TGBC Sunday, 31 Jan 2021. Finishing up Mark chapter eleven
To comment on The Good Book Club reading for today, I'm going back a day to pick up so as maybe better to show Mark's cleverness. As a storyteller, Mark has been called dull compared to Matthew and Luke, and I could not possibly disagree more. Mark is fascinating, he's like peeling an onion: every time I read, study, comment I realize something new. Mark is the perfect reading for the Epiphany Season, and I like/love Mark best of all.
Anyway, today's story. Readers will remember Mark's stories of the synagogue ruler's dying daughter Talitha, and the poor woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, how Mark breaks the Talitha story in two and inserts the bleeding woman story in there. He does it to show time passing, to make us frantic about the little girl, and to show that Jesus, among other things, has power over both Time and Death. Some scholars have called this technique a Markan sandwich or, literarily more technical, an intercalation. It happens again today, but the way The Good Book Club authors have broken up the readings, we might miss it, so I've put it back together. Here's what Mark has split up to allow enough Time to pass so things can happen (remember, Jesus has just arrived in Jerusalem):
+ Jesus enters the Temple and looks around. He sees what a blasphemous marketplace this holy sanctuary that is supposed to be perfect has been turned into (Remember, Talitha wasn't perfect, she was sick, and the Bleeder wasn't perfect, she was sick, but when Jesus finishes with them they are perfect):
+ Jesus goes to his overnight lodging and the more he thinks about the disgustingly sick temple situation, the angrier he gets.
+ The next morning Jesus returns to the temple and does what has been called "cleanses the temple". Once he's done, the temple is perfect as it's supposed to be.
+ The next day Jesus goes back into the temple, and furious temple authorities challenge Jesus' authority to have created yesterday's chaos. Of course, we readers know who Jesus is, and that he has authority over his Father's House; which the temple authorities don't know, nor do they realize that the temple has been healed and "recreated" to perfection by its true owner.
Okay, that's a bit of theology on the side about how Mark means for us to realize that Jesus restores sick and sinful situations to perfection. Now let's consider the intercalation in this series, how Mark mixes pericope ingredients together to make an exciting story - - like a movie with scenes shifting back and forth to build the suspense. Here are the rest of Mark's ingredients:
+ On his way from overnight in Bethany back into Jerusalem and the temple, Jesus is hungry, notices a fig tree, and thinks to pick and eat a few figs for breakfast. But, it (conveniently for Mark) being springtime, there are no figs yet, just leaves. So Jesus, his stomach gurgling, gets mad and curses the fig tree. (Remember, as Mary Magdalene sings in "Jesus Christ Superstar", he's a man, he's just a man. So don't get so upset that he goes out of what you think should be his soft, sweet, pious character for a moment, okay?).
+ That evening (remember, Time has passed, a day has gone by, during which Jesus "cleansed the temple"), going back to Bethany to their lodging, they notice that the fig tree has withered. Literally, inerrantly, historically, did a healthy fig tree really wither like that in the course of a few hours? IDK, nobody keeps historical records about a day in the life of a fig tree, never mind that, it's Mark's story. The fig tree needs to wither so Mark can use it as a lesson, both to give Jesus cause to say something about the power of prayer, and also for us readers to see that Jesus has power and authority over nature.
So the intercalation, ingredients from two pericopes mixed to make a credible story of a day in the life of Jesus, which we do write about.
Here's the entire passage, followed by Jesus' summary linking what he said to the fig tree and what happened, to the power of prayer for those who truly believe.
And then, of course, a concluding conversation in which Jesus gets the best of the temple authorities, ratcheting up their hatred of him.
And, hey it's four o'clock Sunday morning already, I've been sitting here two hours, I've got to stop and get ready for Sunday School.
T+
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Then Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
The next day, when they had left Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if there was any fruit on it. But when He reached it, He found nothing on it except leaves, since it was not the season for figs. Then He said to the tree, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again.” And His disciples heard this statement.
When they arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. Then Jesus began to teach them, and He declared, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
When the chief priests and scribes heard this, they looked for a way to kill Him. For they were afraid of Him, because the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.
And when evening came, Jesus and His disciples went out of the city.
As they were walking back in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from its roots. Peter remembered it and said, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree You cursed has withered.”
“Have faith in God,” Jesus said to them. “Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well.”
After their return to Jerusalem, Jesus was walking in the temple courts, and the chief priests, scribes, and elders came up to Him. “By what authority are You doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave You the authority to do them?”
“I will ask you one question,” Jesus replied, “and if you answer Me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me!”
They deliberated among themselves what they should answer: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will ask, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’...” they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John truly was a prophet. So they answered, “We do not know.”
And Jesus replied, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
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