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October 28 - December 13, 2024
“Son of Man” occurs fourteen times in Mark, and only from the mouth of Jesus.
Its most predominant usage, however, is with regard to Jesus’ suffering
sovereign power”). The authority of the Son of Man is predominantly exhibited, however, in humiliation, suffering, and death.
The Roman system of taxation depended on graft and greed, and it attracted enterprising individuals who were not adverse to such means.
A Jew who collected taxes was disqualified as a judge or witness in court, expelled from the synagogue, and a cause of disgrace to his family
Jewish contempt of tax collectors is epitomized in the ruling that Jews could lie to tax collectors with impunity (m. Ned. 3:4)—a ruling, incidentally, with which both the houses of Hillel and Shammai (who normally stood poles apart) agreed. Tax collectors were tangible reminders of Roman domination,
It brings Jesus again into contact with unclean persons;
Repentance, in fact, is curiously absent from Jesus’ proclamation in Mark.
reminds us of the difference between his mission and that of the scribes. They come to enlighten; he comes to redeem.
those who think themselves righteous, for sinners are more aware of their need of the transforming grace of God.
Pharisees
Their name means either “separated one” or “holy ones,”
the Pharisees were staunchly opposed to Hellenism,
numbering, according to an estimate of Josephus, about six thousand persons in the first century (Ant. 17.42), or approximately one percent of the population.
Jesus himself stood closer to the foundational beliefs of the Pharisees than to those of any other party of Judaism.
Believing that Torah was prescriptive for all of life, the Pharisees wove an increasingly intricate web of regulations around it, whose purpose may have been to honor Torah, but whose effect was a confining and even crushing burden on human existence.
The three main pillars of Judaism were prayer, almsgiving, and fasting.
Although not a legal requirement except in one instance, fasting had become in Jesus’ day a prerequisite of religious commitment, a sign of atonement of sin and humiliation and penitence before God, and a general aid to prayer. The rabbis often referred to fasting as “an affliction of the soul,” thereby designating it as a characteristic and sacrificial act of piety.
Jesus describes his mission as a wedding—
Their noncompliance with the party, however, attests to their nonacceptance of his person.
in the OT Israel’s husband and lover is not the Messiah but God (Isa 5:1; 54:5-6; 62:4-5; Ezek 16:6-8; Hos 2:19).
finality.
Alone of the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath is rooted in the order of creation and attests to the divine order of the universe
it was forbidden to set a dislocated foot or hand on the Sabbath (m. Shab. 22:6), or to repair a fallen roof (though it might temporarily be propped up; m. Shab. 23:5).
Walking more than 1,999 paces (= 800 meters) was considered a journey and hence a breach of the Sabbath
The title can signify various offices of Jesus, but it does not in the Gospels (as, e.g., in the Psalms and Ezekiel) mean simply “man.”
His allegiance is exclusively to the good news of God (so 1:14-15), which in these five stories is directed to needy and alienated people.
the authorities deny Jesus the right to do good on the Sabbath while they conspire to do evil on the Sabbath.
The second part of the question no longer refers to the disabled man but to Jesus himself.
the evidence against Jesus has been compounding: Sabbath violations (1:21-25; 2:23-28), fraternizing with sinners (1:40; 2:13-17), disregarding rabbinic custom (2:18-22), and presumption to forgive sins (2:10-11).
sympathizers and supporters of Herod’s cause and the Herodian dynasty.
The inclusion of Herodians in v. 6 is a forewarning that the opposition ranged against Jesus is not only religious but perhaps political as well (6:14-29; 12:13; 15:1-2).
In addition to the Father (1:11), the demons are the only other party so far in Mark to confess Jesus’ divine Sonship (1:24; 3:11; 5:7).
Only in Luke, Acts, and Revelation does repentance play a prominent role in the gospel proclamation.
Jesus’ program is of a different order. Jesus is the sole and exclusive subject of the call. Nothing—not even the Torah or God—is presented as more important than Jesus. Unlike a rabbi, Jesus is not a means to an ulterior good but is himself the final good.
Only in Mark are James and John called “Boanerges,” which in Hebrew suggests “the loud ones,” or perhaps “hot-tempered pair,” which Mark renders “Sons of Thunder.”
of Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot nothing further.
as far as we know, none of the apostles comes from the Jewish religious establishment and leadership.
Writing some thirty years after Judas’s defection and death, Mark must have been tempted to strike from the list of the Twelve a name that had caused such scandal. That he does not do so is a testimony both to his historical veracity and to his understanding of the church.
The scribes are default opponents of Jesus in Mark
There is a mistaken view abroad that if only we saw the undisputed miracles of Jesus we would believe—or believe more. The scribes, however, have seen precisely such evidence—but they do not believe.
The best suggested meaning of Beelzeboul thus appears to be “Baal the prince” or, correspondingly, “Baal’s abode or dynasty.”
a specific misjudgment that Jesus is motivated by evil rather than by good, that he is empowered by the devil rather than by God.
wickedness poses a lesser problem to the grace of God than do pride and self-righteousness.
Anyone who is worried about having committed the sin against the Holy Spirit has not yet committed it, for anxiety of having done so is evidence of the potential for repentance. There is no record in Scripture of anyone asking forgiveness of God and being denied it!
those who assume that they are close to Jesus should think again; those who assume that they are far from him should take hope.
without parallel in the ancient world. The Gospels record some sixty different parables of Jesus, most of which are found in Matthew and Luke, fewer in Mark, and none in John.
The word “parable” means something that is placed alongside something else for the purpose of clarification.
Jesus’ parables confirm the states of people’s hearts: insiders who are with Jesus will be given the understanding of the mystery, and outsiders who are not with Jesus will be confirmed in their disbelief.
Those are with Jesus and do the will of God (3:34-35) are insiders to whom the mystery of the kingdom of God is revealed. Those who are not with Jesus are outsiders, for whom the parables seal their unbelief.
