A Bible Study of "The Gospel according to Mark"

Mark's Gospel lays a foundation for our fruitful discipleship. In this study, I trace the major themes and offer many new insights into this book. I pray that Mark's message may have major impact on Christ's church in our times. JJT.

If you have not already done so, please read Understanding the Bible’s Literary Patterns before proceeding. The following study of Mark’s Gospel is a work in progress. It will be edited as new insights come. Readers are invited to offer feedback and suggestions to John@Christviewmin.org.

Authorship

According to tradition, John Mark, son of Mary of Jerusalem and younger cousin of Barnabas, reports the message of the Apostle Peter about Jesus who is the Christ, the Anointed Agent of God, the Royal Son of God, and the Suffering Servant of God. The tradition varies as to whether Mark wrote while Peter could still edit his work or whether he wrote after Peter’s death. Either way, Mark was presumably in Rome at the time of his writing. We may assume that the church in Rome is the primary audience for his Gospel, but there is evidence that he also expected the church in Judea and perhaps elsewhere to read his work. Mark is concerned to prepare Christians to stand up strongly under persecution, continuing their bold witness even at great sacrifice, but not to sacrifice for mistaken causes!

The simplest explanation of the contents of the Gospels according to Matthew and Luke is that Matthew and Luke had access to Mark’s work and used it extensively.  If, as I contend, Luke was published by 62 AD, then at least a draft of Mark’s Gospel was available by that time, well within Peter’s lifetime. I consider it possible that Mark, Matthew, and Luke had interaction in Caesarea while Paul was imprisoned there and that Mark and Luke had further interaction while they were in Rome. In that case, some influence could have come from Luke and Matthew back to Mark.

Some scholars question why Matthew, one of the Twelve, would have used the work of Mark, not one of the Twelve. That is not hard to explain. Mark was recording the testimony of Peter, the leading disciple, and Peter, as one of the three closest disciples, had access that would not have been available to Matthew. Matthew had his own message to communicate, but using Mark made his work easier and better than it otherwise would have been.

We may usefully compare Mark’s Gospel to: (1) Peter’s sermons as recorded by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles and (2) Peter’s Letters.

The Literary Structure of Mark’s Gospel

Title 1:1 The origin of the good news about Jesus Messiah, the Royal Son of God

A1. 1:2-13 The Royal Son arrives!

B1. 1:14—3:35 The Royal Son fulfills his role as agent of the reign of God

        C1. 4:1-34 The Royal Son calls for hearers who bear fruit

D1. 4:35—8:21 The Royal Son is sufficient for all needs

E. 8:22—10:52 The Royal Son predicts his death and resurrection and discusses servant-discipleship

D2. 11:1—12:44 The Royal Son has authority to replace the fruitless temple

C2. 13:1-35 The Royal Son calls for alert watchers

B2. 14:1—15:39 The Royal Son fulfills his role as the Suffering Servant

A2. 15:40—16:8 (16:9-20) The Royal Son has risen!

Main Message

There are three interrelated surprises in Mark’s Gospel: (1) that the Anointed Agent of the reign of God nonetheless must undergo crucifixion, (2) that the Crucified One nonetheless is risen and exalted Lord, able to meet the disciples in the mission field, and (3) that the disciples who are empowered to represent the reign of God and the Lordship of Jesus must be willing to risk all worldly security in serving him. Suffering and victory, vulnerability and power, are not separate things, but must be joined.

It is reasonable to think that Mark’s Gospel is directed to disciples who fear persecution because of their testimony. The message of Mark to these disciples is that the threat of persecution and suffering does not in any way overturn the good news of the reign of God and that it is a privilege to share the good news of the reign of God even in the face of such threat. Faithfulness in sharing the message will be rewarded. This message can also be found in Peter’s Letters.

Another theme running through Mark concerns what it means to carry out a fruitful ministry. Mark shows that Jesus came to replace the temple because the temple was not fruitful. The purpose of the temple was to provide a place of atonement, restoring sinners to God, and to provide a place where the prayers of all people could be answered. Jesus himself becomes the locus of atonement and the agent of answered prayer. Jesus’ followers form a community of faith that proclaims the forgiveness of sins and offers up prayers that move mountains. The community of Jesus’ disciples is a living temple. The mission of the church is fruitful wherever sinners are being restored to God and are being enabled to live renewed lives as God’s children.

Section A1 1:2-13 The Royal Son arrives!

Mark 1:2-13 introduces the ministry of Jesus by means of John the Baptist’s ministry (See Malachi 3:1-3; 4:1-6; and Isaiah 40:3-5, 9-11). After the centuries in which God’s voice had been silent, Luke (Luke 1-2) shows us that God’s voice began to speak around the conceptions and births of John and Jesus, but Mark shows how dramatically God’s voice spoke when John baptized his second cousin Jesus. Coming up out of the water, Jesus sees the heavens ripped open (See Isaiah 64:1) and the Spirit descending on him (See Isaiah 11:2-4; 42:1-4; 61:1-3) like a dove.

Then Jesus hears the voice of his heavenly Father assuring him that he is Royal Son and Suffering Servant of God (The heavenly voice quotes snippets of Psalm 2 and Isaiah 42:1. Psalm 2 is an enthronement Psalm for the Davidic Messiah. Isaiah 42:1-4 is the First Servant Song, leading to the Fourth Servant Song in Isaiah 52:13—53:12). Much of Mark’s Gospel will focus on the struggles of the disciples to put these two roles together in their minds. The resolution in the disciples’ minds will come only after the Gospel as we have it ends, but the resolution is implied throughout the Gospel. 

Section B1 1:14—3:35 The Royal Son fulfills his role as agent of the reign of God

Mark 1:14—3:35 is focused almost entirely on Jesus’ demonstrating and teaching of the reign of God.

In Chapters 1:14—3:35, there are three accounts about Jesus’ authority to call disciples: the four fishermen, the tax collector, and the rest of the twelve. There are five passages about his authority to command demons to be silent or to leave people alone. There are passages about his authority to cleanse lepers, to heal the lame, to forgive sinners, and to interpret the law. Jesus is introducing something that offends the religious authorities and even his own mother, brothers, and sisters.

Theme and foci of Jesus’ mission

Theme: “…the kingdom (reigning power) of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” 1:15.

Foci: 

1. “…that I may preach (the kingdom) there also, for that is why I came out.” 1:38.
2. " …I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” 2:17.

Response to Jesus' mission

• “What is this? A new teaching with authority!” 1:27.
• Disciples: “left (or rose)… and followed” 1:18; 1:20; 2:14.
• Great crowds: 1:32-34; 1:45; 2:2; 3:7-10; 3:20; 4:1.
• Religious and political leaders question, resist, plot, blaspheme: 2:6-8; 2:16; 2:18; 2:24; 3:2, 6; 3:22.
• Family: “out of his mind” 3:21, 31.

Literary Structure of 1:14--3:35

In A1 and A2, we can see Jesus calling disciples to observe and share his ministry of teaching and healing with authority as an expression of God’s reigning love and power, and we can see him discerning that his ministry is not about pleasing crowds or even his family, but about breaking Satan’s hold on oppressed people so that they can know and do the will of God. In B1 and B2, we have opportunity to reflect on various reasons that Jesus sought to silence certain kinds of testimony. In C1 and C2, we see Jesus exercising his divine authority as Son of Man (2:10 and 2:28 are the first two uses of this important title in Mark’s Gospel) to forgive sinners and to interpret Sabbath law in line with his kingdom ministry. In D1 and D2, we see that Jesus’ ministry to outcasts will not fit with the traditions of the Pharisaic rabbis. In the central point E, we see that it would not be appropriate for his disciples to fast while they are celebrating the presence of God’s kingdom in Jesus’ ministry.

Introduction 1:14-15 Theme: The kingdom of God is at hand!

A1. 1:16-39 Calling first disciples, teaching and exorcising with authority, healing, discerning about mission.

B1. 1:40-45 Healing leper; failing to silence him; resulting crowds.

C1. 2:1-12 Authority of Son of Man to forgive sins and heal

D1. 2:13-17 Calling Levi; reaching moral outcasts

E. 2:18-20 Fasting is for seeking the presence of God. Jesus’ kingdom ministry calls for celebrating the presence of God.

D2. 2:21-22 Jesus’ ministry will not fit with that of Pharisaic rabbis.

C2. 2:23-28; 3:1-6 Authority of Son of Man to interpret Sabbath law according to                   purposes of kingdom of God.

B2. 3:7-12 Healing crowds from wide area; silencing demons.

A2. 3:13-35 Completing list of twelve disciples; defending his exorcism ministry as an expression of the kingdom of God; discerning about the family of faith-and-mission.

Introduction 1:14-15

As John the Baptist’s public ministry draws toward a close, Jesus begins his public ministry. Jesus announces the theme of his whole ministry: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news.” With the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the nature and purposes of God are about to be revealed in their fullness.

The kingdom of God means the reigning power of God. Jesus will demonstrate and proclaim in a wide variety of ways that God’s reigning power can overcome evil’s power and evil’s hold on people. At hand means available. The condition for receiving the kingdom is to repent (change one’s whole way of thinking and living to accord with the presence of the kingdom) and to believe (trust) the gospel (good news).

This is a call to place one’s faith (and hence to bet one’s life) on the fact that God’s ways are more powerful than evil in all its manifestations. This is great good news for those who have found themselves apparently powerless. It may not be such good news for those who have appointed themselves to fill the God-vacuum in other people’s experience.

A1. 1:16-39 Calling first disciples, teaching and exorcising with authority, healing, discerning about mission.

A disciple is a person under the discipline of a master-teacher. Jesus calls working people to become his students and missionaries. We know from John’s Gospel that Andrew was previously a disciple of John the Baptist. It would not be surprising if his brother Simon Peter and fishing partners James and John were as well. Now they are to be apprenticed under Jesus to become fishers of their fellow human beings, bringing them into the experience of the kingdom of God.

Capernaum, the hometown of the fishermen, became the base of Jesus’ operations in his home province of Galilee. He taught in the synagogue on the Sabbath as traveling rabbis were often invited to do. We know from elsewhere that his manner of speech was different from that of most rabbis. Most rabbis quoted the views of other rabbis. Jesus spoke on his own authority based on what he heard from his heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus did more than talk; he commanded an evil spirit to come out of a man. The synagogue crowds were amazed. On the Sabbath afternoon, he healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. Then, when the Sabbath ended at sunset, a huge Capernaum crowd gathered at the door to receive the healings and exorcisms that came through Jesus. Jesus was able to silence the testimony of the demons.

In the early morning, Jesus went out in the wilderness to pray. His disciples found him to tell him that he had made a hit in the town and that the crowds were waiting for him. Jesus declined to be controlled by popular pressure. Fresh from prayer, he was focused on his heavenly Father’s calling, which was at this time to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God throughout Galilee.

The time spent in prayer is an illustration of the Sabbath principle, even though Jesus practiced it on the morning after the legal Sabbath. We are not to let our work drive us, even if it is religious work, but we are to do what God calls us to do. That involves spending time apart from work in the presence of God, seeking his guidance. Jesus did that again and again. If the perfect Son of God needs to spend such time, then surely we do as well.

B1. 1:40-45 Healing leper; failing to silence him; resulting crowds.

Touching a leper would make one ritually unclean and would require cleansing rituals. But with Jesus, it worked in reverse: Jesus was not made unclean; rather, the leper was cleansed by his touch. Jesus ordered him to comply with the law and to be declared clean by a priest. He also ordered him not to talk about his healing. The healed man did not obey, and, consequently, Jesus could no longer minister in the towns because of the crowds.

C1. 2:1-12 Authority of Son of Man to forgive sins and heal.

When he returned to Capernaum, the crowds were out of control. Jesus’ preaching, teaching, prophecy, and miracles combined to proclaim the reigning power of God, and the crowds were drawn to the combination. Four men, unable to get a paralyzed friend in the door of the house where Jesus was, took him up on the roof, opened a hole in the roof, and lowered the man through the roof. In spite of the damage, Jesus praised their great faith. Audaciousness is a mark of faith.

To the paralytic, Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven you.” This does not mean that the man's paralysis was the result of sin. Jesus' first focus was on the forgiveness of sins. The healing of the man's paralysis was a second step. Some scribes/rabbis/teachers of the law were observing and were offended by Jesus’ taking on himself the divine prerogative of forgiving sins. Jesus perceived their thoughts. To demonstrate his authority to forgive sins, he did what they would have considered a more difficult thing: he healed the paralytic. The crowd was amazed.

Jesus here refers to himself by the title Son of Man. It is an ambiguous title. It can simply mean human being as it does when God uses this title to refer to the prophet Ezekiel. But Jesus also used the title in a way that flows from Daniel 7:13-14, where the Son of Man is the agent of God’s eternal kingdom and the instrument of bringing final judgment on evil.

In his earthly ministry, Jesus revealed the kingdom’s presence and called people to open their lives to it. In the end, we will be held accountable to his judgment. There could not be a judge to whom we would rather be accountable than this One who gave himself for us.

The fact that the title was ambiguous was useful to Jesus. People could hear his use of it at the level they were prepared to understand. He avoided the term Messiah in public because people had a fairly set misunderstanding of it already in mind: that the Messiah would lead an army of liberation against Israel’s enemies. Jesus was the Messiah, but his approach was quite different from the popular imagination about the Messiah.

D1. 2:13-17 Calling Levi; reaching moral outcasts

Jesus called the tax collector Levi (Matthew) to join his disciples. Tax collectors bid for their positions, bidding the amount that they promised to collect for the Roman government. Their living came from being able to collect more than they had bid. They were viewed as traitors to Judaism and as dishonest thieves. Jesus used Levi as a link into the community of moral outcasts who needed to hear his message. He explained to critics that it was for such outcasts that he had come.

E. 2:18-20 Fasting is for seeking the presence of God.Jesus’ kingdom ministry calls for celebrating the presence of God

Jesus did not ask his disciples to fast. He explained that this was because the bridegroom was with them. In other words, their kingdom ministry could be compared to a wedding feast, a time for joy and celebration. It is wrong to view the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry as a time for joyful celebration and all later time as a time for sorrowful fasting. Jesus is still present through the Holy Spirit to those who believe in him.

The point is that there are occasions when the need to celebrate God’s presence overrides the need to abstain from celebration while seeking God’s presence. My literary structure display implies that this point is central to our understanding of this section. A community of faith needs to be seeing God’s power defeating Satan, and, if that is not happening, that is a time for fasting. But seeing active redemption calls for celebration.

D2. 2:21-22 Jesus’ ministry will not fit with that of Pharisaic rabbis

Again and again, Jesus provokes controversy by his kingdom ministry. He explains that old wineskins will not hold new wine, that old, shrunken cloth cannot be successfully patched by new, unshrunken cloth. Whether you view what Jesus introduces as the new authority that won’t fit with old traditions, or you view what Jesus introduces as the old authority of God from which the religious leaders have departed with their new traditions, the point is that the kingdom ministry Jesus introduces will not fit with the traditions of the leaders.   

C2. 2:23-28; 3:1-6 Authority of Son of Man to interpret Sabbath law according to purposes of kingdom of God

According to rabbinic tradition, certain things could be done on the Sabbath, things that could not wait.  One could respond to a life-threatening situation or one could use first aid to prevent an injury from getting worse, but that is about it. If something could wait, then wait it did.

One Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples walked through a grain field, and the disciples picked and munched some grain along the way. The Pharisees, who were upholders of the traditions, criticized their actions as against the law. They asked Jesus to explain.

Jesus responded by mentioning David’s taking consecrated bread for himself and his companions when they needed it (1 Samuel 21:1-6). Normally, such bread was reserved for the priests, but, as the one anointed to be king, David, fleeing from the present king Saul, was given an exemption, and so were his companions in arms.

Switching back to Jesus’ ministry, the disciples were foot soldiers in the war between the kingdom of God and the earthly strongholds of Satan. Something greater than David’s kingship was at stake here.

Jesus asserted that the Sabbath was made for the good of humanity, not humanity for the good of the Sabbath. We must take care in interpreting this passage. It is quite clear that Jesus did not elevate whatever strikes us as a good thing to do above the requirement that we spend dedicated time with God.

But the Sabbath was for the purposes of preserving God’s kingship over human life, and preserving that kingship is good for humanity. To make it quite clear, Jesus said, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” As the Son of Man, the agent of the kingdom of God, he had authority to interpret the Sabbath law to fulfill its purpose, not just to keep its outward observance.

One Sabbath, in a synagogue, as opponents looking for a cause to have Jesus executed looked on, Jesus took the opportunity to bring to attention a man with a withered hand. He asked whether it was lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill. The man’s life was not in danger, but Jesus did good nonetheless, restoring his hand. But his implied warning that his opponents might be on the edge of doing evil, of killing, did not stop the opponents from plotting Jesus’ death. They continued to do evil on the Sabbath.

There are other Sabbath healing stories. Luke recounts two more (Luke13:10-17; 14:1-6) and John recounts yet two more stories (John 5:1-47; 9:1-41).

When you take all of this together, the point is that the Sabbath exists as part of God’s plan for humanity, and that, from the time of human sin onwards, God’s plan includes restoration of broken humanity. Jesus is showing that it is not wrong to act as an agent of God’s restorative work, even on the Sabbath. Enabling people to live in the fullness of God’s will and bringing people relief from oppression is what the Sabbath is all about.

Of course, that does not mean that we can fill our lives with good deeds and ignore the need for centering our lives in listening for God’s guidance. Mark has already shown that in 1:21-39. There must be a balance. Discipline is necessary to obtain the balance. But Jesus also demonstrated that the balance cannot be properly attained by legalism. Somehow we must find a discipline that is not legalistic. The Holy Spirit can help us do that.

B2. 3:7-12 Healing crowds from wide area; silencing demons

From the area that we now know as Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and a portion of Syria, crowds came to Jesus for healing and deliverance. Evil spirits recognized him as the Royal Son of God, but he would not allow their testimony.

A2. 3:13-35 Completing list of twelve disciples; defending his exorcism ministry as an expression of the kingdom of God; discerning about the family of faith-and-mission

The list of disciples includes not only Matthew the tax collector for Rome, but also Simon the Zealot, a revolutionary against Rome. Disciples of such diverse backgrounds surely had to put aside their previous causes to focus on the kingdom ministry.

3:20-35 is the first example of what scholars call a Markan sandwich. On several occasions Mark begins one story, then inserts the telling of another, and then finishes the first story. Of course, it may in fact have happened with just such an interruption, but Mark makes a point by the way the stories interact.

The bread of this sandwich involves Jesus’ natural family.

• In the first piece of bread (3:20-21), Jesus is surrounded by a crowd so heavy that he and his disciples cannot manage to eat. Jesus’ family wants to seize him to protect him from himself, for they believed that he was mentally ill.
• In the second piece of bread (3:31-35), his mother and brothers are standing outside the crowd calling for him. When this is reported to Jesus, he explains that his family consists of those who do the will of God.

The point of these bread slices is that the kingdom of God cannot be domesticated; Jesus cannot compromise his divine calling even to please his family, nor can any who would do the will of God. Of course, fulfilling family duties may be part of God’s will for us and part of how we model kingdom values, and so discernment is required. However, Jesus is making a necessary point.

The filling of the sandwich (3:22-30) concerns some scribes/rabbis who claimed that Jesus was possessed by the prince of demons, that this is how he performed exorcisms. Jesus replied that, if Satan was casting out his own troops, then his house was divided and would not stand.

But Jesus is able to plunder Satan’s house by first binding Satan, exercising the power of his ministry, the reigning power of God (Luke and Matthew make this point even clearer: see Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20).

Jesus then says that all sins will be forgiven human beings except the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. I take this to mean that, so long as we are mislabeling the good, liberating, redeeming, healing work of the Spirit as evil, we are not in a position to receive forgiveness for ourselves.

The scribes are obviously and consciously opposed to the redeeming work of Jesus, but Jesus’ family is unconsciously opposed to his work. We are given something to ponder as we compare the bread and the filling of this sandwich.

Section C1. 4:1-34 The Royal Son calls for hearers who bear fruit  

These parables are set in the midst of intensifying conflict with the religious leaders in Galilee. The major parable reported by Mark outside this section is in Mark 12:1-12, and it is set in the midst of intensifying conflict with the religious leaders in Jerusalem. The parables are especially useful in conflict situations.

Literary Structure of 4:1-34

(This is my own arrangement, but it closely resembles Garland’s).

A1.4:1-2 Jesus teaches in parables

B1. 4:3-9 The Parable of the Sower, the Seed, and the Soils

C1. 4:10-12/13 The reason for parables

D. 4:13/14-20 Explanation of the Parable of the Sower

C2. 4:21-25 The Parables of the Light and the Measure

B2. 4:26-32 The Parables of the Seed Growing Secretly and the Mustard Seed

A2. 4:33-34 More about Jesus’ public and private teaching

A1. 4:1-2 Jesus teaches in parables

We do not know exactly where on the Sea of Galilee coast Jesus delivered these parables, but many suggest a natural amphitheater a bit southwest of Capernaum, a place that the modern tourist industry has named the “Bay of Parables.” Someone speaking from a boat in this location could be heard by large crowds. Jesus indeed spoke from a boat to a crowd on the land (same Greek word as soil in the parables that follow). Jesus used many parables in his teaching. Mark reports only a few. Matthew and Luke report many more. Although parables were not unique to Jesus, no one so far as I know has ever come close to matching the distinctive quality of his parables.

B1. 4:3-9 The Parable of the Sower, Seed, and Soils

Edwards notes that the parable begins with “Listen!” and ends with “hear.” The Greek word is the same for both. This word is used ten times in 4:1-34. Heeding with engagement and spiritual receptivity is the only way to grasp what Jesus is trying to communicate. We will discuss the meaning of this parable under section D below.

C1. 4:10-12/13 The reason for parables

Jesus tells the disciples that they have been given the secret (mystery) of the kingdom of God, but that outsiders hear only parables. The passage at face value seems to say that the divine purpose of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the impenetrable parable form of communication is that the outsiders “may see but not perceive, may hear but not understand, lest they should repent and be forgiven.” This passage is hard to reconcile with Jesus’ message/mission of redeeming love, and so some commentators try to find a way around the hardness of this passage by retranslating. None of the retranslations are as likely as the more traditional one. It is best to understand this passage as intended to be hard and challenging, and then to see what we can make of it.

The troubling part of this passage is Jesus’ quotation of Isaiah 6:9-10. Isaiah had been commissioned to proclaim a hard word of coming collapse and destruction followed by return and renewal. His message included the cutting down of the royal line of David, followed by the much later emergence of a shoot from the stump of Jesse (David’s father). God warned Isaiah that the people would not listen to his warnings, but that he needed to give them anyway. Even though his speaking would temporarily harden hearts, in the long run, Isaiah’s words would establish the basis of new hope.

Jesus is comparing the opponents of his ministry to the people to whom Isaiah spoke approximately eight centuries earlier. His parables will have the same effect as Isaiah’s prophecies, deepening people in their resistance to God.

What really upsets us is the suggestion that God through Jesus (and earlier through Isaiah) deliberately causes people to stumble. Yet it is also clear that the stumblers are completely responsible for their own decisions at each step along the way. Jesus and Mark refuse to collapse the paradox of predestination and free will into a simple one-sided formula; somehow, with regard to predestination and free will, it is both/and.  People are responsible for their choices, but every free choice they make fits within God’s eternal plan.

We will never understand that in this life, and it is important that we not eliminate either half of the equation. Let God be sovereign, and let us be responsible. To say that Jesus set out to cause people to fail to understand does not mean that they had no choice in the matter. It was their own predisposition to reject a living God that led to their failure to understand Jesus’ parables. To the rebellious, the Trinity says, “Have it your way.”

It is true that Jesus used parables with familiar details from ordinary daily life to convey much of his teaching. It is not true that he used the familiar details to make the stories easy to understand. Edwards says that the parables knock us off balance so that we must see things in a new light.

By and large, Jesus’ parables do not have nice little moral points on how to live a better life or comforting thoughts to help us make it through the week. They are far more radical than that. They confound most of the “common sense” sorts of thoughts that we would readily understand. The parables are designed to bring us smack up in the face of God’s reigning power and redeeming love. They are intended to stun us with our need to decide how we will respond to the reality of the living God:

• Will we believe and repent?
• Will we resist and turn away?
• Will we just not quite “get it” yet?

Many fell into the latter category. For them, the parables were mental/spiritual time-bombs hanging around in their minds waiting to be detonated. But the parables, like Jesus himself, caused some who previously had no hope to begin to hope, and they caused some who previously took their privileged status for granted to begin to feel most uncomfortable, maybe even angry.

It is important to see that it was to a group that gathered “around him with the twelve” that Jesus said, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God.” This would be an extended group who had committed to being disciples of Jesus. They had seen Jesus’ miracles. They had observed his loving outreach to outrageous sinners. They had heard his challenging instructions to go beyond the requirements of the written law and oral traditions and to live out the original purposes of the Creator. They had not turned away, but had placed themselves under his instructional discipline. They were Good Hearers. Now he was explaining his parables to them.

The Parable of the Sower with which Jesus begins his explanations may be one of the easiest. There are parables that much more radically mess with our minds. I have seen people in churches get really angry about the Parables of the Prodigal Son (the treatment of the hardworking elder brother), of the Laborers in the Vineyard (equal pay for unequal work), of the Unjust Steward (the apparent rewarding of juggling the books), of the Rich Man and Lazarus (the refusal to let a message be sent from Hades to warn people to repent), of the Great Banquet (the replacement of busy people with needy people), and so on.

Of course, the objectors to these parables miss the point, that God is sovereign, loving, and real—and that we cannot run God through our little systems and formulas of merit.  Those who want to keep God in a box are never happy with real miracles and real redeeming love. Garland notes that the blindness to the living God shows up in surprising places: the religious authorities, Pharisees, teachers of the Law, even Jesus’ family.

Parables are designed to cause proud people to stumble. It is only when they have fallen that they might possibly become open to the message of a gracious salvation. Stumbling (the Greek word is related to our word for being scandalized) is a necessary part of becoming ready to accept a living God. Edwards notes Matthew’s reminding us that Jesus came to bring a sword of division/decision (Mt. 10:34) and John’s reporting that Jesus came to cause the blind to see and those who thought they could see to become blind (John. 9:39).

The ones whom Jesus is blinding are the ones objecting to his fruitful ministry, the ones who call his exorcisms of the devil, the ones who plot to kill him because he heals people on the Sabbath. Their determination to resist becoming fruitful servants has already sealed their doom. They have decided that they do not want a living, sovereign, redeeming God. Jesus’ ministry and parables only bring out the reality of that predisposition. They could still turn around later in their lives, but at this point in the story they are in the process of hardening themselves against such a possibility. One of the nice things is that we know that some of the Pharisees and a great deal of Jesus’ family became part of the early church.

D. 4:13/14-20 Explanation of the Parable of the Sower

Garland says that Jesus came to renew Israel through the sowing of the word of the kingdom of God. Garland credits Robert Gundry for the following description of the point of the parable:

Good Hearers welcome the word of the kingdom of God:

• immediately so that it cannot be snatched away.
• deeply so that they will not be withered by persecution.
• exclusively so that they will not be choked by competing concerns.

Jesus also claimed that Good Hearers bear much fruit. Commentators do not agree as to whether we are supposed to be amazed at the hundredfold yield. By Ancient Near Eastern standards, a hundredfold is an extraordinary average yield for a whole field (ten or twenty would be more likely), but it seems likely that this parable has in mind the yield of the individual seeds that fell in good soil. It does not really matter. The point is that, although many rejected the message or failed to persist in their faith, the purpose of the harvest was realized through the Good Hearers.

Mark’s Gospel is much concerned with fruitfulness. A disciple may become fruitful by following the example of the Sower, faithfully sharing the gospel wherever directed to do so, whatever the apparent responses (even rejection and persecution), and trusting that results will come. Later in Mark's Gospel Jesus directs his disciples to focus their ministry where it seems to be bearing fruit and not to waste time pounding away at those who are rejecting the good news (Mark 6:11 and parallels in Matthew and Luke).

C2. 4:21-25 The Parables of the Light and the Measure

In a passage that is structurally linked to the hard message in C1 above, Jesus sets forth two parables that explain much:

• The lamp may be hidden from some now, but the lamp exists only to be revealed. The hiddenness of the gospel of salvation is not forever. The truth will be revealed openly in time.
• The measure that a person uses in kingdom life is the measure that will be used for that person. Our responses to God determine both our usefulness to the kingdom and the rewards we will receive through the kingdom. Those who receive the word of the kingdom will get more. Those who reject the word of the kingdom will lose what they have.

B2. 4:26-32 The Parables of the Seed Growing Secretly and the Mustard Seed

In the Parable of the Seed Growing Secretly, the Sower/Harvester has responsibilities at the beginning and end of the process, but there is a time of waiting in which the fruit is produced by God quite beyond the control or understanding of the Sower/Harvester. In order to be fruitful, we must be both active and faithful. We do our part, but God gives the growth. It is the positive side of the human responsibility and divine sovereignty paradox.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed shows the Sower planting the small seed of an invasive weed that turns into a shrub able to hold birds’ nests. It is a surprising outcome. But so will the kingdom ministry have a surprising outcome.  The kingdom begins in hidden and apparently insignificant activities, but it goes far beyond such beginnings. Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 to see that this is the way the gospel continues to work.

A2. 4:33-34 More about Jesus’ public and private teaching

The pattern of public parables and private explanation continues. Mark has reported only a small sample.

Section D1. 4:35—8:21 The Royal Son is sufficient for all needs

This section is defined by three events as the disciples cross the Sea of Galilee in their boats (4:35-41; 6:45-52; 8:10-21). These are by no means their only crossings, but they are the crossings that have recorded events in the boat. The first event opens the section, the second event marks the structural center of the section, and the third event closes the section. In these events, Jesus calls the disciples to greater faith in his sufficiency:

• First crossing event: “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
• Second crossing event, after feeding of 5000+: “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Mark concludes, “For they did not yet understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.”
• Third crossing event, after feeding of 4000+:  “Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?” Jesus then questions them about the quantities involved in the two feedings in order to stir their memories and understanding.

Clearly, we are being asked to arrive at a mind-transforming and life-transforming faith in the sufficiency of Jesus.

                                   

Literary structure

A1. 4:35-41 First Crossing Event

B1. 5:1-20 Exorcism outside Galilee

                        C1.5:21-43 Healings in Galilee

D1. 6:1-6 Jesus’ Healings Hindered in Nazareth of Galilee

D2. 6:7-31 Disciples’ Mission and Herod Antipas’ Reaction in Galilee, Flashback to John the Baptist versus Herod Antipas

A2. 6:34-52 Feeding of 5000+ in Galilee and Second Crossing Event

C2. 6:53-56 Healings in Galilee

D3. 7:1-23 What Defiles a Person: Jesus versus Pharisees

B2. 7:24-37 Exorcism and Healing outside Galilee

A3. 8:1-21 Feeding of 4000+ outside Galilee and Third Crossing Event

Within this section, we are also asked:

• to understand the difference between Jesus and the Pharisees regarding their views of cleanliness.
• to contemplate what Jesus can and cannot do in his home Galilean Jewish territory and in foreign Gentile territory.
• to perceive the life-giving quality and supernatural/divine power of Jesus’ ministry versus the hypocritical, death-dealing quality of the unholy alliance of the Pharisees and Herodians.

A1. 4:35-41 First Crossing Event

Jesus wishes the disciples to cross the sea with him from Jewish Galilee to the Gentile Decapolis. He sleeps on the way. A great storm convinces the disciples that they are about to die. They awaken Jesus, accusing him of being unconcerned.

In the statement, “He rebuked the wind,” the Greek word translated rebuked is also used in 1:25 and 3:12 (strictly ordered) regarding the subduing of demons. Be still could be translated, Be muzzled, and stay muzzled. Jesus addresses the storm in personal terms normally reserved for demons. Is Jesus is binding the demonic forces that would seek to prevent his extending of his ministry into Gentile territory (Edwards)? Or is this simply figurative language (France)?

Either way, the disciples are left to wonder who this is that the wind and sea obey. The who question has been raised at 1:27 (exorcism) and 2:7 (forgiveness). The answer to “Who can control the storm?” is given in Psalm 107:23-32. The answer is that the power of the Sovereign Creator is at work in and through Jesus: the kingdom of God is indeed at hand. Will the disciples have faith?

This story of subduing the storm’s threat of death should be compared to other stories about subduing death (5:1-20—subduing demonic bondage to the realm of death; 5:21-43—subduing death itself).

B1. 5:1-20 Exorcism outside Galilee

The Decapolis included the cities of Gerasa, Gadara, and Gergesa. Of these, only Gergesa was actually on the coast. The exact name of the city here is uncertain as there are manuscript variations. But the reference is to the region around the city, not simply to the city, so it little matters. The location is on the east coast of the Sea of Galilee. This is Gentile territory, unclean by Jewish standards.

A demoniac (a man with unclean spirits) immediately rushed toward Jesus. The man lived among the tombs, in the realm of death, also an unclean place by Jewish standards. Herds of swine were nearby. Pork was an unclean food, and swineherding was an unclean occupation by Jewish standards, so this story has uncleanness written through it at all levels.

Many demons filled the man; they called themselves Legion. The man could not be bound because he had a supernatural strength that could break any chain, but he physically abused himself continually. This is a graphic picture of evil in control of a human personality.

When Jesus ordered the demons out of the man, they requested to be allowed to enter the swine. Jesus allowed this, and about two thousand demonized swine rushed to destruction over the seaside cliff. There is a suitable cliff two miles south of Gergesa.

Some are distressed by the apparent cruelty to animals that Jesus countenanced. Herds of domestic swine exist only to be slaughtered; the cruelty is inherent to the occupation, and sooner is hardly more cruel than later in such a case. Others are disturbed by the economic loss Jesus countenanced. It is not enough to say that this was an unclean occupation; cleanliness laws and traditions were not Jesus’ priority; he would not have set foot in the Decapolis if that were his point.

But the priority of Jesus on setting children of God free from bondage to evil is clarified by this story, and the loss of the two thousand swine tells us that Jesus had immense power to break the hold of evil spirits on individuals.

The crowds that came to see the freed man were more terrified of Jesus’ power than they had been at the demoniac’s possession. Before yielding to pressure from the crowds to leave, Jesus bids the man, who would prefer to follow him as a disciple, to go home and offer his testimony to God’s delivering mercy. The man proceeds to proclaim his deliverance throughout the Decapolis.

The text does not explain this departure from Jesus’ custom of silencing testimony. Perhaps it is that there is no danger that a false understanding of the Messiah will emerge in this pagan culture, and that the exorcism has more frightened the crowds than attracted them. Indeed, the reaction of the crowds tells us that they were more dangerous than the demonized man had been. They would rather not have had the man healed than to have him healed and to have lost the pigs. That is truly demonic!

This story of a demonized man in bondage to the realm of death can be read in relation to the other stories about subduing death (4:35-41; 5:21-43). It also should be compared to stories and teachings regarding uncleanness (5:21-43; 7:1-23; 7:24-30) and stories taking place on non-Jewish territory (7:24—8:9). Finally, Jesus’ rejection in the country of the Gerasenes should be compared to his rejection at Nazareth (6:1-6).

C1. 5:21-43 Healings in Galilee

This Markan sandwich has two parts. The bread of the sandwich concerns an urgent request of Jairus, a presiding officer of the local synagogue (head of the keneset), on behalf of his dying daughter. The filling of the sandwich concerns a hemorrhaging woman seeking healing for herself.

Bread 1: When Jairus presents his request to Jesus, Jesus starts to go with him.

Filling: A woman scourged by an unceasing menstruation for twelve years pushes through the crowd to touch Jesus’ garment. Her condition made her ritually unclean, and anyone she touched would have been likewise unclean. She risked great public ire in being present in the crowd at all, let alone jostling many and deliberately touching Jesus at a crucial moment. When she touched Jesus’garment (Matthew expressly mentions the tassels of the garment), she was healed and knew it. Jesus did not let her hide, but paused to force her story into the open. Jesus then commended her audacious faith as the vehicle through which she received healing/salvation. But this pause was critical.

Bread 2: Word arrived that Jairus’ daughter had died. The messengers tell Jairus that he need not bother Jesus any longer. Jesus tells Jairus, literally, “Do not be fearing; only be believing.” Jairus is faced with a difficult choice. On the one hand are the scandal of uncleanness and the apparent hopelessness of the situation; on the other hand are the healing he has just witnessed and Jesus’ word of assurance. Taking the audacious woman as his model, he decides to trust Jesus. Professional mourners are already at work at Jairus’ house. They scorn Jesus’ claim that the girl is only “sleeping.” It should be clear that Jesus is not denying her death, but affirming that he has the power to awaken the dead. With three disciples and the parents as the only witnesses, Jesus, taking hold of her hand and thereby of the uncleanness of death, pronounces, “Lamb, arise!” And she does. Jesus reverses uncleanness and death by his sovereign word.

As noted twice already, the story of Jairus’ daughter should be compared to the stories about subduing death above. Jairus as a presiding officer of the synagogue should be compared to the stories about Pharisees; presumably he would be a Pharisee who is friendly toward Jesus.  The story of the hemorrhaging woman raises the question of ritual uncleanness for Jesus just before Jesus goes on to Jairus’ home and raises his daughter. Therefore, the story should also be compared to passages on uncleanness (5:1-20; 7:1-23; 7:24-30). The faith of Jairus and the faith of the hemorrhaging woman are parallel to the faith of the Syrophoenician woman of 7:24-30.

D1. 6:1-6 Jesus’ Healings Hindered in Nazareth of Galilee

Jesus’ hometown citizens have a hard time not resenting his fame and authoritative teaching. They remember him as a local craftsperson (tekton could mean stoneworker as well as carpenter) and as a member of a family that lived among them. They are stumbling over the “scandal of particularity,” that the Messiah comes from a particular background and identity. Jesus finds it hard to carry out his kingdom ministry in this atmosphere.

Of the brothers named here, only James and Jude (Judas) show up elsewhere in the Bible. James became head of the Jerusalem church and was martyred in 62 A.D. New Testament Letters are attributed to James and Jude. But the brothers did not become believers until after the resurrection. Some people in the Gospels, like Jesus’ brothers, had the best of opportunities but were slow to believe, while others, like the Gerasene demoniac, seemed hopelessly lost but did believe.

The story of Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth should be compared to Jesus’ rejection in the country of the Gerasenes (5:1-20).

Luke tells a much richer version of Jesus’ unhappy visit to Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30).

D2. 6:7-31 Disciples’ Mission and Herod Antipas’ Reaction in Galilee, Flashback to John the Baptist versus Herod Antipas

In this Markan sandwich, the mission of the twelve surrounds the report of the death of John the Baptist. While the disciples are casting out demons and healing the sick, Herod Antipas is portrayed as haunted by his having allowed himself to be manipulated into executing John the Baptist.

Bread 1: Jesus sends the twelve, unimpressive though their development to this point is, out to minister in his name and authority. Remember that this group includes Judas Iscariot who will betray him. Remember that this group includes no one who really “gets it” yet. It is not their merit or intellect that qualifies them, but their calling and equipping by Jesus. They are given the authority to act as agents of the kingdom of God.

The apparel of the disciples is parallel to the clothing of the exodus generation (Exodus 12:11). The point is to be free from encumbrances so that they can give witness to God’s power.

Anointing with oil is mentioned here (and in James 5:14); it is a symbolic imparting of the Holy Spirit for healing, empowerment, or for qualities needed for the exercise of an office.

Filling: Technically, Antipas, son of Herod the Great, was a tetrarch (ruler of one-fourth of his father’s kingdom); his territory included Galilee, but not Judea. The Judean tetrarch’s line had been replaced by appointed Roman governors, but the truth is that no Herod ruled without the approval of Rome. Indeed, Antipas himself and his illicit wife Herodias ended up banished by Rome to Gaul (France).

Bread 2: Jesus' disciples (here called apostles, meaning sent) return and report. Jesus invites them to rest. Resting will not be easily achieved.

The story of the martyrdom of John the Baptist, sandwiched within the mission of the disciples, foreshadows the martyrdom of Jesus and the cost of discipleship. The bracketing of John’s martyrdom by the mission prepares us for Mark’s message that disciples should expect persecution and should not think that the kingdom message is thereby undercut.

In light of 3:6, the picture of Herod Antipas should cause us to consider the hypocrisy of the Pharisees (7:1-23; 8:11-15) for allying themselves with the Herodians.  Herod’s banquet might be compared to Jesus’ banquet (6:30-44)

A2. 6:34-52 Feeding of 5000+ in Galilee and Second Crossing Event

Mission increases rather than decreases the need for time alone with Jesus, but it becomes harder to achieve as the mission grows. Jesus gives priority to this matter, but also works with the frustrations and delays that occur.

The word used here for Jesus’ compassion on the crowd is literally gut-tugging. He is concerned about their lack of spiritual leadership.

We call this event the feeding of the 5000, but the crowd was about 5000 adult males, plus women and children, maybe more like 20,000 people. There are comparisons to Moses’ need to provide for Israel’s exodus generation in the wilderness, and it may be that the organizing into groups, in addition to its practical benefits, is intended to remind the crowd of that period in their history.

It would have taken about two-thirds of a single laborer’s year’s wages to buy one simple meal—in modern terms, say a 99-cent fish sandwich--for the crowd. The disciples cannot conceive how they are to produce such a meal. In spite of not understanding, the disciples obey and offer what they have, obviously inadequate though it is, and Jesus then makes of it what he wants. It is the same as he has done with their mission. The story should not be given a naturalistic or psychological or sociological explanation. The point that is driven home repeatedly in this section of Mark is Jesus’ supernatural sufficiency.

It is debatable whether the numbers of five, two and twelve have symbolic significance, but it seems likely that they represent Israel (five books of Moses, two tablets of stone, twelve tribes of Israel).

Contrasting the feeding of the 5000+ to Herod’s banquet (6:7-29) may be interesting.

This is the only miracle story reported in each of the four Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Luke 9:10b-17; John 6:1-15). Some believe that it should be seen as foreshadowing the Last Supper (compare Mark 6:41 and 14:22). Mathew confirms that the 5000 number does not count the women and children.

Jesus dispersed the crowd and sent his disciples out on the sea while he prayed in the mountains. He saw a strong wind come against the disciples tormenting them and completely stalling their progress, and he came walking on the water to them, about the fourth watch (beginning at 3 AM and ending at 6 AM by the Roman division Mark’s readers would have used).

For walking on water, see Job 9:8; Psalm 77:19; and Isaiah 43:16. For passing by, see Job 9:11; Exodus 33:18-23; 34:6-7; and 1 Kings 9:11 in the context of 1 Kings 9:9-18. Passing by does not mean ignoring, but rather manifesting glory. Seeing that the disciples are not ready to perceive such a revelation accurately, Jesus then meets their need for explanation.

Scholars debate whether Jesus’ words should be translated, “It is I,” as a simple personal identification or, “I AM,” as the name God used to identify himself to Moses from the burning bush. Either is a correct translation of the words, but I am inclined by the exodus imagery to think that Jesus is revealing his divine self-sufficiency to the disciples: “I Am That I Am,” meaning that, “I will show up wherever I choose and cause to be whatever I choose.” The point is that Jesus can be trusted to carry out his will through his obedient disciples even in the face of adversity.

John 6:15 tells us that Jesus dispersed the crowd when they sought to make him king.

Matthew 14:28-33 adds details about Peter’s walking on water and about the disciples’ conclusion that Jesus was the Son of God.

C2. 6:53-56 Healings in Galilee

Jesus had sent the disciples straight east, but they ended up southwest of their likely point of embarking. Nothing is impossible in that. They had faced an adverse wind.

This summary of multiple healings reminds us that Jesus did far more than is narrated in the Gospels.

Touching Jesus’ garment to receive healing appeared in 5:24-34.

D3. 7:1-23 What Defiles a Person: Jesus versus Pharisees

Jesus here takes a strong stand against the oral traditions of the Pharisees and scribes. He is also pushing for interpretations of the written Law that seek to fulfill God’s initial intent, keeping straight the priorities. But for now the point of emphasis is on the conflict with the oral traditions.

The dispute begins with the “experts” complaining that Jesus’ disciples are not ritually washing their hands before eating. The written Law required ritual washings on certain occasions for priests and for those who had encountered specific defilements, but the oral tradition treated everyone as under such obligation in all circumstances. The point was not hygiene, but separation from secular culture. Things that could make hands unclean included touching certain translations of the scriptures; it had nothing to do with modern hygiene.

Jesus attacks the hypocrisy of the experts who used their traditions to avoid inconvenient requirements of the law: “You are nicely setting aside the commandment of God in order that you may establish your tradition!” The specific example Jesus gives is their ceremonially dedicating belongings to God as a way of avoiding their legal obligation to honor elderly parents by supporting them with their wealth.

Jesus says that nothing physically passing into a person can in itself defile a person. Mark explains that Jesus was making all foods clean: Mark’s understanding actually supersedes the written Law and will require a New Covenant. Although Jesus did not push matters so far in his ministry, Mark correctly saw where Jesus was moving things, and Jesus’ death and resurrection opened this door.

Making all foods clean is not a question of healthy eating, but of ritual defilement. Jesus says that only things proceeding from our hearts and minds--in other words, speech and actions that reveal corrupt desires--defile us.

Jesus has a strict set of moral expectations for his disciples that cover matters of property, violence, sex, conversation, and so forth. He is not overthrowing morality, but purifying and radicalizing (going to the root of) morality to accord with God’s purposes.  Jesus is not antinomian (against naming laws and rules), but he is for our fully reflecting God’s nature in all that we do. The divine purpose and character should govern our observance of rules, not the other way around.

For more on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, see also 8:11-15.

While Mark is interested in making the basic point that Jesus radicalizes the Law, Matthew is interested in spelling out how this works in practice. So, for more detail we can look to Matthew, and especially to the Sermon on the Mount.

B2. 7:24-37 Exorcism and Healing outside Galilee

Mark does not tell us directly why Jesus took his disciples into what is now Lebanon and Syria, but we may guess that Jesus felt a need to get his disciples away from the constant crowds, away from the hostility of the Pharisees, and away from the threat of the Herodians so that he could mentor them. There is no mention of Jesus’ carrying out a teaching ministry in these Gentile locations, but it is reasonable to assume that it occurred.

Jesus no sooner arrives in Tyre than a Syrophoenician woman (Matthew calls her Canaanite) comes seeking an exorcism of her daughter. Typically, the Tyrians were relatively prosperous compared to Jews, and they often mistreated Jews in their economic relationships with them.

Jesus does not bother with political correctness in responding to the woman: “First allow the children to be filled to satisfaction, for it is not good to take the bread of the children and throw it to the little dogs.” Children refers to Jews and dogs to Gentiles. Of the two terms Jesus could have used for dogs, he chose the less offensive, not the term for street dogs, but the term for pet dogs. But that only slightly softens his statement. It is difficult to know what tone to read into Jesus' words. Is he speaking with irony to teach the disciples the opposite of what he is saying, or is Jesus testing the depth of woman's faith?

The woman does not argue with Jesus’ missional priorities, but presents her case as cleaning up the crumbs that fall to the floor from the children’s table. The woman’s audacious and persistent faith prevails, and the abundance of the good news of the kingdom of God spills over to the Gentiles.

The Syrophoenician woman should be compared to Jairus and the hemorrhaging woman (5:21-43). The stories of activity on non-Jewish territory should also be considered (5:1-20, 7:31—8:9).

Matthew 15:21-28 includes Jesus’ understanding of his primary calling to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” He also reports Jesus’ exclamation to the woman, “Great is your faith!” See 1 Kings 17:7-24 for another Syrophoenician woman. Note Jesus’ comment on this in Luke 4:25-27. For Peter’s coming to understand ministry among the Gentiles, see Acts 10.

Returning to the Decapolis (where he was in 5:1-20), Jesus uses physical actions as part of his healing of a man who is deaf and mute. Such actions are not necessary parts of the healing, which Jesus can do by simple command. They must be designed to build and to involve the man’s faith in receiving the healing.  The man’s ears are opened and the chain on his tongue is broken; he speaks correctly. For the first time on Gentile territory, Jesus feels it necessary to do what he has done frequently on Jewish territory: to silence testimony (unsuccessfully). Perhaps the testimony of the former demoniac (5:1-20) has had effect in the Decapolis.

The healing of the deaf and mute man on non-Jewish territory  (see 5:1-20; 7:24-30; 8:1-9) should also be compared to the healing of the blind man of Bethsaida in Galilee (8:22-26, which introduces the next section of Mark’s Gospel by relating to some themes of this section).

See Isaiah 35:5-6 and Matthew 15:29-31.

A3. 8:1-21 Feeding of 4000+ outside Galilee and Third Crossing Event

A Decapolis crowd of 4000 remained with Jesus three days and ran out of food. Jesus had compassion on them and ordered his disciples to feed them. They still cannot imagine how they will do so. They have seven loaves and a few fish. They ended up collecting seven baskets of leftovers.

It is uncertain whether we are to take the number seven and possibly the number four (in 4000) as symbolic of completeness of the Gentile world, but the contrast to the Jewish numbers of the feeding of the 5000 would seem to indicate that we are. Jesus’ ministry will eventually extend to “every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”

Matthew 15:32-39 tells us that the 4000 number does not count the women and children.

Now back among Pharisees on the west coast of the sea, Jesus is asked for a sign of his divine authority. There have been countless signs already. One more will make no difference. Jesus groaned in his spirit and in no uncertain terms refused.

For more on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, see especially 7:1-23.

The third crossing story shows that, like the Pharisees, the disciples have not yet absorbed the significance of the signs they have seen either. After having seen two miraculous rescues at sea and two miraculous feedings of the multitudes, they are worrying about having only one loaf of bread on the boat. Jesus refers to their attitude as infected with the leaven of the Pharisees and Herodians. But, at least, they are in the boat with Jesus and are in a position to be transformed by what lies ahead. 

The blind man of Bethsaida in 8:22-27 will need a second touch to see clearly. Who can count how many touches it will take to get the disciples to see? But, eventually, all but one of the twelve do see.

Section E. 8:22—10:52 The Royal Son predicts his death and resurrection and discusses servant-discipleship

In this section, the kingdom ministry of Jesus overlaps with his preparing of the uncomprehending disciples to deal with coming suffering. Kingdom ministry and suffering servanthood are not separate things, but are closely associated.

Literary structure

A1. 8:22-26 Kingdom Sign. Second touch needed to restore sight

B1. 8:27-30 Kingdom Agent. Peter’s profession of faith

C1. 8:31-32a Servant Prediction. Jesus predicts his Suffering Servanthood and resurrection

 D1. 8:32b Incomprehension. Peter rebukes Jesus

C2. 8:33—9:1 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Jesus rebukes Peter, warns of suffering servanthood for the disciples, assures them they will see God’s reign come with power

B2. 9:2-8 Kingdom Agent. Jesus transfigured, speaks with representatives of Law and Prophets; voice of God assures Peter, James, and John that Jesus is his Son

C3. 9:9-13 Servant Prediction Explained. Jesus links his suffering to prophecy and to John’s martyrdom

A2. 9:14-29 Kingdom Sign: Remaining disciples unable to cast out demons from a boy; Jesus casts out demons

C4. 9:30-31 Servant Prediction. Jesus again predicts his Suffering Servanthood and resurrection

D2. 9:32-34 Incomprehension.  The disciples do not understand, argue about who is greatest

C5. 9:35-37 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Jesus explains that greatness is marked by humble servanthood such as hospitality to a little child

D3.9:38 Incomprehension.The disciples do not understand Jesus’ point, try to stop a non-disciple from exorcising in name of Jesus

C6. 9:39-41 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Jesus explains that one who is not against them is for them (example: hospitality to disciples)

C7. 9:42-49 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Jesus warns disciples against causing others to stumble and against tolerating things that would cause stumbling in themselves

C8. 10:1-12 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Divorce for the sake of remarriage is example of hardness of heart toward God’s perfect will and of behavior that can cause stumbling

D4.10:13a Incomprehension. Disciples still trying to forbid children from bothering Jesus

C9. 10:14-16 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Jesus welcomes children, asserting that whoever does not receive the reign of God as a little child will never enter it                                        

C10.10:17-22 Servant/Kingdom Encounter. Wealthy religious expert asks what he must do to enter the reign of God; when he hears that he must give away his wealth and follow Jesus, he goes away grieving

C11.10:23-31 Servant/Kingdom Teaching.  Extremely hard for rich to enter the reign of God, impossible for men, but possible with God; giving up things for the reign of God will bring great reward

C12. 10:32-34 Servant Prediction. Once more Jesus predicts his suffering servanthood and resurrection

D5. 10:35-37 Incomprehension. James and John ask for the two seats of highest honor in Jesus’ kingdom glory

C13.10:38-45 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. The disciples will face crosses; Jesus came to serve and give his life as a ransom

A3.10:46-52 Kingdom Sign. Immediate healing of persistent, blind Bartimaeus Ominous Transition: “…and followed him on the way”

A1. 8:22-26 Kingdom Sign. Second touch needed to restore sight

As in 7:31-37, this is a private healing, employing spittle and touch, followed by a command to silence. It is unique in that the man sees only partially after the first touch. A second touch is required for him to see clearly. Commentators are virtually unanimous in finding symbolism related to the spiritual blindness of the disciples in this, but, as France points out, the symbolic does not exclude the literal.

Like this blind man, the disciples will come to see clearly only through a process. For the disciples, the clarity will come only after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus (ending portions of the Four Gospels), and the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). Compare 8:17’s “Do you still not see?” to 8:23’s “Do you see anything?”  and 9:1’s “…until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

Behind 7:31-37 and 8:22-26, it is important to see Isaiah 35:1-10, especially verse 5. This is a picture of how God acts to restore his people. Jesus is clearly fulfilling the healing portion of the description. Matthew and Luke quote Jesus (in answer to an earlier question from John the Baptist) to make this clear: Matthew 11:4-6; Luke 7:21-23. It is such evidence that is driving Peter and the other disciples to the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah.

B1. 8:27-30 Kingdom Agent. Peter’s profession of faith

The Messiah (Anointed One) had royal, priestly, and prophetic responsibilities. Popular Jewish views saw the Messiah as endowed with supernatural wisdom and powers to restore the righteousness of the people of God, to destroy God’s enemies, to deliver Israel from Gentile domination, to bring home the dispersed Jews, and to establish a glorious and eternal temple and throne in Jerusalem from which God’s law and justice would be taught and demonstrated to the nations.

Jesus has a different understanding of his role as Messiah. Peter’s sight is only partial at this time.  When Peter reaches the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus rebukes (strongly warns) the disciples not to speak of this. Messianic publicity at this point would lead to attempts by friend and foe alike to force Jesus’ hand politically.

C1. 8:31-32a Servant Prediction. Jesus predicts his Suffering Servanthood and resurrection

Although it is all there in Isaiah, Jews had not, by and large, connected the Suffering Servant role to the Messiah role. Jesus’ words about coming suffering and death are incomprehensible to the disciples who have just concluded that he is the Messiah.

D1. 8:32b Incomprehension. Peter rebukes Jesus

Peter tries to explain in terms of his popular understanding of the role of the Messiah why Jesus is wrong to foresee suffering and death. Perhaps he is warning Jesus to avoid Jerusalem until he has a powerful army behind him.

C2. 8:33—9:1 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Jesus rebukes Peter, warns of suffering servanthood for the disciples, assures them they will see God’s reign come with power

Because Peter’s way of thinking is out of touch with God’s plans for defeating the supreme enemy Satan, he is, in urging Jesus to avoid the cross, actually serving Satan. Jesus even calls Peter Satan at this point in time. God’s way of proceeding must come from God, not from human reasoning.  Jesus goes on to teach of the self-giving lifestyle that must characterize his disciples. They must embrace the cost of discipleship. They must willingly accept the worldly risks of being associated with Jesus. The eternal consequences of choosing worldly security instead are much worse. 

B2. 9:2-8 Kingdom Agent. Jesus transfigured, speaks with representatives of Law and Prophets; voice of God assures Peter, James, and John that Jesus is his Son

Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on a high mountain. There Jesus is transfigured with his divine glory, perhaps the kind of thing he was trying to show them when he was about to pass by them on the Sea of Galilee.

But, this time, Elijah and Moses appear to talk with Jesus. Moses was the human authority behind Torah, also known as the Law, the first Five Books of the Bible. Although Elijah did not write any of the books of the Old Testament, he had become the ideal embodiment of a Prophet. The Law and the Prophets composed the foundation of the Hebrew scriptures, what we call the Old Testament. It is likely that they were discussing with Jesus how his death and resurrection together formed a necessary fulfillment of what was written in the sacred scriptures.

Furthermore, Elijah and Moses were associated in Malachi 4:4-6. This passage calls upon Israel to remember the writings of Moses and to expect an Elijah figure to prepare the hearts of the people for the Messiah.

Peter’s impulse was to celebrate the grand and final Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) by building booths (tabernacles) for the three glorified figures. The Feast of Booths celebrated God’s giving of the Law at Sinai, his sustaining the people in the wilderness, and his leading of them to the Promised Land. It also looked forward to the final restoration of the people of God under the rule of the Messiah. Perhaps Peter anticipated that this mountain would be the center for this great fulfillment.

Clearly Peter missed the point. A cloud representing the Divine Presence (like the cloud that had led Israel through the wilderness and that had filled the wilderness tabernacle and later the Jerusalem temple) now descended on the mountain. From it they heard the voice of God confirming the identity of Jesus, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him.”

By reaffirming Jesus' authority, the Father was saying, “Accept what he says about his role as Messiah. Accept that he will combine the roles of Royal Son (Agent of the Reign of God) and Suffering Servant (Savior of Sinful Humanity).”  When the cloud lifted, Moses and Elijah were gone. Only Jesus remained. The role of Moses and Elijah and the role of the cloud were to confirm the role of Jesus. Once that was done, they were not needed, nor were memorials.

C3. 9:9-13 Servant Prediction Explained. Jesus links his suffering to prophecy and to John’s martyrdom

Coming down the mountain, Jesus emphasized that the disciples were not to tell what they had seen on the mountain until he had risen from the dead [Peter later told the story in 2 Peter 1:16-21. He tied the transfiguration together with inspired prophecy as two confirmations of the Christian message].

The disciples began to debate the meaning of “risen from the dead.” They turned their minds to the idea of Malachi 4:5-6 that Elijah would prepare the way; perhaps the connection was that a prepared people would not reject the Messiah and Jesus would not have to die.

Jesus answered that Elijah had already come and he had been rejected. Where in the Old Testament was it foretold that Elijah must suffer? There is no specific prophecy to that effect, but the life of Elijah and his conflict with Ahab and Jezebel is a prototype of John’s conflict with Herod Antipas and Herodias ( Lane; France). That the new Elijah would be killed before completing the restoration of the people of God would have been a shocking statement in its cultural context. Surely the point is that, with some exceptions, the people had declined the opportunity for renewal.

A2. 9:14-29 Kingdom Sign: Remaining disciples unable to cast out demons from a boy; Jesus casts out demons

The disciples were unsuccessfully dealing with a boy who was having seizures. The seizures might compare to epilepsy, but cannot be reduced to the physical syndrome, controlled as they were by demonic forces. The father of the boy asks Jesus to help if he can. Jesus replies that all things are possible with faith. The father confesses, “I believe; help my unbelief.”

Edwards offers helpful comment: “True faith is always aware how small and inadequate it is. The father becomes a believer not when he amasses a sufficient quantum of faith, but when he risks everything on what little faith he has, when he yields his insufficiency to the true sufficiency of Jesus….”

Jesus is able to bind the strong man, but the initial result of his coming is additional suffering for the boy as the demon gives him one last seizure and leaves him for dead. Whatever the boy’s actual state, Jesus is able to raise him to new life. Jesus then explains to the disciples that prayer is the only way to prevail in such situations. There are many situations beyond our strength, wisdom, and ability, but God is able to handle them and will do so if we will open ourselves to his working in and through us.

C4. 9:30-31 Servant Prediction. Jesus again predicts his Suffering Servanthood and resurrection

For the second time, Jesus prophesies his coming death and resurrection.

D2. 9:32-34 Incomprehension.  The disciples do not understand, argue about who is greatest

Concern with rank was a central part of Greco-Roman culture and of first century Jewish religion. It crept into the hearts and minds of the disciples. But God values self-giving love, quite different from the cultural values.

Edwards: “Jesus speaks of surrendering his life; the disciples speak of fulfilling theirs. He counts the cost of discipleship; they count its assets.”

C5. 9:35-37 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Jesus explains that greatness is marked by humble servanthood such as hospitality to a little child

A little child has no status, cannot reciprocate benefits given to him by others. The child is outside the cultural system of rank and honor. Showing hospitality to one who has no power, cannot repay, is a mark of the attitude of a true disciple of Jesus. 

D3.9:38 Incomprehension.The disciples do not understand Jesus’ point, try to stop a non-disciple from exorcising in name of Jesus

The disciples are more concerned about lines of authority than they are about setting people free. This is the characteristic that in more extreme form led the Pharisees to oppose Jesus.

C6. 9:39-41 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Jesus explains that one who is not against them is for them (example: hospitality to disciples)

This is an interesting tactic by Jesus. In effect, he is pointing out to the disciples that they would not fare well if others treated them according to their worldly credentials. But those who ignore their credentials and help them will be rewarded. This should encourage a similar attitude in the disciples themselves.

C7. 9:42-49 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Jesus warns disciples against causing others to stumble and against tolerating things that would cause stumbling in themselves

These passages are harsh and have been seriously abused. Jesus is speaking with extreme and figurative language to make serious points. He is warning us against things that cause new believers and potential believers to stumble. Attitudes toward rank can be one such stumbling block. Weaknesses in our own character can be another stumbling block.

Jesus is not saying that our wrong desires are caused by parts of our bodies, and that we ought to mutilate our bodies to get rid of the bad desires. He is saying that we ought to be willing to do whatever is necessary to rid our lives of sin. Sin is caused by wrong spiritual attitudes. It is the attitudes that we must pull out, roots and all. We must replace them with right attitudes that come from the heart of our loving Creator.

C8. 10:1-12 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Divorce for the sake of remarriage is example of hardness of heart toward God’s perfect will and of behavior that can cause stumbling

When may a person who has divorced remarry? Matthew reports that Jesus allowed an exception to the prohibition of remarriage when a spouse has violated the covenant by committing adultery. Paul allows an exception when a spouse has abandoned the covenant. There may be other exceptions of a similarly serious nature. I would venture that abuse would fit into the picture of a serious violation of the covenant.

But Mark is showing that Jesus has another thrust in his encounter with the Pharisees. The Pharisees argued among themselves about divorce. They all allowed it under certain circumstances, but their lists of what would justify divorce were quite varied.

Mark’s purpose in reporting this conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees is not to give us a new set of criteria for determining when divorce is and is not justified. His purpose is to call us back to the intent of the Creator.

God did not ordain marriage with the purpose that it would end in divorce. God created male and female so that there could be marriage, and God intends for the marriage covenant to be honored as supporting the unity and stability of the family unit.

We ought to be very careful about trying to justify ourselves regarding broken relationships and covenants (“It is my spouse’s fault!”). Such things are invariably complex, never as simple as our justifications make them sound. We ought to be focused on doing the will of God, not on getting away with something that we want to do.

Jesus wants us to view marriage from the angle of the kingdom of God, seeking God’s help through the Holy Spirit to accomplish things that are beyond our abilities.

Men in Jesus’ time who cast off women placed them in an extremely awkward situation. The women often lacked means of supporting themselves except by quickly finding a new husband or by selling their bodies. Jesus is nailing hypocrites who found legal justifications for leaving others in hopeless situations, causing others to stumble while parading as righteous themselves. The attitude of self-justification is opposite to the attitude of servant discipleship that Jesus is recommending.

D4.10:13a Incomprehension. Disciples still trying to forbid children from bothering Jesus

The disciples still did not understand Jesus’ heart, nor did they understand what he was teaching about rank and servanthood.

C9. 10:14-16 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. Jesus welcomes children, asserting that whoever does not receive the reign of God as a little child will never enter it  

It is important not to try to identify a moral characteristic of children that makes them superior to adults. Jesus is seeing children as powerless beings who can make no claims to have earned anything. Children are willing to accept gifts. That is the first necessity of entering the kingdom.

C10.10:17-22 Servant/Kingdom Encounter. Wealthy religious expert asks what he must do to enter the reign of God; when he hears that he must give away his wealth and follow Jesus, he goes away grieving

The wealthy young religious expert thinks he has too much to lose to enter the kingdom as a little child.

C11.10:23-31 Servant/Kingdom Teaching.  Extremely hard for rich to enter the reign of God, impossible for men, but possible with God; giving up things for the reign of God will bring great reward

When Jesus explains that it will be hard for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God, the disciples find it hard to believe that the rich do not have some advantage in being saved, that their wealth is not a sign that they are blessed by God. And if not the rich, then who is blessed? We have to wonder what the disciples had heard when Jesus had taught the beatitudes in either their Matthean or Lukan version. Jesus certainly had seen blessing coming in quite another way than material wealth.

C12. 10:32-34 Servant Prediction. Once more Jesus predicts his suffering servanthood and resurrection

The third time still does not break through the incomprehension of the disciples.

D5. 10:35-37 Incomprehension. James and John ask for the two seats of highest honor in Jesus’ kingdom glory

James and John still do not get the servant/kingdom values that Jesus is trying to teach them. Nor can they absorb what he is saying about his coming death. It is unclear whether they see his coming glory as in an earthly kingdom or an eternal one.

C13.10:38-45 Servant/Kingdom Teaching. The disciples will face crosses; Jesus came to serve and give his life as a ransom

Jesus clarifies that the disciples are called to servanthood like his own, complete with coming suffering.

A3.10:46-52 Kingdom Sign. Immediate healing of persistent, blind Bartimaeus; Ominous Transition: “…and followed him on the way”  

Bartimaeus’ testimony is welcomed by Jesus. Jesus is no longer restricting testimony even as he heads to Jerusalem. This can only be because he is ready for the showdown. John’s Gospel places the raising of Lazarus at Bethany in the interval before Jesus reaches Jerusalem; this also would make a showdown inevitable. This passage together with A1 forms an envelope around the section we have just completed.

In this section, the shadow of the coming cross and of the subsequent persecution of the disciples is set in the context of kingdom ministry. Somehow we must comprehend that victorious living as agents of God's kingdom is not separate from vulnerable servanthood.

Section D2. 11:1—12:44 The Royal Son has authority to replace the fruitless temple

From the time of his baptism on, Jesus knew that he was destined to be both Royal Son and Suffering Servant. This double role was confirmed at his transfiguration at the center of Mark’s Gospel. From there his life was headed toward Jerusalem where he would be crucified. But, as Mark presents the matter, the precipitating conflict is Jesus’ claim to replace the fruitless temple with his own fruitful ministry, a ministry that will continue through his disciples.

I am not yet satisfied with the place of Chapter 12 in this display. I will continue to work on that.

Literary Structure

A1. Mark 11:1-11 Jesus comes to Jerusalem as the Messiah, a Priest-King of the order of Melchizedek, suddenly returning to judge the temple

B1. Mark 11:12-14 The cursing of the fig tree

C. Mark 11:15-19 Removing the money changers and animal sellers

        B2. Mark 11:20-26 The withered fig tree

A2. Mark 11:27—12:44 Jesus returns to the temple to test his authority against the temple leaders.   

The central section (B1, C, B2) is a Markan sandwich. In this case, the so-called cleansing of the temple event is sandwiched within the fig tree cursing event. Actually, the placement of these events calls into question the title cleansing of the temple  (Credit Garland). Jesus is not attempting to reform the temple. He is judging, condemning, and replacing the temple.

The temple existed to be fruitful for God’s purposes, but its administration was actually running counter to God’s purposes. It was worse than unfruitful; it was downright destructive. It had to be replaced with something more fruitful.

We could emphasize the fruitfulness theme even more by concocting an imaginary literary display to include a passage from Matthew with the imaginary revisions bracketed and italicized below:

A1. Mark 11:1-11 Jesus comes to Jerusalem as the Messiah, a Priest-King of the order of Melchizedek, suddenly returning to judge the temple

B1. Mark 11:12-14 The cursing of the fig tree

C[1]. Mark 11:15-19 Removing the money changers and animal sellers

[C2 Matthew 21:14-17.Jesus brings the blind, lame, and children into the temple for healing and celebration]

            B2. Mark 11:20-26 The withered fig tree

A2. Mark 11:27—12:44 Jesus returns to the temple to test his authority against the temple leaders.  

The additions from Matthew show what a renewed temple would have been and what the mission of Jesus' followers is to become, offering redemptive healing.  

The Jerusalem temple of Jesus’ day was the central location of religious authority for the people of God. Jesus had been traveling through Galilee conducting a kingdom ministry, showing the women, the children, the poor, the blind, the lame, the lepers, the outcasts, the sinners, and on occasion, even the foreigners, that the redeeming power of God could act on their behalf.

But his message was in contrast to the experience such people would have had in visiting the central place of religious authority. There women and children were second class citizens who could go far enough to reach the offering boxes, but not into the inner courts where the men could go. The foreigners, even if those foreigners had converted to Judaism, as well as the moral outcasts and perhaps even the maimed could not go even as far as the women and children, but only into the outer court of the Gentiles (Scholars are not agreed on the degree of discrimination that the physically afflicted might have experienced at the temple, but there was certainly some discrimination).

Even non-temple money including the Roman money of daily commerce had to be exchanged for temple money in order to make an offering, and the money-changers profited on the exchange.

The poor might attempt to bring their own sacrificial offerings, but, if they did not pass inspection, they would have to buy a pre-approved animal from the temple vendors. The money-changing and animal-selling concessions went to the cronies of the religious leaders. It was in effect a spoils system. But the real robbery was that God’s children were kept from experiencing his atoning, healing, and blessing presence.

The experience at the temple of those to whom Jesus had given hope would have been discouraging, perhaps even crushing. The authority of Jesus’ message would have been brought into question. At some time that authority had to be put to the test. Was Jesus right that the reign of God was available to restore the broken, or was Jesus’ message a tearing down of godly traditions? 

There were Old Testament laws that could be bent to justify all the regulations and exclusive practices at the temple, but there were also Old Testament passages that pointed toward the day when all people would find that the Temple would become for them a house of prayer. Both Jesus and his opponents could quote scripture. Which one was right in the eyes of God?

A1. Mark 11:1-11 Jesus comes to Jerusalem as the Messiah, a Priest-King of the order of Melchizedek, suddenly returning to judge the temple

On the Sunday before Passover, Jesus headed into the city of Jerusalem. He was riding an unbroken donkey’s colt, with its mother along, a symbol from Zechariah 9:9 of the arrival of the Messiah-King. People waved palm branches and called out, “Hosanna!” meaning, “Save us!” or, when applied in this way, “Savior!” Jesus examined the temple, saw what was going on, and went back out of the city.  See Psalm 118 and Zechariah 9:9-10 for important background.

B1. Mark 11:12-14 The cursing of the fig tree

On the Monday following Palm Sunday, Jesus again headed toward the temple. Along the way into the city, he saw a fruitless fig tree and cursed it. It represented the fruitless religious system of the temple. 

C. Mark 11:15-19 Removing the money changers and animal sellers

Jesus arrived at the temple and drove out the animal-sellers and money-changers. He quoted Isaiah 56 that the temple was to be a house of prayer for all peoples, the passage that also promised that foreigners and eunuchs would one day be included. We might also refer back to Solomon’s prayer and blessing at the dedication service for the temple in 1 Kings 8:22-61. Atonement and prayer are the two great purposes of the temple, and it is clear that the temple is to serve people from all nations.

B2. Mark 11:20-26 The withered fig tree

On Tuesday, as Jesus once more entered the city, the disciples saw that the fig tree Jesus had cursed on Monday was now dead. Remember that it symbolized the fruitless temple.

[John recounts Jesus’ temple action much earlier in his Gospel, but he reports that Jesus told the leaders who asked for a sign of his authority, “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up.”  It was only after his third-day resurrection that the disciples understood that Jesus meant that he himself would be the new temple, the locus of being reconciled to God’s holiness and coming into God’s presence for healing and blessing. Truly, as John’s Gospel reports Jesus quoting Psalm 69, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”]

The discussion about the faith to move mountains in this context may refer to the power to remove (and replace) the significance of the temple mount. Such faith is manifested in prayer. The discussion of forgiveness describes one of the characteristics of fruitful religious life and of faith-filled prayer. Furthermore, the two purposes of the temple to be a place of atonement and prayer are now to be made available not in a particular building but through the faith and forgiveness of Jesus’ followers.

A2. Mark 11:27—12:44 Jesus returns to the temple to test his authority against the temple leaders.

Jesus then entered a series of controversies with the religious leaders. As they tried to trap him, he creatively turned their questions back to them, showing that they did not accept the kingdom of God and challenging them to put love of God and neighbor at the center of their lives.

Mark 11:27-33. A Question of Authority.

Jesus returned to the temple. The chief priests and scribes and elders (basically Sadducees and Pharisees teamed up together) confront Jesus, asking about what authority he had for his action of the previous day. Jesus replies with a counter-question, asking them whether John the Baptist’s authority to baptize was from God. They refuse to answer because they see that they would lose with either answer. Jesus says that, since they will not take a stand on divine authority in relation to John, he will not provide them with any data about his own authority.

Mark 12:1-12. The Vineyard to Be Given to Others.

See Isaiah 5:1-7. The vineyard represents the covenant people of God.

Jesus told a parable of a vineyard owner who prepared his vineyard, rented it out and went on a long journey. He sent a long series of servants to collect the rent, but the tenants either beat the servants and sent them away or killed them. At last the owner sent his beloved son, reasoning that at least the tenants would have to respect him, but the tenants felt that if they killed the heir, the vineyard would be theirs, so kill him they did.

Jesus asked what the vineyard owner would do next. Jesus provides the answer himself: the owner will destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Jesus then quotes Psalm 118:22-23. The religious leaders were afraid to carry out their plan to arrest Jesus.

Mark 12:13-17. To God the Things That Bear God's Image.

A team of Pharisees and Herodians (a hypocritical alliance if ever there was one!) with much flattery asks Jesus about payment of taxes to Caesar. They plan to accuse him as a traitor against Judaism if he advises paying the tax and as a rebel against Rome if he advises against paying the tax.

Jesus asks them for a coin; they produce a Roman one. Pharisees were not supposed to carry Roman coinage. He asks them whose picture is on the coin. They reply, “Caesar’s.” He responds, “Then give to Caesar what is his, but give to God what is his.” By carrying Roman coins, they acknowledge that they are accepting the benefits of the Roman economic system and they have an obligation to their benefactor Caesar.

But God created us in his own image, and the more important question is whether we acknowledge our responsibility to God whose image is stamped on our lives.

Mark 12:18-27. The God of the Living.

Some Sadducees, who did not believe in resurrection, came with a question they thought disproved resurrection. They told of a woman who, under the law of levirate marriage, was married successively to seven brothers who died successively leaving her childless. The Sadducees wanted Jesus to answer whose wife the woman would be in eternity. Jesus responded that there is no marriage in the resurrected life. But he went on to assert that the God who could identify himself to Moses (many centuries after the patriarchs had died) with the present tense (I am the God of Abraham, etc.), is God of the living, not of the dead.  

Mark 12:28-34 Near to the Reign of God.

A scribe who admired Jesus’ answers asked him about the greatest commandment. Jesus responded by quoting the Shema, the most sacred verse in Judaism putting forth the standard of total love for God (Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus then added the corollary regarding love for neighbor (Leviticus 19:18). This combination was not original to Jesus, but was frequently taught in Pharisaism. The scribe immediately agreed with Jesus.

Luke reports (10:25-37) that Jesus had drawn forth this same basic summary of the law from a Pharisaic lawyer. In Luke’s account, the lawyer was trying to trap Jesus, but asked one question too many, “Who is my neighbor?” In other words, “Whom am I obligated to love?”  Jesus responded with a story of Jewish religious leaders who passed up an opportunity to love a man who had been beaten by robbers, but of a Samaritan who had gone above and beyond the call of duty to care for the victim. Jesus redirects the question to become, “To whom do we have opportunity to show love?”

But in Mark’s example, which takes place later in Jesus’ ministry, the questioner is sincere, and Jesus affirms that he is not far from the reign of God.

Mark 12: 35-37. One Greater than Aaron and David.

At the end of the public interactions, Jesus asks them a question and quotes Psalm 110. It is worth pausing for a moment to note Psalm 110.

Jesus makes much of the fact that, in Psalm 110, David, the author of the psalm, refers to the Lord God’s speaking to David’s Ruler-Lord: “The LORD (Hebrew Yahweh, the personal name for Israel's covenant God) says to my Lord (Hebrew Adonai meaning Ruler), 'Sit at my right hand (the place of authority) until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” And again, he says, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

In Genesis 14:18-20, Melchizedek (meaning King of righhteousness) was a mysterious king-priest of Salem (meaning peace), the city later known to us as Jeru-Salem. Melchizedek was a contemporary of Abraham, nearly a thousand years before David and more than five hundred years before Aaron. Abraham paid a tithe to Melchizedek.

Jesus is arguing that there is a kingship higher than David’s and, by implication, that there is a priesthood preceding Aaron’s.  He calls this the order of Melchizedek, but he is asserting that he uniquely fulfills this role. He has the authority to return as Lord of Jerusalem and its temple. He is exercising that supreme authority in this passage as he condemns the existing temple. Just as he was Lord of the Sabbath, he is also Lord of the sanctuary.

Mark 12:38-40. Hypocritical, Unjust Religious Leaders.

Jesus condemns the scribes who make great show of piety, but who devour widow’s houses.

Mark 12:41-44. A Greater Gift.

Jesus then makes a positive example of a widow whose gift of two small coins (her whole savings) constitutes a greater gift than the great sums that the wealthy are throwing in for show.

Conclusion: The exchanges in Mark 11:27--12:44 all point out that the religious leaders associated with the temple system do not acknowledge the reign of God or its agent, Jesus the Messiah. Their positions on issue after issue lead to unfruitful practices that separate others from God. Jesus has come suddenly to the temple to bring it under divine judgment and to replace it.  

Aftermath

Although we will examine the events that followed the temple confrontations in more detail in subsequent sections of our study of Mark, it is important to anticipate these events as part of understanding the temple encounters.

On Palm Sunday, Jesus came to Jerusalem to challenge the religious authorities on their unfruitful approach to religious life.

On Monday, he arrived at the temple and drove out the animal-sellers and money-changers. He quoted Isaiah 56 that the temple was to be a house of prayer for all peoples, the passage that also promised that foreigners and eunuchs would one day be included. Matthew tells us that Jesus then brought into the temple the blind and the lame whom he healed and children who celebrated with cries of “Hosanna!”

On Tuesday, Jesus then entered a series of controversies with the religious leaders. As they tried to trap him, he creatively turned their questions back to them, showing that they did not accept the kingdom of God and challenging them to put love of God and neighbor at the center of their lives. Ultimately, he challenged his hearers to come to terms with the fact that he was more than the Son of David, that he was actually David’s Lord!

Events moved fast. By Thursday night, the climactic action was underway. After his Last Supper with the disciples, Jesus went for prayer on the Mount of Olives outside the city. There, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was arrested by the temple guard and brought before the Sanhedrin.

When asked if he was the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One, he acknowledged that he was, and then asserted to the religious leaders that they would see the Son of Man coming on the clouds into his divine authority (which would be fulfilled by his crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit to his followers). In other words, he would be their divinely authorized judge; he would be their Lord.

By mid-day Friday, he was being crucified by the occupying Roman army.

The question at the heart of Jesus’ trip into Jerusalem was whether his kingdom ministry and message had authority. On Friday at 3:00 PM, except for the conclusion of one Roman soldier that Jesus was the Son of God, and for the inexplicable emergence of new courage in Sanhedrin members Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and for the lingering devotion of a small collection of half-timid, half-courageous women who had followed Jesus from Galilee, the answer seemed to have gone in favor of the religious leaders.

Friday’s apparent answer seemed to say that life with God is measured by visible achievement, by who looks most obedient and most blessed on the surface. The winners are the healthy and the wealthy, those of the right race and social class, those with friends in high places, those who wear the right clothes, go to the right schools, marry the right spouse, find the right jobs. Friday’s apparent answer was that Jesus was only a momentary distraction from such realities.

Sunday’s actual answer is quite different. Life with God is measured by faith in Jesus, his message, his ministry, his redemptive heart. Sunday’s answer is for those humble enough to know that they need a Savior and excited enough to worship him with shouts of joy. Sunday’s answer is for those who will let a Savior cleanse them, heal them, counsel them, direct them. It is for the humble who know their need for mercy and grace and who are willing to let that mercy and grace pass through them to others. It is for those who are willing to have a living Lord who will rule their lives.

Friday’s apparent answer has a certain appeal so long as we can pull off looking good, but, sooner or later, real people need Sunday’s answer.

Now, let’s move back to the previous Monday. When Jesus went into the temple, he was saying that the sanctuary exists not as a monument to those who pull off looking good. He was saying that the sanctuary exists as a place where people who know their need for God can find their healing, restoring connection. Further, he was saying that he himself, in giving his body on the cross for the sins of humanity, would become the new temple. Those who would entrust themselves to his solution to the age-old dilemma of sinful humanity would find newness of life and gradual restoration to becoming the children of God they (and we) were created to be.

Somehow the cost of sin had to be paid. Somehow the restoration of righteousness had to be offered in an effective way. The solution has been offered only once in history, once and for all. The solution came through the death of Jesus Christ. On the cross, Jesus replaced the temple and its countless sacrifices with one sacrifice greater than all the rest together.  So, there was a real answer on Friday after all.

We, too, have our part in replacing the temple. The temple is to be replaced at one level by Jesus’ sacrifice and at another level by gatherings of the faithful. Where two or three of us gather in his name, there he is in the midst of us (Matthew 18:20), and there his purpose is realized. His purpose is that there would be a place of redeeming love, of healing power, of restoring ministry where the lost can be found, where the lame can walk, where the blind can see, where the poor can experience good news, where the despairing can rise up in hope—a fruitful fig tree. That is the purpose of sanctuary in the redemptive ministry of Jesus.

The Sadducees had led the temple in the interests of their earthly status. The Pharisees had interpreted the law, including Sabbath law, in the interests of their own social and cultural influence. Both Sadducees and Pharisees in various ways put down those who were less powerful, prestigious, and privileged. These tendencies are not unique to Judaism or the Old Covenant. They show the nature of sin among religious people generally: taking the focus off entering the redeeming presence of God and putting the focus on our own achievements. 

Jesus would re-focus us on the heavenly Father’s heart of redeeming love. That is how we get to be fruitful.

The task of our spiritual life is to be constantly renewed as instruments of God’s redeeming love and power. This occurs as we rest from our own agendas and are renewed in the spirit of our minds after the likeness of God. So that we will know that it is not our own work that transforms us, Jesus covers us with his righteousness and grace while we are in the process of being renewed by his Spirit.

As Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-10, we are saved by grace through faith for good works, not by works, lest any of us should boast (and get off track like the Sadducees and Pharisees). Our lives remain redemptive because we are mere caretakers of the grace we have received. We are not the answer. We are merely bearers of the answer. God restores believers to their wholeness as the divine children he created them to be in order that they in turn will become agents of his restoration for others.

Section C2. 13:1-35 The Royal Son calls for alert watchers

The following literary structure display is more detailed than usual, sort of an abridged version of Mark 13. The wording is heavily dependent on New Testament Transline (Magill).

A1. 13:1-4 Disciple: Teacher, look! What stones! What buildings! Jesus: Do you see these great buildings? A stone upon a stone will by no means be left here which will by no means not be torn down! (emphatic triple-negative!). Four disciples: When will these things be? What is the sign when these are about to be fulfilled?

B1. 13:5-6 Jesus: Be watching out (continuously) that no one may deceive you. Many false messiahs will try to deceive you.

C1. 13:7-8 Whenever you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. They are not yet the end. Earthquakes and famine: these are but a beginning of   birth-pangs.

D. 13:9-13 Be watching yourselves (continuously)! You will be handed over to be judged by councils, synagogues, governors, and kings for testimony to    them. The good news must first be proclaimed to all nations. When you are brought to trial, do not worry what you are to say, but whatever is given to you, speak this, for you are not the ones speaking, but the Holy Spirit. You will experience family betrayals, some of you may suffer death, and you will be hated because of my name, but the one       having endured to the end--this one will be saved.

C2.13:14-20 But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not (temple), let those in Judea be fleeing to the mountains. Don’t            hesitate; just flee. The affliction will be unlike any before or after. The Lord has cut short those days for the sake of the chosen ones, or else no one would survive.

B2.13:21-27 Do not be believing deceivers, even with their signs and wonders, to be the Christ. But be watching out (continuously)! I have told you everything beforehand. “In those days” after sufferings and cosmic signs, the Son of Man will come in the clouds with great power and glory. He will send out his angels and gather his elect.

A2. 13:28-37 Fig tree leaves foretell summer. So these things foretell that he is near. It will happen in this generation (See A1 where the words these things refer to the destruction of the temple which indeed happened within the generation of Jesus’ disciples). About “that day and hour,” no one knows except the Father. Be watching out; be keeping alert (continuously). You do not know when the Master is coming. Keep watching.

Mark 13 is filled with landmines for the interpreter. As Mark reports it, the emphasis falls on Jesus’ prophecy of the coming destruction of the Jerusalem temple which occurred in 70 A.D. Jesus’ crucifixion occurred sometime between 30 and 33 A.D. While every portion of Mark can, by stretching a point here and there, be explained in relation to the destruction of the temple, the reader cannot help sensing that some verses overflow that application (Note the portions summarized in italics above).

Matthew 24-25 reports an expanded version of the same teaching as referring not only to the destruction of the temple, but also to the coming of Jesus at the endtime. That is precisely what we already sense in reading Mark 13. I am suggesting that Mark’s interpretation of Jesus’ teaching focuses more strongly on the short-term fulfillment of the destruction of the Jerusalem temple while Matthew’s interpretation includes some focus on the ultimate fulfillment of the Final Coming (although certainly not ignoring the fall of the temple). The ways Mark and Matthew introduce this teaching are not contradictory, but both are legitimate ways of understanding this passage, and we need both ways in order to understand this teaching fully.

In addressing Mark 13, many commentators note that Old Testament prophecy often had at least two applications, an immediate, but incomplete one, and a later, greater fulfillment. In this case, Mark’s presentation emphasizes the earlier fulfillment and Matthew’s presentation gives balanced attention to the later fulfillment.

Many commentators on this passage of Mark and the related passages in Matthew and Luke say that some prophecies define a type of divine event that may have multiple fulfillments leading up to the ultimate fulfillment. These commentators suggest (rightly, I think) that the destruction of the Jerusalem temple is a type of the endtime. We should note that Jesus’ teaching already presents the destruction of the temple as a fulfillment of the type set forth in Daniel of the destruction of the tyrannical reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

In Daniel 7, the coming of “one like a Son of Man” is not a return from heaven  to earth, but a coming into the presence of the Ancient of Days to receive the power and glory that he will share with “the saints of the Most High.” His sharing of the power into which he has come leads to the deliverance of the people of God from the earthly tyranny of Antiochus IV.

The Revelation to John finds foreshadowings and fulfillments of the type “fall of Antiochus IV” in the falls of Sodom, Egypt, Babylon, Jerusalem, and (still anticipated in the Revelation) Rome. So we can set up a continuum of multiple foreshadowings and fulfillments leading at last to the endtime and the emergence of a new heaven and new earth. Each foreshadowing or fulfillment in the continuum can be seen as a coming of Son of Man (pre-incarnate or ascended) into the exercise of his power and glory. So I resist the term “Second Coming of Jesus.” I prefer to speak of the “Final Coming of Jesus” at the end of a long chain of lesser comings.

Mark would tell us that Jesus has replaced the Jerusalem temple in the divine plan. Old Testament prophecies regarding the temple will now be reapplied to a transnational community of faith that no longer relies on geo-political Israel. From Mark’s standpoint, the new temple exists wherever followers of Jesus carry on his fruitful mission. Wherever that happens, all the promises and prophecies regarding Israel and the temple must be reapplied to the new community of faith.

Marks’ interpretation does not deny the Final Coming of Jesus. The Final Coming is implied in the teaching of Jesus that Mark reports. Mark is simply interested in emphasizing a different point than he could make by discussion of the Final Coming. He is interested in talking about the calling of Jesus’ followers to become part of a fruitful mission replacing the temple and about the faithfulness of Christian witnesses under the threat of persecution.

Mark’s assertion that Jesus and the church replace the temple is in no way anti-Semitic. Jesus and his first disciples were all Jewish. Jesus’ mission focused first within Judaism. Mark himself was Jewish. Jewish believers in Jesus are welcome in the community of faith Mark envisions. There is no indication in the New Testament that Jewish believers need to leave their Jewishness behind except insofar as necessary for particular callings of reaching out to Gentiles.  The pattern of fruitful mission which Mark holds forth calls for respecting all people as potential children of God who may find their place as citizens of the kingdom of God under the headship of the Jewish Messiah Jesus.

Mark’s interpretation is in no way anti-Israel. There are reasons for modern Israel to exist as a geo-political unit that have to do with the justice and compassion of God. One does not need to project a role for Israel in endtime events in order to understand that Christians are obliged to pray for the preservation of Israel as a nation. Of course, the compassionate justice of God also calls for us to pray for Palestinians and for a just and peaceful solution to the conflicts in the Middle East. None of this need be based on endtime scenarios, but only on the nature and purposes of God for all times.

In the display above, Mark’s report of Jesus’ teaching emphasizes (D) preparing the disciples to stand firm in their witness for Jesus even as the cataclysmic events surrounding the fall of the Jerusalem temple (which would include the preliminary Neronic persecutions of Christians in Rome) unfold. The point is that the disciples are not to be shaken by such events, but that they are to stay focused on their mission, trusting even as they are hauled into court--and perhaps even as they are executed--that the Holy Spirit will provide for their defense and that their standing trial will expand opportunities for the gospel to be spread among the nations.

Mark also wants them to know (C2) that they need not try to find refuge in the Jerusalem temple or to defend it, but at the time of an unexplained coming desecration of the temple, probably by the Zealots revolutionaries who took refuge there (Lane), the believers should be prepared to flee from Jerusalem. If they hesitate, they will be trapped in Jerusalem at the time of its destruction by the Roman army, and it will be too late for them to survive to take part in world evangelization.

As noted above, the italicized portions in the display above seem to overflow the category of referring only to the fall of the temple.

The italicized portions of C2 can be applied to the temple only when taken as Near Eastern hyperbole.

The italicized portions of B2 can be seen as the exalted Jesus coming into the presence of the Father to receive the power by which he will render conclusive judgment on the temple. Further, the gathering of the elect can be seen not as gathering the dispersed Jews back to Jerusalem, but as the evangelistic gathering of people from all nations to the new temple who is Jesus. This can be the work of angels if, as the Revelation to John assumes (Chapters 2 and 3), each gathered community of believers has its own angel/messenger/guardian.

The italicized portions in A2 warn that we cannot predict the precise timing of events, but that we need always to be found carrying out our mission; this is the most difficult passage to apply to the destruction of the temple since Jesus has just said that the disciples can recognize the signs of that coming event, and since he now tells us that we cannot know the timing of Jesus’ final coming.

Section B1.  Mark 14—15:39. The Royal Son fulfills his role as the Suffering Servant.

I am indebted to France, Edwards, and Garland for insights leading to the following structural display. I am not yet satisfied with it and will continue to work on it.

A1. 14:1a Passover coming

B1. 14:1b-2 Plot of religious leaders

C1. 14:3-9 Anointing at Bethany

B2. 14:10-11 Judas offers to betray Jesus to religious leaders

A2. 14:12-16 Preparing the Passover

           

B3. 14:17-21Jesus prophesies that one of the twelve will betray him

        C2. 14:22-26 Passover meal/Last Supper

B4. 14:27-31Jesus prophesies that all will fall way and that Peter will deny him three times           

B5. 14:32-42 While Jesus prays in Gethsemane, Peter, James and John three times fail to watch with him

C3. 14:43-50 Jesus submits to betrayal and arrest

B6. 14:51-52 Disciples fall away

B7. 14:53-54 Peter follows at a distance

C4. 14:55-65 Jesus affirms his identity before the Sanhedrin

B8. 14:66-72 Peter denies Jesus three times

B9. 15:1 Religious leaders hand Jesus over to Pilate

 

A3. 15:2-5Verdict sought. Pilate: Are you the King of the Jews?

B10. 15:6-15 Mob’s blindness leads to sentencing Jesus to crucifixion
Pilate: Do you want me to release the King of the Jews?
Pilate: What do you want me to do with “the King of the Jews”?

B11. 15:16-20 Mocking of Jesus. Soldiers: “Hail, King of the Jews!”

C5. 15:21 Simon of Cyrene takes up the cross

C6. 15:22-27/28 Jesus is crucified. Inscription: King of the Jews.

B12. 15:29-32 Mocking of Jesus by religious leaders and criminals

B13. 15:33-37 Darkness, Psalm 22:1, Jesus shouts and dies

A4 15:38-39 Real verdict: temple curtain is torn, Roman centurion says “Surely this was the Son of God”

A Double-Layer Nard Sandwich

Mark gives the story of the woman’s anointing of Jesus at Bethany (14:3-9) a double-layer sandwich setting.  

A1. 14:1a Passover coming

B1. 14:1b-2 Plot of religious leaders

C1. 14:3-9 Anointing at Bethany

B2. 14:10-11 Judas offers to betray Jesus to religious leaders

A2. 14:12-16 Preparing the Passover

The outer layer consists of the notice that the Passover is coming (A1) and Jesus’ instructions to two of his disciples to complete preparations for their Passover meal (A2). As with the provision of the donkey for Palm Sunday, so there is a secretive prearrangement that is enacted when the disciples provide the proper indication.

It is worth noting that the room is described as large. There are indecisive arguments for (Edwards) and against (France) the view that more than the Twelve were included in at the Last Supper. The larger gathering theory would account for the large room. If larger, it is probable that the gathering included women and children (Edwards).

At the next layer of the sandwich, the religious leaders plot to arrest and kill Jesus with as little public disturbance as possible (B1), and Judas Iscariot offers to betray Jesus to them (B2). This malfeasance provides a strong contrast to the center of the sandwich.

At the center of the sandwich is an extraordinary act of devotion by a woman that Mark leaves unnamed. She breaks an alabaster flask of nard ointment and anoints Jesus with the contents; the estimated value is three hundred denarii, nearly a year’s income for a day laborer, half again the amount that had stopped the disciples from thinking that it might be possible to buy enough food to feed a large crowd (6:37).

The critics wondered why the nard should not have been sold to provide money for the poor. Jesus asserted that it is always possible to do something for the poor, but not always possible to do something for the soon-to-be crucified Messiah. Jesus defends the anointing as preparing him for burial. He asserted that the woman’s act of devotion would be told wherever the gospel is proclaimed.

We should be clear that Jesus taught extravagant giving to the poor. His quotation of Deuteronomy 15:11 should never be taken as saying that help to the poor is futile or unimportant. He was simply contrasting a one-time opportunity to a daily one. Plus, he was calling us to see the deeper symbolism of the act.

Mark tells us that the event takes place at the home of Simon the Leper in Bethany. We might assume that Jesus had healed Simon of his leprosy. We are not to mistake or confuse this story with one that Luke reports as taking place in the home of Simon the Pharisee, presumably in Galilee (Luke 7:36-50). We may however identify the story with Matthew 26:6-13 and John 12:1-8 (in spite of the varied chronology of the latter). This allows us to identify the woman as Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, not Mary of Magdala. It may be that Simon the Leper was the father of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

We also discover from John’s Gospel that Judas Iscariot, treasurer, was one of the critics of the wastefulness and that his hypocritical motive was that, if the ointment had been sold, it would have increased his opportunities for embezzling it.

The Last Supper Sandwich

B3. 14:17-21Jesus prophesies that one of the twelve will betray him

        C2. 14:22-26 Passover meal/Last Supper

B4. 14:27-31Jesus prophesies that all will fall way and that Peter will deny him three times   

In another Markan sandwich, the Passover meal/Last Supper is surrounded by B3-B4 in which Jesus prophesies betrayal, falling away, and denial by his disciples. As B1-B2’s treachery surround C1’s act of devotion by Mary of Bethany, so B3-B4’s human failures surround C2’s act symbolizing exceedingly great devotion by Jesus himself.

How extraordinary then that the center of this sandwich (C2) is about a new covenant that offers hope for sinners like those in B3-B4! Mark tells us that Jesus’ blood is “of the covenant” and that it is “poured out for many.” Matthew adds, “for the forgiveness of sins,” which simply clarifies Mark’s “for many” as a reference to Isaiah 53:12.

A Jewish Passover meal included four parts, with wine taken in each part: (1) the blessing of the gathering, (2) the question and answer (Deuteronomy 26:5-9), (3) the blessing and partaking of the various foods (unleavened bread, bitter herbs, greens, stewed fruit, roast lamb), (4) conclusion. Throughout the occasion the Hallel Psalms (113-118) were sung or recited, concluding with Psalm 118. This is probably the song that was sung at Mark 14:26.

Divine providence required that there be a betrayer in the group of disciples, and Jesus prophesied that this was the case. But divine providence does not override human freedom. Judas freely chose to betray Jesus, and he was fully accountable for his evil choice.

When Jesus says, “This is my body,” he chooses the word with broader meaning than the word for “flesh.” Body includes the total self.

For blood of the covenant, see Exodus 24. It is reinterpreted in light of the new covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

The Last Supper account should be read with the background not only of the Passover story, but also of the four Servant Songs of Isaiah 40-55 (especially the fourth song, 52:13 --53:12) and Zechariah 9-14 (specifically 9:11; 13:7-9; 14: 4, 9).

Mark 14:28 is extremely important in Mark’s Gospel. The promise of resurrection is reiterated and the promise of restoration for the failing disciples is implied.

The Gethsemane Sandwich

B5. 14:32-42 While Jesus prays in Gethsemane, Peter, James and John three times fail to watch with him

C3. 14:43-50 Jesus submits to betrayal and arrest

B6. 14:51-52 Disciples fall away

Again failures of the disciples (B5-B6) surround a tremendous act of devotion by Jesus (C3). B5 shows the agony of Jesus at this time of submitting to what is necessarily coming. It is important that we know that Jesus did not willingly seek to suffer, but only to obey the requirements of his divine mission as Royal Son and Suffering Servant. Even though he has already accepted and foretold the Suffering Servant role, the timing was still at issue. Jesus’ human mind surely must have been screaming, “But they are not ready!”

Jesus did not have to submit to the plots and treachery that led to his arrest, trial, and death on the cross. He did so out of his great love for lost sinners (failures) like us and out of his total commitment to do all that was necessary for our redemption. He views his heavenly Father as the carrier of the divine saving will to which he submits his own will (“Yet not what I will, but what you will”).

It is interesting to speculate that the young man who fled naked was John Mark. It is hard to account for this little detail unless it is autobiographical confession. It is likely that the Upper Room where the Last Supper was held was in the home of John Mark’s mother (yet another Mary) and young Mark may well have been present at the Last Supper and then followed to Gethsemane.

The Sanhedrin Sandwich

B7. 14:53-54 Peter follows at a distance

C4. 14:55-65 Jesus affirms his identity before the Sanhedrin

B8. 14:66-72 Peter denies Jesus three times

B9. 15:1 Religious leaders hand Jesus over to Pilate

Yet again, human failure (Peter’s this time) surrounds Jesus’ devotion. The religious leaders probably made their decision (B9) in the midnight hearing before, but carried it out early in the morning. They had little power to carry out capital punishment, and preferred to have the responsibility transferred elsewhere anyway. So they bound Jesus over to Pilate, not with the religious charges that they held against him, but with trumped up political charges.

It is often said that the religious leaders acted in violation of their own rules of procedure, but they did not have to follow rules since the action they were seeking was not their own, but Pilate’s. Was their hearing a meeting of the Sanhedrin? Not an official one. But it was composed of a significant portion of Sanhedrin members. We have no indication whether Sanhedrin members who were sympathetic to Jesus (Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea) or who were moderate/tolerant in temperament (such as Gamaliel) were invited to the late night hearing or not. My guess is that they were not.  

The key moment in the hearing is when the high priest asks Jesus, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One/” and Jesus replies, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Matthew and Luke report less clear answers by Jesus which mean the same thing, but Mark cuts through to their significance.

Jesus is the Christ (Messiah, Anointed One); he is the Son of God (royal agent of the kingdom, image of God); and he is the Son of Man who is coming into his unveiled power in the presence of God (Daniel 7:13-14). The religious leaders may think that, with their machinations, they are controlling things, but in fact they are only taking part in what God wills. This does not make them innocent or blameless. Like Judas, they have chosen freely their attempted rebellion against God and are accountable for their actions.  

The Crucified King of the Jews Is the Son of God

A3. 15:2-5 Verdict sought. Pilate: Are you the King of the Jews?

B10. 15:6-15 Mob’s blindness leads to sentencing Jesus to crucifixion
Pilate: Do you want me to release the King of the Jews?
Pilate: What do you want me to do with “the King of the Jews”?

B11. 15:16-20 Mocking of Jesus. Soldiers: “Hail, King of the Jews!”

C5. 15:21 Simon of Cyrene takes up the cross

C6. 15:22-27/28 Jesus is crucified. Inscription: King of the Jews.

B12. 15:29-32 Mocking of Jesus by religious leaders and criminals

B13. 15:33-37 Darkness, Psalm 22:1, Jesus shouts and dies

A4 15:38-39 Real verdict: temple curtain is torn, Roman centurion says “Surely this was the Son of God”

Pilate was not a nice man. History from outside the Bible makes that clear. He could be extraordinarily cruel and harsh. He has been placed on notice by the emperor not to provoke the Jews unnecessarily. He is trying to finesse his way through a touchy political situation that could go wrong in any number of directions; his goal is to preserve his power. Mark does not introduce Pilate’s failed attempt to shift responsibility to Herod Antipas (Luke 23:6-12). In the end, being culturally tone deaf, Pilate allows himself to be controlled by the crowd.

The initial hearing is at 6 AM. Who composed the crowd? My guess is, the crowd consisted mostly of those alerted by the Sanhedrin. Despite the number of sermons we have heard bemoaning the fickle crowd, it is more than we know that those who had yelled “Hosanna!” on the previous Sunday are the ones now yelling, “Crucify him!” The timing of the arrest (quite late) and of the presentation to Pilate (quite early) were precisely and strategically designed to minimize the participation of those who had yelled, “Hosanna!”

Pilate attempted to finesse the Jesus question by offering to release him in keeping with his custom of releasing one political prisoner every Passover. The crowd chose instead an insurrectionist known as Barabbas (meaning “son of the father”). Some manuscripts of Matthew, which many scholars recognize as likely accurate, report that Barabbas’ given name was Jesus (Hebrew Joshua, a very common name in the time period). If so, the question was, “Do you want me to release “Jesus, King of the Jews,” or “Jesus, son of the father”?  Apparently, Pilate did not understand the nature of the crowd with which he was dealing. They chose the release of the insurrectionist, and they chose crucifixion for the one called, “King of the Jews.” It is quite possible that the insurrectionists crucified on either side of Jesus Christ were compatriots of Barabbas.

The crowd’s blindness in B10 is matched by the earth’s darkness in B13. The mockery by the soldiers in B11 is matched by the mockery of the religious leaders and insurrectionists in B12. Luke is the one who (23:39-43) tells us that the mockery came from only one of the insurrectionists while the other successfully appealed to Jesus for mercy.

Persons condemned to die on the cross were scourged to weaken them. They were then forced to carry the horizontal piece of the cross. Jesus was too weak to carry it all the way to the place of crucifixion. For a medical and historical summary of the physical facts of the death of Jesus, see the 1986 JAMA article available at many locations on the Internet. Here is one site: http://www.brainshavings.com/supplements/crucifixion/death2.htm

In C5-C6, Simon of Cyrene, probably a Jew (whether racially or as a proselyte) whose home was in North Africa, was forced to carry the cross. Mark’s notes about Simon’s sons indicate that they were known to his intended audience. Paul mentions a Rufus in the church at Rome (Romans 16:13). Whether willingly or not, Simon is one who has taken up his cross to walk with Jesus. Jesus then takes his place on the cross on behalf of all who will come to believe. The role of suffering in the lives of Jesus and his disciples is a prominent theme in Mark’s Gospel. He seeks to prepare his readers to face whatever suffering may come. Luke mentions that great crowds of mourners followed Jesus to the place of crucifixion (Luke 23:27, 48), further evidence that the crowd yelling, “Crucify him!” had been selectively recruited by the religious leaders. They surely did not yell, "Crucify him!" and then follow him mourning his sentence.

B13 must be interpreted with some care. Three hours of unnatural darkness ranged from noon to 3PM. Then Jesus cried out a series of last words (Luke mentions Psalm 31:5 while John reports “It is finished.” Mark and Matthew report Psalm 22:1) and then Jesus died. Some have tried to deny the emotional agony Jesus was undergoing by saying that, when he quoted Psalm 22:1 (“My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”), he had the happy ending of Psalm 22 in mind. Others have tried to affirm the agony as necessary to our salvation (Jesus had to suffer the wrath of God on our behalf without any comfort), and therefore feel it necessary to deny that Jesus had anything but the first verse of Psalm 22 in mind. Surely a middle path is required. Psalm 22:1 gave honest expression to what Jesus was experiencing on the cross, but at another level, he also could affirm the good that would emerge from his suffering. Hebrews 12:2 gets the balance right: Jesus endured suffering for the sake of the joy that was set before him, but he really suffered all that a human being can suffer (Hebrews 2:17; 4:15). It is both-and, not either-or. 

The real verdict is offered at the point of Jesus’ death. Of the supernatural signs accompanying Jesus’ death, Mark mentions the tearing of the temple curtain from top to bottom. It is reasonable to assume that the curtain was the one separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, and that the significance is that Jesus’ death replaces the temple sacrificial atonement system. The point of its being torn from the top to the bottom is that God did it. Matthew adds mention of an earthquake and the raising of dead Jewish saints.

Finally, a centurion, seeing the manner of Jesus’ death, concludes, “Truly, this was the  Son of God.” We are not told what about Jesus’ death persuaded the centurion, but it seems likely that it was Jesus' words from the cross and that fact that he shouted them out even as he died. In many ways, Mark intends the conclusion of the centurion as the climax of his Gospel.

Section A1: Mark 15:40—16:8. The Royal Son is risen!

A1. 15:40-41 Women watch

B1. 15:42-46 Joseph of Arimathea, having become daring, asks Pilate for Jesus’ body, purchases cloth, entombs Jesus, rolls stone

A2. 15:47 Women watch

B2 16:1-3 Women purchase spices, go to tomb, wonder who will roll away stone

A3 16:4-8 Women, awestruck by angel, empty tomb, message of resurrection, receive commission to tell the good news, but flee in silence.

The final section of Mark’s Gospel is structured by the actions of women followers and a member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea, who has suddenly found the courage to stand with Jesus (John’s Gospel adds fellow Sanhedrin member Nicodemus with Joseph).

For the most part, the male disciples have fled. John’s Gospel mentions that the Beloved Disciple had been with Jesus’ mother Mary during the crucifixion. But the women stayed to the end. Mary Magdalene is in every list. It is likely that Mary, mother of James and Joses/Joseph = “the other Mary” = the mother of Jesus. It is likely that Salome = the mother of the sons of Zebedee = the sister of Jesus’ mother. France notes that the names Mary (Mariamme) and Salome account for 50% of the women named in Palestinian sources surviving from this time period.

The existence of these lists of women at this key point in the four Gospels is remarkable. Women were not considered reliable witnesses in Jewish or Roman courts, and yet it is women who are credited as the first witnesses of the resurrection. The only explanation for the presence of this tradition in all four Gospels is that it was undeniably true.

Mark shows Joseph purchasing a linen cloth, entombing Jesus, and rolling the huge stone in place (presumably with significant help from others). The women watch, wait through the Sabbath, and then in the first post-Sabbath light return with their purchases (spices for anointing Jesus’ body; John’s Gospel reports that Nicodemus had already supplied large quantities of myrrh and aloes); they come to the tomb wondering who will roll away the stone. The parallels to Joseph’s actions can only be intentional on Mark’s part. 

The women find the stone already rolled away (Matthew tells us that an angel did it). Inside they see an angel (Luke says that two angels were present). The angel has the appearance of a young man in (dazzling) white apparel. The angel tells the women that Jesus is risen. He invites them to inspect the place where he had been placed. He instructs them to go and tell his disciples and Peter (Is Peter emphasized because he is not presently in good standing or because he is the leader?). They are to tell the disciples that Jesus will go before them to Galilee as he had promised. The women fled and did not, at first, tell anyone. Had they not somehow found courage, that might indeed be the end of the story. It may be that Mark wants us to contemplate this possibility. That they did find courage means that there is an audience for Mark’s Gospel.

Implied or lost ending

Following 16:8, the ancient manuscripts of Mark are varied. Some break off with 16:8. Most modern scholars, even conservative scholars, do not believe that the various endings of Mark that have been supplied in some manuscripts are part of Mark’s original manuscript. These endings do, however, give testimony to the faith of the still fairly early church. Most Bibles will print two or three of these endings either bracketed or in footnotes. The most common is 16:9-20.

It is possible that Mark intended to end his Gospel with 16:8. If so, then everything necessary for our faith has already been foretold and is implied. The focus of the hearer or reader then falls on the question of how the women gathered the courage to go and tell. The church would not exist if the women had not done so! This question of gathering courage for testimony about Jesus was the very question that either was already or soon would be before Mark’s audience.

It is also possible that Mark’s original manuscript was worn or torn so that the ending was lost. While I find it equally likely that Mark intended his Gospel to end with 16:8, about two-thirds of the scholars I have consulted lean toward the theory that the original ending has been lost.

Whatever the case with Mark’s ending, it is possible to harmonize the accounts of Matthew, Luke, and John into a more detailed sequential account something like the following order: Matthew 28:8-10; Luke 24:8-11; John 20:1-18; Luke 24:13-49; John 20:19-31; Matthew 28:16-20; John 21:1-25; Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-11.

In this harmonization: Jesus appears to frightened women who were led by Mary Magdalene and repeats the instruction that they are to tell the twelve; Peter and John confirm that the tomb is empty; Jesus appears several times to disciples in Judea; as promised, Jesus appears several times to disciples in Galilee; Jesus commissions disciples to go into all the world; on the fortieth day from the resurrection, Jesus ascends. Mark 16:9-20 supplies only a partial version of such harmonization with some additional details added. 

If Mark had a longer ending, it is most likely that it was shorter than a harmonization, perhaps closest to Matthew 28:8-10, 16-20. It is quite possible that Matthew drew his closing verses from Mark’s original ending (Edwards).

Conclusion

Here are points for emphasis in finding applications for Mark’s Gospel:

1. Mark helps us understand the Royal Priesthood of Jesus and the royal priesthood into which we as believers are called (1 Peter 2:4-10).
2. Mark helps us understand the kingdom ministry of Jesus: God reigns!
3. Mark helps us understand the way kingdom power and vulnerable servanthood are intertwined both in Jesus’ ministry and in the ministries of his disciples.
4. Mark helps us understand how to be fruitful in ministry as representatives of a living temple. Our focus should be on restoring people to their relationship with the living God and on enabling them to experience answers to their prayers. Our primary tools are the good news of Jesus Christ and the empowerment that he offers his disciples (the other Gospels and Acts show that the empowerment comes through the Holy Spirit).
5. Mark helps us understand the necessity of our being bold in our testimony while withstanding persecution.

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