Session 7: Class Notes

Mark 9 takes us into some big questions.  Let's dive in!

First, a prolegomena (ie things that need to be said before we can say the things we need to say).

In class, or on the blog, I'm apt to say something like, "What is Mark trying to show us here?" or "The repetition of this element demonstrates how important it is to the author of the gospel".  What do I mean when I refer to this unknown person(s)?

I am convinced of the inspiration of scripture.  This means that for me, when I refer to the author of the gospel I am referring to something larger than an individual.  I believe that the writers of the gospel reliedwere reliant upon oral tradition passed down to them.  I also believe that the gospel writers were working in concert with the Holy Spirit.  The exact nature of that relationship is a mystery to me yet I am convinced that the spirit of God was active in the creation of the gospels.

So when I say things like, "Clearly it wasn't important for Mark to talk about such-and-such", what I am referring to when I say, "Mark" is the relationship and combined work of an individual, the broader community of faith, and the Holy Spirit.

OK, back to notes on Mark 9!

Mark 9:2-8 - The Transfiguration aka Disco Jesus!

One way to approach this wonderful and strange story is to ask two questions:

The Transfiguration

1. What did the disciples see?
2. What do we see?

1. What did the disciples (Peter, James, & John aka the inner circle) see?

• The mountain top story is comprised mostly of references to the Hebrew scriptures.
• "His clothes became dazzling white..."  The transfiguration of Jesus into a bright white light mirrors other Hebraic stories.  Moses' face shone brightly after talking to God in Exodus 34.  In Daniel 7:9, God (named as the Ancient of Days) appears with dazzling white clothes.
• "And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus."  Elijah and Moses are prominent prophets of the Hebrew scriptures that both encountered God mountain.  Moses was the prophet by which all other Hebrew prophets were measured.  Both Elijah and Moses confronted tyrannical powers and principalities.
• "Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice,"  In the Hebrew scriptures clouds are often associated with the presence of God.  It was a cloud that led the Israelites by day through the wilderness.  It was a cloud that descended upon the home of the Ark  of the Covenant.  It was in a cloud that God met Moses on the mountain top.
• "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"  This is the second time a voice from the heavens has declared Jesus to be the son.  While Jesus is shining the voice declares that the disciples (and us) should "listen".  Listen or hear, is the first word of the Shema, the foundational faith statement of Judaism.  "Hear O' Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4).  What's fascinating about this is the presence of Moses.  Tradition says that Moses wrote the first five books of the bible, the Torah.  The Torah is the bedrock of the Hebrew scriptures and includes the Shema.  The voice from the heavens, God, does not say listen to Moses, or listen to the scriptures, but rather listen to Jesus.
• The references to the Hebrew scriptures make clear the point that Jesus is in the tradition with the founders of the faith and is greater than the founders of the faith.  The author of Mark is making the point that Jesus is now the foundation of the faith.  Why might this have been an important point to make to the nascent faith community?

2. What do we see?

• Up until this point in the gospel of Mark we have seen a very human Jesus.  His emotions and  physical conditions have made him very relatable.  The healing stories have pointed to another power at work yet because healers were not (and are not now) completely nonexistent, these demonstrations of power have been limited in their other-worldly feel.  At the transfiguration this changes.
• Putting ourselves in this story it is easy to feel the disciples' loss of words.  What would we say amidst such awe?  It reminds me of Habakkuk 2:20, "The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth fall silent before him".  For centuries, Christian theologians have seen the transfiguration as a moment when the divinity of Jesus breaks through. 
• To talk about Jesus as both human and divine is to speak of the incarnation (ie the act of being made flesh).
• The Incarnation is a mystery and since the earliest days of the faith, the followers of Christ have struggled to understand what it means.
• What does it mean to be divine?  (the summation of the omnipresent + omniscient + omnipotent or is divinity more than a philosophical concept?)
• What does it mean to be human? (skin, emotions, intellect, or does the human spirit mean something more?)
• Was Jesus a human that became divine?
• Was Jesus divine and he merely looked like a human?
• Was Jesus the human mode of God? (kind of like ice is the frozen mode of water)
• The struggle to articulate the mystery has led to numerous councils, atrocities, and beautiful wonders.
• For me, the mystery of the incarnation will always be a mystery that invites us to explore and explore again.  One way to explore the mystery is to ask, "What does the incarnation mean to me?"  In other words, "Why does it matter?"  Biblical scholar Jurgen Moltmann nails it for me when he says,

Jurgen Moltmann

“When God becomes man in Jesus of Nazareth, he not only enters into the finitude of man, but in his death on the cross also enters into the situation of man's godforsakenness. In Jesus he does not die the natural death of a finite being, but the violent death of the criminal on the cross, the death of complete abandonment by God. The suffering in the passion of Jesus is abandonment, rejection by God, his Father. God does not become a religion, so that man participates in him by corresponding religious thoughts and feelings. God does not become a law, so that man participates in him through obedience to a law. God does not become an ideal, so that man achieves community with him through constant striving. He humbles himself and takes upon himself the eternal death of the godless and the godforsaken, so that all the godless and the godforsaken can experience communion with him.” - JM

Oh and...

“God allows himself to be humiliated and crucified in the Son, in order to free the oppressors and the oppressed from oppression and to open up to them the situation of free, sympathetic humanity.” - JM

Oh, oh, and...

“God became man that dehumanized men might become true men. We become true men in the community of the incarnate, the suffering and loving, the human God.” - JM

You might just want to check out Jurgen Moltmann's "The Crucified God"

Finally, the story of the Transfiguration is the story of a "Thin Place."  We spoke a little about this Tuesday night.  Here are a few good articles that share more about this idea.

• Where Heaven and Earth Collide
• Where Can I Touch the Edge of Heaven
• Where Heaven and Earth Come Closer

And now a few quick notes from the other stories in Mark 9

Mark 9:9-13 - Transfiguration Epilogue

• The Messianic Secret appears again.
• The disciples questions around raising from the dead reveals the first century context.  Resurrection was a relatively new development in Judaism.  The afterlife isn't a significant concept in the Hebrew scriptures, when discussion arises on the topic it usually centers around Sheol.  In the Daniel (the latest book in the Hebrew scriptures) we see our first glimpse at a theology of resurrection, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth[a] shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt".  In Jesus time the Pharisees taught such a resurrection while Sadduccees denied such a reality.

Mark 9:14-29 - Healing of the Boy

• While many commentators contend that the boy was stricken with epilepsy the question over what exactly was afflicting the boy is not central for Mark.  The  key is that there was a power at work to destroy him and once again Jesus is revealed to have power over those forces which diminish our humanity.
• "I believe; help my unbelief", a great prayer that could express the heart of all those who seek to follow the way of Christ.
• Why were the disciples unable to heal the boy?  I cover that in the Session 7: Q&O post.

Mark 9:30-32 - Jesus Foretells His Death

• This passage is not far removed from the voice of God telling the disciples to listen to Jesus.  Yet they fail to hear and comprehend Jesus' proclamation of his death.

Mark 9:33-37 - Who is the Greatest?

• It's important to understand that in first century Palestine, children had little to no power.  In fact, the Aramaic word for child, "Talya" could also be translated as "slave".  There were no child beauty pageants, or products marketed just for children.  No cherub baby figurines or Anne Geddes photography with babies dressed up as bumble bees.  Children were not thought of as fully human. 
• Given an understanding of the status of children we see the radical nature of Jesus' teaching that to welcome children (one completely without power and dehumanized) is to welcome God.

Mark 9:38-41 - The Reversal

• There has got to be word here to followers of Christ who write off other followers of Christ because they don't share the exact same beliefs.  Note that Jesus puts the importance on the actions of the unknown miracle worker, the emphasis is on the fruit that is born.
• I discuss this section more in the Session 7: Q&O post.

Mark 9:42-50 - The Unquenchable Fire

• I don't believe Jesus is speaking literally here, yet rather employing vivid language to make a point about the gravity of sin.  In other words, if taking out an eye would prevent you from ever sinning again, is that a trade you would make?  Obviously, removing an eye wouldn't stop our heart from coveting or lusting.
• The word translated as "Hell" is "Gehenna".  Gehenna was a valley on the other side of the southern and western walls of Jerusalem.  In centuries past it was the location where people worshiped the god Moloch.  The worship of Moloch involved sacrificing children in fire.  This history made Gehenna a ritually unclean place.  Over time it became a garbage dump.  It was thought of as always smoldering (whether literally or figuratively with sin of its past) and rotting.  It was an unclean place of decay, death, and evil.