Some people can call me obsessed with the creation story. I
am not even going to object – I full heartedly believe that the God created the
world, but I also believe that creation activities did not stop at the sunset
of the sixth day, with the beginning of the first Shabbat ever. God continued
to create and re-create. Yet not His creational activities include people,
societies and whole countries. What is most amazing is the fact that creation
account – creation-pattern story – can be seen within other lives, novels or
developments.
So, Mark chapter 1. What caught my attention was the fact
that Jesus + 4 other men ended up in a room with a woman. She was Peter’s mother-in-law.
Actually, his name at the time was still Simon, but it is a different story. If
we exclude these four men – they were not doing anything important – we’ll end
up with Jesus and Simon’s mother-in-law. A Man and a woman being of re-created.
Obviously, 6th day theme. That’s vv.29-31.
Interestingly enough v. 32 begins with “that evening at
sundown” – new day. The whole block goes 32 – 45 is a one-day story (it might help to know that in the Bible day goes from sunset to next sunset). During
this day he heals people, releases them of demons, therefore he provided them
with THE REST – Shabbat story.
Then I started to count back. The story that precedes the
healing of the Simon’s in-law is contained within the verses 21-28. What triggered
me there was the fact that a demon says to Jesus “WE know who you are”. “We” –
plural. It can be understood in a variety of ways. One of them that further
down the road Jesus will meet other demon-possessed people (3;11, 5:7). On
every occasion demons knew exactly who Jesus is. So, THEY know. During fifth day
of creation story God made fish of the sea and birds of the air. And they were
made in swarms – plural.
1:1-8 – definitely the story of beginning. Even starts like
Gen. 1:1! Another fact that in Gen. 1:2 we have three features of the newly
created earth. John the baptizer is also described (v.6) with three verbs (was clothed,
wore and ate). The whole passage ends with the mentioning of the Holy Spirit,
while Gen 1:2 tells us the the Spirit of God was hovering over the “face of the
deep”.
Second part is vv. 9-11 – the story of the Jesus’s baptism.
The parallels to the second day of creation would be – water and the voice from
above. It was on the second day when God separated the waters above from waters
below.
Then third part would be vv. 12-13 – the wilderness
experience. If we remember that it was on the third day that God created the
dry land out of the water that parallel presents itself.
The final connection is the passage of vv. 14 to 20 and the
fourth day of creation. This is, actually, an easy one. The fourth day of
creation tells us about placing sun, moon and stars into the firmament to rule over
the earth (Gen. 1:14-16). Therefore, the very fact that the moon of the Gospel
account (John the baptizer) was arrested (vv. 14-15), and the Sun of Righteousness
– Jesus – gathers up new stars to rule – Simon and Andrew, James and John (vv.
16-20) – make the parallel perfect.
Overall: Day 1 – vv.
1-8
Day 2 – vv. 9-11 Day 5 – vv. 21-28
Day 3 – vv. 12-13 Day
6 – vv. 29-31
Day 4 – vv. 14-20 Day
7 – vv. 32-45
