Bible in 90 Days - Day 71 (Matthew 26:57-Mark 9:13)

Eternal God,

in the reading of the Scripture, may your Word be heard;

in the meditations of our hearts, may your Word be known;

and in the faithfulness of our lives, may your Word be shown. Amen.

The crucifixion account in Matthew reminds me a little of the book of Jonah. Jesus’ main audience was the Jews, and in 27:42 the leaders say they will believe in him if he comes down from the cross. The Roman centurion and those with him in 27:54 believe and testify. The main audience misses it, but God works in the hearts of the outsiders. 28:12-15 calls the bluff of the leaders. Jesus didn’t come down from the cross before he died, but he did come out of the tomb on the 3^rd day after being dead. They still didn’t believe.

Mark was probably the first of the Gospels to be written. Mark is concerned with Jesus’ universal call to discipleship, so he focuses on Jesus’ identity and teachings. The book is a series of fairly brief snapshots. Right from the opening we see just 3 verses for Jesus’ baptism, 2 for the temptation in the wilderness, etc.

Matthew and Luke have the most developed stories of Jesus’ birth, and I argue that John also has something of a birth narrative. Mark begins with John the Baptist as an adult and quickly moves to Jesus already as an adult. Mark wastes no time! (not that birth stories are a waste, you know.)

It seemed to me that Mark talks more about demons than the others, so I did a search. Mark has a little more mention of casting out demons, but not much. What I did find was that every reference to demons in the Gospel of John is part of the debate on whether or not Jesus was possessed by demons (he wasn’t).

Each Gospel writer records little details that the others don’t. I like Mark’s description of Jesus walking on the water. He includes the little detail that Jesus was about to pass by the disciples on the water when they saw him. I don’t think there is a lot of theological implication there, but it sure is interesting to try to imagine what Jesus was thinking.

Don’t miss the huge implications of Mark 7:19. The Jews had dietary laws since Moses, and you may remember that the rules were pretty strict. Here Mark throws in a little parenthetical expression to say, “Remember all those rules – they don’t matter anymore.” That is huge!

Mark 7:24-30 is the same story that we looked at yesterday in church from the book of Matthew. Mark’s story is more condensed, and Jesus is much less harsh.

Mark 8:31 marks the turning point in this Gospel. Right before it Peter correctly identifies Jesus as the Christ, but this is not quite enough. Discipleship also involves suffering. When Jesus starts to go that direction in 8:31, Peter has trouble grasping the concept. This is the first of three predictions Jesus gives in Mark about his death (also in chapters 9 and 10). Each one is followed by a misunderstanding and a call to discipleship.