Peter has a Mother-in-Law?

The story of Jesus healing Peter’s “mother-in-law” is common to Mark, Matthew (8:14-15) and Luke (4:38-39). In Greek, the term used is πενθερά  (Strong’s 3994, penthera) which means mother-in-law.  In fact, we only find penthera used in the Gospels, in the context of this story. Clement of Alexandria says that Peter had both a wife and children, and that his wife was martyred in Rome before he was. Either way, Jesus heals the mother-in-law of Peter in the presence of Andrew, James and John.

Jesus Heals. What Does This Say About Who He Is?

In verses 32 to 34, Mark tells us that the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.  Mark then tells us, matter-of-factly, that he healed these people. This is the second of four instances in chapter one where Jesus heals the sick or casts out demons. Mark regards these accounts as important to establish, early in his Gospel account, that Jesus is a special individual.

Mark uses the works of healing to substantiate the claims, also made in chapter one, about who Jesus is. John the Baptist says, After me will come one more powerful than I. The spirits that Jesus drive out exclaim, in fear, that Jesus is the Holy one of God. When Jesus is baptized, a voice from heaven is heard saying, You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.  Most importantly, the author Mark quotes the prophet Isaiah and says, prepare the way of the Lord. In chapter one, Mark implies through the testimony of others, that Jesus is “the Lord,” “the Son of God,” and “the Holy One of God.”

Prayer Is Important to Jesus As Well

Mark tells us in verses 12-13 that the Spirit sent Jesus into the desert, where he was tempted, but at the same time, the angels ministered to him. This is an abbreviated account of his “forty days” in the desert, where he was tempted by the devil three times (Mt 4:1-11; Lk 4:1-13). Later in Mark 1:35, we are told that Jesus rose very early, went to a solitary place, and prayed.  Mark tells us twice in chapter one that Jesus sought out the solitude of a quiet place to pray. It begs the question as to whether Mark is making the case that prayer is a foundation for ministry.

On leaving the synagogue

Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.
They immediately told him about her.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.

Rising very early before dawn, he left 
and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.”
So he went into their synagogues,
preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.

Fishers of Men

The image of the disciples as fisherman is evident in all four Gospel accounts.  But Luke’s account of the call of Peter is slightly different than that in Matthew or Mark.  In the Lucan account, Jesus tells Peter to put our his net, and Peter doubts that the advice will work.  Then Peter does as Jesus asks, and Peter pulls in a large haul.  The fourth evangelist shifts this Lucan scene to the final chapter of John.  In John 21, Peter declares that he intends to go fishing, and the other disciples follow him. After a night with no luck, a man on the shore appears and tells them to put out their net, and they catch a great haul of fish. Only then do they realize that the man on the shore is Jesus.

"Fishers of Men," Adriaen Van de Venne, 1614. Rijksmusem, Amsterdam. Van de Venne's painting is a humorous comment on the competition for souls between Reformed and Catholic clergy in the Netherlands.

But it is only in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark that Jesus coins the term fishers of men  (ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων – haleis anthropon).  The writers of Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus expoits the imagery and symbolism of their careers.  Peter and Andrew are fishermen.  Jesus implicitly tells them, forget about the fish, I need disciples to assist me in my ministry.  

“Fishers of Men” in Mark and Matthew

Matthew the Evangelist is a crackerjack scholar of the Old Testament. He may have been a tax collector, but he was also a good Jew who studied the Tanakh and referred to it liberally in his own Gospel.  Anyone who has read this blog knows that I have been insisting that Mark’s Gospel is theologically dependent on Matthew.  In other words, Matthew wrote his Gospel first, and then Mark consulted with Peter as to the creation of a second Gospel based on Matthew’s.  If this is so, what is the Old Testament imagery that jumped out at Matthew?  If Matthew had heard the story from Peter or Jesus that Jesus said, come after me, and I will make you fishers of men, did this statement ring true in his very Jewish ears as fulfilling a prophecy?

The Parallel with the Prophet Ezekiel

The answer is, very possibly.  On the one hand, there are very few references to fishermen in the Old Testament. Yet fishermen figure in Ezekiel’s eschatological vision of the New Jerusalem. When Ezekiel describes his vision of the New Jerusalem, he tells us that fishermen will line the banks of the river that flows out from the Holy City.  Oh, and by the way, the Sea of Galilee (where the Apostles were called) empties into the River Jordan (from whence the Messiah is to come), which is the river that runs closest to the historic city of Jerusalem.

In Ezekiel 47:5-10, we are told that a stream of water that flows from the Temple in Jerusalem will eventually become a great river.  This river is a source of life, and those fisherman who fish these waters will prosper:

Again he measured a thousand (cubits), and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back along the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw upon the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the stagnant waters of the sea, the water will become fresh. 

And wherever the river goes every living creature which swarms will live, and there will be very many fish; for this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.  Fishermen will stand beside the sea; from En-ge’di to En-eg’laim it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. 

In Matthew and Mark’s account of the call of the first Apostles, we can see that Jesus is saying, “yes you will be fishermen,” and “yes, you will be successful in your vocation,” and “yes, the source of your success will be the waters that flow from the side of the Temple.”

But the waters in which the Apostles are called to work are not the waters of the Sea of Galilee:

After John had been arrested,

Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat
along with the hired men and followed him.

"The Calling of Peter and Andrew." Caravaggio, 1602. Queen's Collection, Buckingham Palace.

The Gospel of John suggests to us that John the Baptist introduced the first disciples to his cousin, Jesus.  It would not be surprising that John the Evangelist would remember events not known to Matthew or Luke.  Because John the Baptist is not the only person in this story who may be related to Jesus. Scripture tells us that the mother of John the Evangelist (Mt 27:56), named Salome (Mk 15:40), is also the sister of Mary (Jn 19:25), the mother of Jesus.  Some scholars and early Fathers of the Church conclude, therefore, that John the Evangelist and Jesus are also cousins.

John the Evangelist tells us that both he and Andrew accompanied John the Baptist, and that Andrew found his brother Peter and introduced him to Jesus.  The account seems a bit stylized: John and Andrew very precociously say, we have found the Messiah, before Jesus even performs his first miracle.

The Divine Call of the Apostles and the Inconstancy of Peter

The differences in the Gospel accounts regarding the call of Peter might suggest to us that Peter’s call required a little persistence.  All of the Gospel accounts of Peter suggest that he is a bit of a hard-headed, stubborn man. Luke’s Gospel (5:8) tells us that Peter exclaimed, Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!   Peter is the one who leaps out of the boat on Lake Galilee to meet Jesus, only to falter among the waves (Mt 14:30).  When Jesus tells the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem to suffer, it is Peter who replies, This shall never happen to you! (Mt 16:22)  Given what we know of Peter, it should come as no surprise that Jesus may have had to call him on more than one occasion.

Come! See!

The accounts in John’s and Luke’s Gospels have one thing in common, though.  The calling of Peter is associated with an act of faith and with the witness to the mighty works of God.  In Luke’s Gospel, Peter is told to put out into the deep.  When Peter objects, Jesus tells him where to drop his net and Peter catches a large haul.  In other words, it is Jesus who wills the success of the fisherman’s (Peter’s) work.

In John’s account, Jesus simply tells his Apostles, come, and you will see (John 1:39; John 1:46). But this challenge is not merely idle conversation.  Jesus warns his disciples (twice) that they will see the mighty works of God made manifest through Him.  They will witness the seven great miracles in John’s Gospel, and the Transfiguration as well.  And of course, they will come to know of the Resurrection, and encounter the risen Christ in the Upper Room.  The author of the Fourth Gospel attributes to Jesus, six times, the phrase  ὄψεσθε: you will see. 

The Lost Painting.

Caravaggio’s original painting of Jesus, Peter and Andrew was thought to have been lost.  In 2004, a restoration of a painting in the possession of Queen Elizabeth II established that the painting was an original Caravaggio, purchased by Charles I in the 17th century.   The painting is now thought to be worth far in excess of $50 million, though it cannot be sold as the monarchy’s art is held in public trust.  In 1688, a commentator noted that the painting “is one of the finest in the King’s possession.”

ἔρχεσθε καὶ ὄψεσθε. Come and See!

John was standing with two of his disciples,
and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God.”
The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.
Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them,
“What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Rabbi” – which translated means Teacher -,
“where are you staying?”
He said to them, “Come, and you will see.”
So they went and saw where Jesus was staying,
and they stayed with him that day.
It was about four in the afternoon.
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter,
was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
He first found his own brother Simon and told him,
“We have found the Messiah” – which is translated Christ -.
Then he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said,
“You are Simon the son of John;
you will be called Cephas” – which is translated Peter.

Who Cares?

Why is this debate even relevant?  Well, most people assume that the authors of the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – wrote their stories about Jesus independently. However, we run into a serious difficulty with this assumption when we read the three synoptic Gospels side-by-side. The first three Gospels (Matthew’s, Mark’s and Luke’s) have a lot of very similar material.

The Synoptic Gospels

These three Gospels are known as the “synoptic” Gospels because they see “with the same eye.” Thus, the term synoptic.  But what, exactly, is common to the synoptic Gospels? First, they contain the parables of Jesus. There are about 33 to 37 parables, and eight are common to all three of the synoptics.  The author of John’s Gospel decided not to report the parables of Jesus, because he wanted to emphasize the seven miracles or signs of Jesus in a format that entailed longer narratives, rather than brief snippets of parabolic material.

Secondly, the account of the passion of Jesus is quite similar across the synoptic Gospels.  The differences between Matthew, Mark and Luke are minor. John’s account of the Gospel differs most in detail. Finally, the synoptic Gospels are similar because certain passages mirror each other almost word-for-word. Scholars in the 18th and 19th century found this word-for-word similarity among the synoptic Gospels puzzling, to say the least.

Common Language between Matthew and Mark

Take the following example of similarities between Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospel. They don’t just describe the agony in the Garden of Gethsemene in a similar fashion. These two passages employ nearly the same language. We might say that Mark “redacted” the account found in Matthew’s Gospel. Mark made modest, barely noticeable changes to the original material in Matthew (or vice-versa):

So this begs the question: who wrote first, Matthew or Mark?  

The Fathers of the Early Church asserted that Matthew wrote his Gospel first. These include Papias (130), Irenaeus (c. 130-200), Origen (c. 185-254), Eusebius (c. 260-340) Jerome (c. 340-420), and Augustine of Hippo (c. 354-430).  As I mentioned in an earlier post, Heinrich Holtzmann and Christian Weisse rejected this tradition.  According to these two nineteenth century scholars, the Gospels of Matthew and Luke took material from Mark and another source – the so-called “Q” source.

I pointed out the serious flaws in their work in my previous post. However, I’ve been wondering if there were structural issues in regard to Mark’s Gospel that would indicate that Mark is not our original Gospel.  The answer, in my view, is “yes.”

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke, for instance have highly intentional opening chapters that tell us of the nativity of Jesus Christ. The content is not even common. Though both Luke and Matthew have geneologies, Matthew’s Gospel gives us the visit of the Magi, the flight into Egypt, and the massacre of the infants.  Luke’s Gospel, by contrast, gives us the annunciation and the visitation; the birth of John and the canticle of Zechariah.

Structurally, Matthew inaugurates the ministry of Jesus with the Sermon on the Mount. This spans three chapters.  Matthew then concludes the ministry of Jesus with the Sermon in the Temple. This spans five (!) chapters.  In other words, Matthew’s Gospel is structurally intentional, from beginning to end. The Gospel of Matthew is not a “subsequent edition.” It is not a “Reader’s Digest” version, nor a redaction, nor a summary. It is an original work.

Take, by contrast, the first chapter of Mark. Mark barrels through the preaching of John the Baptist in seven brief verses, jumps to the baptism of Jesus (covered in three verses), and speeds through the temptation of Jesus in the desert in two verses.  In other words, Mark compresses what were 30 verses in Matthew and 30 verses in Luke into 13 verses.

Nor does Mark let up this frenetic pace in the second half of chapter one. Here is a summary of Jesus’ activities: he calls the disciples (five verses, from Mt 4:18), he preaches (two verses), he casts out a demon (six verses, see Luke 4:31-37), he cures of Simon’s mother-in-law (six verses, from Mt 8:14-16), he performs additional cures and exorcisms (three verses), he retires to pray (two verses, see Luke 4:42-43), he preaches and drives out more demons (two verses, see Luke 4:44), heals a leper (five verses, from Mt 8:1-4), and finally retires to pray again (one verse).

Note that the larger pericopes (call of the disciples, the cure of Simon’s mother-in-law, healing of the leper) come from Matthew’s Gospel. If you look closely at Mark chapter one, you’ll note that he summarizes a lot of material so that he can move on to what he regards as important: the ministry of Jesus (as opposed to his birth, or the preaching of John the Baptist). Mark’s Gospel is the work of a redactor of a previous Gospel. Matthew did not borrow material from Mark. On the contrary, Mark summarized Matthew’s Gospel, and added his own reflection based on the memory of Peter and the community of Mark, where he found it to be necessary.

]]> http://kingofages.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/markormat/feed/ 0 clericus17fp0glx http://kingofages.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/john-11-18/ http://kingofages.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/john-11-18/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:53:28 +0000 clericus17fp0glx http://kingofages.wordpress.com/?p=4061 ]]> The reading for Christmas day is John 1:1-18 (or John 1:1-14).  This first few lines are known as a prologue in John’s Gospel because they contain an introduction that is unrelated to the story of Jesus.   Instead, John the Evangelist offers us some theology in verses one to five:

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Word

John the Evangelist gives us a lesson in Christology with his first few verses.  He tells us that the Word was with God and was God. The term “word” is dabar in Hebrew, and it is a term known to the Jews of the Old Testament. The variants of dabar occur more than a thousand times in the Old Testament.  The meaning of the term dabar in the Old Testament is worthy of a doctoral dissertation. As we don’t have that much time, I’ll be very brief and present two usages that clearly refer to Jesus in the Old Testament:

The Book of Isaiah, written in the sixth or seventh century before Christ, speaks of the Word going forth from God’s mouth in Isaiah 55:11:

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

In the book of the Prophet Micah, we have this very well known passage:

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it,  and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

John the Evangelist continues with his lesson in Christology in verses 6 through 18:

A man named John was sent from God.

He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.
John testified to him and cried out, saying,
“This was he of whom I said,
‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’”
From his fullness we have all received,
grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side,
has revealed him.

The Sacred Author tells us several things. He tells us that John the Baptist testifies to the light.  The author of the fourth Gospel tells us that John the Baptist plays the exact same role in his Gospel as John the Baptist does in the other Gospels: he is the Herald or Forerunner of the Messiah.  The Sacred Author also tells us that those who accept the light are children of God. And a child of God is neither selected nor born into that postion: a child of God is chosen by God.

And the Word Became Flesh.

Theologians refer to the conception of Jesus as the “incarnation” because, as John tells us, “the Word became flesh.”  In other words, the spirit of the Word, which existed since the beginning of time along with God the Father, took the form of a human.  The author of the fourth Gospel uses some unusual terminology in John 1:14.

Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας.

Using a literal translation, which might be confusing, we would have this:

And the word became flesh, and set a tent among us, and we discerned his glory, as one-of-the-same-kind as the father, full of grace and truth.

Now, just to compare the literal with the bible translations, here is the NAB translation:

And the Word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.

And here is the NIV version:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

He Set His Tent Among Us

 The Sacred Author tells us that the Word set his tent among his people. This is an allusion to various Old Testament traditions.  Moses set a meeting tent (outside the camp of the Israelites) where Moses alone could consult with God.  Though Moses could speak to God and look at him (Ex 33:11), he could not see God’s face (Ex 33:20), as it was likely veiled by the smoke of the shekinah.    In the Book of Exodus, the Israelite’s experience of God was remote and impersonal – they could not approach the meeting tent.  We have no expectation that, one day, God will become man and freely walk among his chosen people.

In the Book of Amos (9:11), God speaks through Amos and tells us in that day, I will restore David’s fallen tent.  Amos language is very cryptic, since he speaks of the House of David, and says he will restore neither a building nor a family line, but his tent.  In Acts 15:16, the Apostle Peter invokes Amos 9:11 and tells us that it is Jesus who fulfills the prophecy of David’s tent being restored.

]]> http://kingofages.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/john-11-18/feed/ 0 clericus17fp0glx http://kingofages.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/luke-1-26-38/ http://kingofages.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/luke-1-26-38/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:15:44 +0000 clericus17fp0glx http://kingofages.wordpress.com/?p=4016 ]]> The Gospel reading for the fourth Sunday of Advent features the Annunciation.  The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, an unmarried maiden in her early teens, and announced that she would give birth to a male heir to the throne of David.  This story is so widely known  that we sometimes overlook the importance of the actual words spoken by the Angel and by Mary.

Luke 1:26-38

"The Annunciation." Fra Angelico, 1439.

Luke wants to tell us several things about Mary in this account of the Annunciation.  First, Luke is emphatic that Mary’s child had no human father. Nor is it an accidental aspect of the story.  Luke tells us in verses 27, twice, that Mary is a virgin, in verse 34 that Mary has no relations with a man, and in verse 35 that Mary would conceive by the Holy Spirit.  Here is the original Greek for Luke 1:27:

"Baptism of Christ." Francesco Albani, 1640. (The Hermitage. St. Petersburg, Russia.)

Let’s examine this Sunday’s  passage from John 1:6-28, excluding verses 9 to 18:

A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.

And this is the testimony of John.
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests
and Levites to him
to ask him, “Who are you?”
He admitted and did not deny it,
but admitted, “I am not the Christ.”
So they asked him,
“What are you then? Are you Elijah?”
And he said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
So they said to him,
“Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?
What do you have to say for yourself?”
He said:
“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,
‘make straight the way of the Lord,’”
as Isaiah the prophet said.”
Some Pharisees were also sent.
They asked him,
“Why then do you baptize
if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?”
John answered them,
“I baptize with water;
but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
the one who is coming after me,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”
This happened in Bethany across the Jordan,
where John was baptizing.

In John’s Gospel, the Sacred Author tells us that John the Baptist is not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  In this passage, John the Baptist quotes Isaiah 40:3, (make straight the way of the Lord) and then tells his audience that he is quoting Isaiah.  When a prophet says “make straight the way of the Lord,” he is saying the Lord is coming, prepare the road.  When he is questioned about his preaching by the Pharisees, John the Baptist gives an evasive answer, saying he is neither the messiah, nor a prophet, nor Elijah.  John the Baptist may not regard himself as a prophet, but all four Gospel authors understand him to be the one who heralds the coming of the messiah.

The Importance of John the Baptist as Forerunner or Herald.

John the Baptist plays a very important, and identical, role in all four Gospels.  He is a cousin of Jesus. But he is also the one who inaugurates and initiates the adult ministry of Jesus by baptizing his cousin and preaching repentance among the Jews.  The baptism of Jesus is an account of such theological importance that is is recorded in all four Gospels: Mt 3:13; Mk 1:9; Lk 3:21; John 1:29. Further, all four Sacred authors emphasize that John the Baptist fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah (make straight the way of the Lord): it  is noted in Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, and John 1:23.  John the Baptist plays an important role in the Advent cycle of readings because he is the prophet authorized by God to announce the coming of the Lord in the person of Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist and Elijah.

Though Isaiah prophecied the work of John the Baptist, the Old Testament prophet who comes closest to John the Baptist in his role as prophet is Elijah.  The story of Elijah is recorded in 1 and 2 Kings.  John the Baptist and Elijah are both very important prophets because they are associated with announcing the coming of the Lord.  The similarities between Elijah and John the Baptist are numerous.

Both prophets were detested by the existing political powers.  King Ahab called Elijah “the troubler of Israel” (1 Kings 18:17).  Herod would have liked to have punished John the Baptist, had it not been for his popularity (Mt 14:5).   Both prophets had as their principal nemesis the wives of these rulers. In Elijah’s case, it was Jezebel who wanted Elijah put to death.  In John the Baptist’s case, it was the wife of Herod who suggested that her daughter ask for the head of John the Baptist.  Both prophets directed strong criticism against those responsible for ritual.  Elijah went after the priests of Baal, brought to Israel by Jezebel.  Elijah even challenged 450 of these priests to call upon their god to immolate a bull. When the priests of Baal failed, they were executed.  John the Baptist, rather unwisely, attacked the  pharisees and sadducees as a “brood of vipers.”

Both prophets are associated with the River Jordan.   Elijah left the wilderness, crossed the Jordan, and ascended into heaven, having been swept up by a chariot and horses.  By contrast, when John baptized Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, and he headed into the wilderness for forty days.

In addition to these parallels, we have explicit testimony in Luke’s and Matthew’s Gospel.  In Luke 1:17, the angel Gabriel tells Elizabeth that her son will go before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.  And in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus confirms the role of John the Baptist as the one who inherits the mantle of Elijah.  In fact, the parallel is so astonishing to his disciples that Jesus readily acknowledges (Mt 11:14) their likely disbelief:  And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come.

Where was Jesus Baptized?

The Jordan River runs from north to south. It has its origins north of Lake Galilee. It drains into Lake Galilee, and continues into the Dead Sea.  The Jordan runs fifteen miles due east of Jerusalem.  The Dead Sea is separated from Jerusalem by hills and desert wasteland. Between three and five miles upriver from the Dead Sea lies Wadi Kharrar, on the Jordan River.   In this area is an ancient settlement known by various names: Beth-Abara; Beit El Obour; Beit-Anya; Bethania.  This is the place recorded in the bible as “Bethany.”  The most thorough examination of Bethany as the site of the Baptism of Jesus is here.

Wadi Kharrar has been the site of archaelogical excavations for at least fifteen years, and it is the purported site of the ministry of John the Baptist.  However, it lies with the border of Jordan, and excavation is managed by the Jordanian government.  It has not drawn much public attention, yet John Paul II visited the site in March of 2000, and Benedict XVI visited the excavation in 2009.

Blog Post for 1st Sunday of Advent, Mk 13:33-37.

Blog Post for 2nd Sunday of Advent, Mk 1:1-8.

My posts on John the Baptist portrayed in Scripture and Art is here; on John the Baptist in the Gospel of Matthew are here and here.

"John the Baptist." Anton Rafael Mengs, 1778. The Hermitage. St. Petersburg, Russia.

Our reading today features John the Baptist, the herald of the Messiah and the last Jewish prophet to anticipate the coming of the Savior (Mt 11:9).  Of John the Baptist, Jesus said there is no greater born of a woman (Mt 11:11).  John is the cousin of Jesus, and he was beheaded by Herod at the bequest of Herod’s wife and daughter.  Mark makes clear, in his own way, that John the Baptist is a prophet.

Here is the Gospel reading, Mark 1:1-8,

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”
John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
People of the whole Judean countryside
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.
John was clothed in camel’s hair,
with a leather belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts and wild honey.
And this is what he proclaimed:
“One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Thus Mark begins his Gospel by introducing us to the prophecy and testimony of John the Baptist. The Sacred Author tells us that John the Baptist is the messenger, or the forerunner, who will prepare the way of the Lord.  Before looking at our passage, we should take note that all four Evangelists (Mt 3:3, Mk 1:2, Lk 3:4 and Jn 1:23) recall John the Baptist declaring Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths, or words to that effect.  John the Baptist is, for all four Gospel authors, an important figure who is the herald of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Mark Invokes Three Different Scriptural Passages in the Old Testament

In the first six verses of Mark’s Gospel, Mark makes three claims.   First, he suggests that a Messianic prophecy in Isaiah is about to be fulfilled.  Second, he suggests that John the Baptist is a messenger, or prophet of God, spoken of in the Book of Malachi.  Third, the Sacred Author establishes that John the Baptist fulfills an Old Testament prophecy whereby the prophet Elijah would announce the coming of the Lord. In this case, it is not Elijah, but John the Baptist, who announces the coming of the Lord in the person of Jesus Christ.

Let’s consider the context of the phrase prepare the way of the Lord in Isaiah 40:1-3.

 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.  A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

This passage from Isaiah 40 tells us that we should prepare for the Lord’s arrival, in the desert. Some scholars suggest Isaiah invokes the memory of the Exodus account. Just as the Israelites fled Egypt along a desert ‘highway’ into the Promised Land, so to shall the Messiah return. For the Israelites, the glory of the Lord was a pillar of fire or a column  of smoke (the shekinah) that led them out of slavery.  Yet the next savior to come from the desert shall be revealed,… for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.   We suspect that when the glory of the Lord comes again, it will not be a pillar of fire, but rather a person revealed to God’s people.

Next, Mark invokes the prophet Malachi.  Consider Malachi 3:1,

Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 

Malachi 3:1 refines the prophecy in Isaiah, telling us that a messenger will prepare the way of the Lord.  We see Mark invoke this prophecy in verse 3.  Let’s look at Malachi 4:4-5 as well:

Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.  ”Behold, I will send you Eli’jah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. 

Malachi tells us that that the prophet Elijah will be sent when the Day of the Lord comes.  This passage is generally associated with a prophecy regarding the day of judgment.  However, Mark understands the arrival of Jesus Christ as inaugurating the Kingdom of God, and thus the Day of the Lord is at hand.  Returning to our passage in the Gospel of Mark, the author implies that John the Baptist fulfills the role of the prophet Elijah in anticipating the coming of the Lord.  Mark tells us in verse 6 that John the Baptist was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. Consider the near word-for-word parallel with 2 Kings 1:8: They answered him, “A hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

Is this a coincidence? Probably not. Mark the Evangelist sees a parallel between John the Baptist and the Old Testament prophet Elijah.  According to the Book of Malachi, Elijah will announce the coming of the Lord.  And of course, this in no way diminishes the possibility that Elijah may yet return to announce the Day of the Lord – the return of Jesus.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

In verse 8, John the Baptist tells us that while he baptizes with water, one will come who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. In the first chapter of Mark, we have seen that Mark tries to establish the credibility of John the Baptist. He is the one who, according to the prophecies in Isaiah and Malachi, will announce the coming of the Messiah. But Mark also mentions the Holy Spirit three times in the first chapter of his Gospel.  Mark tells us that the Lord will baptize with the Holy Spirit in verse 8, that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus “like a dove” in verse 10, and the same spirit drove Jesus into the desert in verse 12.

In Mark 1:3, Mark invokes Isaiah 40.  Isaiah tells us that we must make straight in the desert a highway for our Lord.  Then in verse 12, Mark draws the connection between the prophecy in Isaiah 40 and Jesus.  Mark tells us that Jesus heads into the desert, in Exodus-like fashion, for “forty days.”

Blog Post for 1st Sunday of Advent, Mk 13:33-37.

Blog Post for 3rd Sunday of Advent, Jn 1:6-8,19-28.

Here is Mark 13:33-37,

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

What is most notable about this passage is the number of times Jesus tells us to stay alert – four, to be exact.  In fact, Jesus uses three different words in the original Greek translation:  blepete, agrupneite and gregoreite. “Blepete” is an imperative that means look! or see! But in this context it means beware!  Or, take heed!  “Agrupneite” is an imperative that means stay awake! But it can also be translated be watchful! Or, be alert!   “Gregoreite” means, quite literally, be on alert!  Or, be on the watch!

The First Week of Advent and the Last Things.

During the season of Advent, we await the birth of Jesus with the same anticipation that we would await his second coming.  In fact, this Sunday’s reading in chapter 13 of Mark looks an awful lot like chapters 24 and 25 of Matthew, which were the readings for the last few weeks of November and concluded the previous liturgical year.

"Advent and Triumph of Christ" Hans Memling, 1480. Munich.

It is standard practice in most Christian churches to use an eschatological Gospel reading (from Mark 13, for example) for the first Sunday in Advent.  This is to maintain continuity with the close of the previous liturgical year.  This sense of an eschatological relationship between Advent and the Triumph of Christ (the triumph being both the Resurrection and the anticipation of the Second Coming) has been understood by Christians for centuries.

The idea is captured in a painting by the Flemish artist Hans Memling. Painters of the fifteenth century Flemish (Dutch) school showed a good understanding of their faith and tried to convey a story with their art. Eschatology was of great interest to the Flemish painters, as the monumental works the Last Judgment (Van Eyck: New York Metropolitan Museum of Art), the Mystical Lamb, (Van Eyck: Cathedral of Ghent, Belgium),  and another Last Judgment (Memling: Gdansk) testify.

Memling’s Advent and the Triumph of Christ shows multiple scenes from the life of Jesus.  On the left side of painting are scenes from the birth of Christ, while the right side shows scenes from the concluding chapters of the Gospels.  On the left side of the painting, their are depictions of the Annuciation, the Visitation, and the appearance of the angel to the shepherds.  In the center is the Nativity.  On the right side, we see the Resurrection, the Ascension (in the background) and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles (Pentecost). There are other scenes depicted in the background as well.

A Reading from the Book of Isaiah

The Gospel for the first week of Advent is paired with an Old Testament reading from Isaiah 64:7-9, where the prophet tells us:

There is none who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to cling to you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have delivered us up to our guilt.
Yet, O LORD, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.

Isaiah spoke a truth to the people of Israel in the time of the Old Testament – that the face of God was inaccessible to them.  Prior to the birth of Christ, no human had seen God.  Abraham encountered types for the Trinity, travelling incognito, under the terebinth of Mamre.  Jacob wrestled with an angel.  But when Moses spoke to God, even the greatest Old Testament figure could not view God face-to-face.

During the season of Advent, we hope for the coming of Emmanuel.  Only then will we be able to set our eyes upon the face of God.  Isaiah further tells us that we are the clay and [God] the potter.  Jesus is both the clay and the potter – both God and human.  He is the means by which the Father intended our salvation.   In order to save us, God deigned to become like us.

Second Sunday of Advent: Mark 1:1-8

Third Sunday of Advent: John 1:6-28

It should be noted in Mark’s very terse chapter that the Sacred Author describes three aspects of apostolic ministry: healing (3:1-6), preaching (3:7-12), and casting out demons (3:13-30).  Yet Mark does so in such abbreviated fashion that one can almost miss the whole point of the story.

Mark Commissions the Twelve Apostles

Mark’s Gospel is unusual in that the Sacred Author makes no mention of the calling of the apostles.  In the other three Gospels, we are provided with very human accounts that describe Jesus calling the apostles.   In Matthew (5:18-22) and Luke (5:1-11), Peter is called by the Sea of Galilee. In John’s Gospel (1:35-51), Jesus calls Andrew and Peter, and then Nathaniel-Bartholomew and Philip. And these stories tell us something about the character, personality and imperfections of the men Jesus calls.

Perhaps we should not be surprised that Mark skips over these stories.  His Gospel is the most cursory account of the four. Mark is himself not an Apostle, and he would not have first-hand knowledge of the calling of the Twelve.  But as to why he and his community chose to skip the calling of the Apostles, we can only speculate.

On the other hand, in chapter 3, Mark gives us some insight into the theology of apostolic ministry.  Jesus heals, and then he preaches. Then he commissions his apostles to preach and to cast out demons.   This passage is so pivotal that I ought to introduce it in Greek, so that there is no doubt as to what Jesus is saying:

(14) καὶ ἐποίησεν δώδεκα οὓς καὶ ἀποστόλους ὠνόμασεν ἵνα ὦσιν μετ’ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἵνα ἀποστέλλῃ αὐτοὺς κηρύσσειν (15) καὶ ἔχειν ἔξουσιαν ἐκβάλλειν τὰ δαιμόνια· καὶ ἐποίησεν τοὺς δώδεκα,

All of the Greek translations are in agreement that the Jesus “chose” the “twelve,” “sent” them to “proclaim” or “preach,” and that they were empowered to “cast out demons.”   I wish to emphasize that every early Greek translation of  Mark 3 tells us that Jesus commissioned the twelve to cast out demons.  A few translations also say they were also commissioned to heal the sick, but I don’t know why that insertion is not in all Greek texts.

Why is Mark’s Account Different than Luke’s or Matthew’s?

Mark’s Gospel parts company with Matthew and Luke.  In those two Gospels, the commissioning is followed by an account of the apostles going about preaching. In Mark’s Gospel, the commissioning is followed by an account of the apostles casting out demons, and the scandal this caused to the family of Jesus.  Mark’s Gospel mentions this four times in this chapter (verses 11, 15, 22, 23).   It is not clear whether Mark tells us of a different instance in the life of Jesus or not. In other words, Jesus may have asked his closest disciples, on more than one occasion, to set about preaching, healing and casting out demons.  

It would appear that Matthew, Mark and Luke conflate three general events that would appear to have occurred more than once during the course of Jesus’ ministry. First, the apostles are given authority and sent (Mk 3:13-16, Mt 10:1, Lk 9:1). Second, Jesus offers them advice as to what to take and what to do (Mt 10:5-15, Lk 9:2-6).   In Mark, no advice is given to the disciples. Third, Jesus is called to account by the scribes for the practice of driving out demons (Mk 3:20-29). The response of Jesus is captured in Luke (11:15-22) and Matthew (12:24-32), but in a different context, where Jesus is required, apparently on more than one occasion, to answer for his actions to the religious authorities.  In Mark, Matthew and Luke, he suggests that challenging the work and the will of God is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

When word spreads that the disciples of Jesus, and Jesus himself, cast out demons, we are told that the crowd believes  Jesus “has gone out of his mind” (Mk 3:21).  In response to the criticism of the scribes, Jesus defends his work as follows:

“How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. 28 ”Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”

Jesus simply asserts that he is doing God’s work, and to suggest otherwise is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  More astonishingly, Jesus refers to this form of blasphemy as an “unforgivable sin.”  But this raises an interesting question, as there is no apparent reference to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.  So, what is it?   A simple answer is that to blaspheme against the Spirit is to undo or undermine the work of God in the context of the economy of salvation.

Jesus insinuates that the commission he has given to the Apostles is relatively important.  If we read the commissioning in Matthew, Mark and Luke, we see that the work of the apostles is to preach, to heal and to cast our demons.  These are apostolic works ordained and willed by God.  These actions and miracles point to the Kingdom of Heaven, and they bear testimony to the authority that Jesus has.  For the scribes to insinuate that Jesus might be doing the devil’s work is a blasphemy of the highest order.   It suggests that Jesus is not of God, and that these mighty works of God are fraudulent.

We should take care not to interpret the injunction not to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit too lightly.  We should never testify against the will of God, nor disparage nor deny the mighty works of God, lest we be accused of the same.