{"id":427,"date":"2012-04-30T12:08:55","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T17:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/?p=427"},"modified":"2012-04-27T14:14:49","modified_gmt":"2012-04-27T19:14:49","slug":"gospel-of-mark-week-8-the-synagogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/04\/gospel-of-mark-week-8-the-synagogue\/","title":{"rendered":"Gospel of Mark Week: 9-The synagogue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

MARK 1:21, 22
\nI read this and realized that I have a tendency to think of the synagogue as just the local version of a church with the Temple being the big \u201cheadquarters\u201d in Jerusalem. Not so at all as William Barclay points out.<\/p>\n

There are certain basic differences between the synagogue and the church as we know it today.<\/p>\n

(a) The synagogue was primarily a teaching institution.<\/em> The synagogue service consisted of only three things \u2014 prayer, the reading of God\u2019s word, and the exposition of it. There was no music, no singing and no sacrifice. It may be said that the Temple<\/em> was the place of worship and sacrifice;<\/em> the synagogue was the place of teaching and instruction.<\/em> The synagogue was by far the more influential, for there was only one Temple. But the law laid it down that wherever there were ten Jewish families there must be a synagogue, and, therefore, wherever there was a colony of Jews, there was a synagogue. If a man had a new message to preach, the synagogue was the obvious place in which to preach it.<\/p>\n

(b) The synagogue provided an opportunity to deliver such a message. The synagogue had certain officials.<\/p>\n