Gospel of Mark chapters 2 and 3

Gospel of Mark 2 and 3

Sometime ago I wrote about a possibly of 7 days of creation pattern in the Gospel of Mark chapter 1. Here are some thoughts on structure of the next block of the narrative – chapters 2-3.

a. 2:1-12, healing of a paralytic in a house, Jesus is accused of blasphemy 

 b. 2:13-16, call of Levi, need of a physician

  c. 2:17-22, People ask Jesus about fasting

   d. 2:23-28, Sabbath, Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath – Ex. 20:8-11 reasoning, creation 

   d’. 3:1-6, Sabbath, a man with a withered hand healed – Deut. 5:12-15 reasoning, freedom

  c’. 3:7-12, crowds are following Him

 b’. 3:13-19, call of 12, power over the unclean spirits

a’. 3:20-35, conversation in a house, Jesus is accused of blasphemy

According to this outline the movement of life goes from house to sanctuary and back – regular pulsation of life. In between them we have the ministers and people/crowds. Jesus calls the minister individually (see example of Levi) and as a group. The apostles (at this stage of Christ’s ministry) are to learn from Him how to lead crowds/people from their houses to the sanctuary and back, helping them to arrange their homes.

Following this logic, it is noteworthy that the very first lesson for the apostles was an accusation of their Rabbi being a blasphemer being possessed either by Beelzebub or an unclean spirit, or both (v. 22 and 30).

Here comes the story – in the USSR, in medical colleges for Physician Assistant by the end of very first semester many students would drop out. The reason was not bad grades, but inability to withstand a time of surgery and/or autopsy at a morgue. Some weaker students would faint or pass out. I think this arrangement makes great sense. Why do one would want to waste one’s time for Latin, list of sicknesses, pharmacology etc. if he or she can stand blood or guts…

The apostles went through the same “baptism by fire.” If they want to follow Jesus and be able to bring others to Him, they should experience firsthand how the world (including Jesus’ mom and brothers) relates to the Savior – false accusations, name calling, forceful attempts to seize Him. After all, the world sees no one else but a blasphemer of their gods. The only problem is these gods are actually idols.

To conclude, this is an example of theological pursuits supporting that structural analysis is a helpful tool – unlocking the deeper flow of the narrative pointing out the themes and their interconnectedness.