Review

Chapter 1 is now behind us.  Jesus has announced the coming of the kingdom; identified with us, His people, in baptism and temptation; challenged false allegiances to false Arkys (archai) by enlisting His first disciples and healing on the Sabbath; and demonstrated His ascendancy over the unseen spiritual authorities (exousiai) and power structures of the World. 

In Chapter 2 He reveals more of His true identity and pushes the envelope even further.  He is on an irreversible collision course with every form of human Pretense and Presumption.             

“At Home”

This sentence is worth noting for the simple reason that it gives us a picture of Jesus at home.  We know that He spent a great deal of time on the road and even made the claim that He “had nowhere to lay His head;” and yet in this instance Mark portrays Him as “back in the house,” in His adopted hometown of Capernaum.  N. T. Wright thinks it was His own house.[i]  It may very well have been.  One thing seems certain:  whatever His connection with the place, it was no secret to the people of the village.  They knew exactly where to find Him        

The Word (Logos)

What was this word (Greek logos) that Jesus proclaimed?  A word that had the power to attract such a crowd that the house overflowed with listeners?  Can you imagine the excitement, the thrill of a message like that?  Think of how it must have felt to be a part of that scene!  All the evidence indicates that it was the very same word He came preaching back in 1:15:  “The kingdom is here!  I have arrived!  Forsake all other loyalties and follow Me!  I bring you something more than a new “way of life.”  What I bring is Life itself – the genuine article.  This is the Reality you’ve been waiting for!”  It’s the same message we get in a highly theologized form in the Letter to the Hebrews.  But here it presents itself in the shape of an earth-shaking Event.  It’s a Happening that changes everything for those who are blessed enough to experience it firsthand.               

Faith and Forgiveness

Perhaps the most remarkable part of these few lines is the clause at the beginning of verse 5:  “When Jesus saw their faith … ”  Faith, we are told here, is something that can be seen.  It is visible in the actions of those who embrace it and do something with it.  “If you really believe that what you believe is really real,”[i] you behave differently.  You step out and make investments on the basis of that belief:  investments that might otherwise seem brash, foolish, offensive, groundless, and insane.  That’s how it is with the paralytic and his friends.  So thoroughly convinced are they that Jesus has the power to deal with their situation that they’re willing to tear off the roof – the roof of Jesus’ own house, if N. T. Wright is correct – in an attempt to reach Him.

And what is His response to this outlandish appeal for help?  This, too, is astonishing and wholly unexpected.  He doesn’t say, “Rise up and walk” – at least not right away.  Instead, He tells the man, “Your sins are forgiven.”  Apparently this is the central issue as far as Christ is concerned.  This is the real point of the kingdom He comes to inaugurate:  not temporary remedies for earthly ailments, but total restoration of the Relationship between broken people and the One they’ve offended.  Once that problem is resolved, everything else will follow.                    

The Right Question

You have to hand it to the scribes and Pharisees on one point:  they knew how to ask the right questions.  So steeped were they in the Scriptures that they immediately grasped the deeper implications of what they were witnessing.  Sins forgiven?  Who indeed but God can make such a pronouncement (see Exodus 34:6-7; Isaiah 43:25; 44:22)?  For Mark, the author of the book, it’s essentially a rhetorical question.  “Don’t you get it?” he seems to say to the reader.  “Don’t you realize who this is?”  It’s not without cause that the religious leaders accuse Jesus of blasphemy at this juncture.  Wright says that this brief narrative gives us “a tiny version of the whole Gospel:  Jesus teaching and healing, Jesus condemned for blasphemy, Jesus vindicated.”[i]  It’s the whole story in a nutshell.        

Forgiveness and Authority

Authority (verse 10).  Not just any authority, but authority to forgive.  And not just authority to forgive, but authority to forgive on earth.  These are the key phrases to bear in mind here. 

Authority, Mark seems to be telling us, is not about “bossing people around.”  Instead, it’s a question of releasing them from bondage and letting them go (Greek aphiemi).  And it’s a present reality – not just a hope for the future.     

These studies in Mark, together with past reflections on the Book of Revelation and passages such as Romans 13:1-8, are leading gently but inexorably toward a simple conclusion:  Authority is not just a matter of hierarchy or control.  It’s a profoundly spiritual issue.  So profoundly spiritual, in fact, that we may want to dig into it a little more deeply in our next installment.    

For time being, let’s just note that, in this context, Mark once again employs the Greek word exousia:  the very word used by Paul (along with archai, “Arkys”) to describe the spiritual “powers and principalities” from whom Christ has set us free.  “All authority (exousia),” Jesus tells His disciples at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, “is given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).  And He proves it in this passage not only by forgiving the paralytic’s sins, but by restoring Him to full health.  It’s another “sign” of the coming of the kingdom.

Final Thoughts

Forgiveness.  Think about it long enough and you’ll begin to realize that it’s an absolute miracle.  Anyone who has ever really had something to forgive – something genuinely hurtful – knows how true that statement is.  And the kingdom Jesus brings is centered upon forgiveness:  freedom, release, and healing for our poisoned souls.  Reconciliation between God and man and between man and man. 

That’s what makes it such an impossible and devastating reversal of everything we take for granted.      

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[i] Wright, p. 17.

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[i] Del Tackett, The Truth Project.

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[i] N.T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, p. 16.

Review

Last week’s discussion of Mark 1:35-45 elicited several intriguing comments.  Nearly all were concerned with the leper’s flagrant (Craig called it “blithe”) disregard of Jesus’ order to “tell no one” about the healing.  Why, asked Dorothy, would Christ give commands that He knows are certain to be disobeyed?  And why do we (wondered Craig) willingly, deliberately, and happily go out and do the very thing Jesus has told us not to do?  Does this kind of careless and exuberant disobedience have the potential to thwart God’s perfect plan? 

Before diving in, I’d like to raise another question of my own:  was this leper’s “disobedience” really such a bad thing?  On the surface it seems innocent enough.  After all, the man was genuinely grateful and understandably excited.  He just wanted to tell the world what Jesus had done for him.  Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? 

Well … maybe.  And maybe not.  It all depends.

Let’s keep this in mind as we pause and “hover” over this section a few moments more.       

Our Text:

               43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, 44 and He said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a testimony to them. 45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news about, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.

Kingdoms in Conflict

We’ll begin by revisiting the reason for Jesus’ command.  Why did He want the leper to remain silent?  Last time we said that He was hoping to suppress “the kind of publicity that gets attached to showy wonder-workers.”  But there’s a bit more to it than that. 

Remember, Jesus is proclaiming a starkly revolutionary message.  He’s announcing “The Arky (arche) of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1).  He says that “the kingdom of God has arrived” (1:15).  In effect, He’s asserting His predominance over all other authorities and governances, whether that means the unseen spiritual powers in “heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12) or the human officials and magistrates who serve beneath them.

This message is easily misinterpreted.  In Jesus’ day, Jewish religion, culture, and folklore had built up a vast complex of wrong-headed political assumptions about the nature of the Coming Kingdom.  Something similar has happened in our own time, despite Christ’s clear assertion that His kingdom is “not of this world” (John 18:36).  At the moment of the leper’s healing, the temporal authorities (especially the religious ones) already perceive Jesus as a threat.  So He attempts to defuse a potentially explosive situation by telling the man to keep silent.  He goes even further by instructing him to fulfill the specifications of the Mosaic law “as a testimony to them.”  Revolutionary though He is, He wants to avoid misunderstanding and unnecessary trouble.  His objective is to keep the lid on the pot until He’s had a little more time to clarify His intent

 

“A Time to Be Silent, and a Time to Speak”

“Say nothing to anyone …”  Commenting on this, N. T. Wright asks, “Are there any times when we, today, should be silent, however much we want to speak about Jesus and what He’s done for us?”[i]

Jacques Ellul thinks so.  He says we live in an age when people can’t really hear the Gospel message.  They can’t hear it because they think they already know what it’s about.  They’re laboring under the burden of many centuries’ worth of accrued misunderstanding and misperception:  staggering under layer upon layer of mutation, caricature, and misrepresentation of the Truth, most of it perpetrated by so-called Christians.  In this sense, they’re very much like the Jews of Jesus’ time. 

“To proclaim the Word of God to men in the abstract,” writes Ellul, “to people who are in a situation which prevents them from understanding it, means that we are tempting God.”[i]  Referencing Jesus’ warning against “casting pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6), he adds, “We need a revolution … which attacks the bases of a civilization whose efforts tend solely towards transforming men into ‘swine’ – all men – who by this very fact can no longer receive the divine ‘pearls.’”[ii]  Writing in another context, he concludes, “There is a time for speech and a time for silence (Ecclesiastes 3:7).  We shall often have occasion to meditate on this.”[iii]

When does the “time for speech” come?  Good question.  According to Ellul, it must be preceded by “the creation of a new style of life” among believers – a “style of life” that prompts unbelievers to wonder and ask.  There’s a lot we could say about this.  But perhaps that’s a subject for another time.  

Final Thoughts:  No Plan B

So:  did the leper’s blabbing “confound the Lord’s purpose and will,” as Craig put it?  That’s easy to answer:  we know it didn’t. 

The man tells everyone what has happened to him; Jesus retreats to “deserted places;” people seek Him out anyway; and the story moves on indefatigably to its predetermined conclusion.  The Son of Man “goes just as it is written of Him,” despite human blunders, errors, and sins (Mark 14:21).  For in God’s economy, there is no such thing as “Plan B.”  It’s always “Plan A,” morphing, changing, adapting, branching out into brand-new and unforeseen avenues of fulfillment and fresh revelation. 

That’s the way it’s always worked – ever since the Garden of Eden.  And that’s the way it goes in our own bungled but blessed lives.             

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[i] N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, p. 14.

[i] Jacques Ellul, The Presence of the Kingdom, p. 141.

[ii] Ibid., p. 143.

[iii] Jacques Ellul, The Politics of God and the Politics of Man, p. 161

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Review

In our last installment we saw Jesus asserting His unique authority as God Incarnate (Hebrews 1:6; 3:4), Son of Man (Hebrews 2:9), and Inaugurator of the Coming and Present Kingdom (Mark 1:15).  He did this by performing miracles of healing, casting out the “rulers of the darkness of this age” (Ephesians 6:12), and defying long-held assumptions about the Mosaic Sabbath Law (Hebrews 3:3), thus challenging the Religious and Nationalistic sensibilities of His contemporaries.

In this section He continues on this revolutionary, “anarchic” course.        

Verses 35-39:  The Priority of Prayer

After a long day – and night – of healing the sick and subjugating the “spiritual hosts of wickedness,” Jesus is up “exceedingly early,” spending time in prayer; probably during what was called “the fourth watch of the night” (3:00 to 6:00 a.m.).  This kind of solitary communion with the Father was “Ground Zero” for Him.  It was the power source behind everything He did.  Simon and the others don’t get this, of course.  They want Him to hurry back to Capernaum and “strike while the iron is hot.”  But Jesus isn’t interested in “capitalizing” on the buzz of the previous evening.  “Let’s go somewhere else,” He says.  “Other towns need my message too.”  Not a brilliant marketing strategy, perhaps.  But it reflected the sense of calling He had received during His hours of solitude with the Father. 

Verses 40-42:  The Healing Touch

There are several details worth mentioning here. 

First, the leper[i] initiates contact with Jesus.  This is the kind of active, seeking faith that Christ always commends and rewards.  Remember how many times He said, “Your faith has made you well.” 

Second, the words “If you are willing” both defer to Jesus’ authority and assume His power.  It’s not a question of what He can do, but of what He chooses to do as Sovereign Master.  And of course, Jesus is willing.  He says so Himself.

Third, many ancient manuscripts have “moved with anger” instead of “moved with compassion.”  A “difficult reading” to be sure.  That’s why most editors and translators have rejected it (though apparently it was adopted in an early version of the NIV).  But we’ll want to book-mark it for further reference when we get to verse 43.   

Fourth, Jesus heals by touch.  Yet another violation of the Law of Moses.  According to Leviticus Chapters 13 and 14 (see especially 13:45-46), lepers were to be excluded from normal society.  Anyone who touched a leper would himself be considered ritually unclean.  Yet Jesus reaches out and puts His hand on the man, thus “defying both the law and the social taboo.”[ii]  It’s no wonder that, even at this early stage of His ministry, officialdom was already watching Him like a hawk.

Side-note:  We can all relate to this leper right now.  In a time of “social distancing,” everyone experiences the want of human touch – especially those who live alone.  We know firsthand what it is like to avoid and be avoided; and the message here is that Jesus has the power and the authority to penetrate that barrier.  Jesus touches the untouchables.  He can break through and enfold us in His loving embrace.    

Fifth and last, the cure was immediate and complete.  No mistaking the supernatural quality of the authority on display here.              

Verses 43 & 44: “Tell No One”

Jesus’ charge to this man is remarkable for the violence of the language it employs.  “Strictly warned” is a pretty tame translation of the Greek embrimaomai, which originally referred to the “snorting of horses” and could mean “speak harshly, criticize, be angry or deeply moved.”  It’s the word used to describe Christ’s feelings as He approaches the tomb of His dead friend Lazarus in John 11:38.  To make matters worse, Jesus didn’t simply “send the man away;” He actually “threw him out” (Greek exebalen).  Why such a stern response?

It all has to do with our theme of the “Incognito Messiah.”  “Don’t tell anyone about this!” Jesus commands the man – just as He had commanded the demon in 1:25.  He wasn’t looking for the kind of publicity that gets attached to showy wonder-workers.  He wanted people to focus on the message of the Coming Kingdom – the new Center of Allegiance – instead of on flashy miracles.  And it grieved Him to think that unless they “saw signs and wonders,” they would “never believe” (John 4:48).[i]

Also noteworthy are the instructions Jesus appends to His stern exhortation:  “Show yourself to the priest …”  Remember Martin Luther?  “The Christian is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; the Christian is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone.”[ii]  Even in the act of smashing false Arkys, Jesus reminds us not to give unnecessary offense, “So that the name of God and our teaching may not be spoken against” (1 Timothy 6:1).                      

Verse 45: The Word Spreads

As it happens time and time again in the Gospel accounts, Jesus’ warning has the opposite effect on the former leper.  And so the word spreads; and at the end of this section, Jesus is right back where we found Him at the beginning:  alone in “deserted places.”  Yet even there they sought Him out.     

Final Thoughts

Jesus heals.  Jesus delivers from oppression.  Jesus touches those who desperately need to be touched.  But in the end, Jesus is much more than all of this; for Jesus, as the early Christians expressed it in their most primitive Confession of Faith, is Lord.  And once you’ve said that, you’ve said it all.

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[i] The Greek word lepra referred to a variety of skin diseases, most of which were unconnected with what we call “leprosy” today. 

[ii] Eckhard J. Schnabel, The Tyndale New Testament Commentary on Mark, p. 63.

[i] Referring to the healing miracles of Jesus, Alfred Edersheim comments, “There is nothing more marked than the pain, we had almost said the humiliation, which their necessity seems to have carried to His heart.” (Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Vol. I, Book III, Chapter XV.  

[ii] Luther, “The Freedom of the Christian.”

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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