Jesus proclaimed the nearness and the imminence of the kingdom of God. Jesus told his disciples that they would enlist others. Jesus drove out unclean spirits and healed the sick. Jesus taught that his disciples participate communally in the soliciting and the bestowal of eternal forgiveness. Jesus taught that experience is understandable, though perhaps only incrementally so.
In the last post I wrote, "The section we are dealing with here [Mark 4-1:34] might be recapitulated precisely along the lines of it being not really a series of teachings, but rather a series of lessons about learning." What might also be said of Mark 4-1:34 is that it is written in the form of a narrative, of a story. This need not have been so, but undeniably the author of Mark holds to a pattern ("And he said unto them," "And he said," "And he said . . .") that bespeaks a story progression--even though this emphasis on progression results in an inexactitude about who is Jesus' audience at any particular juncture.
4:35-6:6a) The next section of Mark (the section we are dealing with here) is described similarly as a story. (Actually, it is a narrative continuation of the preceding "story," but a conceptual break is inserted by the author: "And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples" (Mark 4:33-34).) And now we have:
"And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side." So we are given the episodes of the Calming of the Storm, and of the Gerasene Demoniac, and of the Woman with a Hemorrhage, and of the Raising of the Daughter of Jairus, and of Jesus' Visit to Nazareth.
The Calming of the Storm would seem to set the tone. Jesus upbraids his disciples for their lack of faith, but there is no hint that his disciples understand that their lack of faith is in the face of their proximity to the Divine Son of God--nor is there any hint that Jesus would have the matter to be any different. As the text has it, "And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
Still less would the occupants of the accompanying boats have had cause to understand--at least directly--what had happened. Why does the author even mention them? The "story" quality of the text seems irrepressible.
Then Jesus is accosted by the Gerasene demoniac, and it would seem that Jesus' status is betrayed. "And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God?" Of course, the same objection to Jesus' status as being thus revealed can be raised here as before. Why would Jesus tell unclean spirits to remain silent about him, when they are portrayed as shouting his status aloud? Presumably the utterance of this multitude ("Legion") of unclean spirits was understood only by Jesus--and perhaps by the unfortunate afflicted man.
Certainly the people of the territory had no conception of Jesus as someone they would want around, although notably the cured demoniac--who might have absorbed the unclean spirits' estimation of Jesus--did not want to be parted from the messiah. Jesus, however, tells the man to stay in his native land and tell people what "the Lord" had done for him--an injunction that the man turns into a license to tell abroad "how great things Jesus had done for him." It would seem typical of Jesus that he would not want the cured man to speak in Judea or Galilee.
Then there is the episode of the Woman with a Hemorrhage. Jesus does not speak directly about how he has cured her--much less does he connect the cure to his status as messiah. "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole." Then there is the cure of the Daughter of Jairus: "And he charged them straitly that no man should know it."
And so this part of the story of Jesus leads to his return to Nazareth, where even his own kin have no idea what is going on with him. In the synagogue they say, "From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?" And then follows the most puzzling part of all: "And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief."
The remarkable thing about this story is the persistence with which it refuses to say anything. It presents itself as a cavity in the conceptual landscape of Jesus as Messiah. Perhaps it is not for nothing that Jesus takes only Peter, James, and John to the house of Jairus--and includes them thereby in the company of those who will witness the miracle, and be told not to speak about it. This is the same trio--Peter, James, and John--who witness the Transfiguration and who see the Old Testament figures disappear into a cloud as the voice instructs Peter, James, and John to hear God's "beloved Son." And this is the same Peter, James, and John who are told to accompany Jesus in Gethsemane--and who have it demonstrated for them how weak and ineffectual they are, even in the very echoes of their claims of fearless devotion to Jesus.
In each of these events involving Peter, James, and John, the most profound thrusts of the lessons are in the negative. Overall, the ministry of Jesus is essentially reductive. Even the final revelations of Jesus' divinity, sonship, and fulfillment of the messianic role are propounded again and again by Jesus in terms of what the disciples already know--of what they have always known--rather than in terms of the building-up of some theological edifice.
Shortly we are going to hear about how Jesus sends out his Twelve. They have been prepared by him to face the world. And the message they are to impart? "And they went out, and preached that men should repent." The Baptist could have told them that.
Jesus proclaimed the nearness and the imminence of the kingdom of God. Jesus told his disciples that they would enlist others. Jesus drove out unclean spirits and healed the sick. Jesus taught that his disciples participate communally in the soliciting and the bestowal of eternal forgiveness. Jesus taught that experience is understandable, though perhaps only incrementally so.
This gets us through Chapter 6, verse 6a.
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