The Gospel of Mark begins when John baptizes Jesus. When Jesus comes out of the water he sees the gates of heaven open and hears a voice from heaven say, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." By what is said by "the voice of heaven" we can infer that the person who said this was God. We can see that by getting baptized, Jesus has advanced and progressed and is now suitable to preach people and teach his wisdom.
The Gospel of Mark is the Gospel that I have liked the most, and also the one that has surprised me the most. We all know that Jesus heals people and is very powerful, but the things he does in Mark are just amazing. That this for example, "Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil[e] spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
"Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek." Although this is very cool and amazes me, I can't help but feel a little bit suspicious. I mean Jesus has extraordinary powers and all, but I don't think it can be as simple as that to expel a demon from a body! If so, what are exorcisms for?
Jesus cures a man with leprosy. It might seem like a complex thing to do with an arduous process and numerous conditions, but not for our fictional Jesus, "A man with leprosy[f] came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured."
I'm sorry if i'm being too much of a critic or if I just don't understand, but The Gospel of Luke was much more realistic and might I add much more interesting. In Luke Jesus heals ten people with leprosy, but it wasn't as easy as in Mark, "Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a]met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed." As you can see Mark simplifies every one of Jesus's actions, where Luke tells the things the way they're intended to be, with a process and with a conclusion.
Jesus can hardly be mentioned without mentioning his apostles [disciples]. As you should know the apostles are very important for Jesus and they complement him in a very big way. In chapter 3 Jesus appoints his apostles and gives a short introduction of each, "These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); 18Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him." There might be some important apostles that you might have noticed, the one that most stood up to me was... Judas the one who betrayed him. The author is foreshadowing and we can clearly see that Judas is the one who is going to betray Jesus.
While I was on chapter 3 I noticed something very interesting and moving that Jesus said. Something we might have heard many times, but it is comforting to see Jesus say it, "A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."
33"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
I think even Jesus was fooled at first because he thought it was his actual blood family but in reality all of us are family, all humanity is related so deal with it. Love everyone, love your family.
That's the end of the first 5 chapters, the beginning of Mark. Blog you later!
No comments:
Post a Comment