Gospel of Mark Readthrough : 1:16 -
Jan. 15th, 2012 06:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackJesus Calls His First Disciples
16As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people."
I don't suppose it happened literally as its described here, but this is a lovely passage, a very moving start to the hero setting off on his adventure.
It's also worth noting (as was relevant to the Boyarin post, and as is often pointed out Christian writings) that Jesus was attracting comparatively everyday people as followers. His first disciples are fishermen; remember that if a grubby fisherman comes up to you and is the latest to claim to be the new messiah, and you didn't know who Jesus was going to be, why you might be dismissive of him when you really shouldn't be.
19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
Although, when I said ordinary, I meant "not scholars" -- James and John were presumably not the lowest rung on the social ladder if they had hired help, even temporarily.
And in another counterpoint, think how you'd feel if your only sons went off with a grubby carpenter to preach revolution. Happy? Worried? Nowadays we know what was going to happen, but at the time, imagine people may have felt (a) rebellious, since the country was still under occupation, and sympathetic to anyone preaching any sort of insurgency, even a peaceful one and (b) scared that your sons would go off and get arrested, or that you'd not be able to handle the family without them.
21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.
Skip ahead in the story a bit. I get the impression that "turning up at the weekly service and randomly preaching" isn't quite as shocking in 20AD synagogues as it is to 2000AD churches?
It still seems quite pushy, assuming Jesus was still wandering (was he?) The next verses imply Jesus was a bresh of fresh air, which normally means _some_ people were unpleased to see him.
I'm not sure how accurate this is. But I get the impression that in a church nowadays, standing up and arguing is Not Done. (Is that right?) I mean, presumably, people should listen if you seem like you have something serious to say, but it's not the expected etiquette. But in a synagogue, it's more normal -- you don't expect it all the time, but in principle, you're supposed to be having a conversation amongst equals rather than a sermon. (Is that right?) If so, someone with lots of good insights might just turn up like that, in theory, even if not everyone was happy about it.
25 "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
A standard miracle healing story. Although I can already think of two interpretations: (1) the guy was genuinely ill (whether or not it was an evil spirit) and Jesus fixed him (2) the guy disagreed with Jesus (whether or not he was a bad guy), and Jesus persuaded him, and the story got exaggerated later.
I'm curious what a standard Christian reading of this passage would be. Is it obligatory to assume that evil spirits exist as self-willed entities? Do they _still_ exist, or is that ambiguous? Or is it ok to read "evil spirit" as 20AD-speak for "illness of the body" or "illness of the mind"?
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.
Word begins to spread. People hurry and scurry about town, praying Jesus can do more healing. The rolling stone begins to gather more speed.
16As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people."
I don't suppose it happened literally as its described here, but this is a lovely passage, a very moving start to the hero setting off on his adventure.
It's also worth noting (as was relevant to the Boyarin post, and as is often pointed out Christian writings) that Jesus was attracting comparatively everyday people as followers. His first disciples are fishermen; remember that if a grubby fisherman comes up to you and is the latest to claim to be the new messiah, and you didn't know who Jesus was going to be, why you might be dismissive of him when you really shouldn't be.
19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
Although, when I said ordinary, I meant "not scholars" -- James and John were presumably not the lowest rung on the social ladder if they had hired help, even temporarily.
And in another counterpoint, think how you'd feel if your only sons went off with a grubby carpenter to preach revolution. Happy? Worried? Nowadays we know what was going to happen, but at the time, imagine people may have felt (a) rebellious, since the country was still under occupation, and sympathetic to anyone preaching any sort of insurgency, even a peaceful one and (b) scared that your sons would go off and get arrested, or that you'd not be able to handle the family without them.
21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.
Skip ahead in the story a bit. I get the impression that "turning up at the weekly service and randomly preaching" isn't quite as shocking in 20AD synagogues as it is to 2000AD churches?
It still seems quite pushy, assuming Jesus was still wandering (was he?) The next verses imply Jesus was a bresh of fresh air, which normally means _some_ people were unpleased to see him.
I'm not sure how accurate this is. But I get the impression that in a church nowadays, standing up and arguing is Not Done. (Is that right?) I mean, presumably, people should listen if you seem like you have something serious to say, but it's not the expected etiquette. But in a synagogue, it's more normal -- you don't expect it all the time, but in principle, you're supposed to be having a conversation amongst equals rather than a sermon. (Is that right?) If so, someone with lots of good insights might just turn up like that, in theory, even if not everyone was happy about it.
25 "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
A standard miracle healing story. Although I can already think of two interpretations: (1) the guy was genuinely ill (whether or not it was an evil spirit) and Jesus fixed him (2) the guy disagreed with Jesus (whether or not he was a bad guy), and Jesus persuaded him, and the story got exaggerated later.
I'm curious what a standard Christian reading of this passage would be. Is it obligatory to assume that evil spirits exist as self-willed entities? Do they _still_ exist, or is that ambiguous? Or is it ok to read "evil spirit" as 20AD-speak for "illness of the body" or "illness of the mind"?
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.
Word begins to spread. People hurry and scurry about town, praying Jesus can do more healing. The rolling stone begins to gather more speed.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-19 10:47 am (UTC)I guess it also depends how well he was known to that particular synagogue, and exactly what the setting was ... like, someone speaking up in the middle of the Eucharist and trying to chip in would obviously be shocking. But someone speaking up towards the end of a more informal church prayer meeting would be less shocking.
I don't know enough of what goes on in a synagogue (or whether there's enough in the text to know exactly what happened here) - did he interrupt a set service? Was it normal for people (by "people" I suppose I mean "Jewish men") to be invited to read a bit of scripture and comment on it? (I've been to sermons that claimed that was the case, and if it was usual to ask the new Jewish guy who'd come that week to do the scripture reading, I guess it's less pushy?)
Ah, well, now that's a very interesting question ...
a) I don't think there *necessarily* is a "standard Christian reading".
b) It is not obligatory to assume that evil spirits exist as self-willed entities, although as far as I know it is also not unusual to assume this (depends on who you talk to though I guess)
c) certainly many of the evil spirits in the NT can be understood as "illness of the mind" / "some illness of the body that they didn't understand". The tricky one is probably the man who is called Legion because he is possessed by so many demons, and the demons beg to be allowed to go into some pigs nearby, and Jesus says okay (who knows why?) and then the pigs all run and drown in a lake. Someone's mental illness drowning an actual herd of pigs is ... something that takes thought.
d) it's perfectly possible to believe in evil spirits and also believe that usually when we encounter strange things it's probably mental illness instead. I went to a youth leaders' conference day thing on mental health which was really good (run by Mind and Soul - mindandsoul.info) and that was the view that one of the speakers who was a clinical psychiatrist (I think, I get psychologist/psychiatrist mixed up) who worked with very disturbed people - he wasn't denying the existence of evil/evil spirits, but was saying that most stuff you encounter is mental illness. Also, that whichever you might think it is, you can always pray for healing and that's always appropriate (as opposed to e.g. trying to do some special prayer for exorcism thing which could be a really bad idea).
e) I know there are people (Cessationists) who think that miracles were only for the time of the Apostles and have now stopped. I don't know if the same people would therefore also think all spirits have stopped being active?