Hearing Mark: chapter 1

Each week, I will try to post - after the fact - what we discussed after listening to that week's section of the Gospel. I will keep my notes short, but hopefully long enough for anyone to keep up without being there.

We were struck first by how much Mark tells us, and how much he doesn't.

We have a stay in the wilderness, but no idea what went on. We have people saying Jesus teaches with authority, but no idea why they say that. We do have three miracles, which we agree would give authority, but Jesus seems to be careful to keep the details secret from those who were not on-hand. Finally, we don't really know what Jesus' 'Gospel' is. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near; repent and believe the good news. God's rule is good news, but what does it mean practically?

Perhaps this is something in the 'scriptures' that we should know better, but for now we are left a bit puzzled about what this all means.

Clearly, though, it is something that includes miracles: healings and exorcisms. So there is power involved over the troubles of life; we want to see more of this sort of thing!

We figure that is why "all people" are looking for Jesus and why the "whole country" was crowding Jesus out of towns and cities. We also noticed that this means that the main space left for Jesus is the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan. we don't know what to make of this - if anything - but again it is something we'll have to keep an eye on.

Finally, we were struck by the language of the King James Version and how the words hit us. We especially noted that Peter's mother "ministered" to the disciples, and how that can mean very different things depending on the person hearing it. If we are right to guess that the audience included women, servants, and the outcast, we figure that 2/3 of the audience may have been women, and that all would have heard that differently than we hear "serve" in the modern world.

Rather than go back to the text, we're going to let that realization stick with us as we continue to listen. James Earl Jones said "ministered", and we're going to leave it that way to see how it changes our point of view and reactions.

Also, we saw that Jesus saw the heavens "torn" by God, but when he exorcised the first demon, it was only the victim who was "torn" by the demon. It still would be bad for that person, but it seems Satan has considerably less power than God (duh!).

I hope to see you all Monday @ 7 as we listen more of the Good News told by James Earl Jones.