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Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Before the Sanhedrin
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Before the Sanhedrin
by BRF - Dick France
BEFORE the SANHEDRIN Mark carefully sets the scene at the high priest’s house on a double stage: Jesus before the full council of the Sanhedrin (v. 53; note again the full listing of the dignitaries) and Peter out in the courtyard among the servants (v. 54). As the spotlight fall…
MARK THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - In the EVENING
MARK THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - In the EVENING
by BRF - Dick France
In the EVENING MARK 1: 29-34 Straight after the first exorcism comes the first healing. The contrast is remarkable. The first was a dramatic confrontation with evil in a very public arena; the second is the healing of a sick woman in private in her own home…
MARK THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - WHAT HAPPENED to the SEEDS?
MARK THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - WHAT HAPPENED to the SEEDS?
by BRF - Dick France
WHAT HAPPENED to the SEEDS? MARK 4: 3-9 The Parable of the Sower draws on the familiar experiences of a Palestinian farmer, even if not every farmer was so unlucky as to have all these types of problem ground on his farm at once…
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 - 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 People's Commentary - How do you explain Jesus?
Mark The People's Commentary - How do you explain Jesus?
by BRF - Dick France
How do you explain Jesus? Mark sometimes likes to enfold one story within another (or to ‘sandwich’ it) so as to help his readers to listen to the one in the light of the other. He has done that in the latter part of chapter 3. Within the story of how Jesus’ own family responded …
Mark The People's Commentary - More Healings
Mark The People's Commentary - More Healings
by BRF - Dick France
More Healings Once again Mark allows us a brief respite from the breathless series of amazing events. This more general summary of what Jesus was doing in Galilee at this period, like that in 3:7–12, shows us that the relatively few specific miracles which he has included in his …
Mark The People's Commentary - The Dance of Death
Mark The People's Commentary - The Dance of Death
by BRF - Dick France
The Dance of Death Mark 6: 17-29 Mark The People’s Bible Commentary In the previous study we thought about why this story is here, and why Mark may have felt it appropriate to insert it into the story of Jesus. But now we shall look at the story of the death of John in its own ri…
Mark The People's Commentary - Jesus and John the Baptist
Mark The People's Commentary - Jesus and John the Baptist
by BRF - Dick France
Jesus and John the Baptist A change of scene The disciples, sent out on their mission in verses 7–13, will return and report back in verse 30. The intervening space is filled with an unexpected return to the person with whom Mark’s story began….
Mark The People's Commentary - Mark 4
Mark The People's Commentary - Mark 4
by BRF - Dick France
Mark 4 In the middle of both the first and third acts of Mark’s drama (see study 2 for the three acts) we find what seems like an interlude, where we are offered a concentrated collection of Jesus’ teaching before the story resumes at its previous breathless pace. In chapter 13 t…
Mark The People's Commentary - Old and New in Religion
Mark The People's Commentary - Old and New in Religion
by BRF - Dick France
DISREPUTABLE COMPANY Tax collectors are probably never popular, but in Roman Palestine their reputation stood at an all-time low. In Galilee they represented Herod Antipas, the unpopular half-Jewish ruler, who in turn represented Roman occupation. So a tax collector was a collabo…
Mark The People's Commentary - More trouble on the Sabbath
Mark The People's Commentary - More trouble on the Sabbath
by BRF - Dick France
More trouble on the Sabbath The encounter in the cornfields may have been just a chance meeting which gave rise to an argument. But this time there is certainly nothing accidental about the confrontation in the synagogue. It almost looks as though the man has been ‘planted’ to pr…
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 - 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 - Hard Sayings