Hearing Mark: chapters 2 & 3

It occurred to me that while we were wondering about the nature of Jesus' Good News of the Kingdom of Heaven, that we should begin to note when we get snippets about it in the story.

Of course we have lots of information from Old Testament and Apocryphal writings [maybe I can look at what books are generally considered to have been extant around Rome], but we are also getting snippets from Jesus' own words. So far, we'eve heard that the Kingdom of Heaven:

1. has something to do with the Holy Spirit;
2. includes (human?) power over demons, sickness, and mental defect;
3. is a secret of sorts, but not an absolute secret;
4. the law of Moses still has force, but some (like sabbath) are flexible to match the needs of humans;
5. requires or allows the forgiveness for sins;
6. in some way, sinners are more welcome (?) than the righteous;
7. is somehow something new, but not altogether new, familiar, but transformed;
8. people are partners in their own healing/forgiveness;
9. is a new family, but with only one Father.

One big idea came up during our discussion: all of the dialog seems to form almost a continuous conversation. I recall something that is true for John's Gospel, and wonder if it might not be true here, too.

While John continually uses labels for groups of folks, he is almost always talking about a single group. A good example is the trial of the man, blind from birth, who was cured by Jesus. John uses the tag "Jew" to describe those who are indicting the man and his family to gather evidence against Jesus. However, it is good to remember that EVERYONE in that scene is a Jew. They all would have recognized each other; they would not have divided themselves, except as they were disagreeing about this particular incident.

Could everyone in Mark's story be part of the same group? Of course, most - if not specifically called Gentile - were Jews, but we wonder if it goes much further. When "the Pharisees" accuse the apostles of working by winnowing grains on the Sabbath, where did they come from? Either they were laying in wait for Jesus in the fields (which seems unlikely, especially on a sabbath), or they were travelling the same way. Now, if they were travelling the same way, wouldn't it make most sense if they were travelling WITH Jesus?

Maybe these were Pharisees who were following Jesus. This would also explain why the questions seem to carry from place to place, from the fields to the synagogue.

This seems to be an interesting idea that I don't think I've seen floated before. It would be very good to follow this idea as the story develops...and as it will continue in chapter 4 on Monday @ 7.

I hope to see you there!