Sunday, January 28, 2024

The Holy One in Unholy Places


Below is a rough translation and some preliminary comments regarding Mark 1:29-39, the gospel reading for the fifth Sunday after Epiphany.
                                                                                    
29 Καὶ εὐθὺς ἐκ τῆς συναγωγῆς ἐξελθόντες ἦλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν Σίμωνος καὶ 
Ἀνδρέου μετὰ Ἰακώβου καὶ Ἰωάννου. 
And immediately having left out of the synagogue he came into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. 
ἐξελθόντες : AAPart npm, ἐξέρχομαι, 1) to go or come forth of  1a) with mention of the place out of which one goes, or the  point from which he departs
ἦλθον : AAI 3p, ἔρχομαι, 1) to come  1a) of persons  1a1) to come from one place to another, and used both of  persons arriving and of those returning
1. I know that “having left out of …” is redundant, but Mark has ἐξ-ελθόντες (‘to go,’ with the prefix ἐξ for ‘out’) as well as the preposition ἐκ (out).
2. The word “immediately” may be more of a rhetorical connective tissue than a reference to any sort of urgency – it’s hard to say. However, the change of location is a way of transitioning from one pericope to another. 

30  δὲ πενθερὰ Σίμωνος κατέκειτο πυρέσσουσα,καὶ εὐθὺς λέγουσιν αὐτῷ περὶ 
αὐτῆς.
Yet Simon’s mother-in-law was lying down fevering, and immediately they spoke to him about her. 
κατέκειτο: IMI 3s, κατάκειμαι, 1) to have lain down, to lie prostrate; of the sick 
πυρέσσουσα: PAPart nsf, πυρέσσω, 1) to be sick with a fever
λέγουσιν: PAI 3p, λέγω, 1) to say, to speak 
1. Simon Peter was married. Paul notes the same in I Corinthians 9:5: “Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife,* as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?”

31 καὶ προσελθὼν ἤγειρεν αὐτὴν κρατήσας τῆς χειρός: καὶ ἀφῆκεν αὐτὴν  
πυρετός, καὶ διηκόνει αὐτοῖς. 
And having gone to her he raised her taking the hand; and the fever left her, and she was serving them. 
προσελθὼν: AAPart nsm, προσέρχομαι, 1) to come to, approach  2) draw near to  3) to assent to
ἤγειρεν: AAI 3s, ἐγείρω, 1) to arouse, cause to rise  1a) to arouse from sleep, to awake
κρατήσας: AAPart nsm, κρατέω, 1) to have power, be powerful  1a) to be chief, be master of, to rule  2) to get possession of 
ἀφῆκεν: AAI 3s, ἀφίημι, 1) to send away  1a) to bid going away or depart  1a1) of a husband divorcing his wife  1b) to send forth, yield up, to expire
διηκόνει: IAI 3s, διακονέω, 1) to be a servant, attendant, domestic, to serve, wait upon  1a) to minister to one, render ministering offices to  1a1) to be served, ministered unto  1b) to wait at a table and offer food and drink to the guests,
1. One of the dangers of tending to a feverish person is contagion. That may be why the act of Jesus taking her hand is significant. Or, it may just be a way of helping someone get up.
2. The fact that Simon’s mother-in-law begins serving them as soon as she is well makes the healing sound almost strategic, as if the problem at hand is that because she is in bed, she is unable to tend to them properly. I read it like other healing stories, when someone begins to do the thing they previously could not do (e.g. a lame man walking and leaping) as an indication of the enabling power of their healing.

 32  Ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης, ὅτε ἔδυ  ἥλιος, ἔφερον πρὸς αὐτὸν πάντας τοὺς κακῶς  ἔχοντας καὶ τοὺς δαιμονιζομένους: 
Yet evening having come, when the sun was setting, they were bringing to him all of those who have illness and those who are demonized,
γενομένης: AMPart gsf, γίνομαι, 1) to become, i.e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being
ἔδυ: AAI 3s, δύνω, 1) to go into, enter 2) go under, be plunged into, sink in  2a) used in the NT of the setting of the sun 
ἔφερον: IAI 3p, φέρω, 1) to carry   1a) to carry some burden   1a1) to bear with one's self   1b) to move by bearing; move or, to be conveyed or borne, with   the suggestion of force or speed  
ἔχοντας : PAPart apm, ἔχω, 1) to have, i.e. to hold  1a) to have (hold) in the hand, in the sense of wearing, to have  (hold) possession of the mind (refers to alarm, agitating  emotions, etc.), to hold fast keep, to have or comprise or  involve, to regard or consider or hold as   
δαιμονιζομένους: PMPAart apm, δαιμονίζομαι, 1) to be under the power of a demon.  
1. Mark uses a redundant time marker of ‘evening’ and ‘when the sun was setting.’ Perhaps the second comment specifies that it was not early evening, since ‘evening’ can be loosely interpreted. See the comment of v.35 below.
2. I think “demonized” refers to a kind of oppressiveness that cuts persons off from fully engaging in community – especially when the demonized person is living out in graveyards and subject to violent outbursts. But, these persons are evidently not entirely bereft of community, since they are not coming of their own accord, but are being brought to Jesus by someone.
3. I ran the word “demon” through the Oremus Bible Browser concordance to see if it is used in the Old Testament. Six references came up (Lev. 17:7, Deut. 32:17, II Chron. 11:15, Ps. 106:37, and Is. 13:21). Four of them are about “goat-demons.” Four of them are about sacrificing to demons. One of them is about goat-demons dancing among the wild animals. One is about goat-demons calling to each other in the wilderness. None of them is about a demon that takes possession of a person or oppresses a person and needs exorcism.
That changes in the apocryphal book of Tobit, where the demon Asmodeus had killed off each of a woman’s seven husbands prior to them consummating their marriages with her. (That story may be the genesis of the trick question Jesus is asked about the woman with seven husbands and no children.) Tobias is told to marry the woman and is able to ward off the demon with a burnt offering of fish innards. In fact, the demon was so repelled that it fled, but the angel Raphael chased it and bound it hand and foot.
By the time we get to the Synoptic gospels of the New Testament, the situation where one is demonized is simply treated as a given. There is no explanation of the process or the cause, just the fact that someone is aggrieved by an evil spirit, unclean spirit, devil, or demon. There is even an assumed hierarchy of demons, with Beelzebul/Beelzebub at the top.
In John’s gospel, it is quite different. Jesus does not cast any demons out of anyone. Instead, he is accused over and over of having a demon.
In the letters of the NT – including Paul’s – and in Revelation, the theology of demons – and there’s not a lot of reference to them – seems to be much more like what was in the OT, that people offer sacrifices to demons, rather than demons taking hold of people and ruining them personally.
The results are slightly different when one runs a search of the phrases “evil spirit” or “unclean spirit.” Those are searches for another day.

33 καὶ ἦν ὅλη  πόλις ἐπισυνηγμένη πρὸς τὴν θύραν. 
And all of the city was being gathered to the door. 
ἦν: IAI 3s, εἰμί, 1) to be, to exist, to happen, to be present
ἐπισυνηγμένη: PerfPPart nsf, ἐπισυνάγω, 1) to gather together besides, to bring together to others already assembled  2) to gather together against  3) to gather together in one place
1. The verb for “gather” (ἐπισυνάγω) is in the passive voice. I wonder if that implies a kind of compelling force that is drawing them, as opposed to casual onlookers.   

34καὶ ἐθεράπευσεν πολλοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας ποικίλαις νόσοις, καὶ δαιμόνια πολλὰ ἐξέβαλεν, καὶ οὐκ ἤφιεν λαλεῖν τὰ δαιμόνια, ὅτι ᾔδεισαν αὐτόν. 
And he healed many who have illness of varied diseases, and threw out many demons, and was not allowing the demons to speak, because they had seen/known him.
ἐθεράπευσεν : AAI 3s, θεραπεύω, 1) to serve, do service  2) to heal, cure, restore to health
ἔχοντας : PAPart apm, ἔχω, 1) to have, i.e. to hold  1a) to have (hold) in the hand, in the sense of wearing, to have  (hold) possession of the mind (refers to alarm, agitating  emotions, etc.),
ἐξέβαλεν: AAI 3s, ἐκβάλλω, 1) to cast out, drive out, to send out  1a) with notion of violence  1a1) to drive out (cast out)  1a2) to cast out
ἤφιεν : IAI 3s, ἀφίημι, 1) to send away  1a) to bid going away or depart  1a1) of a husband divorcing his wife  1b) to send forth, yield up, to expire  
λαλεῖν : PAInf λαλέω, 1) to utter a voice or emit a sound  2) to speak  2a) to use the tongue or the faculty of speech 
ᾔδεισαν : PluAI 3p, εἴδω, ἴδω, an obsol. form of the present tense, the place of which is supplied by ὁράω. The tenses coming from εἴδω and retained by usage form two families, of which one signifies to see, the other to know.
1. When Mark uses the pluperfect (they had known/seen him) it reminds us of v.24 from this chapter when a demon uses the perfect tense to say to Jesus “I have seen/known you who you are …” I do not know the significance of the perfect or pluperfect tense when speaking of the demons having seen/known Jesus. But, Mark’s use of that language seems consistent in this chapter but is usually not reflected in many translations. It seems to me – and I’ve not researched this in particular, just gathering my thoughts from weekly gospel texts – that the verb ἴδω is typically used in the perfect tense. Hmm…
2. The fact that Jesus does not allow the demons to speak is curious. It plays to the notion of the “messianic secret.” In the main, I don’t buy into a lot of what is said under the phrase “messianic secret,” but in this case I think the argument is strong. If the previous pericope is any indication, an unclean spirit can make the claim of knowing who Jesus is and saying it out loud. Jesus does not allow it.

35Καὶ πρωῒ ἔννυχα λίαν ἀναστὰς ἐξῆλθεν καὶ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς ἔρημον τόπον κἀκεῖ 
προσηύχετο. 
And in the morning while it was still very dark having risen he went out and went up into a deserted place and there he was praying. 
ἀναστὰς: AAPart nsm, ἀνίστημι, 1) to cause to rise up, raise up   
ἐξῆλθεν : AAI 3s, ἐξέρχομαι, 1) to go or come forth of  1a) with mention of the place out of which one goes, or the  point from which he departs 
ἀπῆλθεν : ἀπέρχομαι, 1) to go away, depart  1a) to go away in order to follow any one, go after him,
προσηύχετο: IMI 3s, προσεύχομαι, 1) to offer prayers, to pray
1. The three word phrase, πρωῒ ἔννυχα λίαν, is interesting. Roughly, πρωῒ means ‘morning’ or ‘early’ in general. ἔννυχα means ‘night’ and could be a reference to darkness. λίαν means ‘exceedingly’ or ‘very.’ Hence, the KJV, “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day”; the YLT, “And very early, it being yet night”; and the NIV, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark.”
2. This is Jesus’ second visit to a place that can be described as a ‘deserted’ or ‘wilderness’ place. Mk 1:12-13 reads, “And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the desert/wilderness. He was in the desert/wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” It is also the location of the voice of which Isaiah spoke (Mk. 1:3) and of John the Baptizer’s baptism (Mk.1:4).
3. Verses like these are why Marcus Borg (of blessed memory) refers to Jesus as a mystic with deep prayer habits.

36καὶ κατεδίωξεν αὐτὸν Σίμων καὶ οἱ μετ'αὐτοῦ, 
And Simon stalked him and those with him,
κατεδίωξεν : AAI 3s, καταδιώκω, 1) to follow after, follow up 
1. Okay, I shouldn’t have “stalked,” but the definition of καταδιώκω per thebible.org is “to pursue closely, as an enemy; follow closely in order to find.” There is the sense that Jesus is quite deliberately trying to find a deserted place and the disciples’ attempt to find him seems intrusive as a result.

37καὶ εὗρον αὐτὸν καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ ὅτι Πάντες ζητοῦσίν σε. 
and found him and say to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”
εὗρον: AAI 3p, εὑρίσκω, 1) to come upon, hit upon, to meet with  1a) after searching, to find a thing sought 
λέγουσιν: PAI 3p, λέγω, 1) to say, to speak 
ζητοῦσίν: PAI 3s, ζητέω, 1) to seek in order to find  1a) to seek a thing 
1. While the disciples’ words may sound like a child whose emotions are writ large onto “everybody,” the immense popularity that Mark describes in v.33 may indicate that the disciples really are representing a large crowd.

38καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, Ἄγωμεν ἀλλαχοῦ εἰς τὰς ἐχομένας κωμοπόλεις, ἵνα καὶ ἐκεῖ 
κηρύξω: εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ ἐξῆλθον. 
And he says to them, “Let us go elsewhere into the surrounding towns in order that I may preach there also; for into this I was sent out. 
λέγει: PAI 3s, 1) to say, to speak
Ἄγωμεν: PAS 1p, ἄγω, 1) to lead, take with one  1a) to lead by laying hold of, and this way to bring to the  point of destination. This is a hortatory subjunctive, typically translated as “let us.”
ἐχομένας : PMPart apf, ἔχω, 1) to have, i.e. to hold  1a) to have (hold) in the hand, in the sense of wearing, to have  (hold) possession of the mind
κηρύξω: AASubj 1s, κηρύσσω, 1) to be a herald, to officiate as a herald  1a) to proclaim after the manner of a herald 
ἐξῆλθον: AAI 1s, ἐξέρχομαι, 1) to go or come forth of  1a) with mention of the place out of which one goes, or the  point from which he departs
1. The participle ἐχομένας – used to modify ‘towns’ – brings the sense of connectedness.
2. “for this I was sent out.” There is a missional component to this journey, and not just an escape from the crowd.  

39 καὶ ἦλθεν κηρύσσων εἰς τὰς συναγωγὰς αὐτῶν εἰς ὅλην τὴν Γαλιλαίαν καὶ τὰ 
δαιμόνια ἐκβάλλων.
And he went preaching in their synagogues in the Galilean region and throwing out the demons. 
ἦλθεν: AAI 3s, ἔρχομαι, 1) to come  1a) of persons  1a1) to come from one place to another, and used both of  persons arriving and of those returning 
κηρύσσων : PAPart nsm, κηρύσσω, 1) to be a herald, to officiate as a herald  1a) to proclaim after the manner of a herald
ἐκβάλλων: PAPart nsm, ἐκβάλλω, 1) to cast out, drive out, to send out  1a) with notion of violence  1a1) to drive out (cast out) 
1. In opposition to a simplistic supersessionism, Jesus is fully immersed in the life of the synagogue, not off starting a new and better religion apart from the Jewish place and manner of faith. Putting Jesus words of vv.38 and 39 together, Jesus was sent to synagogues in Galilee. I consider this to be the first major phase of Jesus’ calling and work: To proclaim the gospel and expel oppression in Galilean synagogues. The second major phase Jesus discloses in Mk.8, that he must go to Jerusalem to be rejected, handed over, killed, and raised.
2. “synagogue” (which I like to think of as “gaggle together”) does not necessarily mean a “house of religious worship” yet. The institutionalization of synagogues increased after the diaspora of the late 60s. A synagogue can mean anything like a ‘town hall meeting,’ a ‘gathering,’ and not necessarily a religious event, although when a people who share a single faith gather for a town hall meeting, it often tacks toward a kind of religious event. And, certainly, a gathering for a religious event would be called a synagogue. The emphasis, at this point in history, seems to be more on the gathering than the building. Of course, that was true for “church” (‘called out’) once too.

To understand the significance of Jesus’ words, that he was sent to preach in the Galilean synagogues, I find it helpful to compare Mark's description to 1st century Judaean understanding of purity - to the extent that I am grasping it aright. The Judaean view saw purity as both a centralized and radiating reality. The holy of holies, at the center of the temple, was where the most highly concentrated deposit of purity was. Radiating out from there, the temple itself was holy, particularly the portion where only undefiled priests could enter, then the area where cleansed Jewish men could enter, then the outer courts where cleansed Gentiles and women could gather, then the city of Jerusalem itself (the "holy city"), then the whole region of Judea, emanating outward in decreasing intensity. Galilee, some of which was called "Galilee of Gentiles" by Judaeans, was certainly better than far-off and non-Jewish lands like Assyria, but likewise was certainly no Jerusalem. For Mark to say that Jesus was sent to preach in synagogues in Galilee is to write a defiant theology of God's presence and holiness, where the beloved on is sent to what might have been considered by some as the hinterlands of purity. This view would also explain Mark's reference to various religious persons being sent "from Jerusalem" to question Jesus. Even after the resurrection, the disciples were to join him in Galilee, as he had instructed them. 

(I think these rival forms of Judaean and Galilean piety are rooted in the telling of the split into the northern and southern kingdoms in I Kings 12. But I cannot find any biblical scholars of repute to back me up on that one. Ah well.)

(Among other sources, see the description of Jerome Neyrey’s "Idea of Purity," in Robert R. Beck, Nonviolent Story, chapter 4, "The Symbolism of Power").  

My Reflection: 
Mark 1:29-34 is a story that poses an enormous problem for me. In this reading, it seems like everyone in sight who is sick or oppressed by demons come to Jesus and he heals them right and left. It all seems to instantaneous and complete. The lame walk, the deaf hear, and those who are oppressed by destructive forces are suddenly no longer struggling. The Easter message of the Christian church is that the spirit of the risen Christ continues to be present with us today. But, our lame limp, and our deaf sign, and those of us who are oppressed by destructive forces cope and seek help. It seems like these stories are either untrue or that if the spirit of the risen Christ is present among us – if – then Christ is among us in a way quite different from how the body of the living Christ once walked among us.

You may recall that I was raised in the kind of church that would occasionally host traveling evangelists, many of whom regaled congregations with stories of how Christ really is present among us, healing the sick instantaneously and casting out demons right and left in the very same way that the story in Mark’s gospel implies. I never quite understood those evangelists and their ministries. All of their stories were of people far away and none of the real persons whom I knew experienced any of those kinds of miraculously magic moments when those evangelists would call us all forward for healing. Even in a Pentecostal church, where one of our “cardinal doctrines” was a belief in “instantaneous healing through the blood of the cross,” our lame limped and our deaf signed and our oppressed coped and sought help.

It was enough to make me a skeptic – skeptical of those supposed healing stories both modern and ancient; skeptical of the implication that Jesus would be healing right and left, even raising the dead today, if we only had the right amount of faith; and at times skeptical of whether the spirit of the risen Christ is anything more than an inspiration. 

Through the years, my original naive faith was chastened by reality, but the ensuing skepticism has been tempered. I've begun to see that the joy of wholeness is not measured by physical or even psychical perfection, but by connection to human community. When, in the NT, the person with leprosy was declared clean, it was her/his ticket to re-enter community, to be engaged again in work, family, worship, life. When the demonized person was set free, s/he was set free to fully connect again with others. Peter's mother-in-law was raised to do the things that gave her purpose and meaning. The person who carried a sick one to Jesus walked home arm-in-arm with that one. We could read them as stories of magic; but we could also read them as stories of human community being healed from the brokenness that sickness, disease, and mental illness can bring. 

Six years ago, the church that I serve had a time of "Healing and Wholeness" in response to this gospel lesson. We did not aspire to ask deaf people to say "Baby" or have ushers line up to catch people as they are "slain in the spirit." That's what "healing service" meant in my past. We did, however, honor the power of being in community with one another in the face of our weaknesses, our fragilities, and our brokenness. We honored the power of a human touch, when someone anoints the head with oil and embraces another, as the community is gathered in prayer. Then, when our lame limp, we slow our gait to walk together. When our deaf sign, we sign back, to communicate. When our oppressed seek help, we provide the space for counseling, for meetings, for ways to live in hope. And for those who are too far gone physically to walk, too far gone mentally to converse, too far gone psychically to engage, we gather at their door, so they will not be alone. That's healing and wholeness. 





29 comments:

  1. Thanks Mark. I'm really benefitting from all the background study work you are doing.

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  2. I love your reflection and the description of what your healing worship will be like. I preach this lesson, and all healing stories, as restoration of community, but your current example is very helpful!

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    1. Thanks. Keep my congregation in your prayers, if you would.

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  3. Mark, I enjoy reading your reflections and this week's will help me as I try to relate this text in preaching on Sunday. You and I share a common historical religious background, I think. I came from a similar religious upbringing so your idea of healing through the community is one I want to share, having been exposed to those same folks who came through the church I grew up in who had "miracles" to offer those who would come to the revival meetings. I read your book this summer and enjoyed it very much. Blessings.

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    1. Thanks, Jerry. I appreciate your remarks about the blog and the book.

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  4. Mark thank you for these comments. I too will be leading a time of special prayer for healing and wholeness and I too, struggle with what exactly that means. Your words have helped me think about the ways in which the kingdom "cures" and "sets free" and "raises up", even though we are all still limping along.

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  5. Thank you, wise sir. Your word studies are very helpful! And, this week, I am very grateful for your honest reflection on (yet another) healing story. I do not know what it means, though we offer healing prayers each week in our chapel, during communion. Jesus said do it, and so we do. And I struggle between seeing how important it is (in Mark particularly?) in the gospels and how far we seem from that day. I do not want to dismiss those stories and turn it all into psycho-babble. And yet, healing through bringing wholeness, connection, community is all I can understand of it. I live in the mystery and the quandary. We pray and we limp. Pray and stumble.

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    1. Thanks Vic. Living the mystery is part of the joy, isn't it? Blessings,
      MD

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  6. Beritanya bermanfaat gan. Saya tunggu berita selanjutnya

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  7. Again, insightful thinking, Mark, and thanks. The clean/unclean thing is a big deal in this Gospel.

    The demons might get their theology right (they know who Jesus is) but they dehumanise and marginalise (cf later with the Legion demoniac). Jesus repairs that brokenness within the community.

    I'm also curious about the time-references (here but elsewhere too). Sounds a bit like burial/resurrection time? In addition, Jesus 'raises' the woman from her unclean state; and himself 'gets up' (anastas).

    And when Jesus says: For this I have come out' might he mean (simply) 'I have come out here into the desert to prepare for my mission' (as he did earlier in the testing)? Simon's violent response to Jesus being out there is very curious.

    Again, many thanks for the blessing your comments give.

    Rick

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  8. Mark,
    Recently I have begun planning for a sabbatical after 30+ years of ministry. I am interested in a theme of communication of faith, share story and human community through the vehicle of creative writing. I'm not so much interested in publication as I am benefitting my congregation for spiritual growth and faith development. I guess I'm hoping for a bit of spiritual growth myself. Any direction or suggestions you could offer will be much appreciated. Thank you.

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    1. Hi David,
      Blessings on your sabbatical. One of these days, I'm going to take one of those. In other words, I'm not a very good person to ask about how to benefit from a sabbatical. You'd be better off reading the sabbatical grant stories from the Lily Foundation, which asks "What makes your heart sing?"
      For creative writing as a spiritual practice, I can imagine a number of places you might begin. If you are Presbyterian (and not everyone is, I've discovered), there is a Presbyterian Writer's Guild, which you can find by searching that phrase in Facebook. Other denominations may have similar groups.
      I am part of a group that is organizing a writers' collaborative, but it is focused on publication. It sounds like you want to find one focused on spiritual growth. My suggestion is that if you cannot find one, to start one. Nothing has benefitted my writing more than a local writers group that meet regularly and holds one another accountable (gracefully). A group that is dedicated to writing as a spiritual practice could begin with Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way, and grow from there. If you're an introvert, you could begin there yourself.
      That's all I've got off the top of my head.
      Blessings. MD

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  9. I guess the issue of 'holy' men touching women might be explored here??

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    1. I don't know, Rick. Given the current climate of the #metoo movement and the ongoing crisis of men touching women inappropriately, I think I would not go there. This is a non-invasive touch, it seems to me, and one that brings healing. Too many men practice invasive touching as if there is some mutual benefit going on, when instead there is harm.
      I see more danger than good coming out of the phrase 'holy' men touching women.

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    2. I agree, Mark, and yet doesn't the gospel/Gospel have something to say? I'm not so sure Jesus' touch was non-invasive from our perspective. Did the woman have a say? It sounds like the men's idea. Of course it's healing, but can't our (male and female) touching also be healing? How else do the hands of Jesus heal today? etc etc. I intend exploring some issues raised by the Gospel and leaving it with congregation to think about. I certainly have no great suggestions to make on such a topic in such a short time-period (or ever!). Too big to say more here, but thanks for your suggestion.

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  10. As always, I appreciate your study of and insight into the passage. I'm going through a "skeptical" phase and appreciated your sharing of your own journey in relation to the gospel.

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    1. Thanks, Barb. I was in Nicaragua when your response came in and failed to see it until today. Thanks for the kind words.

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  11. My work has been to see the phenomenological ties to the text (when have you found yourself being raised up?) as a way of getting hold of the underlying experience that can be hidden in the language. So I’ve been working on a ‘translation’ of spiritual for our current perspective, and have come up with ‘context.’ There are contexts (self-pity, entitlement, victim image, fear to name a few) that ‘possess’ us. They are shared socially as well as individually, and they ‘enter’ us. Throwing out those contexts without replacing them with a different center – trust, compassion, responsibility, ‘letting go’ – just has them come in again. Those things have power (δαίμων daímōn, dah’-ee-mown; from δαίω daíō (to distribute fortunes) following Girard’s work on scapegoating, and can be used by demagogues to control and generate control of others. ISTM that they fit and follow the experience named ‘demon’ in the NT.

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    1. That's a helpful way to think of it, Bill. Otherwise it seems that this story is about something from a bygone age that we can't really believe in any more.

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  12. So the (goat) demons may be the ghosts of past scapegoats (bearing the accumulted guilt of the people) released into the wilderness but still haunting minds of those people. Jesus action is then a release from/ foregiveness of this persistent mental guilt.

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    1. This seems like a promising Girardian approach to me, Bruce. Nice.
      MD

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  13. Demonised has a double meaning. It can be those accused wrongly -scapegoats. So also a release from false accusation and the mental distress that goes with it.

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    1. I always make it a point - and did so, in fact, when preaching on this text recently, that the notion and language of demonization has been cruelly and unfairly used too often in Christian parlance. Indeed.
      MD

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  14. This year I'm struck by the possibility that there's a direct line from Mk 1:38 to the message we hear when we finally begin to hear some of the content of his teaching: the parable of the sower (chap 4). I wonder what made him see, at this early moment of success, that his vocation would be about planting seeds rather than gathering harvest?

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  15. Noted that the Gk has Jesus raising (egeiro) before taking by the hand. And wondering about the recognition by the demons as clarity that they cannot survive the light brought by Jesus, so their utterances are as irrelevant as some defendant's challenges to courts that find them guilty? Judges don't tend to tolerate those outbursts well... FWIW!

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  16. Thanks, Mark, for delving deeper into this text. Your reflections are always generative.

    From my readings especially related to the imperial conquest under Vespasian and Titus at the time Mark's gospel is written showing Jesus as the antithesis of Caesar, I've come to see this passage as programmatic for the following narrative. Healings restore individuals to community and exorcisms throw off the effects of imperial oppression. The imperial destruction generated a sorting in the Galilean and Judean populations that eventually led to the separation of Christians and Jews. In Mark's gospel Jesus is the anti-Caesar who brings the opposite of what Rome delivers. The messianic secret arises out of such narrative opposition - which may account for why it's so prevalent in Mark. The other gospels come long after Jerusalem is destroyed.

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