Mark Chapter 6
I have been sort of stuck on Mark 6 with its dramatic happenings e.g. the feeding of the five thousand. It is recorded that there were 5,000 men, a multitude; but it seems likely that women and children were also present. So perhaps double the 5,000 and call it 10,000. Now that is a multitude!
Can we perhaps change the things of loaves and fishes into thoughts, as we are told in Science and Health that Science and metaphysics does? See pages 123:14 and 260:15. How much more nourishing and sustaining would be the comprehension by these people of the food of Spirit than material food?
And the leftover 12 baskets full - one basket for each apostle. Dummelow’s One Volume Bible Commentary says that these “… were large baskets such as were frequently carried by Jews. Each of the apostles had one.” I wonder if the filling of these baskets was with gratitude from the multitude.
Then I had a wonder about the Sea of Galilee where Jesus stilled the storm and walked on the water. So off to the internet I went. Some statistics about the Sea: 13 x 7 miles with an area of 64 square miles; maximum depth 141 feet; average depth 84 feet. In the Bible, the Sea of Galilee is also called either Lake Genneseret or the Sea of Tiberias. To-day it is called Lake Kinneret. Peloubet’s Bible Dictionary says that in Jesus' time the area was the most densely populated in all of Palestine. “Its most remarkable feature is its deep depression, being no less than 700 feet below the level of the ocean. It is exposed to frequent sudden and violent storms, owing to the great number of hills.”
All the talk in the Gospels of crossing to the other side of the lake; that wasn’t undertaken in a matter of minutes – there was a lot of rowing (or sailing) to be done in 13 or 7 miles, depending on whether they were going north to south or east to west. It is fed by the river Jordan and undersea springs. There are reports of drastic drying up of the lake and river. Imagine the drain all the irrigation that goes on there must be having on the river. People blame the government; the government blames the 5 year drought. Actually, this record was made in 2009, so I am not up to date, but at that stage water had to be pumped up to the river Jordan or the baptism site there would dry up.
What a great place for Jesus to live and work in if he had to be
in Israel; where there was water in a rather arid land!
Mark Chapter 7
The web site www.biblios.com says that the "tradition of the elders" meant something handed
down from one to another by memory; some precept or custom not commanded in the
written law, but which scribes and Pharisees held themselves bound to observe. They supposed that when Moses was on Mount
Sinai, two sets of laws were delivered to him: one, they said, was recorded,
and is that contained in the Old Testament; the other was handed down from
father to son, and kept uncorrupted to their day. They believed that Moses,
before he died, delivered this law to Joshua; he to the judges; they to the
prophets; so that it was kept pure until it was recorded in the Talmud. In these books these pretended laws are now
contained. They are exceedingly numerous and very trifling. They are, however,
regarded by the Jews as more important than either Moses or the prophets.
Mark 7:24 Another Messianic Secret perhaps
Mark 7:25-30 Healing of the Greek woman’s daughter – devil
cast outMark 7:32-35 Healing of the man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech
Mark 7: 36 Messianic Secret
Tally of
healings recorded so far: 10 (plus many, many more)
Mark Chapter 8 finds us with another feeding of many (four thousand) when there
seemed to be only a few small fishes and seven loaves.
Here I go again. What food was normal for these
people? My Bible Dictionary says that the food was light and simple, vegetable
rather than animal. Bread which they provided with relish in various ways
and sour milk; fruit, principally figs (dried and pressed into cakes), grapes
(usually dried), lentils, leeks, onions, garlic, honey and olive oil, fish.
There were religious restrictions about the eating of meat, and, of course, in
the hot climate it wouldn’t keep well. The people seem to have moved
around a great deal so ‘food to go’ was appropriate. Ah! What were all those animals which Jacob accumulated used
for? Sheep=wool; goats = ?
The Pharisees were everywhere. Here they are in parts of
Dalmanutha, seeking a sign from heaven. He left them and ‘departed to the
other side’ again.
Jesus healing the blind man. How compassionate and loving he
was, taking him by the hand and leading him out of the town – away from the
wrong thinking there. This healing had two parts to it: first the man saw
imperfectly, then perfectly. Again the
Messianic Secret. He was told not to go
into the town or tell anyone in the town.
How could he keep such a momentous healing secret?
11 plus healings...
Now (8:32) we have Jesus being open about his mission to his
disciples. After Peter had been inspired to say, “Thou are the Christ,”
in answer to Jesus’ question, “But whom say ye that I am?” Jesus charged them “that they should tell no
man of him.” But, in verses 31 and 32 he told of his fate to be killed
and rise again, and he “spake that saying openly.” Was the time for secrecy past?
I had been feeling rather negatively about the scribes and
Pharisees with their perpetual nagging and harassing of Jesus. Then I
tried to be charitable and think that perhaps some of them turned to the
Christ. Immediately, Paul came to mind. Wow! That was
some conversion. He was a Pharisee who could possibly have been chief of
the harassers; he it is we find “…breathing out threatenings and slaughter against
the disciples of the Lord.” Yet he heard the Christ, was made blind, was healed,
and converted. Science and Health
has a wondrous definition of the Christ which I love, “Christ is the true idea,
voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human
consciousness.” (p332:9-11)
1 comment:
In "Jesus of Israel" Marchette Chute observes: Nearly all the men who Jesus chose as his disciples came from Galilee. ..At least half of Jesus' disciples lived along the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. ..It was actually an inland lake fourteen miles long and seven wide. Along its western shore was the most thickly populated area in Galilee, and Josephus, who loved the whole country said that this was the "best part" of it. It was a beautiful district, heavily under cultivation. Walnuts and figs and grapes flourished the whole year around and the climate was warm enough even for palm trees.
The beaches of the Sea of Galilee were clean and sandy and the bright blue water was excellent for drinking. The River Jordan entered at the north end of the lake and flowed through its entire length, so that there was a constant supply of fresh water and excellent drainage, and fish could be found there unlike any others in Palestine. When James and John worked in their father's boat his hired servants worked with them, and the fishing industry obviously supported a large number of people. The only drawback was the threat of sudden storms, which were born in the surrounding hills and came without warning."
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