Back to the Bible: Mark 2
I have been “in the ministry” since I was 22. I have two degrees studying theology and the Bible. While my views have evolved over the decades, I have always loved the Christian Scriptures and teaching them both in the classroom and in churches. But I haven’t been reading them lately due to a needed hiatus.
So I’m picking them back up again. Feel free to join my re-engagement. Should be fun.
Mark 2
When I was in undergrad, my major was theology with an emphasis in the New Testament. That means I took a lot of Greek classes and courses with titles like: Luke-Acts, Johannine Literature, and Pauline Epistles. However, a prerequisite for those classes was one called Jesus and the Gospels. We studied what are traditionally called the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) due to their similarities which almost certainly stem from utilizing common sources. I remember my professor using an analogy for the four Gospels that stuck with me. He said Mark is quick and action-packed like a movie. Matthew and Luke are more like novels. They take more time to lay out the setting and the surroundings. John is its own thing altogether and is akin to a painting, textured and still in its story-telling.
In the second chapter of Mark, this analogy applies. I see four quick interactions - bam, bam, bam, bam! I’m not sure if you knew this, but the chapters and the verses are not original to the Bible. They were arbitrarily added centuries later. While I find them useful for referencing purposes, I remember that they have nothing to do with Mark’s intentions. So with that in mind, I will also include the first six verses from the third chapter (Mark 2:1-3:6). It makes more sense to me. So add one more interaction…bam!
On the surface, these five episodes don’t seem to have anything in common: healing a paralytic (2:1-12), hanging out with Levi and other unsavory characters (2:13-17), reframing the practice of fasting (2:18-22), and two instances of challenging the Sabbath (2:23-3:6). Yet when I read it, I saw a through-line. Jesus is confronting the status quo. Aggressively and intentionally. While he authentically embraces the Jewish tradition, he purposefully ruffles the feathers of the power brokers: they who deem themselves righteous protectors of the faith. It becomes obvious when immediately after these five episodes Mark tells us that the religious leaders decide it’s time to get rid of this rogue Rabbi. Kill him.
And what was Jesus challenging exactly? To be succinct, I think it’s something like this: religious superiority, and holiness codes.
Now, some will say that Jesus didn’t come to destroy the Law (aka Torah), but to fulfill it. He did say that one time (Matt. 5:17). And the writers of the Bible (except Luke/Acts), were certainly all writing from a Jewish perspective. But when I read passages like this, I do not sense that Jesus agreed with most of the religious leaders’ interpretations of the Law. I do not even sense that Jesus sees himself as a mere reformer - someone that is guiding a movement back to the purity of their origins. If I’m reading his imagery about the cloth patches and wineskins correctly, I suspect Jesus is slyly alluding to more than a makeover. It’s more like a systemic overhaul. Tear down the building, scrap the old materials and blueprints, and start again. Hence, a new wineskin will be required. Something to hold the new wine.
Sadly, I do not think Church History reveals the sustained birth of the new wineskin Jesus imagined. Instead, I see Church History repeating the mistakes that Jesus openly criticized - egoic religious superiority and unnecessary holiness codes. Mark’s Gospel gives us a plot-driven, action-filled story that is clearly leading up to the startling conclusion of Jesus’ crucifixion and, most surprisingly, Jesus’ calm acceptance of this unjust death sentence. Mark’s Gospel shows me a man (the Son of Man as Jesus likes to say) who fiercely loves people even if that love looks like calling out systems of abuse run by trusted leaders who have deluded themselves with their own self-righteousness.
I could speak for quite a while about the ways I believe today’s Christianity would be equally criticized by this rogue Rabbi. Perhaps that’s why I asked Trent to start a podcast with me. Hahaha!