{"id":1444,"date":"2014-08-31T11:00:48","date_gmt":"2014-08-31T15:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=1444"},"modified":"2014-08-28T10:34:36","modified_gmt":"2014-08-28T14:34:36","slug":"gaining-a-deeper-understanding-of-the-new-testament-20140831","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=1444","title":{"rendered":"Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the New Testament — 20140831"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gospel-of-Mark-Graphic\"<\/a>The second theme of Mark\u2019s Gospel is announced in 1:14-15: the coming of the kingdom of God. <\/em>John has been arrested by Herod and the arrest of Jesus\u2019 mentor, John, is the trigger for Jesus to begin His public activity in Galilee. Jesus\u2019 first words, which are Mark\u2019s advance summary of\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 message, proclaim the good news<\/em> as the coming of the kingdom of God. It should be noted that this is a repeat of the message that John the Baptizer declared during his ministry.<\/p>\n

(It is suggested that you have a copy of Mark\u2019s Gospel in hand when you read this so that you can actually get a sense of what is being shared<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Part One: Galilee <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The rest of chapter one through most of chapter eight, which is roughly half of the gospel, narrates\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 activity in Galilee. He calls disciples who leave everything – livelihood and family \u2013 to follow Him. He teaches with authority<\/em>, and He often uses parables. He exorcises\u00a0\u00a0 demons and heals people. He stills a storm on the sea (twice) and feeds a multitude with a few loaves and fish (twice). There is no scholarly conclusion about Mark\u2019s gospel presenting two different instances of the stilling of the sea and the multiplication of food. The stories are so very close in nature that it would seem that the same story was repeated for a specific purpose.<\/p>\n

Almost from the beginning, the Galilee section foreshadows the conflict that will lead to Jesus\u2019 death in Jerusalem, which is presented in part three.<\/p>\n

Chapters 2-3 contain a series of conflict stories in which Jesus is challenged by representatives of the authorities. Already the shadow of the cross darkens the story.<\/p>\n

Part Two: Journey to Jerusalem<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Toward the end of chapter 8, Jesus\u2019 final journey to Jerusalem begins to dominate Mark\u2019s narrative. For the first time, a follower of Jesus (i.e., Peter) calls Jesus the Messiah<\/em>. Jesus immediately tells his disciples that he will be rejected and killed by the authorities in Jerusalem. Following Him means to take up their cross<\/em> – to join Him on the way<\/em> that leads to Jerusalem, confrontation, death and resurrection. Twice more in this section Jesus announces his impending execution. As the journey section draws to its end, Mark\u2019s theme of the way<\/em> is again emphasized; after Jesus restores the sight of a blind man at the end of chapter 10, who then followed Jesus on the way – <\/em>the way or path or road to Jerusalem, the next stop.<\/em><\/p>\n

The one theme that is present in all of the Gospels is the theme of commitment to living as God wants humans to live. It is a commitment, however, that will lead a person to rejection by others and some degree of suffering. No real growth, however, can be achieved without some struggle and suffering!<\/p>\n

Have you embraced the WAY of Jesus?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second theme of Mark\u2019s Gospel is announced in 1:14-15: the coming of the kingdom of God. John has been arrested by Herod and the arrest of Jesus\u2019 mentor, John, is the trigger for Jesus to begin His public activity … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-look-at-the-new-testament","category-gosple-of-mark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1445,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444\/revisions\/1445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}