Blog Archives

September 28th, 2024

9/28/2024

If you have been following these writings, or if you have simply been going to church, you might guess that this coming Sunday is called the “Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost”. And you would be somewhat correct.

There is another significant point to be made. Since, on this particular year, this Sunday is also September 29, the Day of St. Michael and All Angels is also being celebrated. And since the word “angel” has the meaning of messenger, it is closely related to the work of Christ, the one who was anointed for an extremely important message to give. A special celebration that points to Christ will probably occur this Sunday.

So, if you have been following these writings, you might also guess that there is a celebration to be had with the writing for this Sabbath Day’s journey. We recently finished with the life and death of Jesus, and in the writing of last week we finished with what has been called the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark. Now, with this final chapter, there is a celebration of his resurrection. And this next chapter is a very special one. And a few comments will be made regarding its special ending, after the translation below.

The following may be called a “somewhat-literal” translation of the so-called sixteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark (verses 1-8; it may be helpful to look at other translations and/or a study bible to see a more detailed and clearer understanding of the text; it should also be mentioned that the words in bold print are historical presents, when a past tense verb is expected but a present tense is given):

And having happened-through, the Sabbath, Maria, the Magdalene, and Maria, the one of the Jacob, and Salome, they bought aromas, that having come, they may anoint him. And very early, in the first of the Sabbaths, they come upon the tomb, having risen, the sun.

And they were saying toward themselves, “Who will roll away for us the stone, from the door of the tomb?” And having looked up, they behold that it has been rolled away, the stone, for it was mega, exceedingly.

And having come into, into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting in the right, having been thrown around a robe, white; and they were marveled out. Now the one says to them, “Stop being marveled out. Jesus, you are seeking, the Nazarene, the one, having been crucified; he was raised, not he is here; see the place where they put him. But on the contrary, go away, tell to the disciples of him and to the Peter, that he goes before you into the Galilee; there him, you will see, just as he said to you.”

And having come out, they fled from the tomb, for it had them, trembling and ecstasy; and to no one, nothing they said, for they were afraid.

Should the Gospel according to Mark end in such a way? That is an important question to ask. And it may take a while to answer.

That may take a while to answer because others have answered that question already. There has been the idea of a missing last page. There has been a much longer ending to this gospel account that does not end so negatively. If there is time, the longer endings may be examined in these writings.

People these days are so used to a so-called “happy ending”. And some people are also used to hearing that the Gospel according to Mark was written by itself, without any connection to the other writers. Many consider this gospel account to have been written first. With that additional piece of information, such an ending does not make much sense.

These writings take the perspective that the four gospel accounts were designed to work together. If someone ends reading this particular gospel account, there may be a time of sadness or a feeling of isolation. But that is not the end. That is not the end of the story, even taking into account the promises that appeared earlier within this gospel account.

Earlier in this account, Jesus said he would die. Jesus predicted that he would die. Jesus also said that he would live again. And, taking into account all the other deaths and all the other negative news that has happened since, the fact of Jesus’ death and resurrection does not contradict the words that Jesus said. Jesus said he would live again. He also said that he would come again. And we continue to remember his words.
The women who were at the tomb were not so afraid that did not eventually pass on what was said to them by the young man, so that these words could be read by countless generations after them. And that good news continues. The Gospel continues.

0 Comments

September 21st, 2024

9/21/2024

0 Comments

This Sunday is “The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost.” The Gospel reading continues where it left off last week, at Mark 9:30-37, and that will be the tradition for the next few weeks.

In the writings of this website, we are also continuing on where we left off last week. And this week we are finishing up the remainder of what has been called chapter fifteen of the Gospel according to Mark.

In last week’s writings of this website, Jesus had just died. The immediate reaction was noted. There was the reaction of the temple, with the curtain being torn into two. There was the reaction of the centurion, calling Jesus the Son of God, a significant title to say the least. And there were the women who were following from a distance. They were watching what was happening, and at least some of their names will come up again when there is the resurrection (spoiler alert).

The following paragraphs in italics is a somewhat-literal translation of Mark 15:42-47 (this type of translation is designed to point out the word order within the original text; the closer a word is to the beginning of the sentence, the more important it is; it will probably be helpful to look at the text in other translations and/or in a study bible):

And already evening, having happened, since it was Preparation, which is pro-Sabbath; having come, Joseph, the one from Arimathea, well-formed councilor, who also himself, he was waiting for the kingdom of the God, having dared, he came into, toward the Pilate, and he asked for himself the body of the Jesus.

Now the Pilate marveled whether already he has died, and having called to himself the centurion, he asked him whether already he died. And having come to know from the centurion, he granted the corpse to the Joseph.

And having bought a linen cloth, having taken down him, he wrapped in the linen cloth, and he put him in a tomb which was, having been cut out of rock, and he rolled towards, a stone, against the doorway of the tomb. Now the Mary, the Magdalene, and Mary, the one of Joses, they were beholding where he has been placed.

If you have been following these writings, you probably have noted the difference that is made with the so-called ‘historical presents’ in the text. That is when one of the past tense verbs is expected, but a present tense is given. Since there is not much text left to study—although the longer text will be studied as well---the historical presents within the Gospel according to Mark will be compared to the other accounts in the remaining Sundays before the start of the next church year.

With the text that is above, it could be said that there is still a prominence given to Jesus. His body is dead; that is for sure. This is to make sure that Jesus had just not passed out or fainted. And it is the women (who are named) to make sure that they knew where the corpse had been placed.

Bodies usually do not come back to life. But God can do anything he wants. And he wants to save. And it should not be a problem if he saves in a way in which we would not expect.

0 Comments

September 14th, 2024

9/14/2024

0 Comments

This Sunday is called the “Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost”. The Gospel reading jumps to Mark 9:14-29, since some of those intervening verses in chapter eight appeared as the Gospel reading before this Sunday. In the writings of this website, we are not jumping ahead of things. We are going in the way in which the writer has laid things out. And we getting ever closer to the very end of the same gospel account.

In the previous section of these writings, Jesus was crucified. The verbs to crucify, when referring to Jesus and to the others next to him, were given in the historical present (that is when a verb is expected in a past tense, but it appears in the present). One may notice no historical presents in the text below. There were a lot of historical presents in this gospel account. They came and went. But they will not appear again until the next chapter, when discussing the resurrection.

In the following section [Mark 15:33-41], Jesus dies. For minds that have been shaped by the natural occurrences in the universe, it is hard to conceive the Son of God as dead. Why this happened is because of sin. How this happened has not yet been made clear, given our limited perspective because of that sin. But we have enough to go on in faith.
And having happened, hour, sixth, darkness happened over whole, the land, until hour, ninth. And the ninth hour, he shouted, the Jesus, with a voice, mega, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” Which is being interpreted, “The God of me, the God of me, into what did you forsake me?”

And some of the ones standing by, having heard, they were saying, “Behold, Elias he calls.”

Now having run, a certain one, and having filled a sponge of vinegar, having put around a reed, he was giving to drink, him, saying, “Allow, let us see if he comes, Elias, to take down him.”

Now the Jesus, letting go, a voice, mega, he expired. And the veil of the temple was torn into two from top until bottom. Now seeing, the centurion, the one standing by, from opposite him, that he expired, he said, “Truly this, the man, Son of God, he was.”

Now there were also women, from afar, beholding, in whom, both Maria, the Magdalene and Maria, the Jacob, the micron, and of Joses, mother, and Salome, who, when he was in the Galilee, they followed him, and they served him, and others, many, having come up with him, into Jerusalem.

Much could be said about the statement of the centurion. The description of Jesus as the Son of God is a significant one.

Jesus as the Son of God was given at the very beginning of the work, at least in some of the ancient manuscripts. It may be seen as a title for the entire work. And the first time in the text, at Mark 1:11, with the events of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus is starting with his baptism, and the voice from heaven says, “You are the Son of me, the beloved; in you I was well pleased.” The second time, at Mark 9:7, you could say that Jesus is at a highpoint, a midpoint (feel free to count up the verses in the entire account and to find the middle one). Jesus is on what has been called the Mount of Transfiguration. And the voice from cloud that was overshadowing them said, “This is the Son of Me, the beloved; listen to him.” And the final time is given above; if you would like its exact reference, that is Mark 15:38. The beginning, the middle, and the end are significant points. And hopefully the point continues to come across.

0 Comments

September 7th, 2024

9/7/2024

0 Comments

The progression continues on, and each time we get closer to the end. This particular Sunday has the Gospel reading being Mark 7:31-37, with the option of including verses 24-30. And this Sunday is called the “Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost”, but in these studies we are not yet at the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark. But we are very close. Last week we looked at the text in Mark 15:16-21, the mockery of Jesus, and this week we are at the site of the crucifixion.

Last week there were a significant number of verbs in the historical present (when a past tense verb is expected, but a present tense is given). And there are a number of them in the text below (these are indicated with the bold print). It may be helpful to note the people who are doing the actions.

Who the ‘they’ is within the first part of the text below was stated in the previous writing. The soldiers are the subject of all the recent verbs in the historical present. And as there were a lot of historical presents, perhaps there were also a lot of soldiers. Whatever their number, they held a significant amount of power.

The ‘they’ will then switch in the second paragraph. The focus will eventually be on those standing by, and then there will be so-called chief priests (called ‘archpriests’ in the text below) and also ‘scribes’ (called ‘writers’ in the text below—such a translation was certainly not meant to degrade any writers reading this). And then there are the criminals crucified with Jesus. When these people are described, there is no power, and there are no historical presents. But they all are wanting Jesus to show his power.

There is a lot in the text. And there was a lot of sin on Jesus as he was on that cross. There was a lot of sin in the people around Jesus as well, significantly more than is seen in the description of the soldiers at this time. But the One who was called the King of the Jews was there to take on ALL sin for ALL time. It may be helpful to consider that, especially since this present sinful world can seem a bit overwhelming in terms of all the sin.

Without further explanation, the following is Mark 15:22-32 in what could be called a ‘somewhat-literal’ translation:

And they bring him to the Golgotha place, which is being translated, ‘Cranium Place’. And they were giving to him, having been mixed with myrrh, wine; who now not he took. And they crucify him, and they divide among themselves the garments, his, throwing a lot for them, who, what he should take. Now it was hour, third, and they crucified him. And it was, the epigraph of the charge of him, having been epigraph-ed; ‘The King of the Jews.’ And with him they crucify two bandits, one from right and one from left, his.

And the ones going by, they were blaspheming him, moving the heads of them and saying, “Oh, the one destroying the temple and one building in three days, save yourself, having come down from the cross.” Likewise, also the archpriests, mocking toward one another with the writers, they were saying, “Others he saved, himself not he is able to save. The Christ, the King of Israel, let come down, now, from the cross, that we may see and we may believe.” Also the ones having been crucified together with him, they were reproaching him.

0 Comments

A Sabbath Day's Journey

September 28th, 2024

September 21st, 2024

September 14th, 2024

September 7th, 2024

Archives