Grace Presbyterian Church, Montclair, New Jersey

Responding to question #6 with respect to the Messianic Secret. I notice in a later chapter, Mark 5:19-20, that Jesus encourages the Gerasene Demoniac to spread the word about how much the Lord has done for him. I’m not sure if casting out demons ranks with healing since the disciples were granted the “casting out demons” ability, but in this case, Jesus’ direction to the recipient of the cleansed spirit runs counter to the concept of the Messianic Secret.

Bill, you raise a very significant point regarding Jesus’ instruction to the man healed of demon possession to go and tell what had happened to him.  This is in sharp contrast to the theme of the Messianic Secret where Jesus orders people not to tell who he is (Mark 1:25, 44; 3:12, 5:43, 7:36; 8:26; 9:9).  Commentators seem to think that this exception has to do with the fact that this is the healing of a Gentile (non-Jew) in a Gentile town (Jews would hardly be keeping swine).  The idea is that since this is a Gentile setting Jesus’ identity can be revealed partly because he is not going to have a continuing ministry in Gentile territories.  The focus of Jesus’ ministry is in Israel where the idea of a Messiah with healing and exorcising powers would be more likely misunderstood and where Jesus wanted time to develop and explain his ministry.  Again this is an interpretation.  What do you think?

I also notice that there was a lot of fear generated by the movement of the demon spirts to the swine and their drowning as it was communicated by the swineherds.  He may have wanted to offset the fear by focusing on the good done to the person by removing the spirits.  Anything significant with the transfer?  Seems the demons wanted to avoid the abyss?

Jesus’ power seemed to generate a certain amount of fear (or awe?) pretty much everywhere.  The demons throughout Mark are very afraid of Jesus.  Note the response in 1:24, “Have you come to destroy us?” The demons would certainly prefer another earthly home such as the swine to the destruction of the “abyss.” However the fact that the swine then rushed into the sea may have led to the same fate for the demons.

Three quick observations: 1) This is a great way to participate in a Bible Study, I really enjoy the format for this. 2) I have seen it written elsewhere, and it is worth repeating I believe, that we as Christians need to be able to clearly communicate to others the message of the New Testament. It is so easy to over complicate the answer, which is not particularly helpful for skeptics. Mark 1:15 is tough to beat for summarizing the NT. “The time has come,” he said, “The kingdom of God is near, Repent and believe the good news!” 3) I find the contrast between the Messianic Secret (1:43-45) and the fact Jesus would not let the demons speak (1:34) fascinating. One he warns not to speak, the other he prevents from speaking. One a very human type of action, the other a divine one.

In reference to the some of the backgound information, that the Gospel was written to a Gentile audience most likely in Rome and that Aramaic expressions needed to be translated for them. I found the following definitions interesting and opens up more quetions for me.

Aramaic from “The Oxford College Dictionary”:n, a Semitic language, a Syrian dialect of which was used as a lingua franca in the Near East from the 6th century BC. It gradually replaced Hebrew as the language of the Jews in those areas and was itself supplanted by Arabic in the 7th century AD. adj. of or in this language.

I found this so interesting that this language replaced Hebrew and and eventually was replaced by Arabic.

Gentile from “The Oxford College Dictionary”:n. a person who is not Jewish.

This makes me wonder what was the audience, if a gentile is a non Jew, what was the rest of society?

Was Greek the universal language of the Roman Empire at this time like English is today? Also of interest to me was the distance of Rome from Jerusalem, Nazareth, Sea of Gallilee etc..  From what I understand the transportation system in the Roman empire was quite advanced so letters to Rome could travel quickly. Who would read the letters to the people of Rome or were they passed around?

These are just curiosities that I have in an effort to better understand the world at the time that John Mark wrote this letter.

Paul, you are quite correct that Aramaic was the spoken language of Palestine in the time of the New Testament.  Services in the synagogues would still have been in Hebrew (though parts of the Old Testament itself were written in Aramaic).  Greek was the language of the empire as English seems to be today.  As I mentioned the fact that the New Testament is written in Greek is itself a missionary statement.  The distance from Rome to the Middle East was not overly long.  Travel would have largely been by boat.  The Roman Empire had open borders within itself so that greatly facilitated travel.  You can see that for example in the Book of Acts.

One other point on the issue of “Gentile.” From the Jewish perspective all non-Jews were Gentiles.

Paul, in response to your question as to how the Gospels or letters circulated in places like Rome the general thought is that they were read out loud in special gatherings (often in homes).  Eventually they were copied and those who were literate had the opportunity to read them.  In this case the letters probably were passed from group to group until finally they started to be bound together and we had the begining of a New Testament canon.

Rob, I picked up on the human/divine element in the text of the cursed fig tree (Mark 11:12-14).  It struck me that Jesus’ response to the fruitless, out-of-season fig tree was a spiteful one (human-like).  However, the lesson learned from the withered fig tree (Mark 11:20-25), is quite divine.