Gospel of Mark Readthrough : 1:9-15
10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.
OK, we make really, really sure the reader gets the point here. I suspect this "heaven being torn open" may have been more obvious in retrospect than it was at the time.
12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Hm. I think the wilderness thing is in more detail in some of the other gospels? Here's it's just one line. It looks like Mark knew a longer story about it, but just put in the bare bones for whatever reason (IIRC a lot of the Mishnah in the Talmud is like that, it's not expected to be read by someone COMPLETELY unfamiliar with it, but to provide an outline). There obviously was a really important story about it, or Mark wouldn't have mentioned it, but it's not really clear what happened or why it's important yet.
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!"
Mark fills in some information about John's arrest later. I'd be clearer if it were a bit more chronological, but it's still fairly clear. Although it possibly suggests it wasn't all written together, even if it was written by the same guy.
Now Jesus wanders off into Galilee to start gathering followers. IIRC he spends some time knocking around here before eventually getting to the capital. I wonder how much time Jesus spent with John: just a baptism, or did they hang out for a while? When John was arrested did Jesus think of himself as carrying on John's work?
Follow-ups
Thanks to all who commented on the last post. I guess what I don't know about baptism was what John was doing. The lexicon (thanks, Paul!) says the relevant greek word was "baptizō", meaning something like "dip in water to wash clean", but is translated as "baptize". So it sounds like any full-body immersion (especially with a ritual component) may be called "baptizō" at the time? Including immersions which were traditional in Judaism before and since?
But I can't tell if it means John was doing this new, never seen before thing, baptising to wash away sins, or if John was doing something that already had a meaning in Jewish tradition. Or somewhere between, or something completely different.
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comments so far.
OK, we make really, really sure the reader gets the point here. I suspect this "heaven being torn open" may have been more obvious in retrospect than it was at the time.
12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Hm. I think the wilderness thing is in more detail in some of the other gospels? Here's it's just one line. It looks like Mark knew a longer story about it, but just put in the bare bones for whatever reason (IIRC a lot of the Mishnah in the Talmud is like that, it's not expected to be read by someone COMPLETELY unfamiliar with it, but to provide an outline). There obviously was a really important story about it, or Mark wouldn't have mentioned it, but it's not really clear what happened or why it's important yet.
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!"
Mark fills in some information about John's arrest later. I'd be clearer if it were a bit more chronological, but it's still fairly clear. Although it possibly suggests it wasn't all written together, even if it was written by the same guy.
Now Jesus wanders off into Galilee to start gathering followers. IIRC he spends some time knocking around here before eventually getting to the capital. I wonder how much time Jesus spent with John: just a baptism, or did they hang out for a while? When John was arrested did Jesus think of himself as carrying on John's work?
Follow-ups
Thanks to all who commented on the last post. I guess what I don't know about baptism was what John was doing. The lexicon (thanks, Paul!) says the relevant greek word was "baptizō", meaning something like "dip in water to wash clean", but is translated as "baptize". So it sounds like any full-body immersion (especially with a ritual component) may be called "baptizō" at the time? Including immersions which were traditional in Judaism before and since?
But I can't tell if it means John was doing this new, never seen before thing, baptising to wash away sins, or if John was doing something that already had a meaning in Jewish tradition. Or somewhere between, or something completely different.
You can also comment at http://jack.dreamwidth.org/740514.html using OpenID.
comments so far.