On Line Bible Study - For the week October 20-26, 2008

Lesson 358

A Change in Plans . . . .

I was prepared to "Head into the Garden" this week, but I have changed my mind. We are going to hold off on our discussion of the Passion Narrative in Matthew. We will look at that part of Matthew's Gospel in conjunction with Mark and Luke. These three Gospels are referred to as the "synoptic" gospels - from the Greek sunopsis - which means "general view". Matthew, Mark and Luke share a number of stories and some chronological similarities as well. But I think we will have a better understanding of the passion and death of Jesus if we take the stories simultaneously, looking at and comparing how the gospel writers tell the central story in the Christian faith.

So - I apologize because I said at the conclusion of the previous study we would begin to examine Matthew's telling of the Gethsemane Story. Instead, we are going to begin our consideration of the Gospel of St. Mark. This presents us with an excellent opportunity to come at the Gospels with a fresh start.

We know that Palestine was a tumultuous place throughout the first century. Rome was in control; alliances had to be formed with Jews and Gentiles. There was the issue of a Jewish religious aristocracy having to jockey for position in close proximity to Roman aristocrats. We also know that, because of a series of inept leaders, Roman control disintegrated as the second half of the century began. The atmosphere became rife for rebellion, and that's exactly what happened. The rebellion resulted in the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and with the Temple's destruction came the end of the sacrificial system. Jerusalem was in ruins. While the Gentile congregations of Christ-followers had developed many of their own rituals, for the Jewish Christians living in and around Jerusalem much of their identity was derived from their Jewish roots, and the Temple had been important to them as a place of worship and tradition.

"For the Christian Community that had gathered around Mark, the post-war period brought about a dramatic change in memory and imagination." So writes Burton Mack.* The Gospel of Mark is a "literary achievement of incomparable historical significance. Before Mark there was no such story of the life of Jesus. Neither the earlier Jesus movements nor the congregations of the Christ had imagined such a portrayal of Jesus' life. It was Mark's composition that gathered together earlier traditions, used the recent history of Jerusalem to set the stage for Jesus' time, crafted the plot, spelled out the motivations, and so created the story of Jesus that was to become the gospel truth for Christianity. All the other narrative gospels would start with Mark."

It is this amazing document that we will begin to read together next week.

*Who Wrote the New Testament - The Making of the Christian Myth