Bible Studies Jeanie C. Crain http://crain.english.missouriwestern.edu
The Gospel of Mark: A Study Based on the Old Testament
Bible Studies Jeanie C. Crain http://crain.english.missouriwestern.edu
The Gospel of Mark: A Study Based on the Old Testament
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Summary Jesus, instructing the disciples, says some there will not die until God's kingdom has come with power. Following this, Mark records the transfiguration, Jesus going to the mountain accompanied by Peter, James, and John. Elijah and Moses appear and talk with Jesus. Peter wants to build three buildings--one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus. The disciples are terrified; a voice from heaven testifies, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" As the disciples look around, they find no one there except for Jesus. As they come down from the mountain, Jesus orders the disciples not to tell anyone what they have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. The disciples do as they're told but question what Jesus has meant by dead. Jesus asks the disciples why the scribes say that Elijah must come first, and then he tells them that Elijah has already come, and they did to him what they pleased. Around some scribes, a crowd has gathered and is arguing with them; the disciples have been unable to cast out a spirit from a boy who apparently has had a seizure. Jesus remarks on their lack of faith, momentarily sighing, "how much longer must I put up with you?" He questions how long the boy has had this condition and is told from childhood. The man who has brought his son to Jesus asks for pity, if he is able to do anything. Jesus picks up the doubt and replies, "If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes." The father says he believes and asks for help for his unbelief. Jesus commands the spirit which keeps the boy from speaking and hearing to come out; when the spirit comes out, the boy is left seemingly a corpse, and the people fear he is dead. Jesus, however, takes him by the hand, lifts him up, and he is able to stand. The disciples in a private moment ask Jesus why they have been unable to exorcise the spirit, and Jesus tells them that this species can be cast out only by prayer. Again passing through Galilee, Jesus tells the disciples not to tell anyone they're passing through; he is teaching his disciples that the Son of Man is to be betrayed, to be killed, and after three days, to rise again. The disciples do not understand but are afraid to ask Jesus to explain; instead, they argue about it among themselves. Jesus overhears the argument, and back in Capernaum, he asks them what the argument has been about. They are silent, not wanting to reveal that they have been arguing over who would be greatest in the Kingdom of God. Jesus knows, nonetheless, the content of the dispute and settles it: "36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 'Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.'" Jesus, by this time, has apparently inspired imitators, for John tells him of someone, not a follower, casting out devils in his name and asks if the man should be stopped. Jesus logically replies, "40 Whoever is not against us is for us." He then tells John that anyone giving even a cup of water to aid in the mission will be rewarded. Likewise, the disciples are warned of the drastic consequences to those who obstruct the mission: better to have had a weight tied to them and drowned; better to lose a limb or even two legs and go maimed in this life than to suffer in hell hereafter; it would be better to enter into the hereafter with one eye than to see with both in this world and then be condemned in the next. Mark describes hell as a place "where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched." Jesus concludes by telling them that they are to live in peace with each other, and for that, they will need a preservative in themselves: salt to help them love and serve each other.
What Jesus meant by the kingdom coming in power has been debated; what is known is that the Holy Spirit descends at Pentecost; Christianity spreads throughout the Roman empire; and the event has been identified with the destruction of the temple in 70 CE. The transfiguration follows.
Traditionally, the place of transfiguration has been said to be Mount Tabor, ten miles southwest of the sea of Galilee; some argue the mountain is less than two thousand feet high and that since Jesus has just been in Capernaum, some place north of there would be more likely. To be transfigured means to have a non-earthly appearance. Jesus is also said to have demonstrated to Peter, James, and John his pre-incarnate glory. With Jesus is seen Moses, the giver of the Law, and Elijah, an early prophet, authenticating Jesus as coming after them in the tradition and revelation of God. Peter wants to make shelters for all three, seemingly recognizing them as equal. God's visible answer is to remove Moses and Elijah and to declare authoritatively, "This is my Son whom I love; listen to him." The reader will recall that the same voice had manifest itself at Jesus' baptism to Jesus alone. Deuteronomy 18.15-19 speaks of a prophet with whom Jesus in this moment seems to be identified:
Traditionally, then, the Jews have been taught to expect a prophet like Moses to appear. With this tradition invoked, the discussion turns to Elijah.
The disciples know that Malachi has predicted that Elijah would appear on earth before the Messiah; they question Jesus as to why he has not been preceded. In replying, Jesus clearly alludes to John the Baptist:
Jesus, once again, reminds his disciples that his mission is to suffer and be treated with contempt, the same message which he had given to them earlier which had aroused Peter's opposition. Everywhere in Mark, Jesus has been the ministering servant, the Son of Man walking among people. He has not allowed a deliberate belief in his having come to expel the Roman rule, a movement that he undoubtedly recognizes as dangerous even as he recognizes that prophecy will make him intricately apart of such conspiracy.
Once again, Jesus is pushed into healing by a distracted father seeking aid for his demon-possessed son. The disciples have attempted to meet the needs of this man and failed. An argument has resulted from the crowd, including scribes, who have surrounded and observed the humiliating failure. For the disciples, the failure is frustrating, if not tragic, and leaves them feeling helpless. Jesus comes from the immediately preceding transfiguration; the crowd is amazed. It will be remembered that the face of Moses was resplendent, and some such visible reminder of Jesus' proximity to God must have been evident. The words are swift as Jesus laments an unbelieving generation. The reader does well to recall Moses on his own mountain:
To understand Jesus' words concerning an unbelieving generation, it's important to recall what Moses observed when he came down from the mountain:
Previously, in Exodus twenty, when Moses had given the people the ten commandments, he had also warned them concerning unbelief:
Moses returns, of course, to find the children of Israel have made golden calves; Jesus returns to the humiliating defeat of his disciples. The disciples seemingly have lacked faith or prayer to overcome evil. Remember, in the sixth chapter of Mark, the disciples have been given power over evil; since three disciples have been on the mountain with Jesus, probably only nine disciples have been left to face the world. Even Jesus' response to the distracted father is a rebuke for his lack of faith: "If you can" has injected doubt. The father, though, quickly recovers and asks for help for his disbelief.
The disciples of Jesus have apparently bought into the popular notions of the expected Messiah. Jesus reminds them he will be rejected and put to death. Finding the conception of death difficult to accept, the disciples deny it, choosing rather to argue fine points of theology among themselves. That they're afraid to ask anything farther is probably due to their being afraid to know. They turn instead to the argument of who is to be greatest in the Kingdom of God.
Walking ahead of his disciples, Jesus, nonetheless, has become aware of their disagreement. The disciples are reluctant to reveal what has really been the egotistical content of their discussion, even when they begin to suspect that Jesus knows. Compassionately, Jesus explains to them that greatness in God's Kingdom requires service to people. This had to do with do unto others as you would have them do onto you; do only what you can will into a universal act; do not do onto others what you would want done onto. Jesus punctuates his point by picking up a child and reminding his disciples 37 "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me." Service to others would be received as service to Jesus as service to Jesus would be regarded as service to God. Only then, relative to service, could greatness be determined; ironically, such service would preclude all questions of greatness.
Interestingly, after the disciples of Jesus fail in their attempts at exorcism, attention turns almost immediately to those who are not followers of Jesus who yet succeed in overcoming evil. Jesus criticizes John for wanting to prevent this, reminding him that such acts are not against God. It would be improbable that people acting in the name of Jesus would turn against him.
Jesus now moves into the final teaching of this time. He teaches that the smallest service done to another would be rewarded in eternity. The full brunt of warning is against becoming a stumbling block to young believers or converts: 42 "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, better were it..." Jesus clearly argues against encouraging sin in oneself or in others. It needs to be recalled that King Josiah stamped out the sacrifice of children to the God Molech (2 Kings 23.10): "10 He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of Ben-hinnom, so that no one would make a son or a daughter pass through fire as an offering to Molech." This hell, or Greek Gehenna, became for the Jews a vile association of the worst abominations. The fires here were literally always smoldering. Jesus tells his disciples that they must, in principle, be ready to undergo such testing in order to be spiritually purified and made like salt. The goodness of the disciples was, in fact, like salt in seasoning and purifying the world.
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