Lectionary Year B
September 7, 2003
Mark 7:24-37

Step III: Composition

A. Immediate Context

(JFC) Pre - Mark 7:1-23 tell of the Pharisees' and scribes' objecting to Jesus' disciples eating without cleansing their hands to which Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 about those who hypocritically hold to human-made traditions rather than having heart-felt devotion to God's commandments as Moses got them which they reputedly corrupt. Jesus clarified that it is the things that come from within rather than the things that come from outside that defile humans. Then the disciples asked Him in relative privacy what that saying meant. He told them about the difference between eating and food in the stomach and gets digested and waste eliminated. Mark then editorializes that it is all food that is declared clean. Next Jesus appears to list defiling attitudes such as fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride and folly which come from inside which defile persons.

Post - Mark 8 is about Jesus' feeding 4,000 people with 7 loaves of bread and a few fish that left 7 baskets of leftovers after all had eaten. Then the Pharisees requested a sign but Jesus said no sign would be given for their generation. Next they went out in a boat with only one loaf of bread which Jesus used as a visual aid to talk about the difference between the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod. The next part of that chapter seems to give details of the numbers of the people served recently. It refers to 5,000 people and 12 baskets of leftovers as well as to the 4,000 and 7 baskets of leftovers. Then they went on toward Caeserea Pilippi were He asks, "Who is it said that I am . . ?" Peter next confesses that he believes Jesus is "the Messiah", to which Jesus told them not to tell anyone about Him. Then, He begins passion predictions, which Peter objects to hearing and Jesus calls him to get behind Him and calls him "Satan". Then, as that chapter begins to end, Jesus calls disciples to deny themselves, to take up their crosses and to follow Him.

B. Organization of Compositional Whole

(JFC) Some of these data have been recorded previously in Bi 216 on line. "Mark's objective is to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God", Sweizer notes. Chapters 1-9 of Mark's Gospel collect traditions of Jesus' life, preaching, teachings and healings. The accounts read as if they were compiled rapidly. Some seem almost unrelated if not detached from one another. Some commentators find forecasts of Jesus' passion in such passages as of John's arrest in 1:15 and his execution in 6:14-29 and the Pharisees' opposition to Jesus in 3:6. Vincent Taylor's The Gospel According to Saint Mark has the most detailed "Plan and Arrangement of the Gospel", where it identifies the Introduction as in 1:1-13, the Galilean Ministry from 1:14 to 6:13, the Ministry Beyond Galilee from 6:14 to 8:26, the Caeserea Phillipi: the Journey to Jerusalem from 8:27 to 10:52, the Ministry in Jerusalem from 11:1 to 13:37 and the Passion and Resurrection narratives conclude the outline. From the plot to arrest Jesus to the entombment, we get much more detailed descriptions. Jesus' passion and death seem to be the goal toward which this Gospel aims. Mark's Gospel, as briefly as it records Jesus' encounters, does tell of the emotions the people have to Him and His ministries. Therein we read of sorrow, pity, fear, amazement, anger and grief. Furthermore, Lamar Williamson, Jr., in the Interpretation commentary series says, "The Gospel of Mark is . . . a combination of traditions about Jesus presented in story form, a narrative constituting good news about God and his kingdom, and a writing which occupies a place of fundamental importance in the scriptures of the church."

C. Issues of Authorship

(JFC) As previously noted, the Gospel of Mark was probably "the first of the Gospels committed to writing," as C. E. Mann says in the Anchor Bible. Although Taylor has no doubt that "Mark, the attendant of Peter . . . the John Mark of the Acts and the companion of Paul" wrote this Gospel, the author is really unknown. That John Mark in Acts, Philemon, Colossian and II Timothy, only might be the author. It was probably written in Rome. The Roman context seems to be supported by Latin expressions, although such extractions were found in much literature of that era. Other places that might have generated this Gospel include Antioch in Syria, Alexandria or anywhere in Italy according to James L. Price's Interpreting the New Testament. 7:3f indicate that this Gospel was written for Gentile readers. And, we recall that we have seen in these pages before, "In the MacArthur Study Bible, the following quote from Papias, the Bishop of Hieropolis, written around 140 CE, 'And the Presbyter [the apostle John] said this: "Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not, however, the exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ"." Some date in the 60's is likely since there is no very direct mention of Jerusalem's destruction in 70.



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