Review

Our last excursion into the Gospel of Mark (Mark 1:16-20) treated us to a “shattering little story”[i]:  the calling of Simon, Andrew, James, and John.  In that passage Jesus confronted and overruled two very powerful spiritual “Arkys”[ii]:  the Arky of Career or Vocation; and the Arky of Family or Tradition.

Last week, the writer of Hebrews (Hebrews 3:1-19) told us that Jesus is “superior to Moses,” the Giver of the Old Testament Law and Israel’s supreme authority. 

Mark 1:21-34 brings these two ideas together.  In these verses, Jesus decisively confronts yet another powerful Arky, perhaps the most powerful of them all:  the Arky of Religion and Nationalistic Fervor.

Let’s take a closer look.  

Healing

This passage narrates some of Jesus’ first acts of Healing.  That seems providential, given the current crisis.  Healing is something we desperately need right now. 

I’m not going to take this opportunity to pontificate on the coronavirus.  We all know there’s nothing new about disease and death.  Witness the fever of Simon’s mother-in-law in verses 29-31; or the fact that, once the Sabbath draws to a close, Jesus is literally inundated by a steady flow of people suffering from a wide variety of maladies, physical and spiritual (32-34).  Such is the human condition.

Do we believe that Christ performs miraculous healings today?  Absolutely.  But we also affirm something far more profound and significant:  namely, that these healings point to a larger Reality.  To borrow the language of John’s Gospel, they are signposts (Greek semeia).  They proclaim the arrival of a new Arky that overturns and supplants all others: the Arky of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:15).            

Demons and Exorcism

The arrival of this Arky spells Freedom.  Freedom from “principalities and powers (archai and exousiai), from the rulers of the darkness of this age, from spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).  “He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, He has put down the mighty from their thrones” (Luke 1:51-52) – this is what the coup of Christ’s kingdom has accomplished.  It’s the deeper meaning of Jesus’ many encounters with demons, the first of which surfaces here in verses 21-26.  Contrary to a great deal of popular perception, these daimonia are not mere hobgoblins, gremlins, or sprites.  They are the Rulers of this world, and their power is broken when Jesus comes on the scene and says, “Be silent!” (verse 25).              

Authority:  “On the Sabbath”

We must not overlook the fact that Jesus performs this act of liberating power on the Sabbath.  It’s just the first of many such violations of the Mosaic Law on His part (remember:  “Jesus is superior to Moses,” Hebrews 3:1-6).  We’ll have more to say about this farther on, but for now it’s enough to note that these offenses against Jewish sensibilities appear to be deliberate and premeditated.  Why?  Because, in the minds of Jesus’ contemporaries, “Keeping the Sabbath … was the principle distinguishing mark of Jewish identity and a sign of one’s commitment to God’s covenant.”[iii]  Sabbath-keeping, in other words, was another Arky.  It was the linchpin not only of Jewish Religion but of Israelite National Identity.  Jesus challenges both these “allegiances” in a single bold stroke.  No wonder the people were “amazed”.  Not only did He perform miracles of power, but He taught “with authority” (exousia, verses 22, 27).  That alone set Him apart – worlds apart – from the scribes, who functioned as the official representatives of Mosaic Religion and Jewish Patriotism.      

The Incognito Messiah

When the demon reveals Jesus’ identity (verse 24), He commands it to be silent (verse 25).  This is the first appearance of a recurring theme:  that of the “Incognito Messiah.”  Apparently Jesus does not want to appear to be what He really is.  As far as possible, He squelches publicity and avoids self-promotion.  That’s noteworthy in and of itself.  But here again, there will be more to say as we move forward in our reading of Mark. 

Final Thoughts

Healings and exorcisms.  Important in themselves, perhaps, but even more significant as signs of something else:  the in-breaking of the Kingdom and the presence of the King.  He is the One whose authority trumps that of all others; and with the arrival of His Kingdom, every other form of loyalty and allegiance must crumble and fall.    

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[i] N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, p. 8

[ii] “… ‘Arky’ (from Gr. arche) identifies any principle of governance claiming to be of primal value for society.  ‘Government’ (that which is determined to govern human action and events) is a good synonym – as long as we are clear that political arkys are far from being the only governments around.  Not at all; churches, schools, philosophies, ideologies, social standards, peer pressures, fads and fashions, advertising, planning techniques, psychological and sociological theories – all are arkys out to govern us.” – Vernard Eller, Christian Anarchy, pp. 1-2.

[iii] E. J. Schnabel, Mark:  Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, p. 57.

Review

If you’ve been following our Monday night Bible studies, you already know that we’ve been trying to do something a little crazy.  We’re reading the Gospel of Mark and the Epistle to the Hebrews in tandem.  More specifically, we’re attempting to use the high-flown, enigmatic theology of Hebrews as kind of lens through which to view the fast-paced, briskly worded narrative of Mark.

Here’s what we’ve said so far:

• Covenant:  Hebrews presents Jesus as the High Priest and Mediator of a new and better way of knowing God.  He is God’s Final Word.  As both man and God He’s superior to the angels, who were viewed as mediators of the Old Covenant (Hebrews 2:2; Acts 7:53).

• Kingdom:  Mark presents Jesus as the Proclaimer and Introducer of the Kingdom of God; the Establisher of a new “Arky”[i] (Greek arche) – a Principle of Power, Dominion, Authority, and Governance that supplants all others.  Ultimately, this “Kingdom” is all about Allegiance.  Jesus calls us to pledge our allegiance to Him alone; as illustrated in Mark’s account of the calling of the first disciples, who left the “Arkys” of career and family to follow Christ.          

• Identification.  According to Hebrews, Jesus, in his humanity, identifies with us completely.  Mark gives us a picture of this identification in his portrayal of the baptism and temptation of Christ.         

Hebrews 3

The third chapter of Hebrews prepares the way for the next two or three chapters in Mark by introducing us to yet another aspect of Christ’s “superiority”:  His superiority to Moses.  Read Hebrews 3 with these ideas in mind:

• Among first-century Jews there was no greater Allegiance than the allegiance to the Law and the Sabbath.  These were the “Arkys” that defined their national identity.

• Above all else, Moses was the Giver of the Law.  In verses 1-6, the writer of Hebrews cites Numbers 12:6-8 as a reminder that Moses was unlike any other prophet because God spoke to him directly – “face to face” or “mouth to mouth.”  Moses was Israel’s ultimate authority.      

• Moses was a faithful servant in the house of God (verse 2).  Jesus, on the other hand, is not a servant, but the Son:  the heir of the entire estate (verse 6).  In fact, He’s the builder of the house (verse 3).  Jesus is superior to Moses because He is God.

• We’ll want to bear all this in mind when we get to Mark 1:22, where it is said that Jesus taught “with authority” (Greek exousia[ii]), as contrasted with the scribes (representatives of Moses), who did not.  The authority of Jesus eclipses the authority of the Old Covenant.  

• Verses 12-19 of Hebrews 3 reminds us of the many times Jesus had run-ins with the scribes and Pharisees over the observance of the Sabbath.  These verses talk about the “Rest” that God has prepared for those who trust Him.  That “Rest” is not a matter of religious observance or patriotic identification, as it was for many Jews, but of entering into the Reality of God’s promise.    

• Commenting on Mark 3:1-6, N.T. Wright notes that Jesus often appears “to drive a coach and horses” through the institution of the Sabbath.  Why does He do this?  Because He wants us to know that God’s people find their Rest and their Identity in Him alone.

Final Thoughts

“Jesus is superior to Moses.”  This isn’t “anti-Semitism.”  Nor is it a way of saying, “Neener-neener-neener, my God’s better than your God!”  It’s an assertion that Jesus Christ is The Real Thing – The Reality of God Himself.  Only He can lead us into the true Rest in which we cease from Self and learn to rely on Him.  Moses and the people who followed him never tasted that Reality; they never made it to the Land of Promise (verse 16).  The Law of Moses, like all the other “Arkys” to which we render allegiance, was nothing but a shadow.  In the words of Paul, it was only “our tutor to lead us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24).                             

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[i] Vernard Eller, Christian Anarchy

[ii] The second word in the pair “Powers and Principalities”, Ephesians 6:12