Judge NOT lest ye be judged...
So I have started reading Mark (the book after Matthew) and all of this religiousity that I have been delving into lately is curious. I notice religious things more. For example, in a bathroom I was in lately it made reference to Matthew 1:7 in a meditation book. No it wasn't my bathroom and no I am not telling who has a bathroom with a Bible and meditation book lieing around. Anyway, it used parents confronting a son about pornography as the issue. And the point was that we shouldn't judge but that doesn't mean that we can't lovingly confront a sin . . . in the reference story, the son lost everything he ever had in life because he read and purchased pornography. What a joke! I would have to say, if he lost everything in his life (wife, kids and what not), there was more than buying smut going on and perhaps the parents should have addressed all of it if they wanted to be loving!
. . . back to what I was saying in the first place: Mark is cruising through the story of Christ. There is an air of mysticism about it. The thing that I can't figure out is that Mark says that Christ calls the apostles from a mountain top while Matthew talks about coming upon them and making them fishers of men. He speaks specifically of Matthew the tax collector, which I get why Matthew didn't make himself special, but ...mmm....curious. The other thing I can't figure is how does Mark know about the events of Christ if he wasn't one of the twelve he lists? Who is Mark in relation to the disciples and why do we attribute his writings to be gospel worthy as opposed to say, Simon/Peter? Are there no writings of Peter? What about Christ? Did Christ never make a mark on paper other than in the sand? Do we know? Mark almost seems like he is Peter, that is why I ask. I understand that the books were chosen because they had weight and authority. That makes sense, but I feel like I am reading the Last Temptation of Christ as opposed to Godspell. I really thought the Last Temptation of Christ was wierd beyond all weirdness by the way. It is hard for a movie to be completely off the charts for me, but that was one of them. My point is that I am reading Mark and it is weirding me out. It definitely carries authority though, I will give him that.
2 comments:
Hey, Rae,
The reason it sounds like Peter is telling the story is because he is dictating it to Mark. That is how Mark knows and is not listed. And, yes we do hav3e writings from Peter...that would be I and II Peter, at the end of his life after he learned so much more and came to a point were he could and would write something. Thought you'd like to know.
di
Rachel, go to the comment section on the blogger and put a verification on your comments and then you won't get these spammer comments. I like your comments and questions about the gospel of Mark. Without knowing it you are asking all the right questions. Mark, of course, is none other than the young man, John Mark, who is mentioned in the book of Acts as someone who went with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. Something called him away, back to Jerusalem and he left them on that trip. This upset Paul to no end and when John Mark wanted to go along on the second missionary journey, Paul refused to take him. Barnabas, ever the encourager (his name translates literally as "son of encouragement.")was willing to give John Mark another shot. So Mark went off with Barnabas and Paul and Silas went in a different direction. Mark eventually ended up in the church in Jerusalem, and was the right hand man and the scribe of the gospel of another eye witness to the gospel events. As you have already guessed, this gospel is Peter's account of the life of Christ. It is short and sweet. To the point. You must also realize that it is the first written account of the life of Christ, maybe written as early as 60 a.d. Peter was later killed in Rome about 66 a.d. The accounts in Mark, Matthew, and Luke are very similar in many respects. The sequence of events differs at times or one says a story happened in one location and another says it happened somewhere else, a difference of the recollection of the tellers. John's gospel comes much later, probably around 90 a.d. He told his story to a group of people and some of them eventually wrote it down later. Near the end of the gospel of John there is a verse or two that describes the writing process. John's gospel is more of a theological treatise than the other stories. He leaves out many of the stories already told in the other books and tells many accounts that are new. The gospel of John and the Book of Revelation are some of the last new testament books written.
Dad
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