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Hey everybody, we're gonna be talking about the Gospel of Mark,
and giving some kind of basic introductory stuff
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about the gospel. Now, one of the things I
mentioned is that Mark sometimes seems to assume
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that his readers don't know much about Judaism.
And this is actually true. If you look in Mark
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seven, he actually refers to Pharisees and tells
about how Jews eat, you know, eat by washing their
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when they wash their hands, right? They wash the
cups, and they wash their hands before they eat,
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which wasn't a necessarily a traditional thing in
the wider culture. And so it's as if Mark is
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telling people what this is what Jewish people do,
which presumes that Mark's readers don't know
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that's what typical Jewish people do, which
probably means Marks readers are not Jewish,
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right? It probably means that Marks readers are
somewhere else, then Palestine, or at least are
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not part of Jewish communities themselves when
they're reading the gospel, same thing in the
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explanation of Sagesse's beliefs in chapter 12,
okay. He assumes his readers don't understand
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Judaism, which probably means his readers aren't
Jewish.
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Okay.
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And similarly, Mark defines Aramaic words, which
would have been the common language on the street
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in Palestine in Jesus's day. Common Jewish words,
in Aramaic, like Boagernes Talitha cum, which means
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little girl get up. Corban, which is a
sort of a donation. Ephphatha, which means
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to open, open up. Bartimaeus, which
literally means the son of Timaeus.
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Abba which means father. Golgotha,
which is the place of the skull where Jesus was
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crucified. Eloi, eloi lema sabachthani, which is Aramaic for
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why have
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you abandoned me, which is what Jesus says on the
cross. In each of these cases, when Mark uses this
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term, okay, which would have been a term that all
people who spoke Aramaic, in Jesus's region of the
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world and Palestine would have understood. They
knew it because this was their language. When Mark
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uses this in his gospel, he actually
parenthetically explains what the term means,
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suggesting that his readers don't read Aramaic. In
other words, that he's adding the term in the
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Aramaic sounding way, right, translating it into
Greek so that it sounds like Aramaic, so that it
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adds a kind of authenticity, almost like when we
watch a movie today, right about the World War Two
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or something, and you might, if it's an American
film, you might hear, you know, German soldiers
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speaking in German with subtitles or something,
right? Not because we understand the German
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necessarily, but because it adds a kind of
authenticity to the story, to hear the Germans
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talking in German or whatever, right? And so the
point is, is that Mark uses these Aramaic words,
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but then actually takes efforts to explain what
they mean to his readers suggesting again, that
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his readers are not Jewish, and probably not from
Palestine. They're from somewhere else. Now, the
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really interesting thing is that Mark assumes his
audience knows at least some Latin terms. In other
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words, when he uses Latin terms like Legion, which
was a term that was used oftentimes in terms of
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the military, for example, a legion was a was a
large group of soldiers, right, or denarius, which
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was a coin oftentimes understood to be a kind of
daily labor's wage. Denarius. Praetorium, which
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was kind of a military sort of gathering point, a
garrison of some kind. Centurion, which was a
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soldier who is sort of incharge over maybe 100
soldiers. Century, right. So these terms appear in
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Mark's gospel, Legion, denarius, praetorium,
Centurion, these are Latin rooted terms, and Mark
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doesn't define them. That is to say he assumes his
readers know what these terms mean. That is a clue
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that Mark is probably or quite possibly being read
by people for whom Latin is a very standard common
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language that they'd be familiar with. And it
doesn't have to be that way because these terms
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would have been spreading around through the
through the Empire. But there's a solid
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possibility that this suggests this gospel has
some association with Rome or sort of Italian
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regions where Latin would have been more of the
common language. Okay? Now Mark writes in a very
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artistic way, he's very simplistic at one level in
terms of his language use, right? He's clearly not
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at home, primarily in Greek. But he's actually
quite talented in his use of how to put a story
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together. So I want to give you an example, a
couple of examples of some of the ways that he
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writes in very creative and literarily impressive
ways, kind of showing his, if you will, his
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narrative sort of art and his narrative artistry.
The first term you should be aware of, in this
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regard is called intercalation, intercalation.
This is a fancy way of saying, you know, what we
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would call kind of a sandwich technique.
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You could almost think of intercalation is a
sandwiching technique. And what this basically
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means is you have two stories, right? Or two
accounts of things. Mark is apparently using
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sources that he has heard about, you know, to put
together his gospel, different accounts that have
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been passed down, and so forth. And so one story
is about Jesus, and how Jesus one time actually got
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mad at a fig tree. This is in chapter 11, of the
Gospel of Mark. And he also has a story of how Jesus
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went into the temple and caused a ruckus. And
what Mark does is rather than tell the fig tree
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story separately, and then tell the story of the temple
separately, each on its own, what he does
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is he actually splits the fig tree story in two, and
then sandwiches in the middle of that the
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story of the temple. And so what he's doing here
is actually commenting almost artistically, symbolically
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about each of those two things by sort of sandwiching
one story in the middle of another. Let
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me read you what happens here in the Gospel of Mark
in Chapter 11, to see if you can recognize what's
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happening here. So this is right toward the
end of his life, when he's going to about to be
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arrested and so forth. And it says this, it says
On the following day, when they came from Bethany
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Jesus was hungry. This is starting at Verse 1
in Chapter 11. Seeing in the distance a fig
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tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would
find anything on it. When he came to it, he found
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nothing but leaves for it was not the season
for figs. He said to it, may no one ever eat
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fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it
So there's a story of a little fig tree. Now,
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in verse 15, it says this, then they came to
Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and
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began to drive out those who are selling and those
who were buying in the temple. And he overturned the
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tables of the money changers and the seats of those
who sold doves. And he would not allow anyone
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to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching
and saying, is it not written that my house
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shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations,
but you have made it a den of robbers. And when
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the chief priests and scribes heard it, they kept
looking for a way to kill him, for they were
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afraid of him because the whole crowd was spellbound
by his teaching. And when evening came, Jesus and
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his disciples went out of the city. So there's a
story about Jesus going in and causing a huge ruckus
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to the point where according to Mark, the authorities, the Jewish authorities wanted to find a
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way to kill him, right? Right after the fig story,
the fig tree story, but now listen to what happens
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in Verse 20. In the morning, as they passed
by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its
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roots. Then Peter remembered and said to Jesus,
Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you have cursed
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has withered. And then it goes on. Jesus kind
of interprets this as having faith in God and so
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forth. But what I want you to catch is, Mark tells
the story of Jesus seeing a fig tree, realizing
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there's no actual fruit on the fig tree because it's
not the season for figs. He gets mad at the
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fig tree, curses the fig tree, and eventually the
fig tree dies, right? The next day. Now you could
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show that all as one story. Jesus saw no figs on the
fig tree got pissed off because he was hungry,
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he curses the tree and the next day it was dead. You
could tell the story that way. But what Mark does
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is he sandwiches in to the middle of that story,
a story of the temple, right? Is the
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temple going well? Obviously not, they have made it
into from Jesus's perspective, nothing more than
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a business. Where people are buying and selling
things so that people will have animals to sacrifice
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and so forth. They're, you know, all about this sort of business, but not really focusing
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much, at least from Jesus's perspective on what
the temple is supposed to be about,
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namely the worship of Almighty God. And so he's
angry about the temple and he goes in. I mean,
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imagine somebody going into the chapel at Saint
Mary's and overturning the chairs and the altars
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and throwing everything around the room. I mean,
you can imagine that this would actually get
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somebody in grave danger, in great trouble, right?
Especially in a first century Jewish context. And
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that's exactly what happens. Okay. Now, why does
Mark do this? Well, it seems to be that he uses
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the sandwiching technique, this intercalation
technique to essentially, let the story of the fig
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tree comment on the reality of what's happening in
the temple at least symbolically, right? Is the
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temple healthy? No. Does it look like it's
flourishing? Well, yes, kind of like the fig tree
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looked like it was flourishing. It had leaves and
everything right? But is it bearing any fruit?
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Well the fig tree was not bearing fruit? And it
looks like from Jesus's perspective, the temple is
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not bearing real fruit, right? In other words,
it's not doing what it's supposed to do. It's not
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producing the kinds of real authentic life and
worship and, you know, common good that it's
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supposed to, it's basically become, you know, sort
of a profit making business for people, right, who
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oftentimes may be exploiting one another. And then
Jesus points out that that fig tree withered to
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its roots. What is he saying about the temple?
Well he might be saying that the temple has run
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its course, it's no longer the time for that
temple, any more than it was the time for figs and
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fruit there. Something has gotten rotten in the
temple, sort to speak, and it's going to wither
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away, it's not going to be what it once was. And
in many ways, this is sort of a symbolic
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illustration of how Jesus is conflicting with the
religious authorities of his time. That's
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intercalation. Another example of Mark's narrative
artistry in the middle of the page here that you
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see is called the inclusio or to make an
inclusion. And this is the sort of skillful way in
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which an author and we see this all the time in
music and poetry and so forth. Can you take us a
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word or a phrase or a theme, and put it at one
part, maybe the beginning of, say, a poem or a
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song, and then have that piece repeat later on, so
that it draws you back to the beginning, Right? It
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draws the whole thing together, it reminds you of
the theme of what's going on in this particular
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piece. I mean, in a certain sense, when we sing,
or hear in a musical piece, right, the chorus or
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the sort of the refrain, right, where it keeps
coming back to those same lines, in a certain
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sense, that's kind of like an inclusio, right? The
chorus pieces kind of wrap everything together
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from the outsides, right? They make an inclusion
of everything that's in between. Well, Mark does a
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number of versions of that. I'll give you one
example here in Chapter 1, Verse 11, this is the
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scene of Jesus being baptized, right? And the
voice of God comes from the sky and basically
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says, in the form of a dove, and basically says,
"This is my son," right? This is the Son of God.
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And then at the very end of the gospel, right,
despite all the other things that have happened,
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and all of the kind of confusion about who Jesus
is, and what the implications of his ministry and
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so forth, then you actually at the very end, when
he's being crucified, you get a Roman centurion or
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Roman military officer, who says, "Wow, you know,
Behold the Son of God as he's dying." Now, whether
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the Roman military officer really understands this
to be the Son of God in the fullest sense, that's
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quite possibly not the case. It could be that he's
just saying this is a very godly man. This is a
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man like few others. Right? But not necessarily at
the Son of God level. There could be a certain
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irony in in this even, you know, the military
opponent of Jesus who's actually killing him
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recognizes even partially perhaps, that this guy
is unlike most people he is a Child of God, a Son
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of God, Right? Which was actually in the in the
first century basically meant a human being right.
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You know that didn't necessarily meant you were
divine in any way. Okay. So that's a use of an
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inclusio, Son of God at the beginning, Son of God
at the end kind of to remind the reader who are we
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talking about,
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what are we talking about. Even if it's mentioned
at the end in prehaps kind of almost an ironic way.
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Another example of an inclusio appears i
Chapter 8 22, through 26. And then the the fini
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h of it is in 10:46 to 52. In each of those sectio
s, and I want you to turn to those, what you see
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is Jesus telling stories of blind men. So let me
how you 8:22 to 26. It says this, they came to Be
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hsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus,
and begged him to touch the man. Jesus took the bl
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nd man by the hand, let him out of the village.
And when he put saliva on his eyes and laid his h
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nds on him, he asked him, can you see anything? A
d the man looked up and said, I can see people
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ut they look like trees walking, which by the w
y, is a good indication that he must have lost
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is
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looked intently and his sight was restored. And he
saw everything clearly. Then he sent him away to
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his home saying don't go even into the village. So
it's interesting here that that Jesus actually has
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to do a healing in which he has to do it in two
stages. This is very, I mean, for Jesus, this is
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unusual, right? Normally, he just heals the person
and they're fine. In this case, it takes him two
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go arounds before he can actually get the guy
completely healed. That's a little odd worth
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noticing. Now let's turn over to 10:46. And look
at the another section. In 10:46 It says this,
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they came to Jericho, as he and his disciples and
a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son
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of Timaeus, a blind beggar was sitting by the
roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of
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Nazareth, he began to shout and say, "Jesus, son
of David, have mercy on me." Many sternly ordered
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him to be quiet. But he cried out even more
loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me." And they
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called the blind man and saying to him, take
heart, get up, Jesus is calling you. So throwing
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off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do
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for you?" The blind man said to him, my teacher,
let me see again. Jesus said to him, "Go, your
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faith has made you well." Immediately he regained
his sight and followed him on the way. So there's
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another story of a blind man. So catch the sort of
the two stories of blind men, right? The first one
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is a very difficult healing, you might say, a two
stage healing. Jesus has to put saliva and, you
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know, mix it up into the guy's eyes, right? On the
second, in a two part healing. In the last one, he
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doesn't even have to touch the guy, the guy's own
faith heals him according to Jesus, right? All he
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has to do is hear the guy's faith, and the guy
becomes healed. Interesting. Okay. Why these two
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stories of blind men? Are they just two healings?
Well, yes. But perhaps Mark is trying to do
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something different. Or even more symbolically,
and most scholars, myself included, would
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encourage you to check out what comes between 8:26
the end of the passage here, and 10:45. The
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passage here. What you see, if you look at the
stuff in between there is a whole series of
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stories of bumbling disciples. Followers of Jesus,
religious leaders and others who cannot figure out
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who he is, and are constantly demonstrating that
they are blind, at least symbolically, they do not
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get it. They do not understand what they're
dealing with. They do not understand Jesus. This
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happens over and over and over again. Right. And
so part of what we need to recognize is that Mark
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isn't just saying, well, there's two blind men
stories and this one happened on Tuesdays. So I'll
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put it up in Chapter 8. And this one happened on
Thursday, so I'll put it in Chapter 10. What he's
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doing here is artistically constructing all of
these stories, so that he talks about the need for
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a double, a double healing of a very difficult to
heal blind guy. And then a very easy healing of a
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blind guy who actually has faith in between all
that is a bunch of stories of people who haven't
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yet developed faith who haven't yet fully overcome
their blindness, at least. And so part of what's
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happening is that Jesus is using the outside
pieces, the story of blind men, Mark is, to sort
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of characterize the need for people to truly see
to lose their blindness, to be healed of their
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blindness in order to understand who Jesus is and
what he represents and is up to. And then the
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final thing that also is in that same section is
where Jesus oftentimes is described as doing
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things in repetitive cycles. And so one of the
things you see here is that Jesus actually
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predicts his suffering and death three different
times. And, you know, it's not that this is just,
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again, kind of at the level of factual he did this
three times, but it's actually driving the
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narrative the way Mark has kind of constructed the
story. Some people have actually suggested that,
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that what Mark had, and I think this is most
likely probably the case. Mark have a bunch of
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sort of individual stories that have been passed
down and what he did, and then we have some
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evidence that this is actually in fact, what he
did, in terms of even testimony from folks early
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on. Is that he sort of constructed a narrative not
simply again, in chronological order, Tuesday,
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Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and tried to keep
everything factual, in that narrow sense. But what
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Mark is doing is trying to convince his reader of
who Jesus is and why it matters to have faith in
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him and what it will look like for those who do
develop faith in him. This is not about the
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factoids. This is about a kind of persuasive
telling.
