Home, continued

This was the last paragraph of the March 13th blog post:

Now, I suggest that Jesus' home in the two examples that I've given from the beginning of Mark's gospel represent the assembly of those who believe Jesus' words. The home is where the Spirit dwells among believers! In this second passage, when his family comes to restrain Jesus because some people have said that Jesus has gone out of his mind, this is Jesus' answer to his return home: Yes, he has gone out of his mind--Jesus has gone into his heart, where the Spirit gushes forth to be welcomed by the assembly.

With this in mind, think about the following passage of what happens within this assembly in Mark 2:9-10--

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Stand up and take up your mat and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--he said to the paralytic--I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home."

Notice that the passage ends with the word, home. First of all, I suggest that the following passage is saying to us the following: Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise up from your sins in baptism, take your new understanding that comes from Spirit, and follow me.' (Your mat, which you lay upon, is your foundation. It is your understanding. But the Spirit brings enlightenment, a new understanding.) Which is easier? I suggest that Mark tells us from the mouth of Jesus that they are identical! Jesus informs us that when we are baptized, filled with the Spirit and following him that our sins are forgiven!

I suggest that the man who was paralyzed in sin came in faith (brought by members of the assembly) and was 'buried with Christ' in baptism in the few verses before this passage. His sins were forgiven. Now Jesus says to the man who was 'buried with him,' rise up, be filled with the Spirit and follow me. (Typically, Jesus takes the hand and 'lifts' the newly baptized from his burial in the waters of baptism.)

In verse 2:2 the assembly has gathered to hear the word in Jesus' home! Doesn't it seem quite reasonable that these baptisms occur within the celebration of the word?

But, let's return to the last word of the above passage, home. In the six celebrations of the multiplication of loaves that are easily recognized within the four gospels, the disciples have the crowds eat their sit down banquet in groups of about fifty. Of course he serves fish along with the loaves, for how can you consume the meal without the word? The meal is the word, and the word is the meal--they are inseparable.

I suggest to you that Jesus tells this newly baptized man to go to his home: his small community where he will share the word, and becomes the bread he eats.

Home and House

In Mark's gospel, Jesus returns to Capernaum, and we find out that "he was at home," as chapter two begins.

When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. (nrsv)

In Mark's chapter three, after Jesus appoints the twelve, we are told simply that "he (Jesus) went home, and the crowd came together again, so they could not even eat.

In both examples, home is where the community of believers assemble!

In this second example from Mark's chapter three, we are given an additional insight into the word home. Here, Jesus begins to speak to the scribes that have come down from Jerusalem using the word, house.

"How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a stron man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. "Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"--for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit." (nrsv)

I suggest to you that the scribes from Jerusalem represent the House of Israel who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit by saying that the words that come out from Jesus' mouth are not from the Holy Spirit but from Beelzebul.

Now, I suggest that Jesus' home in the two examples that I've given from the beginning of Mark's gospel represent the assembly of those who believe Jesus' words. The home is where the Spirit dwells among believers! In this second passage, when his family comes to restrain Jesus because some people have said that Jesus has gone out of his mind, this is Jesus' answer to return to home: Yes, he has gone out of his mind--Jesus has gone into his heart, where the Spirit gushes forth to be welcomed by the assembly.

SWCRS

It's been too long since the last post! Mostly because we're a little embarrased that the book isn't out yet. Please forgive us for telling you it'd be done by now!

Earlier this month I attended the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies held in Irving, Texas. It was great fun. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dr. Katherine Downey, University of Texas at Dallas, speak on The Genre of Gospel. She looks forward to talking with my dad about the literary form.

Kathy Maxwell, a graduate student from Baylor, read her excellent paper on The Role of Audience in Ancient Narrative: Acts as a Case Study. What a treat to listen to her!

The Presidential Address, by Dr. Mikeal Parsons, Baylor University, spoke on Luke and the Whole Body. It was a very fun paper, and he talked about the relationship between physical appearance and character, which is the topic of one of his latest books.

Today I am once again amazed to see how the writers of the gospels use similar events to tell their Stories in different ways. Wow. One writer will use a certain even as the Wisdom Section, and another writer might use that same event as the Focus Section. Once you see the Stories, then you'll be able to know the significance of this. Each Story is truly a work of art. What creativity and consideration they used when forming their Stories for us! We can't wait to show them to you!

Anne

Mark's Story 15

We are doing one last edit on The 150 Parables...What a surprise this book will be for you!

Today's blog...

In Mark's Story 15, in the sS, the disciples are trying to understand the meaning of the two multiplication of loaves events.

(Following the literary form, the wW gives specific meaning to the sS.)

In the Wisdom section of this "parable," the "blind man" is asked by Jesus if he can see. Cleverly, Mark has the man say, "I can see people, but they look like trees, walking." Think about that statement. If the trees are walking, then they have no roots to stand on--no understanding!

The wW is: he looked intently. The wW is telling us that the disciples, through the eyes of the blind man, are searching for an understanding of the two multiplication of loaves events.

(The wAW tells how or why the wW is put into practice)

The wAW, a prediction of the passion, is why the disciples are trying to get a handle on the multiplication of loaves events.

The blind man does have his sight restored, and he sees everything clearly--there is understanding. What is this understanding? The mission entrusted to the disciples by Jesus is defined by the two multiplication of loaves events--and the passion...A topic to be covered in another blog.

Echoes continued...

Each Story written in the literary form of the parable, when diagramed, can be seen as two parallel stories going on at once. This is an important element of the literary form. My dad and I call one of those stories (within the whole Story) the "shaded story" and the other one we call the "unshaded story". That's because in his books he uses shadings to show the story and wisdom statements, which make up a story in itself. These statements are the ones around which the whole Story is built. The other three statements, the focus, reflection and appropriating the wisdom statements make up the "unshaded story". (On this blog, we are not able to illustrate using shadings, but if you look at the 150 parables website, and click on the sample Stories, you can see what we mean by shaded and unshaded stories.)

We talked about Echoes the other day. When reading the diagramed Stories you will find that one of the identical pairs of phrases will be found in the shaded story and the other one will be found in the unshaded story.

Here is the unshaded story of the parable that was introduced in the last post...Matthew 25:14-30:

It is like a man about to go abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them, the man who had received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. The man who had received the five talents came forward bringing five more. Well done, good and trustworthy servant; come and join in your master's happiness. Next the man with the two talents came forward. here are two more that I have made." you have shown you are trustworthy in small things; I will trust you with greater;
"You wicked and lazy servant! you should have deposited my money with the bankers, So now take the talent from him and give it to the man who has ten talents. As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him into the darkness outside, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth."



Each of the 150 Stories that comprise the four gospels are written in this literary form. Each Story has an unshaded story, and sometimes the writers of the gospels will surprise us in the unshaded story with a possibly unrealized insight into that particular Story (as a whole). Every time you see this type of an echo in the gospels, now you'll know why!

We haven't made as many posts to this blog as we intended!! We've been busy editing the diagramed the Stories in the NRSV, and hope to get them to you real soon so that you can see the 150 Stories diagramed.

Echoes, Matthew 25:14-30

In Matthew (25:14-30), we have a parable about a man about to go abroad who summoned his sevants and entrusted his property to them. In that parable, the following verses are identically repeated:

"Well done, good and faithful servant;

you have shown you are trustworthy in small things;

I will trust you with greater;

come and join in your master's happiness."

If there were commentaries on this parable, and I'm sure there must be, this would probably be called an echo. Echoes emphasize something, and it does here in this parable. I'll talk about this in the next posting.

Philip

In the posting for Jan 21, I suggested that Nathanael was described by the writer of John's gospel in a likeness to the apostle Paul in his mission to the Greek-speaking world in The Acts of the Apostles. My proposal was that John's Story 3 was a post-resurection Story about primarily Peter and Paul. I also pointed out that another Philip, one of the seven, sets the stage for the conversion of Saul in Luke's Acts. I also identified Nathanael as one of the seven in the boat in the second ending of John's gospel where the fishing expedition was aimed at the Greek- speaking gentiles.

John tells us that Andrew was one of the two of John's disciples who follow Jesus in the beginning of John's Story 3. We aren't told who was the second of these two followers of the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God, of course, would have been the risen Christ if this indeed was a post-resurrections Story.

Along this same line, what do you think might be the purpose of the writer of John's gospel as he presents us the following from John's Story 3 (1:35-51):
Now Philip was from Bethsaida (This happens to be the first verse in the "un-shaded" story when diagramed in its literary form), and

from John's Story 21 (12:21-50) we find the following verses:
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. (This happens to be in the "shaded" story.)

The following verse tells us that Philip doesn't immediately take the Greeks to Jesus. Instead, Philip goes to Andrew and then the two of them go to Jesus. Jesus replies to them, and we aren't sure if them includes the Greeks or not. Jesus' reply is that the hour has come for him to be glorified.

It is obvious to me that John wants John's Story 3 to be a foundation for what is happening in John's Story 21.

The writer of John wants to bring our attention to this second event where the Greek-speaking people were seeking Jesus. Yes, Jesus was also the hope of the Greeks.

I propose that the fact about Philip being from Bethsaida was done intentionally so that both the shaded and unshaded stories would both include this statement. (If you don't know what this means...look at the 150 parables website.)

Was Philip the second of the two of John's disciples that followed Jesus at the beginning of John's gospel? If so, why is this important? Why does Philip seek Andrew to go with him to tell Jesus that the Greeks want to talk to him?

The writer of John's gospel wants us to be aware of something. If someone comes to this blog with a suggestion, it will be welcomed.