The theme of Mark 1:9-11 is the story of baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. This baptism has the primary implication for us today in that when we receive baptism, we are publicly uniting ourselves with and standing with Jesus. In that sense, it becomes the basis for the early church to invite new believers to submit to baptism as well. Baptism is a sign that the favor or grace of God rests upon us. Baptism is a form of anointing us for ministry. Baptism is a sign that we have committed ourselves to the reign of God. As the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist stands at the beginning of his public ministry and had implications throughout that ministry, so our baptism stands at the beginning of our vocation to become increasingly a Christian. God calls Christians into fellowship with Jesus. In that way, the beginning of the ministry of Jesus is not of merely historical interest. It became exemplary, normative, and binding in respect of the form of the beginning of their new life. The beginning of a life of fellowship with Him is at issue. It followed His act of submission to God, of solidarity with humanity, and of service to God.
We learn that 9In the days of the preaching of John the Baptist Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee (28 AD). We know from other sources that nationalist uprisings occurred when Jesus was two and twelve. However, a non-violent protest by peasants occurred in Caesarea occurred against Pilate. A few months later, Jesus will come to the Baptist for baptism. It will be the first crucial decision he makes publicly. We can understand the ministry of the Baptist as inviting people to leave “Egypt,” that is, Jerusalem and the corrupt ways of institutional life in Israel and come to the wilderness. The Baptist patterned his ministry after Moses, Elijah, and other prophets. Significantly, however, Jesus does not stay with John in the wilderness. He will return to Galilee. John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan. The question naturally arises as to why Jesus was among those who freely submitted to the baptism of John. This act of Jesus is one of the few incidents in the life of Jesus in which scholars agree that it happened. The question arises as to whether Mark thought Jesus needed the kind of repentance and forgiveness the baptism of John signifies. Some would suggest a plain reading of the text demands an affirmative answer. I think a plain reading suggests a negative answer, given the private revelation to Jesus that occurs after his baptism. Thus, Mark then offers us a theological interpretation of this event in the life of Jesus. For Mark, the relationship between John and Jesus is not important. Rather, the revelation from God, which he now shares, is what is important to him. What occurs after the actual baptism is the primary point of the baptism. Thus, 10 as Jesus came up out of the water, he saw first, the heavens torn apart, a violent verb signaling the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. Mark will use the save verb in 15:38 to describe the tearing of the curtain in the temple. Both events go completely unnoticed by others. Second, Jesus saw the long absent Spirit, which swept over the face of the waters in Genesis 1:2, descending through the torn open heavens like a dove. Such an image is not common in Judaism. An interesting recognition among scholars is that in the Roman imagination, the descent of a bird was a crucial omen for the life of a great leader. Usually, this bird was an eagle, the symbol of Roman legions and military might. Mark uses this trope but subverts it, placing the peaceful dove instead of the aggressive eagle. The reign of God, for which Jesus is the sole leader, comes as a peaceful and sacrificial dove instead of the Roman eagle. The dove descended on him (εἰς αὐτόν, even into him). However, the resting upon persons, as in Isaiah 11:1-3, is a feature of prophetic literature. The point is that the living presence of the Holy Spirit will empower the ministry of Jesus. John had promised that the one to come after him would be different, and we see here the first expression of that difference. The baptism is the beginning of the eschatological age, which the theological significance of the Father tearing open the heavens and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. Further, 11a voice came from heaven, which we will not hear from again until the transfiguration of Jesus, saying, “You are my Son, (Psalm 2:7 as a royal psalm) the Beloved; with you I am well pleased (Isaiah 42:7 as a suffering servant).” Mark can begin his gospel seriously, having revealed to us the unique nature of Jesus of Nazareth. These verses reflect a private revelation to Jesus, or better, a private confirmation. They reveal the future of Jesus as king and servant, enthronement and suffering. We should view this combination of Messiah and suffering servant as a uniqueness that comes from Jesus of Nazareth. They convey an intimate, unfathomable moment of closeness between the beloved and the ultimate power of the universe. As readers, we will know things about Jesus that the disciples and the contemporaries of Jesus will not know. Mark keeps the secret hidden from the view of others, even if he does not keep secret from us. God chooses an unknown person from a small village in a marginal region. Jesus did not have the right pedigree. Yet, the choice of God occurs apart from recognized human authorities. We have here the impartation of the Spirit and the thought of adoption.[1] Some scholars will remind us that the Roman emperor designated his successor as his son. Often, this son was not the biological son but one of his adopted sons. Jesus is the elect Son of God.[2] As such, Jesus becomes a model of election as serving humanity for the mission God gave him.[3] The baptism proclaims divine sonship and relates it to the future of his public ministry.[4] Such statements have validity only from the standpoint of the Easter event.[5] Yet, what will all this mean? Mark will show the reader throughout the gospel. Mark has set the stage for the one who is more powerful than the Baptist, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. The one whose identity we as readers of this gospel know will contest with human beings who stand opposed to the good news and the rule of God.
The theme of Mark 1:12-13 is the story of the temptation of Jesus. In terms of sources, it would be almost impossible to understand the account of the temptation of Jesus in Mark apart from Matthew and Luke. However, I will focus upon this story in the context of Mark.
Part of the context involves Jesus alone in prayer. Jesus frequently withdrew from the crowds and the disciples. He usually sought a deserted place to pray. After the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus dismissed the crowds and "went up the mountain by himself to pray" (Matthew 14:23; cf. John 6:15). After Jesus spent a day preaching and healing, the next morning, "while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed" (1:35). He prepared himself for choosing the twelve as "he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12). Crushed by the crowds who wanting healing, Jesus frequently withdrew to deserted places to pray (Luke 5:16). What Jesus gives us about prayer is primarily by his own example, which, most of the time, is to withdraw to a deserted place to do it. This practice teaches us a few things. For one thing, it suggests that we need to be intentional about finding a time and place to pray and listen. His practice can also help us think differently about deserted places in our lives. Such a place might be physical. It could also mean the places in our lives where we forget to invite God. If we are open, we can turn any moment, even a long drive, into a moment of prayer. A deserted place can also refer to places where we lack what others of have. A deserted place may be the place we feel alone because of temptation, rage, discouragement, doubt, or some other inward experience. Such moments are times to pray.
Jacques Maritain wrote to a 17-year-old girl. She found herself in a deserted place where she felt she had lost God. She was angry about it. She wrote to Maritain. He told her that things would not always look to her as they did in this moment. He urged her to use every ounce of her intelligence. He suggested some things to read. He then added that he would not advise her to wait. Rather, she should take advantage of her brokenness and feeling like life had beaten her into the ground. This moment can set her on a real search for truth. She can put her childhood behind her. He invites her to pray, even if she stammers and blasphemes. He even encourages her to tell God that if God exists, God needs to make that existence known to her.
We learn that 12 the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness, as if by strong, if not violent, compulsion. The desert is the habitation of demons. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days (Deuteronomy 8:2, the days Noah waited after the flood), tempted by Satan, the title Mark prefers, as does Paul. Yet, what was this, that Jesus encountered temptation?
For us he was baptized, and bore
His holy fast, and hungered sore;
For us temptation sharp he knew,
For us the tempter overthrew.[6]
Temptation refers to allurement or enticement to do evil. Temptation is like a trap into which the unwary can fall (I Timothy 6:9). Any test of moral virtue is a temptation to the one tested. Satan tempts because he wants to destroy. Human beings succumb to temptation because they have strong desires toward sin and evil.[7] Temptation distracts, beguiles, and bullies us off the path. It makes real life different from the world of our dreams. Our dreams imagine a world that we can mold to our aspirations and ambitions. We meet a world of trial that we do not have the character or virtue to surmount. We encounter seductions we do have the virtue to resist.[8] It may well be that
The last temptation is the greatest treason;
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.[9]
Further, Jesus was with the wild beasts. Here is the most enigmatic statement in the account. My instinct is to think of the dangers that Jesus encountered in the wilderness. To put it on a personal level, we could ask ourselves to name the wild beasts in our lives. We want to know its name and face. If we do this as a community, then I need to consider that the best you face may be a beast I face. Yet, it could be a peaceful reference to the messianic ideal of a restoration of the heavenly peace as in Isaiah 11:6-9, where lion and lamb are at peace and children can play with poisonous snakes. Patristic era commentators took this approach. For them, the presence of the “wild beasts” drew a parallel with Adam while in the garden of Eden. Once more Satan is tempting the “human one” (to anticipate Jesus’ self-designation as uios tou anqropou beginning at 2:10 and throughout this gospel) amid the beasts, but this time the “human one” prevails and to the point where angels ministered to him, rather than the angels driving him out, as we find in Genesis 3:22-24. On this reading of the “wild beasts,” the “wilderness” is not a satanic and Godforsaken place. Rather, God is present with Jesus throughout this trial in the same way God was present with Adam in Eden and Israel in Sinai. Yet whereas both humanity generally (Adam) and the chosen people of God (Israel) have failed such temptations in the past, this time the “human one” succeeds in plundering Satan’s house (Mark 3:27). Further, the angels waited on Jesus, representing divine protection. This story could suggest that there are terrors, and there are gracious powers to help us face them. All of this could mean than that this passage signals that the eschatological warfare is beginning, centering upon Jesus. This passage is intense and shows the trials of the experience which Jesus endured. Many at this time believed wild beasts to be demon possessed. Yet, God’s protection was there during the trial. Thus, Jesus fully identifies with the people of God, who have their own wilderness to go through in life. It could be a preview of the struggle to come. The scene could portray both the danger of the wilderness and the protection of Jesus as Son of God. It is also important to ask how the wilderness sojourn functions in the introduction of Mark’s gospel. The wilderness sojourn prevents readers from assuming that the ministry of Jesus will be one of exaltation and glory.[10]
I think it helpful to consider these few verses considering the context. From the very start of the gospel of Mark, the ministry of Jesus is a contest. This contest seems at first to be pitting evil spirits against the Holy Spirit, with the numerous references to "Spirit" in this first chapter leaving no question on whose side Jesus is. Pheme Perkins points out that the first voice in the desert, that of John the Baptist, announces that the one who is to come will baptize with the Holy Spirit (v. 8). The Spirit descends on Jesus when he receives baptism (v. 10) and drives Jesus into the wilderness to receive temptation from Satan (vv. 12-13). The first miracle of Jesus involves driving an unclean spirit out of a man (vv. 23-27). Nevertheless, is this contest really between evil spirits and the Holy Spirit? Perhaps not. Satan is no match for Jesus in the gospel of Mark, and the evangelist never describes the two as locked in serious combat. "Jesus' opponents in this gospel will turn out to be human beings. The struggle lies in the distance between the human and the divine." Jesus ends up fighting the scribes from Jerusalem, who accuse him of using demonic power (3:22-27). Jesus struggles with Peter, and even calls him "Satan," because Peter rejects the passion of Jesus and refuses to accept the plan of God (8:33). The real contest, you see, is between humans and Jesus, between old humanity and the new Son of God. Mark opens his gospel by "preparing the way" for the Christ, using all available symbols and appropriate images from the Old Testament.
The theme of Mark 1:14-15 is that of providing a summary of the preaching of Jesus. The source is Mark. The good news is about God. Jesus calls for a response to the coming rule of God. We will note the temporal and spatial dimensions of the kingdom.
In context, Mark 1:12-13 has rehearsed the exodus experience of Israel in the desert in which the experience tests their faith in Yahweh, as in Deuteronomy 8:2. The difference is that Jesus relived the wilderness experience without yielding to the testing, while Israel failed its test. Mark has dismissed Satan. He has John arrested and in prison before the preaching of Jesus begins. He has set the stage for Jesus to begin preaching the gospel of God.
This text begins with a crucial "hinge" statement that moves the reader from Mark's prologue that includes and introduces the central people and events that together prepare Jesus for his public ministry. Mark 1:14-15 forms the threshold of the entrance of Jesus into the Galilean ministry, which is by far the most extensive portion of Mark's gospel.
In Mark, the rule of God is a reality of the near or immediate future. Indeed, the appearance Jesus and the appearance of the rule of God are the same. Mark rarely defines the content of the preaching of Jesus. Where Mark specifies the message of Jesus precisely, it is the announcement of the rule of God. The tangible power of the rule of God is also apparent from the way others react to Jesus and his message.
Mark 1:14 firmly close the door on any active role for John the Baptist: 14 Now after John was arrested John the Baptist's active role by revealing that the authorities arrested (παραδοθῆναι later translated as betrayed, delivered up, and handed over in 9:31, 10:33, 14:21, 41). The time of John is past. The time has come to focus one he prophesied would come. The end of the ministry of John reminds the reader of the fate awaiting Jesus. Jesus begins his public proclamation only after the imprisonment of John the Baptist.[11] Thus, Jesus came to Galilee, Mark letting us know that Jesus did not stay with John in the wilderness very long. The ministry of Jesus will be among the cities and towns of Galilee rather than in the wilderness. He will make Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum the center of his public activity. Mark describes the message of Jesus as proclaiming (κηρύσσων) the gospel or good news (εὐαγγέλιον) of God, which may explain why the early church used the term “gospel” for the comprehensive presentations of the Jesus tradition.[12]
The content of Jesus' proclamation is fourfold in Mark 1: 15. For some context, this summary of the content of the preaching of Jesus is like Isaiah 52:7. The prophet writes of the beauty of those who bring good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, and who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
The first part of the summary is that in the arrival of Jesus, we find Jesus proclaiming 15 and saying, “The time (καιρὸς) is fulfilled (Πεπλήρωται). God is the one fulfilling time in this way. Mark is not referring to chronos (extended time), but kairos (the right time for something to happen). According to Mark, the right time is after the arrest of John and the right place is the moment of the arrival of Jesus in Galilee. At this time, God steps into human history in a unique and decisive way. The time of John the prophet is over; the time of Jesus and fulfillment has begun. John predicted the coming of the One who would baptize with the Spirit. If the arrival of Jesus fulfills the time, it indicates that the ministry of Jesus will bring about the age of salvation anticipated by the prophecy of John. “Fulfilled” refers to a completion of the past, and thus a keen sense of continuity. Scripture, Law, and the purpose of the old covenant find their fulfillment in Christ. “The time you have been waiting for, the time announced by the prophets, is finally here! The glorious new day of the rule of God has just dawned!" We can see here a partial basis for saying that Jesus is Lord of time. In Matthew 13:16-17, this generation receives so much blessing from God because it has seen and heard Jesus. In Galatians 4:4, Paul refers to the fullness of time as being the moment when the Father sent the Son into the world. Ephesians 1:10 says that in the fullness of time, God is summing up all things in Christ. The promises and prophecies of the Old Testament find their fulfillment in the arrival of Jesus. If the time finds its fulfillment, the fulfillment comes in a moment, an event, in the arrival of Jesus. This real event occurs as a particular event and a particular time, a center around which all other times will revolve. The time before has moved toward Christ. The time after Jesus moves away from this event. Humanity has time because Jesus had his time. We have the fullness of our time because we orient ourselves to and live our lives from the perspective of the time Jesus has. The purpose of our time after this decisive event is to allow space before the rule of God to repent and believe. Those who do believe have as their primary purpose to make known this event. They too must wait expectantly, even as the universe waits, for this last event.[13]
The second piece of the proclamation of Jesus: and the kingdom or rule of God has come near (ἤγγικεν). Jesus spoke of the rule of God as close or already present but hidden, and thus in a way that frustrates ordinary expectations. The central content of the message is the dawning of the reign of God, indeed in the sense that God has already entered upon that reign. Note the similarity of this message to the central theme of Jesus as identified by this verse, although in relation to its future Jesus saw the divine reign as still in the process of dawning.[14] It implies the irruption of the reign of God into history is imminent. Even if we translate that the rule of God “has come,” it would refer to God revealing it in moments like the resurrection. Until the full revelation to all persons comes, we can only pray for the coming rule of God. Yet, we can see the subtle notion of the presence of God when Jesus says that he casts out devils by the Spirit of God, then the rule of God has come upon them (Matthew 12:28). The salvation promised for the end is a present reality in the healings and exorcisms of Jesus. The rule of God is in their midst (Luke 17:21). Jesus even sees Satan falling (Matthew 11:12).[15] Scholars debate what this summary says. Does it mean the reign of God is about to arrive or that it is already here? These passages suggest the answer could be both. For Mark, the rule of God has both present and future dimensions. We have already seen this in John the Baptist's message. John announces Jesus' imminent arrival, and Jesus appears. As Jesus begins his public ministry, the rule of God lay in the immediate future. As the story of Mark's gospel unfolds, those who encounter the power of God through the words and works of Jesus experience the rule of God as present yet hidden; the fullness of the rule of God remains the object of prayer and expectant waiting but is mysteriously present in the ministry of Jesus.
The third piece of Jesus' proclamation is the same message John preached - the call for people to repent (μετανοεῖτε). The prophetic theme of conversion is not prominent in the message of Jesus, even though this passage brings it to the fore as a theme of the preaching of Jesus. Yet, one could say that the summons to subordinate all concerns to seeking the reign of God in human life naturally implies very strongly a conversion to God. Conversion, for Jesus is not a precondition of participation in the reign of God. At the center of his message is the imminence and presence of the rule of God for believers.[16] To repent does not mean merely to turn away from a specific sin but turning toward God in faith and obedience. Repentance meant a complete about-face, a turning around of the mind, a changing of life and lifestyle, the taking of a radical new direction. The primary theme of the preaching of Jesus is that the rule of God has come near. This theme naturally leads into the call to hearers to turn around, to shift the direction of their lives, to look, listen and give their full attention to the arrival of the rule of God. Such repentance means complete re-orientation, both inward and outward, of the whole person to the God who truly has turned to humanity in time.[17] Such repentance implies genuine knowledge of oneself that includes our participation in sin.[18]
The final piece of the summary of the proclamation of Jesus is the call to believe (πιστεύετε) in the good news (εὐαγγελίῳ). In Mark, belief is trusting in the coming rule of God. It involves a letting go of the things to which we cling to for security and identity. Believe the good news that the rule of God is arriving. Where Jesus is, there the rule of God is actively at work. However, this truth is not self-evident. For one to see it, one must believe it. It involves a letting go of the things to which we cling to for security and identity. The call to believe is not an intellectual exercise, but a call to trust. To believe in the good news means to wager one's future on the reality of God's involvement in the world through the person and ministry of Jesus Christ, despite the skepticism of the modern worldview. In the work of Jesus, the call for conversion rests on the message of the inbreaking of the future of God in the coming of Jesus and for those who accept the summons in faith. The proclaiming of the presence of the rule of God and its salvation in those who in faith rely on its all-determinative future is now a motive for conversion to God on the part of the hearers.[19] Faith means the unquestioning trust in this God that is the positive side of this re-orientation; the new life that is the only possible life after this event in the time that follows it.[20]
[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 266.
[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 306.
[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 457.
[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 309.
[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume 2, 247, 365.
[6] c. 15th century, Benjamin Webb (1819-1985), tr. Hymns and Psalms, London: Methodist Publishing House, 1983
[7] (J. C. O'Neill, Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology [Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1983].)
[8] Austin Farrer, A Celebration of Faith, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1970
[9] - T. S. Eliot
[10] Mann, Mark in Anchor Bible series.
[11] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 326.
[12] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 455.
[13] Barth (Church Dogmatics III.2 [47], p. 459-461)
[14] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 456.
[15] Barth (Church Dogmatics III.2 [47], p. 459-461)
[16] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 311.
[17] Barth (Church Dogmatics, III.2, [47], 461)
[18] John Wesley gives a long description of this self-knowledge in sermons 14 and 15.
[19] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 245.
[20] Barth (Church Dogmatics, III.2 [47], 461)
No comments:
Post a Comment