Posts Tagged ‘drama’

In the boat with Jesus

June 23, 2018

Pentecost 5 – 2018

Mark 4:35-41

Marian Free

In the name of God who takes us where we do not want to go, accepts our fears and lack of faith and loves us still. Amen.

Today’s gospel is a great example of some of the differences between Mark’s gospel and those of Matthew and Luke.  All three tell the same story but Matthew and Luke have made significant changes in their re-telling of the event (the website “Five Gospel Parallels, places the accounts side by side. Look for Mark 4:35, Matthew 8:18 and Luke 8:22 ). Both, in slightly different ways, have pared back the story with the result that their accounts are much less detailed and therefore less colourful and dramatic than that of Mark. The changes made by Matthew and Luke also significantly change the ways in which Jesus and disciples are depicted. They have, for example, omitted some of the dialogue between Jesus and the disciples that has the effect of making the disciples less petulant and Jesus more harsh.

As I’ve said before, most scholars agree that Mark was the first person to write an account of Jesus’ life and teaching. Matthew and Luke used Mark’s gospel as the basis for their own and added material from a common source as well as material that was unique to each of them. In the process they removed much of the detail that brings the stories and the characters to life. Matthew and Mark rehabilitate the disciples and depict Jesus in such a way as to emphasise his divinity over his humanity. Mark’s gospel is much shorter than either Matthew or Luke and it has a sense of urgency. The Greek of Mark is less refined and less polished than theirs but (perhaps as a consequence) his story-telling has an immediacy that the others do not.

Mark’s account of “the calming of the storm” is the most dramatic of the three. The author tells us that it is a “great” windstorm and adds that the waves beat against the boat. (The word “great” is repeated three times, great windstorm, great calm, great fear). Mark provides the rather intimate detail that Jesus is asleep in the stern of the boat on a cushion. In Mark, Jesus doesn’t simply rebuke the wind; he also speaks to the waves saying, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceases and there is a great calm.

According to Mark the disciples are sullen and accusatory: “Teacher do you not care that we are perishing?” (Don’t you care? Don’t you love us? How can you sleep when we are all about to lose our lives?) Jesus response is more direct – to the point of insult: “Cowards! Have you still no faith?” Mark’s Jesus is also more authoritative, the word “θιμοω” that we have translated as “be still” has the more emphatic meaning of “to put to silence” and could be translated as strongly as: “be muzzled” or more crudely as “shut up.” When all is calm, the disciples do not respond (as might be expected) with faith or even relief. They were “frightened with a great fear” and despite what Jesus has done, and what he has taught they are none the wiser as to who he might be.

Not only does Mark provide colour and detail that Matthew and Luke omit, he is not afraid to present the disciples as fallible and weak (whiney even). Jesus is depicted as vulnerable and human. Jesus is asleep – on a cushion, he is impatient and not as tolerant of the disciples than Matthew and Luke would have us believe.

There is so much more to this apparently simple miracle story, than a human Jesus and pathetic, frightened disciples. In re-telling the story, Mark  has filled it with symbolism and hidden depths that are clear only in the context of the gospel as a whole.

As an example, there is no reason for Jesus to cross the sea. It is evening, (not an ideal time for a sea crossing) and Jesus has been teaching all day (neither he, nor his disciples have made any preparation for a journey). The sea, like other locations in this gospel is a literary artifice, used by Mark for a particular purpose. It is here (after Jesus’ teaches the crowds and after the two occasions that Jesus feeds the crowds) that the confusion and ignorance of the disciples is most clearly revealed. Here, even though the disciples have been privy to personal teaching, they still have no idea whom Jesus is or what his purpose might be.

Mark also uses boundaries to great effect whether social, geographic or political. Over and over again Jesus breaks through or ignores the boundaries between Jew and Gentile, the boundaries created by purity codes and the boundaries presented by geography. In this instance the sea is the boundary between Jewish Palestine and Gentile Gerasene. It is an in-between place in which a person need not be bound by either culture and in which anything is possible. Jesus is not bound by convention or religious tradition; he knows that the Gentiles will not contaminate him.

So much more than a miracle story, Mark’s account of the calming of the sea gives us an insight into the foolishness of the disciples, their incomprehension and their lack of faith. It moves the story forward, demonstrating Jesus’ power over nature, before revealing his power over demons and his authority over death. It reminds us that Jesus was not afraid of in-between places or of people and situations that had the potential to make him unclean and that he was as comfortable on a stormy lake as he was in a home. As the gospel progresses, Mark will use these and other literary techniques to expose the true nature of Jesus and to reveal the gradual comprehension of the disciples.

All of this is very well, but of what relevance is it to us – 21st century Christians  who have the advantage of knowing who Jesus is and how the story ends? Among other things, I think this story tells us that miracles are just as likely to raise questions as they are to provide answers; that Jesus exists at the boundaries and in the in-between places, refusing to see the world in black and white; that even if Jesus is frustrated with us he doesn’t lose hope in us, and that an absence of faith is not a reason for Jesus to abandon us.

Like the disciples we take Jesus in the boat with us, we expose our fallibility and lack of faith and in the process we learn who Jesus is and discover what we can be.

 

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Breaking the code

April 9, 2016

Easter 2 – 2016

Revelation

Marian Free

 

In the name of God, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, who was and who is and who is to come. Amen.

Images such as “the four horsemen of the apocalypse” and “the mark of the beast” have become part of our cultural heritage. Even the word apocalypse is widely understood to mean the violent end of the world. I wonder if people who use such terminology understand that the images come from the book of Revelation or the Apocalypse. This is such a complex and controversial book of the bible, that it was not formally included in the canon of the New Testament until the fourth century. Even now, it is often regarded as too difficult and unorthodox to be included regularly in our diet of Sunday readings.

Of all the books of the Bible, Revelation is the one most open to misunderstanding and abuse. It is difficult to read and its meaning is so obscure that it is often avoided. This is unfortunate for two reasons: one is that it means that we fail to appreciate it and the second is that it leaves us unprepared to challenge the dangerous results of misinterpretation[1].

As the introduction suggests, Revelation is written (as a letter?) to seven churches in Asia Minor. The context suggests that church members are feeling under threat. As there was no official persecution at that time we can only guess that their conversion to Christianity had led to social exclusion and financial hardship. Being a Christian meant that they could no longer associate with the local Temples. This meant a form of voluntary social ostracism. Temples were places for meeting and eating and what is more they were closely associated with the various trade guilds. Not being able to visit the Temple mean isolation from the community at large and it also made it almost impossible to ply one’s trade.

When a community feels under threat, it is not unusual for those people to envision a future in which everything will be put to right – the righteous rewarded and the wicked punished. It is in this context that we need to read the book of Revelation. The colourful, and in places lurid imagery is intended to give hope and encouragement to those who (at some considerable cost to themselves are refusing to conform to the society around them.

Understanding Revelation requires making sense of the symbolism, breaking the code as it were. For example, numbers and colours take on specific meanings. Seven is the number for perfection, which means that 3½ or 1,260 days is the number for imperfection. We see that the work is written to seven churches, there are four sets of seven – seven seals, seven trumpets, seven visions and seven bowls. There are also seven churches, seven unnumbered visions and seven beatitudes Twelve is another significant number – 12 tribes of Israel and 12 disciples. 666 (of 616, “the mark of the beast”) may have no more significance than that it refers to Nero the letters of whose name add up to that number. The use of colour is also of significance. The four horses are white, red, black and pale (or green). It is believe that these symbolize conquest, war, famine and death.

The author is heavily reliant on the OT and it is easy for example to find images from Isaiah – the angels before the throne saying “holy, holy, holy” and the idea that God will wipe every tear from our eyes. Imagery of the Son of Man coming on the clouds is straight out of the book of Daniel and so on. At the same time, the book is not written in isolation, but is a product of the times. Nero was a particularly erratic and violent Emperor who was condemned to death. Before the execution could take place, Nero disappeared – this lead to a rumour that he would return one day. When Revelation refers to an army gathered in the east, it is possible that it refers to the return of Nero.

Not only is the book filled with symbolism, it is made up of repeated patterns. For example, each of the letters to the churches follows the same pattern and each of the seven plagues follows a pattern of persecution (of the righteousness), punishment (of the nations) and the triumph of God. Another aspect to note is that the writing is concentric or cyclic rather than linear, that is the events repeat themselves, each time becoming a little more dramatic or more destructive. It is impossible for the earth and all who live on it to be destroyed over and over again. Rather the pattern is repeated for emphasis, describing the wrath of God on three levels – the individual, humanity as a whole and the cosmos. The violence and the heavenly portents are not intended to be descriptions of what is to happen, they are pictorial images presented with a degree of exaggeration to make a point. Each builds on the last, but that does not mean that the events as described are meant to occur sequentially. A world without God is destined to self-destruct, but in the final analysis, God will make all things right.

The writer obviously had a sense of drama. Michael Fallon believes that the book can be divided as if into scenes in a play, with moments of high drama[2] – such as the dramatic pause before the opening of the seventh seal. The first five scenes are followed by glimpses of heaven – a vision of what life will be for those who hold on to the end.

The book of Revelation does not describe actual events, nor does it provide as some sort of road map for the present and future. It is an imaginative picture of a time of future judgement when the righteous will be rewarded and the unrighteous punished. It is written to give the recipients a cause for hope and the courage to hold on – even in the most difficult circumstances. When this life has done its worst, “those who conquer will inherit a new heaven and a new earth”[3] and having faith in the face of great opposition will be seen to have been worth it.

For all its difficulties, it is worth breaking the code and trying to understand the book of Revelation. It is a book of hope for the hopeless, a reassurance that all things are in God’s hands and at the end God will be seen to be the victor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Think Jonestown and other millennial movements that have convinced people that the world is so corrupt that the only solution is withdrawal and even suicide.

[2] a. Introduction                                                                         1:1-3

  1. Opening liturgical dialogue                                1:4-8
  2. Prophetic commission                                         1:9-11

Heaven

Scene 1 Letters to the 7 churches                                    2:1-3:22

Heaven                                                               4:1-5:14

Scene 2 Six seals are broken                                            6:1-7:9

Heaven                                                               7:9-8:6

Scene 3 The sounding of six  trumpets                          8:7-11:14

Heaven                                                             11:15-12:12

Scene 4 Forces for good and for evil                            12:13-14:20

Heaven                                                             15:1-8

Scene 5 The seven bowls                                                 16:1-18:24

Heaven                                                              19:1-10

Scene 6 The final struggle, victory                                19:11-20:15

and judgement

Scene 7 The Church of God on earth                            21:1-22:5

  1. Guarantee of prophecy                                         22:6-7
  2. Concluding liturgical dialogue                            22:8-17
  3. Conclusion                                                              22:18-21

 

[3] 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them as their God;

they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them;

4                   he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away.”

5   And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

 

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