2 - Mark's Gospel

GOD WANTS TO SPEAK WITH YOU

The Bible is the most sophisticated communication device ever made. It is able, within it's limited number of pages, to begin to communicate the height, breadth and depth of the infinite God. In it's pages, as you read, you will hear God speak to you - if you are open to it.

God wrote the Bible personally for you. All those Israelites wandering in the desert on their way to the promissed land was personally for (and for their benefit as well). God is able to arrange things in such a way that all that he does is for the benefit of everybody - you included. God arranges things for your benefit. How do we know this?

Jesus speaks through the Bible to tell us.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Rom 8:28)

But is it just for those who love Him?

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom 5:8)

"if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself." (2 Tim 2:13)

God loves everyone, because God is love. Thus he works for the good of everyone. He wants to communicate his love to everyone, so much so he died for everyone. To communicate this love, God arranged for the Bible to be brought about. Let us explore how God brought this about.

GOD IS THE AUTHOR OF THE BIBLE

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The writers of the Bible might have been aware they were being inspired, or might not have been. They were writing for a particular purpose they had at the time. They were true authors of what they wrote. But God was also using them to write what he wanted written, even if they were not aware of it. God is infinite and the mysterious ways of God are ultimately beyond our comprehension - but they are always ways of love. God intended for you to have a bible and to use it as a means of communication between him and you, personally. All of the events of the bible are meant to help you better understand his love and experience it, now and forever. Take a moment just to think about that.

OK, we are ready for another dose of Vatican II - I will give you the whole passage and then take the main parts  bit by bit. Here it is

God is true author of scripture and the human authors are also true authors of scripture. It is a mysterious thing that God can use our meager efforts to bring about his incredible plan - even without us knowing it. As we read scripture we will learn much by paying attention to what the human authors intended, but also and most importantly to what God wants us to understand.

WHAT IS THE 'TRUTH' OF THE BIBLE?

Here is the punchline, "... the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation."

What is 'that truth'? Is it scientific truth? Is it historical truth? Is it religious truth? Is it moral truth?

There is some science in the bible, but that is not what the Bible is about.

There is historical truth in the bible, since it is through history that God reveals himself.

There is religious and moral truth in the bible, but is is more than just that. It is a special kind of truth that leads us into the full mystery of God, ie our salvation, and that is beyond our comprehension, but the path to our salvation is expressed in scripture as a launch pad into the divine. This definition is like a runway. Normally a definition leads to a simplication of meaning, but this definition expands out to the divine, since it states, "the truth which God wanted put into sacred writings." The definition leads to God and leaves us there, facing God, wondering what is 'that truth'.

To gain a better understanding of 'that truth', let us reflect on a passage from Pope John Paul II's encyclical 'Fides et Ratio' (Faith and Reason).

So what is 'that truth', it is more than head knowledge, and more than heart knowledge, it is a doorway through which we walk into God and receive all that he has to offer us, which can can never fully contain, since it is infinite - infinite love. And since this is so hard to define, because it is undefineable, the Church explains it as 'that truth' without defining what 'that truth' is. We could box it as 'religious truth' but infinite love can never be boxed since it is infinite.

Once we gain some insight into this infinite love, our response should be one of surrender. So with Mary we pray, "Let it be done to me according to your word". Or, "let your love, God, fill me as you wish".

READING THE BIBLE

We can read the Bible personally as a direct communication from God. But wait! There's more! If we become aware of the complexity of it's writing, it's style of writing, when it was written, by who, to whom, etc, etc, etc - we will come to better appreciate the depths of it's message, and the incredible ways God works through others, for our sakes. Remember, God can use ALL things for our salvation. Learning of the pitiful misery, the blood, sweat and tears and joys and triumphs of the lives in the Bible, we will come to better appreciate, that his love can work in and through all situations, even your life, no matter how far you feel from God. Every moment is a start, and is surrounded by God's grace ready to transform it.

Having said all that, we are ready to start to systematically read the Bible, and learn of all the nitty-gritty, because all of it is useful to come to know God better and live out our salvation.

WHY START WITH MARK'S GOSPEL?

The best place to start is Mark's Gospel. All of the Bible is about Jesus, so let's start with Jesus. Once we have a basic understanding of Jesus, he becomes like a guide for us to then go back to the Old Testament (OT) which will deepen our understanding of Jesus, and the rest of the new which builds upon our basic understanding of Jesus.

Why not another gospel? OK, time to get technical. Most scholars believe Mark's gospel was written first. Matthew and Luke have 406 verses of Mark out of Mark's 662 verses. Matthew has a further 145 verses of Mark, and Luke 60, leaving at most 51 verses unique to Mark. There is other content particular to Matthew and Luke, but not to Mark - this is known as 'Q' for Quelle meaning source. Since Matthew and Luke is much longer than Mark, it appears they have elaborated on Mark's gospel. There is also a gradual deepening of reflection on the life of Jesus expressed in the different gospels.

Mark starts with Jesus' Baptism.

Matthew and Luke starts with Jesus' Birth.

John starts with 'The beginning' before creation.

For many centuries the Church thought Matthew was the first gospel. St. Augustine (354AD-430AD) expressed this in his writing about 400AD which was also held by many major theologians of that time.

The theory that Mark was the first written is attributed to Gottlob Christian Storr  in 1786. But it was not until 1836 with the support of Heinrich Julius Holtzmann that the theory became more dominant.

We will use Mark since it is the simplest gospel and Matthew and Luke follow the same basic storyline as Mark. We will delve into that storyline in detail as we explore Mark's gospel. This will allow us to concentrate on the unique features of Matthew and Luke later. We will also be able to better appreciate Matthew and Luke having  studied Mark's gospel.
What about John. Almost everyone agrees that John is the last gospel. I say almost, since there is always someone who has a difference of opinion in this area since it is open to interpretation. More about interpretation later. John is the richest of the gospels, and best explored after reading the first three, since it appears he presumes you already have read them.

So how can the Church get mixed up about such a simple thing as which gospel was first written? To better understand this question, let us have a close look at the gospel itself. Here it is in as near to the original as we can get.

This is Mark 1:1. For an actual section of the new testament, here is an image of one of the oldest.

It is written in Greek. The New Testament was first written in Greek, Koine Greek (Common Greek). Koine Greek was the major language used by the Romans for Administration and Trade. The Gospel writers wanting to spread the Good News of Jesus as far as possible thus chose Greek. The Jewish people spoke Aramaic and Hebrew. Aramaic is different to Hebrew. Hebrew is the traditional language of the Jews. Aramaic was the language of the Assyrians who dominated half of Israel and the countries to the north in 721BC. Their language became common in that region and was the language used by the common people.

Here is the Greek alphabet. You can use it to change the Greek letters in Mark 1:1 to English letters.

Write down the English letters

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Now have a look at the actual picture of the papyrus. Do you notice anything about the letters?

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Many ancient greek texts were written in all capitals without spaces between them and no punctuation! You could work out the words by reading it. Particular Greek words were used like a full stop. Greek itself is very different to English. Words in a sentence can be moved around easily in Greek, since the word ending identified how it should be used in a sentence, where as in English the placement of the word indicates who does what to whom.

All this makes for some confusion when translating the Greek NT (New Testament).

Also, each papyrus will deteriorate over time. Back then, books needed to be copied - there was no printing presses (they came in 1450AD). These texts were meant to be used, so they were copied and used until they were worn out. Then the copy was copied and used until it was worn out, and so on, and so on.

So how certain are we of the New Testament text that we have compared to the original?

There are over 5000 copies of NT texts that we have, some a just fragments with a few words, others are complete copies of the New Testament. We have no original. If we look at the number of copies and how many errors there are in the copying we can come to realise there are very few errors that would have significance. With four different gospels covering the life of Jesus and most of Mark appearing in Matthew and Luke, this leads to a very high degree of accuracy that what we have today is what Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote. Any major differences are noted in most Bible translations. For example, the brackets for the last two words are "son of God" (the 'of' in Greek is included in the word 'God') are an indication that some manuscripts are missing it. Your bible may alert you to this. There could be many reasons why this is so. To explore this question is part of what is called 'Textual criticism'. Textual criticism is concerned with identifying and removing errors from texts. To work this out we would need to understand the background to each manuscript, it's age, who might have copied it, why they might have changed it, or was it just a mistake? This in depth knowledge of such a vast number of possibilities is why we call these people scholars. They are academics of profound learning and insight and many dedicate their lives to these tasks of scholarship which we reap the benefits of.

We can be more than reasonably certain that what we have is what the evangelists wrote - this is purely from a scientific perspective. From a faith perspective we are impressed with God's providence in preserving the message of Jesus through all these centuries so you can have a bible in front of you.

There are, of course, other gospels written on the life of Jesus. These according to the Church don't measure up. The Church only decided which books should be included in the 'canon' ie the accepted set of inspired texts at Trent in 1564 AD.

This week we will reflect on some of the passages used in this presentation. Here is a method of prayer to follow if you don't have your own.

1) Start by bringing to mind God's loving presence. Make the sign of the cross.

2) Read over the passage slowly, as many times as needed to be able to reflect upon it and gain some insight. If you start to experience God's love, stay with the experience, otherwise continue to focus on the passage.

3) Finish with an Our Father. If there is something you became aware of that you should do, then make a resolution to do it. Finish with the the sign of the cross. You may like to record any inspirations you had.

Here are the passages.

1) "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Rom 8:28)

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2)"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom 5:8)

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3) "Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For holy mother Church, relying on the belief of the Apostles (see John 20:31; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-20, 3:15-16), holds that the books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself." (DV 2)

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4) In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him (2) they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, (3) they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted. (4)

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5) Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings (5) for the sake of salvation. Therefore "all Scripture is divinely inspired and has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error, for reformation of manners and discipline in right living, so that the man who belongs to God may be efficient and equipped for good work of every kind" (2 Tim. 3:16-17, Greek text)." (DV 2)

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6) Underlying all the Church's thinking is the awareness that she is the bearer of a message which has its origin in God himself (cf. 2 Cor 4:1-2). The knowledge which the Church offers to man has its origin not in any speculation of her own, however sublime, but in the word of God which she has received in faith (cf. 1 Th 2:13).

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7) At the origin of our life of faith there is an encounter, unique in kind, which discloses a mystery hidden for long ages (cf. 1 Cor 2:7; Rom 16:25-26) but which is now revealed: “In his goodness and wisdom, God chose to reveal himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of his will (cf. Eph 1:9), by which, through Christ, the Word made flesh, man has access to the Father in the Holy Spirit and comes to share in the divine nature”.⁵

This initiative is utterly gratuitous, moving from God to men and women in order to bring them to salvation. As the source of love, God desires to make himself known; and the knowledge which the human being has of God perfects all that the human mind can know of the meaning of life." (Fides et Ratio 7)

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