goes on a bit). We've read Acts as Mosaic, Revelations is too trippy (and doesn't quite fit in with 'narrative style', but not quite a letter), so it looked it was going to be a Gospel. We thought we'd go for the shortest one because there was no guarantee that it'd work out. However, it seems to be going well. I'm going to be posting my thoughts on each chapter every day (however, they're about a week behind me actually reading it).

So here are my opinions of Mark 1.

I love how Mark gets straight to the point. This book is about good news. This book is about Jesus. He was the Messiah and the Son of God. Mark also gets straight to John the Baptist, whilst also showing how this was all the fulfilment of prophecy, and how Jesus will bring baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's all in four verses. He's off the starting block quicker than Usain Bolt on amphetamines.

Mark obviously didn't think much of the birth narrative or the temptation of Jesus. They just weren't pacey enough. The calling of the first disciples happens in about four verses. It's all go, go, go: healings, large crowds, teaching with authority (I love the digs Mark has at the teachers of the law). That's until Jesus goes to a solitary place in verse 35. He gets up early and goes off, away from the noisy crowds, to pray. I love this brief moment of pause, and Jesus spends it with God. It's something that we should cultivate. We talk about how we live in a busy world and we seem to think that Jesus did nothing but lounge around drinking sangria. But I doubt your schedule looks anything as busy as his, and he still manages to go off to pray.

Then comes some more preaching with authority (unlike those pesky law teachers) and a disobedient leper. Jesus tells him not to tell the news about how his life has been transformed but he just can't help but do it. Today, Jesus tells us to tell people about how our lives have been transformed by him, but we can't help but not do it.

Tune in tomorrow for Mark 2!

Quick Questions

1. Which is your favourite Gospel? Why?
2. What do you think of Mark 1?
3. On a scale of 1-5 how tenuously linked is the image in this post?