The Gospel of Mark

[dreamerman]

How do we acquire these glasses, would you say? Is it a matter of being open to the Spirit, praying for insight, or something else?

I will hazard a guess. First I think you need a good helping of arrogance to believe you have said glasses. Then the possibilities are endless. You will probably find Joseph Smith's golden tablets to boot with theses spiritual glasses.

 

[Seeler]

Well I recall rreading in scripture that miracles are for the unbelievers.
John 10:37-38
Makes me wonder ....would we believe without the miracles?

I find that miracles get in the way of my believing.

 

[Seeler]

Could we go back for a moment to the first sentence in the second chapter. It says that after a few days Jesus returned to Caperum and word spread that he was home. What does home mean here? Could it mean that Jesus was back in town (Like when my son comes back from a trip). - home to Fredericton?.

 

[Waterfall]

But we CAN agree that the theory of Q is a solid one, in that the other two synoptic gospels seem to rely for source material on both Mark, and another source that appears to explain the common elements to both Matthew and Luke?

There may be a relationship between the Gospel of Thomas and Q according to Elaine Pagels and other biblical scholars.

 

[Luce NDs]

Thomas' doubts about the IQ in the relationship ... alchemii?

 

[GeoFee]

Jesus is baptized by John. He chooses to leave behind his inherited way of being in the world. Akin to Israel leaving Egypt?

Into the wilderness and the temptation of Satan for forty days and nights. Again, evoking memory of forty years in the wilderness?

Mark does not define the temptation of Satan.

Jesus returns a changed person. He is no longer a son of Adam. He is the son of God. This being demonstrated by the liberation of various persons from physical and spiritual disorders.

This has me musing: “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

George

 

[paradox3]

Could we go back for a moment to the first sentence in the second chapter. It says that after a few days Jesus returned to Caperum and word spread that he was home. What does home mean here? Could it mean that Jesus was back in town (Like when my son comes back from a trip). - home to Fredericton?.

It looks to me like Jesus was staying in Capernaum and was residing in a particular house.

 

[paradox3]

Jesus is baptized by John. He chooses to leave behind his inherited way of being in the world. Akin to Israel leaving Egypt?

Into the wilderness and the temptation of Satan for forty days and nights. Again, evoking memory of forty years in the wilderness?

Mark does not define the temptation of Satan.

Jesus returns a changed person. He is no longer a son of Adam. He is the son of God. This being demonstrated by the liberation of various persons from physical and spiritual disorders.

This has me musing: “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

George

So you would say the wilderness experience resulted in a changed person?

What relevance does this have for our lives today, in your view?

 

[Waterfall]

Could we go back for a moment to the first sentence in the second chapter. It says that after a few days Jesus returned to Caperum and word spread that he was home. What does home mean here? Could it mean that Jesus was back in town (Like when my son comes back from a trip). - home to Fredericton?.

I didnt even know Jesus called this his home.....maybe home to other disciples. Always thought he was a couch surfer?
Either way didnt he curse Capernums eventually.(In Mathew)

 

[Jaebius]

Thoughts on Mark 2:6-12...

The Jews' leaders had watched developments in Galilee. This new teacher, who didn't have their sanction, didn't meet with their approval.

And so they had men watching Jesus all the time. In this case there was a scribes' delegation present.

As soon as they heard the word out of Jesus' mouth concerning forgiveness, their suspicions were aroused, and their condemnation followed.

In their heart they passed judgment, condemning Jesus for a blasphemer. Their argument sounds reasonable: Only God can take away shame.

Shame is caused by offending God. Christ, as God, can and may take away shame; and the announcement of such removal implies redemption, and may now be made by anyone.

Jesus asks them: Which is the easier, to heal spiritual or bodily sickness? To say: Your shame be taken from you, or to say: Take up your bed and walk?

Jesus doesn't wait for their answer. He wants to give them a proof and demonstration of the power which he possesses in his office as Christ.

He takes away the paralytic's shame. And he now restored the sick man to health and strength, enabling him to take up his hammock before them all and to depart.

It was such a manifestation that all those present, with the exception of the scribes, were astonished and praised God.

This miracle was something new to them. It argued for a power greater than any that they had ever come into contact with.

God's Son became human, and earned forgiveness for all. The debt is paid through Christ.

For that reason God no longer has a remembrance of our shame. And so Christ may distribute the treasure, which he has earned, among humanity's children.

What's more, God has, through Christ, given to all God's missionaries the power to take away shame. Thus we know where and how we may be without shame.

 

[Jaebius]

Thoughts on Mark 2:13-14...

The encounter with the scribes doesn't diminish Jesus' zeal for his mission. The crowd fell back as he came forth, and fell in behind him as he took his way toward the sea. And again he did his work.

As he was walking along the road that led from Capernaum toward the northeast, he passed by a publican's booth.

Palestine had been a Roman province since 67 B.C. The Romans that had charge of tax collection had this task done by others. The tax-collectors were hated by the people.

Capernaum was on the road between Damascus and the Mediterranean. The income on this busy road from tariff was large. A declaration of values wasn't sufficient. The officers unpacked the goods and made their calculations. No wonder the publicans weren't popular, being engaged in such a work, and for the Romans.

And yet, Jesus stops at Levi's booth, and bids him follow him.

Levi was acquainted with Jesus. He knew of him, having been present at some of his sermons. Levi became Christ's missionary. And from this day he bore the name Matthew.

 

[Jaebius]

Thoughts on Mark 2:15-17...

Matthew was elated and thankful to Jesus, as a newly converted person is apt to be. He caused a dinner to be prepared for Jesus and the missionaries. Jesus accepted the invitation, because he would come into contact with broken souls.

While he was reclining at one of the tables, publicans and shameful people crowded in and joined in the meal. The scribes didn't like this. The publicans and shameful people were low class: they'd been ousted from the synagogue. The scribes voiced their disapproval to the missionaries.

Jesus heard them. He knew that his action would be an offense to these hypocrites. And so he reminded them: The sick need a doctor.

That's true on the spiritual plane too. They that are righteous, need no doctor for their shame, since they're not conscious of it and can't be on account of its absence. Many imagine themselves to be perfect. And believing themselves to be so, they want nothing of the Savior, they won't believe that his mission concerns them.

And so Christ confines his work to the shameful. He gives them the assistance they need, he imputes to them, he gives them, his own righteousness, and thus makes them well.

 

[Jaebius]

Thoughts on Mark 2:18-20...

John's followers were severe in their flesh's mortification. The thought of the necessity of such practices was with them.

The Pharisees boasted of their fasting. They took pride in exceeding God's commandment to fast. And they expected others to follow them.

At this time they were fasting, and keeping busy in straightening out others.

They wanted Christ to regulate his piety by theirs. And they wanted to hold themselves up as models in order to shine before the people.

The Pharisees came to Christ, asking why the Pharisee's custom isn't followed in Christ's cohort. Their criticism's directed against him.

Jesus' explanation's simple. He's the Bridegroom, in whose company his attendants are at the present time, so long as he's in the world.

Now they knew that fasting was a sign of grief. It wouldn't be right for the missionaries to look as though they'd suffered a bereavement.

That time was coming, when the Bridegroom would be taken out of their midst, then they'd have reason to grieve.

 

[Jaebius]

Thoughts on Mark 2:21-22...

To sew new cloth upon an old garment causes a further tear at the seam. To put new wine into old wine skins becomes disastrous, since the skin isn't strong enough to withstand what's going on inside.

The Pharisee's orthodoxy didn't fit with Jesus' doctrine of God's free mercy in and through Christ.

They that trust in their works and then intend to patch this up with Gospel scraps, they that want to cover up some shame with a little Christ, will find out that it doesn't work. They're still adhering to works, which will drag them down.

And Gospel's new wine doesn't suit those who are still bound up in self-righteousness.

Where hearts have been renewed by God, there the Gospel will find the reception which it should have; the hearts accept their redemption and are prepared for life.

 

[Jaebius]

Thoughts on Mark 2:23-28...

The Pharisees didn't stop their watch over Jesus and his missionaries.

And Jesus in no way tried to escape from them. The lessons which he wished to convey to them would be brought out all the sooner with their presence ever near.

Jesus and his missionaries, on a Sabbath, were walking through grain fields. There were, then, footpaths. It was along one of these paths that Jesus' cohort was strolling. And where the grain had encroached upon the path, the missionaries pulled up the stalks. This they continued, as they went, and then rubbed the ears between the hands to extract the kernels, which they ate.

Jesus defended his missionaries by referring the Pharisees to the David, who, when he and his men were in need, didn't hesitate to take the showbread out of Abiathar's hands and distribute it among his men. In necessity's case, love is the Law's fulfillment, and no one ever thought of censuring David.

The conclusion which Jesus draws from this story: The Sabbath is given to humanity, and not humanity to the Sabbath. God had never intended to make humans slaves of observing the Sabbath. The Sabbath is thus only a means to an end.

And so far as the question is concerned, this truth stands for all times. Jesus has the right to abrogate the Sabbath if he so chooses. The Third Commandment requires only so much upon Christians that they hear and learn God's Word. They that do this much keep the Third Commandment in the New Testament sense.

 

[Seeler]

I didnt even know Jesus called this his home.....maybe home to other disciples. Always thought he was a couch surfer?
Either way didnt he curse Capernums eventually.(In Mathew)

Waterfall, this is what I intended to post last evening and my Dragon refused to continu

I never understood that Jesus had a house that he owned and /or occupied most of the time. Somewhere in the Gospels he actually says that the Son of Man (referring to himself) has nowhere to lay his head. I pictured him couch-sufing as you said; staying for a day or two with a friend or relative. Earlier in Mark says that he went to the house of Peter and healed Peter's mother-in-law. Obviously Peter had a house where he lived with his family until called by Jesus to become a wandering disciple.
I pictured Jesus and his followers spending many nights in the open air, perhaps in the shelter of the courtyard; sometimes wrapped in his cloak by the wayside.
But perhaps whenever they returned to Capernaum Peter made a space for Jesus in his home – maybe a sheltered corner on the rooftop. And maybe Jesus referred to this as his home.

 

[paradox3]

I didnt even know Jesus called this his home.....maybe home to other disciples. Always thought he was a couch surfer?
Either way didnt he curse Capernums eventually.(In Mathew)

The NKJ calls the site of the paralytic coming through the roof "the house". Other versions use the term "home".

Mark 1 tells us that the first four disciples were called as He walked by the Sea of Galilee. He went a little farther and found the sons of Zebedee mending their nets.

Then they all went to Capernaum, which is located at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. As soon as they came out of the synagogue, they went to the house of Simon and Andrew.

The next part of the story has Jesus preaching all through Galilee. Mark 2 opens with Him coming back to Capernaum after "some" days.

Perhaps "the house" is Simon and Andrew's house. Or another house He uses as a home base when he is in Capernaum.

The distance from Nazareth to Capernaum is 45km so Jesus is on His journey by now.

 

[Jaebius]

The NKJ calls the site of the paralytic coming through the roof "the house". Other versions use the term "home".

Mark 1 tells us that the first four disciples were called as He walked by the Sea of Galilee. He went a little farther and found the sons of Zebedee mending their nets.

Then they all went to Capernaum, which is located at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. As soon as they came out of the synagogue, they went to the house of Simon and Andrew.

The next part of the story has Jesus preaching all through Galilee. Mark 2 opens with Him coming back to Capernaum after "some" days.

Perhaps "the house" is Simon and Andrew's house. Or another house He uses as a home base when he is in Capernaum.

The distance from Nazareth to Capernaum is 45km so Jesus is on His journey by now.

"And again he entered into Capernaum, after eight days. And it was heard, that he was in an house, and many came together, so that they might not be in the house, nor at the gate. And he spake to them the word." -Mark 2:1-2 (WYC).

 

[paradox3]

@Seeler and I just said almost the same thing. Interesting when that happens . . . posters have mistaken us for each other on a few occasions.

Seeler's post appeared when I was typing mine.

 

[paradox3]

"And again he entered into Capernaum, after eight days. And it was heard, that he was in an house, and many came together, so that they might not be in the house, nor at the gate. And he spake to them the word." -Mark 2:1-2 (WYC).

It would be interesting to know how the translators of the Wycliffe Bible concluded it was "eight" days.

A quick search shows me there are two versions of the Wycliffe Bible and there is some controversy about how they relate to the King James. I looked it up because I did not recognize WYC.