Sampling A Section of the Gospel of Mark - Page 3© alberto esmeralda
Page 3
Jun 30, 2001
He proclaims... Jesus proclaims the advent of the reign of God -- the new era in the history of the world. The preparation for such an event is summarized in two words, repent and believe (1:15). The story of the call of the fishermen contains a pattern of how one should repent and believe the good news that Jesus proclaims: to leave everything behind and follow Him (1:18.20). He heals... Jesus’ word of proclamation is effective. Indeed, wherever he goes, the power of demons (powers which keep men and women in the state of unholiness, i.e., apart from God) recede. After all, he is the “Holy One of God” (Mk. 1:24), in and through whom holiness is restored (cf. 1:44). It is thus that in teaching and preaching, Jesus also heals (1:32.39). He has authority... The effectivity of Jesus’ words only means one thing: he has authority. But it is an authority that is different from the authority of those who present themselves as people who can teach men how to live (1:27). He is a man for others... In these first sections of the Gospel of Mark, we get the impression that Jesus was a man on the move and not wont to stop in a particular place (1:38). He was no mere busybody; rather, he projects the image of a man who is consumed by a sole passion --to prepare the men and women of his time to receive the reign of God -- and with one motivation: compassion (1:41), the ability to feel with another the pain he bears. ...Yet a man alone. Jesus prefaced his public life with a 40 day sojourn alone (1:13), confronting the demon that resides in every man, in a place not fit for man and yet, quite paradoxically, the place where God cares for man (recalling the Desert Tradition of the Israelites as recounted in the Pentateuch, cf. Corresponding note in NAB, 1986ed.); he goes to a deserted place to pray (1:35) and fame drives him back into solitude (1:45).
4. For your journal entry, write down your own impressions of Jesus: “How does Mark’s Jesus strike you?”
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