What the 4 Gospels meant to early believers
(And what we can learn from them today)
Part 11
Gentle Reader,
We have been looking back at the 1st century believers understanding of the Gospels. We have begun with Mark as the shortest of the 4. You need to copy the study so that you can refer to the historical insights and my understanding of the issues. Now understand that as Paul said " For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1Co 13:12) Those who claim to have everything worked out, all the answers, don’t! It’s rather like a jigsaw puzzle in which we worry over one piece of the puzzle when there are other pieces yet to be found (understood).
It’s only when we look closely and then take a step back, consider all the evidence at our disposal with one eye on the possibility that we might be wrong but ‘pressing toward the mark" of the high calling or better the calling upon high to as it were see over the next hill that we will begin to grasp in some small way the wisdom, knowledge and understanding of our heavenly father.
So with that in mind lets see if we can’t get a wee better grasp of what the early believers might have thought of Mark’s gospel.
Remember last time I told you to put your self in the sandals of those readers who were being persecuted and having to flee to the gentile country of Syria and then reading about Jesus two trips and why it would have special meaning for them!
Jesus first trip to Syria
The first trip into the Gentile territory follows immediately on Jesus’ use of a parable that describes the gathering-in of the Gentiles (into to Kingdom of heaven). It is the parable of the mustard seed, small at first, that grows into a huge bush where " But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it." (Mar 4:32) this image of birds for gathering nations is familiar in the Sacred Writings. At Ezekiel 17:23, the lord takes a tiny slip from a cedar tree which, planted, grows so large that "In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing [of every kind]; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell". (Eze 17:23)
While Ezekiel 31:5-6 describes the Assyrian empire before pride led to its downfall, as the great cedar of Lebanon:
"Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. " (Eze 31:3-6)
Daniel 4:21 describes Nebuchadnezzar, before he was cursed as a great tree "Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation
The parable of Jesus thus says that his reign will gather in the nations. These passages from the Sacred (Hebrew) Writings are the kind Mark’s community would be meditating on as they recalled the parable of the mustard seed, and its connection with the Gentiles of Syria.
They would have also reflected on other passages having to do with fear and persecution when they heard how Jesus crossed to Syria over the Sea of Galilee. When the grart storm tossed the boat, yet Jesus sleeps peacefully through it all. The disciples are panic-stricken. Mar 4:38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? That cry would be familiar to the Marken community, since the Levites were required to recite "Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression? "(Psa 44:23-24) every day (which they were called Wakers). And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (Mar 4:39)
We find Jesus the wind "silence " and tells the sea "be bridled". Reining in the sea is a divine act, what God does at "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. "
(Gen 1:9), where He reings in the sea to make land appear. And in Job He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. (Job 26:10-11).
In Psalm 104 "Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth." (Psa 104:9). While in Isaiah "Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst." (Isa 50:2). Psalm 106:9 "He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. "
These last two citations are especially important as we shall see- the Exodus imagery runs all through this Gospel.
Tell next time,
Love,
Denis
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