Mark part twenty five

We are at Mark 14:22. The twelve disciples are eating the Passover meal. Jesus has said one of them will betray him. He also takes some bread, breaks it, and tells them, "Take it; this is my body." He equates his body with the bread they are eating, not the lamb. He also does not say his body will be broken.

Next he takes the cup, gives thanks and they pass it around. He says this is his "blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many." "Blood of the covenant" is a reference back to Exodus 24 where Moses sprinkles the blood of sacrificed bulls on the people and calls it the blood of the covenant. Frankly, it seems to me that such a statement would appear blasphemous or rude to other Jews, almost as though Jesus is mocking Moses.  The text implies they are drinking wine (fruit of the vine), because Jesus says he won't ever drink it again until he drinks it in the kingdom of god. (There is wine in the kingdom of god?) Jesus does not tell the disciples to repeat this ceremony in remembrance of him.

A note about the churches of christ: some extremely fundamentalist churches use this as one of their justifications for using only one cup to drink out of during communion service, which is also often called "the lord's supper," but is not actually a supper at all. They also insist that fruit of the vine refers to grape juice and not wine. Though where they would have gotten grape juice in early spring is a mystery. Strangely enough, their "supper" consists of a tiny piece of cracker and a swallow of grape juice. No lamb or other food to dip their unleavened bread into.

Next they sing a hymn and go out to the Mount of Olives, which is between Jerusalem and Bethany. It is still Passover night. There should be a full moon. Jesus predicts his disciples will abandon him, but "after he has risen" (from death or sleep?) he will go to Galilee ahead of them. Peter proclaims he will not fall away from Jesus. Jesus claims he will, that very night. Before the rooster crows twice, Peter will disown Jesus three times. Peter and the others insist they would die with Jesus before they would disown him.

Jesus and his disciples are in Gethsemane, which is located at the base of the Mount of Olives. As the name suggests, there was an olive grove. Jesus was there to pray. Was Gethsemane considered a sacred grove? If it wasn't then, it appears to be now. As far as we know from the text of Mark, all twelve disciples are present. Mark has not told us Judas left. Jesus tells most of them to sit in one place, then takes Peter, James, and John to another part of Gethsemane. He expresses That he is overwhelmed with sorrow and asks the three to remain in one spot while he moves on even further.

Then Jesus prays prostrate on the ground. He calls god his father, tells him that everything is possible for him, then asks god to "take this cup from me." Which seems to mean he knows what is about to happen and is not enthusiastic about going through with it. This and the preceding pronouncements by Jesus would actually make a lot of sense if he had engineered his own martyrdom. Having second thoughts is very human of him. Very few healthy people want to die. He seems to sincerely believe that god could stop it if he wanted to and declares his submission to the will of the father. Jesus is obviously not the same being as the father.

Next Jesus goes back to where he left Peter, James, and John, and rebukes them for falling asleep and not keeping watch. Keeping watch for what? Was Jesus expecting something to happen? If he planned it that way, of course! He left them again with an admonition to keep watch and pray. He repeated his previous prayer, then went back to the three. They were asleep again. Can you blame them? It's night time, they've had a full day, just eaten a meal, drunk wine, and walked to Gethsemane. They are sitting in an olive grove. It's probably very quiet, except for the rhythmic sounds of spring frogs and insects. Jesus is off by himself doing who knows what while they snooze.  According to the way the story is written, the narrator is omniscient, but there are no actual witnesses
to Jesus's words and actions.

Mark part twenty two

We are at mark 12:26. Jesus is speaking to the Sadducees who do not believe in resurrection. He gives them his reasoning as to why they are wrong: God told Moses, "I am the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac, and the god of Jacob." Since Jesus's god is the god of the living, those people must be alive. If they are alive they must have been resurrected. Ta da! Logic. Unless, somebody made the whole thing up. Oops.

Next we have a teacher of the law watching and listening in on the argument. He asks Jesus which is the most important commandment of all. Jesus's reply is a Jewish ritual saying called the shema: "Hear o Israel, the lord our god, the lord is one (not three, not three in one). Love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." The second greatest command is "love your neighbor as yourself." In Mark no one asks, "Who is my neighbor?" There also no story of the good Samaritan.

In verse thirty-five, Jesus is back in the temple courts teaching. He questions the teaching that the messiah/christ is the son of David. Jesus quotes Psalm 110, which was assumed to be the holy spirit speaking through David, about this messiah: The lord said to my lord: sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet." If the person being spoken about is David's lord, Jesus asks, how can he be David's son? Good question. Apparently no one had an answer. This is interesting because Jesus seems to be implying that the messiah would not necessarily be the son of David, a phrase meaning a descendant of David. Yet, both Matthew and Luke attempt to establish Jesus's lineage from David. No other New Testament writer does. Matthew uses the phrase many more times than any other book.

In verses 38-40, Jesus insults the teachers of the law as being self important and hypocritical. In verses 41- 43, he draws the disciples'  attention to a poor widow who put all the money she had to live on into the temple offering. He praises her for giving out of her poverty, and contrasts her with those who gave a lot out of their wealth. While it is true that the widow's offering was far more sacrificial, I would say it was a shame and a waste. Gods do not need money at any time. Poor widows do. She probably went home and died from starvation. It was also a shame and a waste for the rich to be donating pots of money to a god who didn't need it, when there were poor people like the widow who had barely enough to survive. Why didn't Jesus see the woman in need and have pity on her? What kind of god would make giving up your livelihood a good thing?

We are now in chapter 13. Jesus and the disciples are leaving the temple and one exclaims at the magnificent stone construction. Jesus replies that all those stones will be thrown down. This appears to be a prophecy of the destruction of the temple. The temple was destroyed in 70CE. This makes it clear in my mind that the book of Mark must have written after that, more than 40 years after the events depicted, and even after Paul's preaching to the gentiles. Mark has put the words of already fulfilled prophecy in the mouth of Jesus.

They were sitting on the sitting on the Mount of Olives when Peter,James, John, and Andrew privately asked Jesus when the previously mentioned event (the destruction of the temple) would happen and what would signal the  coming of that event. Then Jesus gives a long prophetic speech, which makes it even more clear that Mark was written after 70CE. This prophecy of the fall of Jerusalem is often taken out of context and used by christians to describe the last days. We will explore the speech next time.