Friday Jan 1, 2021. Good Book Club - - Mark 1:1-11

Every good person's wish for this moment is Happy New Year! and that is indeed my wish for everyone - - friends & neighbors, loved ones, every American, every living, loving Being. The year 2021 arrives prayerfully with hopes that it will bring less sadness in every way than its predecessor, even as so many are grieving in loss. Kyrie eleison.  

This morning we begin our Epiphany Season enjoyment of "kata Markon" the holy gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ "per Mark". This is one of my three favorite books of the Bible, Genesis, Mark, and Revelation, and I'm intending thoroughly to enjoy our Good Book Club exercise as a time of enlightenment, which is what epiphany is.

There will be video presentations by our diocesan bishop, Russell Kendrick and by our presiding bishop, Michael Curry, which I will try to post so everyone can see them. What I post here will, for the most part, be my own in the style and approach of our Sunday School class.

Our first day's passage is Mark 1:1-11, the familiar story of Jesus' baptism. We'll begin reading from the popular and refreshingly alive modern paraphrase The Message. But in this case I'm also printing below it (scroll way down), the same text from the NRSV, that we at Holy Nativity, and most Episcopal parishes these days, read in worship. In this passage The Message omits a significant phrase, "the Son of God", that seems not to have been in the oldest manuscripts of Mark, but is in most modern English language Bibles. Also, it's a phrase that's "essential" to my usual Sunday School perception of Mark, and I'll point that out! 

As we go along, I'll be using several different English translations of Mark, to show some of Mark's writing eccentricities that most Bible translations smooth over in writing because Mark reads like he's breathlessly telling a story conversational style. 

And again from time to time, as today, I may also print the NRSV (and or other translations) as well so you can see what's "missing" from or has been added to the snippets that the lectionary framers lift out of context for us to read from Sunday to Sunday. And while I'm no Greek scholar, from time to time I may ring in Mark's NT Greek text to show one thing or other.

Here's today's text. 

Mark 1:1-11

Mark 1:1-11 

1 1-3 The good news of Jesus Christ—the Message!—begins here, following to the letter the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

Watch closely: I’m sending my preacher ahead of you;
He’ll make the road smooth for you.
Thunder in the desert!
Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!

4-6 John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life. John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey.

7-8 As he preached he said, “The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.”

9-11 At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God’s Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him. Along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”

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Okay, so that's today's introductory reading, Mark's story of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. The OT prophets that Mark tells of John the Baptist quoting are Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40.3. I usually won't explore into passages that the evangelist uses as messianic prophecy, but you can look them up if you like; and invariably you will find that what the Christian evangelist lifted out of context, for the ancient prophet were current for his day and had nothing whatsoever to do with messianic prophecy; and this is okay! 

BTW, if anyone at Holy Nativity does not have a Bible at home and would like to have a good Study Bible, speak up and you may have a free gift Bible from our inventory on the Sunday School shelves.

Here's the same story as found in the NRSV, perhaps with minor editing:

Mark 1:1-11

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
    ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight,’”

4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with[f]water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

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What do I want to say about this first Good Book Club reading from Mark?

First, that it sets Mark's agenda in motion, and as we go along we'll be seeing that. I prefer including the phrase "the Son of God" that's not included in The Message or in some ancient manuscripts (indicating that Mark may not have written it, that it was added later by the church or other editor). 

Mark's agenda - - and this, my view, is borne out in the little video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGHqu9-DtXk that I hope you watched Wednesday - - is to show Mark's audience (we think gentiles, not Jews as with Matthew) the unfolding of the self-evident story of who Jesus was/is: the Christ/Messiah, Son of God with God's own values for human life, and God's own creating and healing power; and that all the way through Jesus' life and ministry, those nearest and dearest to him never realized who/what he was as he proclaimed the kingdom of God was at hand. As the reader/student will see, the only ones who really recognized Jesus were  - -

God the Father,

Mark the gospel writer,

You, the audience, reader,

Jesus himself,

the evil spirits/demons,

the Centurion in charge of the crucifixion.

Everyone else is (intentionally, this is Mark's clever literary technique) too thick or blind or blinded to see and understand. People missing the point is not unique in the Bible (remember in Exodus, y'hVah hardened Pharaoh's heart so God's plan of salvation for Israel, the Exodus, could work). Mark subtly builds up our frustration at everyone's obtuseness until the very end, when he stops his story short with the women fleeing in fear and saying nothing, thus leaving the reader (that's you and me) so frustrated with Jesus' colleagues' blindness that we are inspired to rush out and proclaim Christ ourselves. 

As we go along these days and weeks of Epiphany, we'll notice Mark developing this agenda.

And agenda, BTW, is not something sneaky, sly, devious: every writer has an agenda. As an evangelist (a messenger with the good news), Mark's agenda, using his approach, is NOT to simply relate a story, but to proclaim Christ and to inspire you to proclaim Christ.

Second, today's story, which scholars would call a tradition or pericope, also has the agenda of discrediting any claim that John the Baptist was the Christ, the Messiah. Mark even has John himself (and all four canonical gospel writers do this) clearly renounce any such claim. Why? apparently there was such a movement at the time Mark wrote, a following of John Baptist as messiah was developing, and that idea about John Baptist needs to be extinguished in order to uphold Jesus as Messiah. So, as literary technique, who better to do that renouncing than to report John the Baptist himself doing it, as indeed Mark does.

Another interesting fact. An early sect or group who were raising up John the Baptist, were vegetarians who did not like the idea of John eating meat. Locusts were, and in some places over there today are, eaten as meat (animal, vegetable, mineral, a grasshopper is animal, right?, so it's meat). So in their scripture, the Gospel of the Ebionites, they changed Mark's (or the oral tradition's) NT Greek word akrides (locust) to egkrides (pancake), slight change in spelling totally unnoticeable change in pronunciation, to have John the Baptist eating pancakes with wild honey instead of locusts. I like my pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup, and sausage.

One final thing I want to point out today, returning to Mark's agenda about showing who knows who Jesus is versus who does not know who Jesus is. Look at the revelatory sequence of today's passage, and think about it:

- First, God unquestionably already knows who Jesus is. 

- Next, obviously Mark knows, because he's telling the story. 

- Next, you and I the readers know because Mark tells us (that this was added later spoils my logic a bit, and that bothers me, but not much) "... Jesus Christ, the Son of God". 

- Who else needs to know? Well, it needs to be clear to the reader that Jesus himself knows who he himself is, therefore as Jesus is baptized, the Voice from heaven makes sure he knows, "YOU are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased". In Mark's gospel, the Voice is addressed to Jesus personally, not to the crowd at large as it is in Matthew's version of the scene.

- Who else knows? Well, not Jesus' closest colleagues, who never get it. But soon we're going to find out that the evil spirits know.

That John the Baptist is out offering baptism to everyone who comes seems to have been a practice in those days. A roving preacher would go from place to place offering people (mostly Jews), a chance to have their sins washed away. Entire villages would come down to the riverside where the preacher was, bring picnic lunch and all, make a festive day of it. For a likeness, I'm thinking of old time tent revivals of my boyhood with dinner on the grounds. And of old American Fourth of July celebrations in the town square when families bring their picnic basket and come to visit with neighbors, eat, enjoy the local band, listen to patriotic speeches by local celebrities, and stay for fireworks after dark.

Just to squeeze in one last thing. Mark's gospel seems to have been written about 70 AD, and not by anyone who was an eyewitness to Jesus. The "tradition" is that Mark was the John Mark who was said to have known St Paul, but we do not know, the author is unknown, anonymous. "Mark", whoever he was, collected stories, "traditions" about Jesus that had been passed down orally from Jesus' time, and assembled them into his remarkable gospel.  

A question we hope to have answered before we are done. We know why the Jews wanted and expected a messiah, and it's still part of Jewish theology and expectation. But why is Mark so keen on bringing the gospel to gentiles, and why is the story of Jesus Christ the Son of God good news for us? 

Hang in there as Mark's plot thickens and unfolds.

TW+

art unapologetically pinched online

Top pic: Baptism of Jesus by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan River; from an Armenian illuminated manuscript of the Gospel, 1268.

Other pic, I couldn't ID its origin.

New Year's Day breakfast: hoppin' John