Why does Mark put two long stories of feeding the multitude into his short Gospel? There also are two long exorcism stories? Why? It may be that Jesus performed the same miracles more than once, but that doesn’t answer the question. Mark doesn’t include everything Jesus did in his story. He has a purpose beyond historical accuracy. Ched Myers argues that the point of these duplications is to illustrate the presence of Gentiles alongside Jews in the Kingdom of God. Eleventh... Read more
Bishops have a lot to think about these days. Maybe they should resign as a group like Chile’s bishops. Maybe they should open up voluntarily diocesan records concerning abusive clergy as Pennsylvania’s dioceses did. (The latter was under court order.) I hope they also read this article in First Things by a priest of the Diocese of Charleston, SC. Fr. Jay Scott Newman calls for “The End of the Imperial Episcopate.” I’ll include some of Fr. Newman’s suggestions at the... Read more
Jesus tells parables, stories with comfortably familiar scenes and, often, strange twists. The tendency of interpreters has been to find heavenly meaning in the earthy tones, but in Mark at least the meaning as well as the tone is quite earthly. Tenth in a series on “The Worldly Spirituality of Mark’s Gospel” with help from Ched Myers’ Binding the Strongman: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus. The Introduction and a Table of Contents are HERE. The scribes base... Read more
Name calling is a favorite tactic of challenged establishments. Today you might be called a communist or (heaven forbid!) a liberal. Here the establishment figures are scribes, and the insult of the day is Beelzebul. “By this prince of demons Jesus casts out devils.” In a subtle twist Jesus turns the charge around. Once again Jesus locates the spiritual realm (here the demonic) in real-life situations of Palestinian power. Ninth in a series on “The Worldly Spirituality of Mark’s Gospel”... Read more
A Japanese foreign exchange student went to Sunday Mass with us and gave me most of the title of this piece. I asked her what it was like, and she responded, “We sit, we stand, we kneel; we sit, we stand, we kneel.” Catholic worship does tend more toward exercise than some others. Each of these postures, sitting, standing, kneeling, and walking, has its own meaning to lend to the Liturgy. Whenever I read something about postures in liturgy, kneeling... Read more
In Mark Jesus does not work alone. As weak and lacking in understanding as his followers are, he needs them. He needs to establish a kingdom in this world – not of the world but definitely for the world. It will be an alternative community to the kingdoms of this world, a government in exile. To its first members he gives the title apostles. Eighth in a series on “The Worldly Spirtuality of Mark’s Gospel” with help from Ched Myers’... Read more
Jesus challenges the three basic elements in the symbolic order that the Pharisees cherished. Perhaps they meant well, but in effect it was an oppressive symbolic order. Seventh in a series on “The Worldly Spirituality of Mark’s Gospel” with help from Ched Myers’ Binding the Strongman: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus. The Introduction a Table of Contents are HERE. Jesus’ ministry of healing and exorcism has led to conflict with the powers that be, the way things... Read more
Dr. Mark Braverman is a Jewish American who speaks out for the rights of Palestinians and Israeli-Arab peace. A retired clinical psychologist who worked with individuals and groups undergoing traumatic stress, he has addressed the Israel-Palestine conflict full-time since 2006. That is when he witnessed firsthand the Israeli occupation of Palestine. While there, he encountering Muslim, Christian, and Jewish peace activists and civil society leaders. To this particular moment in time, this Kairos, I attribute the necessity to let Braverman’s... Read more
More than charity to individuals motivates Jesus to heal the sick. He challenges the purity and debt codes oppressing the poor. Today we call it social justice. Sixth in a series on “The Worldly Spirituality of Mark’s Gospel” with help from Ched Myers’ Binding the Strongman: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus. The Introduction and a Table of Contents are HERE. It’s the Sabbath, the day for preaching in synagogues, and Jesus is well aware of the rule... Read more
Jesus’ teaching “with authority” is an attack on the scribes, but it’s the devil who complains. That makes surprising sense. Mark’s Gospel has a political setting. Now something appears as if from another world, but Mark gives it a close connection with this world of political maneuvering, including Jesus’ politics. Fifth in a series on “The Worldly Spirituality of Mark’s Gospel” with help from Ched Myers’ Binding the Strongman: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus. The Introduction and... Read more
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