BRF - Dick France
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - The BEGINNING of the BIRTHPANGS
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - The BEGINNING of the BIRTHPANGS
by BRF - Dick France
The BEGINNING of the BIRTHPANGS The theme which runs through these verses is ‘not yet’. They have asked for a ‘sign’ of the coming events, and Jesus replies by talking about things which are not as yet signs of the destruction of the temple. These are all necessary preliminaries,…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - The Disciples' Question
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - The Disciples' Question
by BRF - Dick France
The Disciples’ Question It may seem out of proportion to devote a whole study to one question. But the interpretation of the chapter which follows is controversial, and the question to which the following discourse (vv. 5–37) provides the answer is an important key to understandi…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - The Temple to be Destroyed
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - The Temple to be Destroyed
by BRF - Dick France
The Temple to be Destroyed The temple has been the scene of most of Jesus’ activity and teaching since he arrived in Jerusalem. Now he leaves it, never to return, and as he leaves he utters words which must have shocked his disciples profoundly. No wonder that yet again some of t…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Partners in Mission
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Partners in Mission
by BRF - Dick France
Partners in Mission Mark has barely begun his account of Jesus’ mission when he tells us that Jesus called others to share it with him. All through the Gospel from this point he will tell not merely the story of Jesus, but the story of Jesus and his disciples, as a team. Jesus, w…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - The Mission Begins in Galilee
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - The Mission Begins in Galilee
by BRF - Dick France
The Mission Begins in Galilee The prologue is over. We are no longer ‘in the wilderness’, but in the real world of ordinary men and women in the villages of Galilee. This is Jesus’ home province, though the focus of his mission will prove to be not in the hills around Nazareth bu…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - "Not So Among You"
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - "Not So Among You"
by BRF - Dick France
An Inappropriate Request The two ‘Sons of Thunder’ (3:17) have appeared from time to time along with Peter as the small group with whom alone Jesus has shared and will share some of his most private moments (1:29; 5:37; 9:2; 14:33). The three of them with Andrew were the first di…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - An Inappropriate Request
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - An Inappropriate Request
by BRF - Dick France
An Inappropriate Request The two ‘Sons of Thunder’ (3:17) have appeared from time to time along with Peter as the small group with whom alone Jesus has shared and will share some of his most private moments (1:29; 5:37; 9:2; 14:33). The three of them with Andrew were the first di…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Whose is the Kingdom of God?
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Whose is the Kingdom of God?
by BRF - Dick France
Whose is the Kingdom of God? The ‘kingdom of God’ is mentioned twice in these verses, and three times more in verses 23–25. The phrase, as we have seen, means ‘God’s rule’, and what the disciples are being forced to face in this series of incidents are some of the radically diffe…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Did Jesus Really Mean It?
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Did Jesus Really Mean It?
by BRF - Dick France
Did Jesus Really Mean It? As in 7:17 and in chapter 4 a startling pronouncement is followed by the disciples asking Jesus to explain it. Surely he could not really want to sweep away the whole possibility of divorce (which Moses apparently allowed) at one go? So what did he mean?…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - No Place for Divorce
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - No Place for Divorce
by BRF - Dick France
No Place for Divorce Divorce—now and then In a society in which divorce has become normal and accepted, Jesus’ robust condemnation of it comes as a shock. But the same was true in his own day. While Jewish authorities debated the grounds for divorce, no-one questioned that divorc…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Another Blind Man
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Another Blind Man
by BRF - Dick France
Another Blind Man Act 2, which began with the healing of a blind man (8:22–26) now comes to its close with another. The treatment of the disciples’ spiritual blindness which has been such a prominent feature of the intervening chapters will now give way to the rapidly unfolding e…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Hard Sayings
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Hard Sayings
by BRF - Dick France
Hard Sayings These verses contain a collection of sayings, probably originally independent of each other, which are linked by ‘catch-words’: stumbling, fire, salt. They draw out some of the demands and the perils of discipleship, and warn against an easy, lax approach which refus…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - "Not One of Us"
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - "Not One of Us"
by BRF - Dick France
“Not One of Us” John the son of Zebedee was one of the ‘Sons of Thunder’ (3:17) and here he lives up to his name. In 10:35–40 he and his brother James will show even more blatantly how far they have yet to go to grasp the values of the kingdom of God…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Who is the Greatest?
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Who is the Greatest?
by BRF - Dick France
Who is the Greatest? Lines of authority In a newly formed group of colleagues with an important task, it is natural to want to clarify the lines of authority. So far, of course, Jesus has been the focal authority of the group, but if they are going to lose him it will surely be v…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Another Warning of What is to Come
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Another Warning of What is to Come
by BRF - Dick France
Another Warning of What is to Come In this brief paragraph we find several of the key themes which run through the middle section (Act 2) of Mark’s story, as Jesus and his disciples make their way from Galilee towards Jerusalem. We may therefore take it as an opportunity to remin…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Another Gentile Healed
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Another Gentile Healed
by BRF - Dick France
Another Gentile Healed The previous story focused on the question of Jesus’ mission to Gentiles as well as Jews. Now we see him continuing in Gentile territory: Sidon, like Tyre, was Phoenician, and Decapolis was the Greek-dominated area to the east of the lake of Galilee (see on…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Crumbs for the Gentiles