The second portion of Chapter 16 in Mark’s Gospel has led to lots of controversy especially from Gospel critics. You might not be aware about this controversy at all but the oldest manuscripts found actually end at verse 8.

“And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.“

Considering what follows in todays readings is the appearance of Jesus to the eleven apostles and charging them with the great commission of going out to baptise and so on this has become a position for sceptics to attack the resurrection. What is awkward about using it to attack the resurrection is that verse 6 of chapter 16 affirms that it happened.

“Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him.”

So within the undisputed text the Gospel author, Mark, absolutely believes in the resurrection and records it. The Church has clarified her position long ago, whether Mark wrote the verses from 9-20 or not, they are canonical scripture and have been read in the Liturgy for millennia. It is perfectly possible that the longer ending we have in the canon was missing from the ancient manuscripts because of damage or it is possible someone other than Mark made an addition or even Mark himself later made an addition. What is important is that the text is recognised as inspired and the undisputed verses are a witness for the resurrection not against it.

15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.

Jesus’ mission was to the Jews, the lost sheep of Israel, now that his Passover is complete and a New Covenant is installed, it is time to fulfil the promises God made to the prophets. It is time to incorporate the Gentiles, all the other nations of the world into this New Covenant. So Jesus tells the Eleven living disciples, Judas committed suicide remember and Matthias has not yet been picked, to go out in all the world and preach the Gospel. The Good News. It’s important to briefly explain what the Good News is in both its natural and supernatural contexts.

In the natural context the Gospel or euangelion is the Good News of a new King reigning over a region. When a man was granted authority or inherited the throne from his father, a messenger would go out to the people to preach the euangelion, the good news of a new King.Taking this to the cosmic scale brings us the supernatural context, not an earthly king but a heavenly king now reigns over all.

It brings us to a type of naturalism, a people is a body like a human body and the leader or king is the head. A nation is a body of people, the king in charge is the head that directs it. Now on a supernatural scale a body of people, that of the entire human race, has been invited to submit to the new King of Kings, Jesus the Christ.

Going back to Genesis we have the Tower of Babel incident where the human race, that was united, was divided by God into different locations, languages and races and all but Abraham and his progeny were disinherited by the leadership of God as king. The Good News that is being preached is the reunification of the human race under the God-King, Jesus of Nazareth.

16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

He assents to the message and is baptised will be saved, we should be clear that belief or assent is not an intellectual tick box made but a submission to God. Even demons can intellectually “believe” that Jesus is God, it doesn’t do anything, what is required is the absolute trust in him, something only humans are capable of. If they have this trust they will necessarily be baptised as that is what he directs, will be saved. In this context trust and baptism saves you from being cut off from God’s family, preserved by the rule of Satan. A person must cooperate with grace actively, it is not a one and done thing. Those who do not assent to the message will be condemned, cut off from this new founded family of God

17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

Continuing his speech to the eleven, Jesus uses previous mechanisms that were used in his ministry but will now be extended to his apostles. Miracles will act as signs, witnesses to their message. These gifts are not present in everyone nor present in the same way at all times, their main purpose is to act as witnesses to the claims of their message. Those who struggle with the problem of evil and suffering typically harp on the point of healing miracles and how God doesn’t just heal everyone of their ailments but that is because that is not their purpose. They are signs, witnesses to the claims not a get out of pain free card.

Exorcisms will be a sign common to these as well as being able to speak in tongues. Most people understand the notion of exorcism but there is some confusion about speaking in new or other tongues. It is not randomly babbling noises that make no sense but being able to speak in the language of a person you are evangelising that you originally did not know. Still miraculous of course, but its not the silly things that people make up. The gift of tongues is most famously expressed in the Book of Acts during Pentecost where people of other languages can understand the preaching of those who could only speak Aramaic.

18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

They will be able to do things that would naturally kill or harm them, picking serpents without being bitten or not suffering from the bite, they can drink poisons and not be harmed. They will be able to heal the sick by laying their hands on them. Again like the previous verse all these things are present in the Book of Acts which detail the events of apostles after the Gospels.

13 And he went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him.

Verses thirteen to nineteen of chapter three is Mark’s rendition of the picking of the twelve apostles, the inner circle of Jesus’ followers. Jesus is most likely still in the region of Galilee, the Lake is surrounded with pastures, hills and mountains. Jesus goes upon hills and mountains typically before doing something important in his ministry and also just like Moses who on the mountain officialises the twelve tribes of Israel, Jesus appoints the new twelve.

14 And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach

He appoints twelve, who are to be “with him” and they are “to be sent out” to preach. The Greek word for “to be sent out” is apostello, it is from this word that Apostle is derived. The twelve that are picked are to be sent out to preach, this would be the same message that Jesus has been preaching himself. It seems some type of permission is required in order to preach the specific message of the Kingdom of God when it is done in an official way. Anyone can share news but only an official messenger could pass on actual proclamations of a king with authority. So in the picking out to preach Jesus shares his authority with the twelve along with other things

15 and have authority to cast out demons:

Beyond the scope of preaching authority of the Kingdom of God the twelve are also granted the authority to cast out demons. There were many exorcists around this time and exorcism was not unknown to the Hebrew people. The difference is that exorcists of the time required the exorcist to petition intercessors like the angels, patriarchs and they were not always successful whereas the exorcisms performed by Jesus are done by his own authority. This is what is being shared with the disciples though their abilities are constrained by their faith which will be exposed when they are unable to exorcise a possessed child.

16 Simon whom he surnamed Peter;

The list begins, although there are a few different middle orders of the Apostles when they listed the first and last are always the same. It always begins with Saint Peter, the primary apostle, the leader of the pack. Here Mark introduces him as “Simon whom he surnamed Peter;” Simon is the Latinised version of the Hebrew name Shim’on which would have been his “real” name. It means “hearing” or “he has heard”. He is the first by primacy to “hear the lord” which is quite interesting. He is surnamed “Peter” which is the Anglicised version of Petros which is the name he receives in the Greek text. This means “rock” or “stone”. This name change entails his new mission as the foundation stone of the Church.

17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Bo-anerges, that is, sons of thunder;

Verse 17 contains the two sons of Zebedee, they are always grouped together because they are siblings and typically come after Simon as they are of the inner circle of the twelve. James is derived from the Hebrew Ya’aqov which is traditionally translated as “Jacob”. This means the “supplanter” or “holder of the heal”. It was a very common name as it was the birth name of Israel. Ironically he will be “supplanted” by James the Just as a pillar of the early church after he is martyred, he is the first of the twelve to suffer such a fate in Acts 12.

John the brother of James, his name is derived from the Hebrew Yochanan which means “Yahweh is gracious” or “Yahweh has shown favour” rather fitting as he is the beloved disciple that Jesus shows the most amount of affection toward. He is also the only one of the twelve to stay by Jesus at the crucifixion and not suffer martyrdom.

The two brothers are surnamed “Bo-anerges” and Mark gives us the translation which is “son of thunder”. This name possibly indicates their disposition of being impulsive which definitely comes across in their desire to rain fire down from heaven on Samaritans. It also speaks to their religious zeal. Bo-anerges is actually a Greek transliteration of an Aramaic phrase, every so often in the Gospels we get evidences of the original language of our Lord and this is one of those cases. B’nei Regesh means “Sons of Thunder” and it sounds awfully similar to the Greek that Mark writes out.

18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean,

Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus and Simon the Cananaean are listed next in verse 18.

Andrew is the brother of Simon Peter, Andrew’s name is curious, he is a blood relative of Simon so he is definitely a Jew but his name is Greek. Andrew is the Anglicised version of Andreas which means “Manly” or “Brave”. There was a similar sounding Hebrew name “Andrei” but typically when names are expressed in other languages in this time period its the meaning that is maintained, not the sound. Think Petros and Cephas, the meaning is the same, not the sound. Andrei does not mean the same as Andreas, the most likely candidate for Andrew’s Hebrew name would be Gibbor it means the same as Andreas and at least in one occurrence in the Hebrew Bible it is used as a name instead of just a description. Specifically it is the name of one of King David’s mighty men. Seeing David as a type of Christ I think this would be fitting but its purely speculation on my part.

Philip, similar to Andrew, his name is Greek Philippos, a very common name in the Hellenistic world and it means “Lover of Horses”. Philos means friend or lover and Hippos means Horse. Like Andrew there is no direct Hebrew or Aramaic equivalent. There are also no traditional Hebrew names that have the same meaning but there was a term that in Hebrew that had similar connotations, Parash. This Hebrew term means Horseman and if you were to write it out in Greek it would look somewhat similar but again, pure speculation.

Bartholomew, Bartholomaios in Greek is derived from the Aramaic Bar-Talmai which would mean “Son of Talmai”. The term “Bar” means “Son of” so when you see that elsewhere, you know what it means. No first name is given, he is simply known as the Son of Talmai, considering how common the same first names of people were it made sense to use other identifiers to split people other. For example, there are a lot of James’ and Mary’s so places or parental roots are used to distinguish them. Talmai means “furrowed” or “plowman” and if the name was a descriptor of the occupation of his father then he was Son of a Farmer essentially. Very humble beginnings.

Matthew is up next, the tax collector also known as Levi. Matthew appears to be his Greek name originally Matthaios and Levi is his Hebrew name. Levi means “Joined” or “attached” and Mattaios is actually a Greek version of the Hebrew name Mattityahu which means “Gift of Yahweh”. Considering Levi was a tribal name, his full name was likely Mattityahu of the Tribe of Levi, he Greco-fide his first name to sound more Greek because he was typically working with Romans who spoke that language. If he was of the tribe of Levi that would have meant he was of priestly lineage, this means his occupation as a tax collector was even more of a betrayal than it was perceived to be.

Doubting Thomas comes next, like many of the previous names his is very curious. Thomas is a Greek name, derived from the Aramaic Ta’oma which means “Twin”. He is sometimes referred to as the twin as well so he is being called a twin twice. In Greek names that end with an “a” are feminine names like “Petra” over “Petros”, you add the “s” at the end to make it masculine so you get Ta’omas or what we say today, Thomas. The Greek word Didymus is used which is the Greek term for Twin. Although his original Aramaic name meant Twin, it was actually a name probably given to him because he was a twin sibling, not because of the various conspiracy theories that abound over it that have zero evidence behind them. No other names are given for him in the New Testament.

James the Son of Alphaeus, as we have mentioned before, James is the translation choice for name traditionally translated at Jacob, Son of Alphaeus, his lineage is mentioned to distinguish him from the other James’ mentioned in the New Testament. Alphaeus might be derived from the Aramaic name Chalpai, which means “changing” or “succession”. He is also referred to as James the Less, to separate him from James the Just, and James the Greater.

Thaddaeus follows, which is Thaddaios in Greek, likely derived from the Aramaic “Taddai” which means “Heart” or “courageous”. Some manuscripts give him an alternate name of Jude which is a translator decision over the ominous name “Judas”. Sometimes called Judas Son of James. The name Judas comes from Ioudas in Greek, derived from the hebrew Yehudah which means “praised” or “thanksgiving” a very common name among the Hebrews and was the same name as Judah, the royal tribe. I mentioned the translator decision about his name, people were worried early on about people confusing Judas Thaddaeus with Judas Iscariot so a tradition was established to call him by Jude or just Thaddaeus to avoid this confusion but if you care for autistic accuracy, his name actually is Judas in the original text.

Simon the Cananaean or Simon the Zealot is the last of the “good” apostles on the list. His primary name, Simon, has already been explained. Cananaean should not be confused with Caananites or Caanan, it is actually derived from the Aramaic word Qan’ana which means, Zealot, the other name used for him. This could mean one of two things, or more likely it means both at the same time. This Simon was zealous for the love and Law of God and he was also a member of the militant rebel faction of Jews against Roman rule who were called the Zealots. They were essentially terrorists and their group would later instigate various attacks that caused the Romans to outright obliterate Jerusalem in 70 AD.

19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Finally Judas Iscariot, the Apostle who betrays Jesus is listed lasted and is always listed last with commentary detailing why he is listed last. Because he betrays Jesus. Judas as we have said is the same name as Judah, derived from the Hebrew Yehudah, meaning “praised” or “thanksgiving”. Judas specifically is the Greek rendition of Judah, again as I mentioned with Thomas, an “a” or “ah” sound at the end of the name in Greek is feminine so an “s” sound is added to make it masculine in the Hellenistic world. His last name is widely debated, the most common theory is that Iscariot comes from the Hebrew Ish Qeriyot which means Man of Kerioth, Kerioth was a town in Judea so it could be a geographical distinction of origin. Another theory is that Iscariot comes from the Latin Sicarius meaning “dagger man” or “assassin”, this would associate Judas with a group of Jewish rebels who called themselves the “sicarii”, similar to the Zealots they were revolutionary terrorists against roman rule. The last theory, from some early church writers suggest that Iscariot meant “false one” or “liar” but that is based on Judas’ actions, not on linguistic evidence.

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed; also from Judea

8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from about Tyre and Sidon a great multitude, hearing all that he did, came to him.

9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they should crush him;

10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him.

11 And whenever the unclean spirits beheld him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”

12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

1 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand.

Jesus returns to his visiting of the Synagogues during the Sabbath services. Although there were typically three services a week of reading and teaching of the scriptures in the Synagogue. The Sabbath however was the most populated service, each town had their own Synagogue and all Jews would attend these services in their respective towns. Jesus uses these events to teach the most amount of people in the most reasonable setting. The Synagogue services themselves were formed during the Exile period where they could not do the rituals in the Temple because they did not have one. The Synagogue became the central regular gathering place of common Jews as a temporal holdover until the fulfilment of God’s promises and the teaching of the Mosaic Law.

Upon entering the Synagogue, Mark tells us of a man present who has a withered hand. The “withered hand” likely describes a physical disability where the man’s hand had become shrunken, paralyzed, or deformed, possibly from disease, injury, or birth defect. Although natural and scientific explanations are the norm in modern times, in the context of the Hebrew’s these ailments were typically deemed as a punishment from God for sin, either individually or collectively. Both the Prophet Zechariah and 1 King’s speak of hand withering as a divine punishment from God. In Psalm 137:5 David essentially invites the withering of a hand as a punishment if he ever forgets the City of Jerusalem. So although a real man, he is symbolic of a disobedient Israel.

2 And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him.

The Pharisees watch what Jesus will do, as it is the Sabbath, they seek to exert a rigid legalism in order to constrain him. In their eyes, healing a man with a withered hand would count as work and therefore violate the Mosaic Law of not working on the Sabbath, the day of rest. Mark notes their opportunistic motivations for their misapplying of the Law, they watching if he does something good “so that they might accuse him.” It is possible that the Pharisees have contrived this event, they have brought the man into where Jesus will be in order to try to entrap him, nothing in the text proves this to be the case but it is likely as they purposefully trying to accuse him from the get go.

3 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come here.”

4 And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

Jesus decides to tackle the Pharisees interpretation of the Law and the mans withered hand in one go. He tells the man to “Come here” and before actually healing him he turns to the Pharisees, asking the question of whether it is Lawful on the Sabbath to do good to do harm, saving or killing. Jesus changes the action they perceive as “work” which was forbidden on the Sabbath, into an act of mercy which was required, Love of God and love of Neighbour.

With Jesus’ repositioning of the meaning behind the actions he brings the Pharisees into the healing event itself. He is basically saying “Unless you say otherwise, I will heal this man.” If they intervene and prevent it, well they are now stopping a man from being healed of an ailment, which would be breaking the Law, Sabbath or not. They also cannot affirm that he is doing the right thing in healing the man because they are only there in order to try to entrap him. It forces them to remain silent, they try to trap him and Jesus traps them in their own convoluted motivations.

5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

Jesus looks at the Pharisees with anger, in an appearance to John in the Book of Revelation Jesus will say of one of the Churches to be “hot or cold” if they are lukewarm he will spit them out. Jesus is more angry at their silence than them not just being outright against him. Their hardness of heart make them neither hot or cold. Jesus tells the man to stretch out his hand, he does so and his hand is restored. This healing in and of itself is a sign of divinity, only God can restore withered limbs. Another not so thinly veiled claim of divinity in the Gospel of Mark that people dismiss as a simple magic trick. In the context of the Jewish people, only God can do these actions. Jesus is not a medicine man or magician, this action is a declaration of Divinity.

6 The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Herodi-ans against him, how to destroy him.

The Pharisees upon the man being healed leave the Synagogue, immediately, in order to hold counsel with the Herodians. The Herodians are another dominant political group within Judea, they are the supporters of the Herodian dynasty, the Roman established leaders of the Jews. The Pharisees are no friends of these people, in fact, they hated them for their cooperation with the Romans yet here the Pharisees are willing to turn all of that away in order to focus on how to destroy Jesus who reveals them as failed teachers of the law of Moses.

23 One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.

On one Sabbath, the last day of the week which is Saturday for the Jews, Jesus is going through the grainfields. Up to this point we know that Jesus has been followed by large crowds so it is unlikely that Jesus is just alone with his disciples here. The Pharisees will make an appearance in this reading so they are likely watching over the crowds that are actually still with Jesus and his other inner circle followers. Kind of changes the context of the interaction when we realise that they are preoccupied with a large crowd.

Since they are busy doing their ministry work, neither Jesus nor his disciples have time to prepare meals for themselves so as they go through these fields they pick the ears of grain from the crops, crush them and eat the soft inner parts of it. This was a quick and easy food item for the time and place, closest you’re going to get to fast food. This practice of gleaning another persons fields is actually lawful and made obviously so in Deuteronomy, you could glean by hand but were not permitted to reap with a scythe.

24 And the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?”

In Exodus it is articulated that a Hebrew can not “work” on the Sabbath day, this was to ensure the balance of life amongst the people and also in imitation of God who rested on the Sabbath himself during the seven days of creation. The Pharisees, the teachers of the Law who sit on the Seat of Moses call out Jesus for working on the Sabbath. This is what they mean by saying “they are doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath”. This legalism that spites the person and undermines the point of the Law which in this case was to ensure rest, not stop people from eating when they need to.

The Pharisees routinely used this excessive legalism to keep unruly people inline, the heavy yokes they placed on the people but not on themselves were used by some Pharisees, not all, in order to pacify the community. Someone gets uppity, “well if I interpret this part of the Law here this way, we can punish you” and so on. They do not like Jesus, they are just trying to trap him, pitting him against Moses, or at least that is what they think they are doing.

25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him:

26 how he entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”

Jesus does not respond by telling the Pharisees that they are wrong in how they apply the Law he does something that will actually convince them from their own point of view. Understanding the necessity of this comes from understanding the teaching authority amongst the Hebrew people, if the Pharisees sit in the Seat of Moses, which Jesus claims they do, then they are the rightful teaching authority.

But the teachings do not just come out of their own minds, they come from the scriptures they accept as authoritative. So when speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus makes his points by quoting from the scripture they accept in this case 1 Samuel 21:2-7, when speaking to the Sadducees he only uses the much more limited canon they accept. If Jesus is God why doesn’t he just use his own authority? One might ask. His mission is to convince people of their own free will to be in union with him, doing things by force only apply to that of non-human entities like demons in exorcisms.

He recalls one of the stories of David, how when he was hungry he ate the Bread of the Presence, this was a very holy bread within the Tabernacle that Jewish men were required to observe once a year during a festival of the Hebrews, it is a type of the Eucharist that will be fulfilled at the Last Supper. It’s not normal bread, not common food but when David was hungry, he and his men could eat it, despite it being “against the Law” to do so. This is because the Law is not there to hinder you, the same way the Sabbath, the day of rest, should not prevent you from helping a neighbour in need neither should the prevention of eating the Bread of the Presence cause you to starve to death.

There is also the underlying principle that David was not a “normal man”. He was anointed King and a type of priest, different to that of Aaron or the Levites. He actually has a special rank essentially that would qualify him to eat of this Bread that was limited to priests, his men had also remained clean before God because they were on a military expedition, the spiritual cleanliness requirements of which match that of the priesthood cleanliness, abstaining from women, unclean food and so on. On two levels David and Jesus qualify to eat, along with their men. Level 1: the Law is not their to torture you but to hold you up to God, refusing them food would not be love of neighbour, a greater Law than that of what Jesus is accused of. Level 2: Jesus, like David, is not a normal man, he is both Priest and King, the Pharisees do not know this though but Jesus definitely implies it but the previous level qualifies enough to circumnavigate any attribution of judgement by the Pharisees.

27 And he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath;

28 so the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath.”

Jesus then goes on to solidify the point of the Law, the Sabbath, the day of rest was made for man not that man was made for the Sabbath. This difference is key, one enables the love of God and Neighbour above all else, the other causes a rigid legalism that prevents you from helping your fellow man on the Sabbath like feeding the hungry.

Jesus them employs the Messianic title from the Book of Daniel, Son of Man. By the time of the first century this was a quasi-divine figure that was synonymous with the Messiah prophesied in Genesis 3:15 and the Prophet that Moses claimed would come after him and also the promised descendant of David who would reclaim Kingship of Israel. Only God is the Lord of the Sabbath yet Jesus says the Son of Man figure is too. This hints at the mystery of the trinity itself, how could both be Lord of the same thing? And how could he be that figure if God is beyond all material things? It comes to the sharing of a Divine nature with multiple person with in it.

All these layers of divinity, fulfilment of prophecy, priesthood and kingship are only actually thinly veiled in these few verses in the Gospel of Mark and there are many other examples of it throughout his narration. When people claim that divinity or kingship is exclusive to John’s Gospel and that they are non-existent in Mark it shows that they are ignorant of the scripture itself as well as Jesus.

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

Following the passages about Jesus’ eating with Levi the tax collectors, his co-workers and other sinners, Mark introduces one of the confrontational events in Jesus’ ministry. The gospel authors method of narration does not lock it to being chronologically after those events necessarily, they could have happened at any point during Jesus’ three year ministry and also it is not likely to have been the only time it happened.

Disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees are fasting. John was a very popular preacher and his disciples even exist to this day, his influence was so great that Herod feared him. The Pharisees were the most popular religious-political party of the Judeans of this time period, upper echelon of them were the rightful teacher of the Mosaic Law. They sat in what was called the seat of Moses, their rise grew during the Exile when the previous leading group, the ministerial priesthood who sat in the seat of Aaron and the Levites had to take a backseat with no Temple to worship in.

Basically what we see highlighted here is an act of piety, fasting, being practiced by the two most popular groups among the Jews. John’s disciples and the Pharisees were not friends so this point of agreement on fasting becomes a point of contradiction with Jesus and his disciples who are not. Fasting itself was an ancient piety practice that helped a person become closer to God, as you deny yourself sustenance, you turn to the true cause of it, not bread but He who made it, God. The Psalms of David speak of this and also in David’s own life he turned to fasting as a form of penance for his sins. A similar expression is found in the Ninevites when the Prophet Jonah preaches to them, they to fast and put ash on their heads for their sins.

Considering the historical and religious context, fasting is a mainstream practice, even opposing parties do it but Jesus does not and neither do his disciples, this is why they deem it necessary to ask why, to them this is almost required.

19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

Jesus responds to his questioners with another question, almost a parable, one that only thinly veils his identity if you take it literally. He asks if wedding guests can fast whilst the bridegroom is with them. Until he is married, a man has a much closer relationship with his friends and brothers than he does after he has cleaved to his wife to become one flesh. The build up until the marriage itself is one of feasting and joy, Jesus is essentially saying that he is like a bridegroom and up until his wedding he and his friends cannot fast, that would disrupt the festivities.

God throughout the Old Testament compares himself to a bridegroom betrothed to his bride Israel, the Old Covenants are all part of that promise stage of marriage, the betrothal. Eventually he would come to his people to enact the marriage itself, Jesus positioning himself as a bridegroom in his response to the question about fasting is a veiled claim of divinity. It only becomes obvious after the fact, the people cannot be blamed for not realising it.

20 The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

Jesus now prophecies his death, in the form of a marriage. Marriage is a type of death in a way, the death of the single man and woman and the birth of the new flesh bound in covenant. One day the bridegroom would be taken away, this is when his marriage is consummated and of course, then his friends would fast because they would lose their friend to his wife. Jesus is position the crucifixion as his wedding and then they will fast.

21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins.”

Now Jesus goes into a saying that is most likely talking about the Old Covenant and its relation to the New. He talks about something common that they would all understand, cloth. Cloth shrinks after being washed and dried, if you try to patch old cloth with new cloth it simply breaks away when the new cloth shrinks. He repeats the same lesson with that of wineskins, wine exerts gas as it ages and the wineskin expands to accommodate, if you put new wine in there it can’t expand more than it has and breaks. He is saying that a new creation is required in order for the New Covenant to be fulfilled, we can’t just patch on some DLC and hope it sticks together.

Some consider this saying to be separated from the previous one about the wedding analogy, that Mark is just stitching sayings together when they don’t make sense but I think they’re wrong. A new creation is made when two become one flesh. No patching on the wife to the husband, a new being is made in covenant. The Old Covenant does not need patching, it is beyond fixing, but if a divine marriage took place and new creation was made, that would last and would fix everything that was broken because it would actually be something new.

13 He went out again beside the sea; and all the crowd gathered about him, and he taught them.

Jesus is still in Capernaum, a fishing town right by the Sea of Galilee. In this early stage of Jesus ministry he stays within Capernaum and the surrounding towns, he has not yet preached in Jerusalem according to Mark’s account. Mark narrates the story thematically Jesus starts small in the less populated towns and then at the end of the ministry ventures out to Jerusalem. Considering the yearly obligations of pilgrimage to the Temple at least three times a year, we know he would have actually gone to Jerusalem, John’s account records this but Mark chooses not to for thematic reasons.

Similar to how he approached the first four disciples for recruitment, Jesus goes to the shore which was on the perimeter of Capernaum. As a fishing village it was located right on the shore itself so one side of it faced the sea. As a fishing village, most of the population were working on this shore, Jesus uses it as a place to teach the most amount of people, he sees the beach of Galilee as his own auditorium.

14 And as he passed on, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

As he passes on from the place he was teaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee Jesus sees Levi the son of Alphaeus also known as Saint Matthew, the author of the Gospel. Since Capernaum is a bustling fishing hub, filled with trade and the region is under the authority of the Roman empire, it would have its own tax office. This is where people were required by Roman law to pay their taxes on their fishing profits. This is where Levi works, he is a Jewish Palestinian working for the romans.

Jesus simply tells Levi to follow him and without question, Levi does exactly that. Mark keeps this action short and sweet but great admiration should be felt when reading between the lines here. Levi is working a pretty financially rewarding job albeit socially reprehensible and this new popular rabbi has approached him, told him to follow him and he simply rises and follows. Unlike the disciples who had previous interactions with Jesus during John the Baptist’s ministry, Levi has no such history from what is told to us in the Gospels. Though considering the constant flow of people in and out of the tax office he is definitely likely to have heard of the new miraculous rabbi.

15 And as he sat at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him.

Mark’s account is brief in many respects and leaves some details a little ambiguous. Verse 15 simply says “And as he sat at table in his house” it does not actually clarify whose house this is. Luckily cross-referencing with the other accounts we get additional details, Luke’s Gospel explains this is Matthew’s house, here called Levi. Jesus is sat at table in Levi’s house with many tax collectors, sinners and his other disciples. This phrase at table might seem like they are just having a meeting or something but this phrase explicitly refers to eating together, clarified by the following verse.

Eating together was a sign of familial and covenantal connection. By eating with people you are essentially saying “I am in community with these people”. This is extrapolated from the Passover meal which unified those of the covenant family which in itself is the earthly representation of the divine banquet that Moses shared with God. You do not just casually eat with people, a lot of this ancient covenant context to meal eating is lost on the modern reader because we simply do not practice this style of intimacy anymore, even with our own families.

16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

The scribes of the Pharisees see that Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners and catching the ear of his disciples they ask a question radiating their disapproval of his welcoming of them to a covenantal meal. “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

The Pharisees were the biggest religious-political party among the first century Judeans, they were considered the rightful inheritors of Moses’ teaching office in the same way the Sadducee party of priests were the rightful inheritors of the Aaronic and Levitical ministerial office. The scribes were legal consultants of the Law. So the legal consultants of the Pharisaic party are proposing the question.

Since tax collectors were working for the Romans in order to do their job and were collecting profits from the Judeans in order to the fund the Roman empires inherently pagan civilisation they were seen as racial and religious traitors to their people. On top of this already negative connotation they were largely corrupt and took more than they were told, extorting many poor Hebrews out of the money they worked so hard to earn. They were essentially treated like lepers and the worst of sinners, they were not included in the covenant family of common Jewry, excluded from social and religious functions but here is Jesus sharing a meal with them, the most common sign of covenantal communion.

17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus overhears this question that the scribes have proposed to the disciples. He answers them himself by pointing out that his very decision to mingle with and eat with them is because they are sick, spiritually speaking. He uses the analogy of a doctor and the physically sick, someone healthy does not need a doctor but the sick do. Jesus positions himself as the divine physician who can heal with spiritually sick people. He is not being tarnished by eating with them, they are being purified by eating with him.

Jesus says he comes not to call the righteous, but sinners. This is kind of a trick statement, everyone knows they are not perfect or righteous, especially not these gossiping scribes. Anyone who was by some miracle already righteous at this gathering would not need fixing and also would not be complaining that he has come to those that need spiritual healing.

1 And when he returned to Caperna-um after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

Jesus’ healing of the leper took him outside of Caperna-um, this makes sense since lepers were required to live outside of the towns or city limits. Jesus returns from the Judean countryside to Caperna-um, his home base of operations. His arrival is reported because of his fame, previous to the healing of the leper, Jesus heals all the sick and possessed in the city so his appearance is obviously very exciting even if they do not know who he actually is yet.

2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them.

In chapter 1 we are told all of the town came to Jesus to be healed, we are seeing a repeat in a sense, everyone wants to see the new miracle making rabbi. The house they are gathered in is likely Simon’s house which was in Caperna-um and was rather large but apparently not large enough for the huge crowds. Jesus is preaching to them from the house, this is likely continued teachings on the Mosaic law and the prophets, this was the footing he used to preach the kingdom of God, it is was foretells it after all.

3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay.

Jesus has attracted so much attention and the crowds have grown so large that people are unable to approach the house in the normal way. Four men have bringing their paralytic friend to be healed by Jesus but they can not get through the crowds. In order to get to Jesus they remove the roof from above him and let him down on a pallet through the opening. This can be a confusing text if you aren’t aware of the common house layout in this culture and time.

A typical first century Judaean house did not have a set of stairs on the inside of the building, but on the outside. This would lead to the roof which was flat, it was not just shelter from the skies but also served as a floor for a communal area. This is where most families spent their time when it was hot, which it was a lot of the time. People did not have gardens to relax in, they relaxed on their roofs. So the men have climbed the side stairs and dug through lattice of mud, reeds and would that would have made up the walls and roof of the structure.

5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

Upon seeing the tenacity and willingness to dig through Simon’s roof in order to get the paralytic to Jesus, he acknowledges their faith. Miracles are worked through faith in Jesus’ ability to do the act, elsewhere it says he did not do many miracles in Nazareth because of their lack of faith. Here they filled with faith and demonstrate through how far they are willing to go to reach Jesus.

Instead of concentrating on the obvious physical problems the man has, Jesus focuses on the spiritual well being of the man. This spiritual ailment, our fallen nature, is in fact the root of sickness and death, unfortunately normal people do not have the ability to fix this invisible fallenness or its symptoms. Jesus however is not a normal person, he is fully man but he is also fully God. He also calls the man son just before forgiving his sins,

6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,

7 “Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Some scribes in sitting by the house, probably keeping watch on the large crowds and what they are focusing on, it would likely draw their curiosity. They were the consultants of the Law, whether a member of the Pharisee or Sadducee parties or even the regular people, you sought out the services of the Scribes for they were experts in the Law. They would be particularly curious of why the people were so excited; is the crowd excited by something unkosher?

Upon hearing Jesus’ mending of the man spiritually by forgiving his sins the scribes are left “questioning in their hearts” this means their convictions by which they live are being challenged by the very words of Jesus. They need not vocalise it out loud. Although verse 7 is put in quotation marks, there was no grammar in the original Greek and Mark is actually describing the thoughts the Scribes were having in opposition of Jesus. Instead of being amazed by the mass healings which lured them to the place they get stuck on his statement of forgiving sins which in the first century Jewish context, this is actually a REALLY bad thing. Unless you happen to be God that is. Jesus is putting himself in the place of God, whose authority it is that can forgive sins. People complain about Jesus not claiming divinity outside of John’s Gospel but this alone is a beacon of divinity if you understand the context

8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question thus in your hearts?

“Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit” so Jesus is essentially reading their minds or more in line with the context of the passage, reading their hearts. He does not physically hear the statements from them, he can supernaturally read their very thoughts. So he questions them back, out loud. This interaction always seems funny to me, imagine thinking something and someone responds to your thoughts, challenging what you were seething about. He simply asks them why do they question his statements in their hearts. If his actions demonstrate his words to be true, why are they mad?

9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your pallet and walk’?

Because of their hardness of heart, Jesus seeks to solidify his implicit divine statement by doing a divine action. He asks what is easier to say “your sins are forgiven” or “rise, take up your pallet and walk”? He is essentially, “you don’t believe these words I speak? how about a miracle before your very eyes?” Upon seeing this they should have no reason to argue with him, unless they continued to harden their hearts.

10 But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—

11 “I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.”

The forgiving of sins and the fixing of our fallen nature isn’t just one of the nice things that Jesus does in his ministry. One of the core parts of the incarnation is the fixing of our fallen human nature. This is why, like in other places, he does a physical miracle, a sign to the Jews, that acts as a witness to his claims.

One of his most important missions is fixing our nature, forgiving our sins so for them to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he does a physical healing as a witness before them. The use of the Son of Man title, the divine figure from Daniel continues to hint at Jesus divine identity.

The Son of Man is the one who will receive power and authority from the Ancient of Days, the Father in Heaven. He basically does a cluster bomb of divine statements and actions that would take a long period of time to process intellectually, but something people with faith would just submit to. So he tells the paralytic to rise and go home.

12 And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

The man who was literally paralysed rises, picks up the pallet that once supported him and walks before all of those present. People are rightly amazed and give thanks to God. They are not recognising Jesus as God but definitely recognise him as a Prophet through whom God works. This is positive development unfortunately it does not go much further.

The people exclaim that they had never seen anything like this before. Although the Old Testament is filled with the miraculous the Jews have been living in a silent period of several centuries without a prophet or a king. That along with the declaration that he can forgive sins, this episode with Jesus is definitely not like anything they had seen. This authority to forgive sins is proven and demonstrated by Jesus here and in other places and later in the Gospel narrative he will explicitly breathe on his apostles and bestow upon them this exact same authority to bind and loose sins.

40 And a leper came to him beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”

Leprosy although today being a specific thing, back in the first century it was used to describe a variety of skin disfigurement problems. It was considered a death sentence that only God could heal, it could lead to blindness and loss of limbs. Since it has such physical disfiguring effect it was perceived as not only physically unclean but ceremonially unclean, this would cause lepers to be exiled from the covenant community as is laid out by the Mosaic Law. They were also required to wear rags and wear their hair loose, this was to indicate from some distance that they were lepers so people would not approach them.

Following the healing and exorcising of all those in Capernaum Jesus is approached by a leper. This leper kneels before him, an action typically reserved for nobility, so he perceives Jesus to be of something above him. The leper states that if Jesus wanted, he could make him clean. He does not ask to be cured necessarily but asks to be made clean, his priority is ceremonial cleanliness before God which would include being healed but that is not the root of his request.

41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I will; be clean.”

Jesus is “moved with pity” or “with compassion” so he stretches out to the leper with his hand and touches him. This is completely against the norms of this society, the only reason Jesus does it is because he can actually cleanse the leper, typically people kept a very large distance between themselves and lepers.

After touching the leper with his hand, Jesus responds “I will; be clean.” Jesus without any other action except the statement “be clean”. He simply agrees to do as the man asks because he is moved by his suffering. Some healings have more actions going on, others he just states things, altering reality as he does so. This speaks to the many methods that Jesus can heal us.

42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

The leprosy leaves the man “immediately”, Marks favourite word to denote instantaneous action. There is no gradual healing. The man is cured of the leprosy AND he was made clean. Important to note that two things are going on here. He is healed and is made clean, ceremonially speaking. Jesus cures him of the illness and makes him clean before God.

43 And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once,

44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.”

Jesus sends that man away at once, sternly charging him. More immediacy and action even after the healing episode for Mark’s Roman audience, there is never a dull moment in his Gospel, everything is happening immediately, at once, all the time.

In order to keep the messianic secret, the purposeful retention of Jesus’ divine identity from spreading too far, Jesus says to the man to say nothing to anyone. All the man is to do is to show himself to the priest, offer a sacrifice for thanksgiving for his cleansing as Moses commanded. After being cured of leprosy you could not just re-join the covenant community, leprosy was a dangerous disease and was taken very seriously from ancient times.

A priest would have to inspect the now cured leper, outside the city limits before he would be welcomed back in. He is also to make an offering in the temple, an animal sacrifice of thanksgiving for his cleansing. This offering in the temple and the priests acknowledgement of being healed will act as the public declaration that he could re-join the covenant community and live amongst the people again.

45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

The now cured leper does not do as Jesus asked, he speaks freely about his healing. This was a miracle, something that only God could do, even in the Old Testament such healings were still done by God just through a prophet. That means Jesus is like one of great prophets of old or he is God, that is something that would be very difficult to not talk about especially if you had been suffering for so long outside the covenant community as a leper.

Ironically the lepers desire to sing Jesus’ praises causes Jesus to suffer like a leper. As we had mentioned, a leper was forced to live outside the city limits, away from the covenant community and now that the cured man has spoken so freely and spread the news of the miracle, Jesus is unable to enter the towns freely and was restricted to being outside the geographic limits of the community. Despite this, similar to John the Baptist out in the wilderness, people will come from all over to the countryside to try and find Jesus.

29 And immediately he left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

Directly following the exorcism of the demon possessed man in the synagogue Jesus enters the house of Simon Peter and Andrew. Archaeologists have actually found the foundations of this first century building and you can visit it on tours in the holy land. This house belongs to Simon and Andrew, their home and base for their fishing enterprise. James and John have gone with them, the other disciples have not been chosen yet, we are very early in the stages of Jesus’ ministry.

30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her.

Simon’s mother-in-law is sick with a fever in bed and because of Jesus’ previously miraculous healings they go to him so he can heal her. If you have a mother-in-law you have to be married or at least, were married and are now a widow. The fact Andrew and his mother-in-law both live here indicates that Simon does not own a small house, the archaeological evidence also shows that there were quite a few rooms and a second floor, as most houses in this culture had back then.

31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them.

Jesus, upon their asking, comes to Simon’s mother-in-law, in Marks account Jesus says nothing, he simply takes her by the hand and lifts her up, the fever immediately leaves. After being healed Simon’s mother-in-law begins to “wait on them” or “she served them”. This was the job of the woman of the house, it was the woman’s job to be in charge of the domestic economy. Zero mention of Simon’s wife but his mother-in-law takes on what would have been her job once she is healed implies that Simon’s wife is dead.

A marriage covenant binds two to become one, your spouses parents become your parents, even if one of you dies. Peter appears to be a widow, honouring his mother-in-law by taking care of her in her old age and letting her live with him. This housing serving position should be done by his wife, unless she has died which is what the text implies.

32 That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.

That evening at sundown, if you remember it was the sabbath but a Jewish day ends at sundown so now people do not have to worry about travelling restrictions and the weight carrying laws of the Sabbath. Everyone who is sick or possessed are brought to him. These two types of individuals are essentially the two main methods of the evil ones “work” in our world. Physical suffering and spiritual suffering. Jesus has demonstrated he can perform an exorcism in the synagogue and that he can heal sicks in the bedridden mother-in-laws, obviously more people want to receive such graces.

33 And the whole city was gathered together about the door.

His fame as a healer and exorcist precede him and now the entire city of Capernaum are gathered at the door of Simon’s house. This is likely only to include the peasant population and not a literal every person of the city but the poor commoners.

34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Jesus demonstrates that his physical healing abilities are not limited to fevers but extend to various diseases he will also be able to exorcise anyone that comes to him that is possessed. There definitely appears to be at this height of messianic fervour a much larger dominance in demonic possession, this makes sense when you consider that this is the fullness of time, the most desperate demonic effort would take place during this period, not that we don’t still have things to worry about but in this time it basically seems to be common place.

Jesus does not permit the demons to speak “because they knew him” they are aware at least to some degree of his identity. The Messianic secret is required in order to time Jesus’ “hour” that he must endure. He stops the demons from “outing him” so to speak. If the people are to come to an understanding of who he is, it must be through faith, not the demons just outright saying something.

35 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed.

Similar to the highlights of Luke, here in Mark we see an emphasis on prayer after significant events. In the case of verse 35 it is after Jesus has healed all the sick and possessed of an entire city, he still takes time to be alone with his father and pray.

36 And Simon and those who were with him pursued him,

37 and they found him and said to him, “Every one is searching for you.”

Simon as chief apostles, even when there are a total of four of them, leads the others in finding where Jesus has gone. Pursuing him to the lonely place where he was praying they find him and say that he is being looked for by everyone. Jesus is not here of the adulation of the crowds, he wants the people to give thanksgiving to God from their hearts not outward expression but the disciples seem almost confused at why he would avoid a bunch of people he just helped. Jesus’ mission is much more than just curing people of ailments, these are just signs that are to point people into understanding who he is.

38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out.”

39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus instead of seeking back out the people he just previously healed instead states he wants to go to the next towns so that he “may preach there also; for that is why I came out.” His message is the important part of his mission, the healings and miracles are only signs that act as witnesses. If he starts saying divine things people might presume anyone could do that, but if he says these things whilst doing miraculous acts at the same time it will be seen as proofs of any claims he makes.

He goes on throughout all of Galilee, going into the synagogues at the times of the services and preaching that the Kingdom of God has arrived. This is the message the Hebrews were supposed to be waiting for in these exact services. Whilst going out preaching he casts out more demons from those who are possessed and we can imply also that he is curing the sick.