The Jewish Annotated New Testament (205 page)

27
–28:
Here Jesus advocates a humanitarian Sabbath exception such as those often discussed in Jewish law. Since
Son of Man
could simply mean a person and not Jesus or the judge at the end of time (2.10n.), it is possible that this saying originally meant that a person is
lord even of the Sabbath
in the sense that he or she is to enjoy the Sabbath and is not constricted by the Sabbath (
b. Yoma
85b). Later, however, this saying was interpreted to mean that Jesus had authority to revoke the rules of Sabbath rest.

3.1
–6: Healing on the Sabbath
(Mt 12.9–14; Lk 6.6–11). Jesus responds with another humanitarian Sabbath exception, found also in rabbinic tradition: “Any danger to life overrides the prohibitions of the Sabbath” (
m. Yoma
8.6). In the Cairo Damascus Document, however, many such exceptions were not allowed (CD 11.32–33).

4
:
Although Jesus characterizes the healing in this way—
good
or
harm
,
save life
or
kill—
the man’s condition is not life-threatening, and therefore the incident is understood to have wider significance.

5
:
Was restored
, the passive may indicate that Jesus in fact did not do anything that could be considered “work.”

6
:
In the Gospels Jesus is often opposed by the Pharisees, but it is the chief priests, scribes, and elders who wish to have him executed (8.31; 14.1–2). Only here does Mark say that the Pharisees tried to
destroy
Jesus.
Herodians
, members of the court of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee installed by Rome, and those who supported them.

3.7
–12: Summary of Jesus’ successes
(Mt 12.15–21; Lk 6.17–19; 4.41). Texts like Isa 2.1–4 predict the ingathering of Israel and the streaming of Gentiles to Jerusalem; here that process is focused on Jesus and not Jerusalem, and seems primarily (if not exclusively) to mean Jews from the immediate Diaspora; Gentiles are not explicitly indicated.

11
:
Unclean spirits,
see “Impurity and Healing,” p.
63
.
Son of God,
1.9–11n.

12
:
See Introduction on the messianic secret.

3.13
–19a: Appointing the twelve
(Mt 10.1–4; Lk 6.12–16).

14
:
The
twelve
suggests the twelve tribes of Israel, a symbolic number (since the twelve tribes were no longer in existence) essentially standing for the people of God. The twelve are disciples (Gk “mathetes,” originally “learners, students” who gathered around a teacher); they are here named
apostles
(Gk “apostolos,” “one sent out” as a representative or to carry out a mission). The only female disciple specified in the NT is Tabitha in Acts 9.36, though Jesus had female followers such as Mary Magdalene (16.1). In addition, Paul claimed the status of apostle (Gal 1–2). The only specific occurrence of a word similar to “disciple” in the Hebrew Bible is in Isaiah (8.16; 50.4; 54.13; Heb “lammud,” “one who is taught”). Elisha was in a similar relation to Elijah, and there were schools of prophets (e.g., 2 Kings 2.3, “sons of the prophets”).

3.19b
–
35: Beelzebul and Satan
(Mt 12.22–32,46–50; Lk 8.19–21; 11.14–23; 12.10).

21
:
His family … restrain him
, Jesus’ near relatives are sometimes portrayed in the Gospels as misunderstanding him, or opposing his ministry (Mt 12.46–50; Lk 8.19–21).

22
:
Beelzebul,
a name for Satan, derived ultimately from the Canaanite high god Baal, meaning perhaps “Baal, the prince” (2 Kings 1.2,3 spells the name “Baal-zebub,” “lord of flies,” an insulting parody). This passage shows how charges of magic develop: the perceived miracles of one group are assigned to demonic forces by another.

23
–27:
The
parables
refute the accusation of demonic power in casting out demons by drawing an analogy with a human
kingdom
working at cross-purposes with itself, which would be self-defeating. Jesus then draws another analogy, comparing himself to one who has bound
a strong man
so that his property
can be plundered
as Jesus is plundering the demonic world by defeating Satan.

28
–30:
As in some Jewish apocalypses (
1 En
. 38.2), the Holy Spirit was the divine power that brought the new community into existence. In rabbinic texts unforgivable sins were also sins against God and the sanctity of the community (
m. Avot
3.12: “R. Eleazar of Modiim said: If a man profanes the hallowed things and despises the set feasts and puts his fellow to shame publicly and makes void the covenant of Abraham our father, and discloses meanings in the law which are not according to the
Halakah
, even though a knowledge of the law and good works are his, he has no share in the world to come.”)

28
:
Truly,
Heb “amen,” see 1.14–15n. Jesus uses the word “amen” not in the typical Jewish way as an affirmation of what someone else has just prayed, but as a solemn affirmation of what he is about to say (cf. Jer 28.6, where the prophet’s use of “Amen” at the beginning of his speech relates [probably ironically] to the previous speech of the prophet Hananiah).

31
–35:
New religious movements often create “fictive families” of social networks outside of traditional families, with members called “brothers and sisters,” “saints,” and so on.

4.1
–34: Parables and the kingdom of God
(Mt 13; Lk 8.4–18; 13.18–19). The central teaching section of Mark is this parables chapter, perhaps based on an earlier collection (see “Parables and Kingdom,” p.
68
).

11
–12:
Those outside
do not
understand
, as those who heard Isaiah’s prophecies (Isa 6.9–10) did not grasp their import, but it is not clear if the lack of understanding is from a willful refusal or from a clouding of their minds caused by God.

26
–29:
This parable is similar to the previous parable of the sower, but without the long introduction allegorized by Mark.

27
:
He does not know how,
many of the parables involve miraculous appearance and inexplicable growth as a metaphor for the kingdom. Exaggeration for effect, or hyperbole, is a common rhetorical device.

31
–32:
Great trees, typically cedars, were symbols of powerful empires (Ezek 17.22–23; Dan 4.20–22), but
mustard
plants are invasive shrubs that grow to be a few feet high. Like many other parables, this one is satirical and humorous, and highly suggestive: the kingdom is like a scrubby, invasive bush! The parable suggests that
the kingdom
arises from a very small beginning and nevertheless grows miraculously.

4.35
–41: Stilling of the storm
(Mt 8.23–27; Lk 8.22–25). Like Jonah, Jesus is sleeping in the midst of a storm, but unlike Jonah Jesus calms the storm (see Jon 1.4–6).

35
:
Go across to the other side
. Here Jesus leaves a predominantly Jewish section of Galilee for the first time to go by sea to the eastern, predominantly Gentile coast.

38
–40:
Mark here and elsewhere depicts the disciples as uncomprehending, weak-willed, or cowardly (4.13,38,40; 5.31; 6.52; 7.18; 8.17). It is possible that Mark is indicating that they do not deserve the authority they held in the early communities of Jesus’ followers, but the audience may also be able to identify with their level of weakness, and gain encouragement for renewed efforts to be faithful followers. In the wilderness wanderings of Exodus there is a recurrent motif of the murmurings of the people. Further, the boat here is likely intended as a metaphor for the tiny, buffeted community; this was certainly the way the boat was interpreted in later Christian art.

39
:
Jesus
rebuked the wind
and
sea,
which takes up an ancient Near Eastern and Israelite evocation of the god who conquers the sea (e.g., Ps 65.7; 89.9; 107.29).

5.1
–20: Gerasene demoniac and the legion of unclean spirits
(Mt 8.28–34; Lk 8.26–39). This first exorcism in Gentile territory parallels Jesus’ first exorcism in Jewish Galilee (1.21–28). Here Jesus encounters the man outside; in the first exorcism the man with an unclean spirit was inside the synagogue. This man is much more violent and self-destructive. The demons possessing the first man were simply expelled; here they are allowed to enter a herd of swine. But in both exorcisms the demons recognize Jesus, and he expels them with commands, not performing any actions. The onlookers also quickly report the events.

1
:
Gerasenes,
Gerasa is forty miles from the Sea of Galilee, which is inconsistent with v. 13. Some have taken this as evidence that Mark was not from northern Galilee, but this is not conclusive evidence. Further, Gerasa may evoke Heb “gerash,” which means expel, and was used in some of the biblical accounts of God driving the nations out of the land (Ex 23.28), as here the swine, unclean animals, are driven out (see also 16.7n.).

2
:
Unclean spirit,
see “Impurity and Healing,” p.
63
.

7
:
The spirit recognizes Jesus as
Son of the Most High God
(Gk “hypsistos,” in LXX for “‘elyon,” “Most High” [e.g., Ps 9.2]) and tries to negotiate.

9
:
What is your name,
in exorcisms knowledge of the names of angels and demons was essential to enlist or control them.
Legion,
a Latin loan-word, denotes a unit of 6,000 soldiers in the Roman army. Many Jewish and Christian texts, especially apocalyptic texts, express a belief that God would destroy the Romans and establish a kingdom of God—albeit conceived in different ways. This story remains evocative of several far-reaching possibilities without clarifying them: Do the swine represent the expulsion (“gerash”) of unclean animals or the Roman armies? Are the Gerasenes angry over a symbolic battle or the loss of their herds? What is the significance of a Gentile asking to follow Jesus? Why is there no messianic secret here?

20
:
The
Decapolis
was a federation of ten predominantly Gentile cities to the east of the Sea of Galilee.