Day 73, Mark 4-12

I'm not feeling tremendously motivated today, but luckily there isn't a whole lot of new material in Mark's gospel. Most of it is -- as I've mentioned before -- a condensed version of Matthew. Rather than repeat the whole story, I'll point out things that I didn't have time to talk about when I was reading Matthew. There will inevitably be gaps in the narrative, and if you are at all confused I urge you to read my last three entries!

In chapter 4, Jesus shares more parables, which prompt his disciples to ask him why he uses them instead of saying things directly. He explains that, "to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven" (Mark 4:11-12). Wait, what? You don't WANT them to understand? What an asshole!

Chapter 5 contains the story where Jesus raises a twelve year old girl from the dead, which is interesting for two reasons. One is that while he is walking through the crowd, an old woman afflicted with "a discharge of blood for twelve years" (Mark 5:25) grabs his robes and is healed. This poor thing had her period for TWELVE YEARS! Man, oh man.

The second thing is that in Mark, Jesus takes the dead little girl by the hand and says, "Talitha cumi," which is Aramaic for "Rise, girl." The distinction is interesting -- because Jesus's native tongue was presumably Aramaic and therefore would have spoken it all the time, not just on certain occasions. So why leave just that line in Aramaic? The author of Mark was probably trying to suggest a connection between Jesus and the Jewish magicians who practiced during the same time period, and would use creepy magic words to heal people. Interesting!

Later on there is another magic-like miracle, where Jesus heals a deaf-mute by putting his fingers in the man's ears, spitting on his tongue, and saying "Ephphatha," which means "Be opened." Pretty weird stuff.

In chapter 6, Jesus sends out his apostles to do healing and exorcisms, telling them, "Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there" (Mark 6:10). Um, isn't that obvious? Stay there until you're not staying there anymore! Awesome instructions!

The bread multiplication miracle happens in chapter 8, and here it is mentioned that the crowds have not eaten in three days. That's devotion! I sure wouldn't go into the desert with no food to watch a guy talk about the kingship of God for three days. However, the apostles still have no freaking faith, and Jesus has to reprimand them by reminding them of his miracles: "'When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?...And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?... Do you not yet understand?'" (Mark 8:19-21). What the apostles are missing is that you have to find the cosine of the angles in the basket and then do some logarithms... I'm not really sure of all the details. I dropped Calc to take Jewish history, you know how it goes.

Chapter 10 contains the story of the rich young man who Jesus instructs to sell all his belongings; in this retelling, it is mentioned that "Jesus, looking at him, loved him" (Mark 10:21). That is so cute! Love at first sight! D'awwwww.

Chapter 11 includes one of Jesus's most well-known sayings, which I neglected to include in my summary of Matthew. When the apostles show their lack of faith, Jesus tells them, "Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him" (Mark 11:23). Ah, perfect faith. I don't know that you could even really disprove this; maybe it's really true that if your heart is pure and you believe, wonderful things can happen! Pshhhh.

Another weird conversation ensues in chapter 12, when the Sadducees ask Jesus about resurrection. They describe a situation where one man marries a woman and dies, leaving no offspring. If you remember from back in Leviticus/Deuteronomy/Numbers, his brother's duty is to marry her and sire an heir -- but the brother dies too... and the next brother... and the next... Until finally seven brothers are dead and no kids can be found anywhere. You might be thinking that the Sadducees want to know why this woman keeps putting Drano in her husbands' tea, but they actually want to know whose wife she will be when they all die and go to heaven. Which of the brothers gets her? Jesus tells them that they're being fucking stupid, because everyone becomes an angel in heaven and angels don't have time for marriage! Goddamnit!

Chapter 12 ends with a nice little story. Jesus sits down by the treasury to watch people donate money, and sees many rich people giving great sums. Then a sad little old widow hobbles out and puts in two measly coins, which delights Jesus: "I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on" (Mark 12:43-44).

Isn't that sweet!

Anyway, that's all I've got for you today. I'm a busy woman. See you tomorrow for the end of Mark and beginning of Luke!