Topic 9: Passages from The Gospel of Mark
Gospel opens in an odd way. There is no infancy or birth narrative, or anything about Jesus’ early life. It to opens with John the Baptist appearing in the desert/wilderness, the place, where their ancestors wandered and died for 40 years. Written to tell us about the life of Jesus in us, written to a spiritual question of someone already baptized.
John is standing by the turbulent, anxiety filled Jordan River and asking us to go down to that place to be baptized and perhaps death. They were fearful they would not live through the moment with the swirling waters. They would possibly slip to the other side of Sheol if there was a hole. To live through that moment there is a reality on the other side.
Although John the Baptist issued a call for repentance in both gospels, in Matthew his words were directed primarily to the Temple officials and privileged classes. Mark, with a different audience and objective, creates a completely different atmosphere emphasizing forgiveness of the people
He is showing them a way to release their pain and begin a process of forgiveness—forgiveness of themselves, of their families, and of their community—so that they might move forward
1. We must embrace and fully experience our painful emotions them with sufficient patience, for sufficient time.
2. We must now confess our "sins." so that we may lift the weight of debilitating shame.
This is done by making a “moral inventory of ourselves"
As much as we would like to avoid this process, we need to become aware of our limitations, our inner pain, and the transgressions of ourselves and others. At the same time, we must accept the equally significant challenge to identify our strengths, our gifts, and our good deeds. In this manner, we will also begin to better develop the ability to hear, know, and accept the clarity of our own inner voice.
As we take responsibility for our transgressions, we also need to assume "appropriate" guilt—in other words, fully understand and accept our wrongdoing—and then express, when that is possible, our genuine desire for forgiveness. When we take responsibility, we must also acknowledge "inappropriate" guilt. This is a deeper issue. Many of us hold shame resulting from our instinct to blame ourselves for burdens that are not truly ours.
II. Two types of Baptism
A) There is a Jewish ritual of cleansing (“mikvah”) bath and forgiveness that John the Baptist was conducting but doing it an unusual way – not cleansing bath urn and stone vessel near Synagogue but go the Jordan River.
B) The Christian ritual of death/new life is not portrayed in any of the four Gospels.
John announced that Jesus would soon arrive to perform baptisms, and not "with water, but . . . with the Holy Spirit." The message was clear to the multitudes—and to the Roman Messiahnians.
III. Lessons on suffering/ordeal
A) First lesson (Mk 1-8): when we are in pain, we pray for a change in circumstance & God will act if appropriate.
During the first half of Mark, Jesus healed immediately – Peter’s Mother in law, Jarus daughter. He acts powerfully in the face of chaos and pain
Second half of Mark we see there are times when we must do what Jesus does –submit to the pain.
In time we know that all will be take of “in God’s time” so we submit to this chaos and pain and live through it and be helped through it. Jesus showing us the power in him that we too will have the ability to submit to chaos.
B) The difference in the two lessons are similar to the Serenity Prayer.
God, give me the serenity to accept the things which cannot be changed; Give me courage to change the things which must be changed; And the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.
2nd half of Mark “God, give me the serenity to accept things which cannot be changed”
1st half of Mark “Give me courage to change the things which must be changed”
C) Crossing Accounts Sea of Galilee -From chapters two through eight, Mark continues his narrative by describing Jesus’ ten-city tour, historically known as the Decapolis (in Greek, literally "ten cities"). As Jesus encircled the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he made no fewer than four crossings with his disciples. The core teachings of this gospel are within these crossing accounts.
Mk 4:35-41. The Messiah demanded that the group make the crossing trip by night in a boat, creating an especially terrifying and incomprehensible experience. A great storm arose, leaving the disciples trapped in a small boat; tossed around in the dark, unable to see, knowing only that their lives were in imminent danger. What was Jesus’ response to this terror and chaos? He slept peacefully in the rear of the boat on a cushion, while his disciples were seized by panic. The hysteria felt by the disciples in the boat paralleled the emotional state of the Roman Messianic Jews. Stranded by their faith in the Messiah and assailed on all sides, their lives were also in peril.
In despair, they finally roused him and asked that he rescue them: "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" In the raging storm, when the disciples begged in fear, Jesus’ voice called out: "Be still!" Immediately, the wind stopped. Awed by this demonstration of Jesus’ omnipotence, the disciples immediately accepted it as indisputable evidence of Jesus’ divinity, discussed it, and rushed to deify him. Similarly, in each of the next crossing stories, when Jesus commanded, any and all turmoil ceased. These demonstrations of divine power and authority amazed and comforted the disciples. Jesus pronounced loudly and restored order. He was the all-powerful Messiah. He would protect them. They had no reason to fear death!
Mark recounts that Jesus grew increasingly impatient with the presumption of his disciples that he would simply perform a divine act and in every instance relieve them of their fear. He chides them for their lack of faith. They wanted to remain safe—as children—with a God who acted as an all-powerful, protective parent . They seemed to completely ignore that they also had responsibilities. They had an obligation to endure and to find inner calm through faith
In the teaching of the great mystery of suffering, we must do two tasks :
1 Pray to God that the circumstances be changed, be healed, peace brought.
2 Also pray in the sense that we know all will be taken care of “in Your time” . Therefore, in the great mystery we must submit at some levels to this chaos and pain- so be it.
We have to describe—encircle—the inner places that hold our chaos and conflicts, in the same way that Jesus circled the Sea of Galilee
B) Second lesson (Mk 8-16): the Messiah/the Christ must submit to some sufferings and so must you.
Mark’s message, an invaluable lesson for the Roman Messianic Jews, is that the disciples still sought a God who rescued them, who removed obstacles. They wanted to remain safe—as children—with a God who acted as an all-powerful, protective parent.
They could not yet fathom a God who not only did not do this, but who actually pushed his followers into dark, nighttime storms. They did not yet have the spiritual maturity from which they could derive inner equilibrium and serenity in the midst of trial. They had not yet discovered an inner place of God
IV. “But who do you say I Am?” (Mk 8.27-38)
A) Jesus walks his disciples to Caesarea Philippi: region where the seed water of chaos rises from the ground. In the first century, well-known natural springs flowed from these mountains into the Sea of Galilee and from there to the Jordan River, where they finally emptied into the Dead Sea.
This is an image of anxiety and “deeply troubling waters.” Mark has carefully selected this topography because it evokes the Jewish creation story in Genesis that tells of a domelike vault protecting the earth from the seas of chaos. A crack in the vault would release a flood and wash the world away—and the waters gushing from above would look exactly like spouting springs.
B) Jesus invites disciples in this area which is seed of deepest trouble to stand here and tell me who I am –
Our task is not to look away from out troubles but to travel deeply into our troubles as we stand at the seed water or core of our wounds or pain. It is different for each us of it – isolation, abandonment, anxiety, depression, hopelessness. God is in that place of pain with us. Jesus leads us through the core of our pain and travels with us.
Jesus asked his followers a daunting question: "Who do you say that I am?" Peter responded: "You are the Messiah." Mark then details Jesus’ instruction that his disciples keep his divinity confidential. Yet the command did not come from a need for secrecy or a sense of modesty or shame. Jesus made this demand lovingly, because he knew that his disciples still did not understand the full path of true discipleship
“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.”
Abruptly, Jesus snapped at him: "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things." Why use the word "Satan"? Because Peter’s reaction proved that he was still "young" in his faith, and tempted by immature notions about an omnipotent God. Peter had become accustomed to thinking of the Messiah as a miracle worker, with the power to banish every difficulty. He assumed that Jesus could—and would—save himself from death. Jesus’ response dramatically emphasized the message from the crossing stories: "If you are looking for a miracle-working Messiah, then you have not yet understood the nature of your faith"
From this point to the end of the Gospel the Messiah is teaching us then Messiah must also submit suffering so therefore all of us who make up the body of Christ in the great mystery of God will find there are moments of chaos and suffering. We must not defend ourselves against but must walk with God through. He promised them that if they chose to do this, if they followed the path, they would come to know God.
MK 8:34-36 “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
The second path is about "losing life" to gain it. – God is certainly capable of rescuing us, but God will not rescue us, because rescue would stop our journey. The journey is long and full. We are attempting first to learn what that means, and second to accept it. Through prayer and proven counsel, we learn to receive our trials as they arrive in our lives and live with them, knowing that we cannot hasten or alleviate the rigors of the path itself. Every time we attempt to avoid a situation, we only reduce our opportunity to grow, to learn from the journey
From this point on, the narrative changes dramatically. All the circling ends, and just as the spring waters rushed straight downhill to become sea and then river, so does the route of Jesus and his disciples- toward Jesus’ crucifixion
C) Key point
From this point late in 8th chapter, Jesus is submitting to suffering. Jesus faces directly into Jerusalem, straight ahead unbowed, facing the coming verdict and all the pain and chaos of it.
For us, on the second path can we lean into that Christ in us and who will also help us do what he does which is to look at the pain, chaos and swirling storm and enter it ?
V. The Passion (Mk 14.1-15.47)
A) The second spiritual path and its Passion teach us how to move through isolation and searing pain with Jesus.
The core of the Passion is historical but it is more about the spiritual life – the passion in us as we are thrown into or caught in feelings of deep isolation and abandonment thrashing feeling directionless, cut off.
We see two sides of Jesus – Jesus fully human (expressing human emotion) and fully divine, teaching about what we must move through so as to be more fully who he is. There will be times in us when we touch feelings isolation and abandonment but those are not end points but beginning points.
B) Last Supper and Garden of Gethsemane
Mk 14:17-18 “When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”
Mark therefore wanted his readers to understand that the Jews in Rome, like the disciples, had four choices, and each one had different spiritual and moral consequences. When you are asked, ‘Are you a follower of the Christus?’ you can answer yes, or you can deny, or you can desert, or you can betray. Those are your four choices, and your only choices."
In Mark’s gospel, Jesus used the word "betray" to refer to those who totally gave up their belief or who, like Judas, turned someone else over to the authorities. He used the word "desertion"—which literally means to turn one’s face in another direction—to describe those who gave in to the impulse to avoid conflict—something that, as Jesus predicted, all the followers did. We believe that Mark is encouraging his audience not to flee as Peter had while simultaneously extending great compassion to them He also knew that desertion, unlike betrayal, would not critically damage the soul—deserters could redeem themselves, turn around again, and return to the path.
VI. Psalm 22: Jesus’ Prayer on the Cross (Mk 15.34)
A) In the first century, devout Jews prayed to have Psalm 22 on their lips as they died.
B) The psalm opens with feelings of abandonment ?”My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? “
C) The psalm closes with a paean of praise to a God of all time.
Jesus died with this on his lips. Psalm 22 is the prayer of second path – it opens with abandonment and isolation of one cast out of the circle, scorned and despised by those around us as were the Jew in Rome. But it ends in praise- Generations not yet born will give you praise because you are the one god who holds all people in all time.
It is not Jesus only dying only with feeling abandonment but Jesus leading us through our abandonment and isolations beyond even hope to the proclamation of what we know – God cannot be killed. God’s love and justice and care will always endure.
VII. Announcement of Jesus Resurrection (Mk 16.1-8)
A) The original ending of the Gospel, composed for those in a time of genocide, had no sighting of the risen Jesus, only an announcement that Jesus has risen. (Note Mk 16.9-17 was added later.)
B) The women come to the tomb. A young man is there telling the women Jesus has gone ahead of them to Galilee, the place of stormy sea. They will see him there. Young man said to go and tell Peter and the disciples. Text ends there. Women fled from the tomb for fear and amazement had overcome them. They said nothing to anyone.
Dr. Shaia sees this as an appropriate ending. On the second path we walk by an announcement of resurrection as we too walk through the “valley of death”. We don’t have the grace of sensory experiences of it – beauty. What we have is grimy sensory experience of smell and aroma of death. On the second spiritual path we are to walk with it with no sensory confirmation of new life or better days ahead.
We are asked to see this, know it, and move into it. We must know that is not the final reality. The aroma of resurrection is the ability to walk through second path – walk through the felt pain, isolation, despair and to know I can take this without seeing the resurrection of Christ. It is the ability to stay on the path consistent, to stay present in times of pain.