18 The New Israel

A New Israel

Text:

Reading:

In Jesus’ enemies are plotting to crush Him. In v. 9 He is threatened to be crushed by His “followers,” as He heals and restores them. A bit of foreshadowing by Mark in what lies ahead for Christ.

The way of the cross is not about the last week of Jesus’ life. The way of the cross is a lifestyle. The real day-to-day life our Savior and King.

v. 7-12 are a transitional section that connects what’s come with what’s coming. It echoes the introduction and earlier ministry in galilee as well as foreshadows the passion of the Lord.

says that John was in the wilderness and people were flocking to Him from Judea and Jerusalem.

In we see Jesus continuing His pattern by fleeing from the synagogue and His murderers toward the sea, which is a symbol of the wilderness. People flock to Him from Judea and Jerusalem, Idumea and Tyre and Sidon.

Jesus is attracting more people from a broader region. He is mightier than John just as John said on 1:7. Jesus flees down to the sea, the last two times he was their He was recruiting to His band of misfits. And we see that He is recruiting again.

In Jesus heals a demoniac after some recruiting. In Jesus is healing demoniacs after recruiting.

Jesus’ life is full of types and patterns. Mark has written an account that highlights the typology of Jesus’ life.

The pattern of wilderness and synagogue, recruiting and mission, preaching and conflict continues. The five conflicts of 2:1-3:6 come to an end and a new series of conflicts arise in Galilee.

Jesus is causing trouble. He is demonstrating his authority through preaching and service. In the word “withdrew,” would be better translated as fled. He flees His murdering enemies. But why? What for? Remember, His life is a retelling or a living out of Israel’s history.

Is Jesus going to leave the land? Go quiet? Give up? Jesus is fleeing, isn’t He the swashbuckling King?

The same Greek word is used to describe Joseph’s flight to Egypt from the Herodians in . Jesus too is fleeing the Herodians. In the Greek translation of the OT, the word is used to describe David fleeing from Saul’s attempted murder of David with a mis-aimed spear in .

When David fled from Saul after getting the bread from Ahimelech, a story Jesus reference in , David fled to the cave of Adullam.

And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.

David fled to a cave like a tomb, because the kingship of Israel was dying and rising again in David.

Jesus flees first to the Sea, a place of hostility with the dark forces of Satan, before withdrawing further to the top of a mountain. A place symbolically connected to the meeting of God with Man. Many flock to Jesus of whom Jesus becomes their commander.

Jesus is the greater David. But He is the king, not just of Israel, but of the cosmos. In Him, there is neither Jew nor Greek, but one. He is gathering the nations under His banner.

And so, He will need new captains of the faith. New heads of tribes in which all the People of God will flock. A new band of mighty men. A new Levitical order.

New wine can’t fit into old wineskins. New clothe cannot be sewn on old garments. Jesus is remaking Israel into what it was promised to be to Abraham; a blessing to all the nations of the world and v.7-19 are a glimpse into the new wineskins.

v. 7-12

The Gospel of Mark is unusually particular and concrete, narrating what Jesus did and said in specific situations. But Mark cannot provide an “unabridged life” of Jesus, and general summary reports such as this one informs and reminds readers that Jesus’ ministry surpassed the stories included in Mark’s Gospel.[1] This portion summarizes a great deal of Ministry.

Jesus’ ministry and reputation enjoyed extensive geographical influence and dominion over demonic as well as human opposition.[2]

A large crowd” gathers from extensive geographical regions, not only from Galilee but from Judea (including Jerusalem), from Idumea 120 miles due south, from points east of the Jordan, and from Tyre and Sidon fifty miles to the north.

Equally remarkable is the ethnic diversity of the crowd. Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem were principally Jewish territories; Idumea and Transjordan were mixed Jewish-Gentile regions; and Tyre and Sidon were largely if not entirely Gentile regions (see ; ).54 The fame of Jesus is far reaching and all encompassing, which is all the more remarkable given the social cleavages of the day. The range of Jesus’ influence exceeds that of John the Baptizer, who had attracted crowds only from Jerusalem and Judea (1:5). In this reputation and magnetism Jesus is again “more powerful” (1:7) than John.

Like Isaiah’s portrayal of the Servant of the Lord, Mark’s description of Jesus’ geographical influence designates him as a “light for the Gentiles” ()[3]

But the crowd is actually described rather menacingly. The word for “crowding” (Gk. thlibein) would better read “pressing” or “crushing”; and “pushing forward” suggests in Greek “mobbing” or “falling upon” Jesus. The crowd is a paradox. Its needs command Jesus’ attention, and Jesus is fully attentive to the misery present in its numbers, but its clamor is not a response of faith.[4]

The crowds may fall upon Jesus, but the evil spirits “fall before” him. The word for “fall before” (Gk. prospiptein) occurs eight times in the NT, and in each instance save one, it conveys the image of an inferior prostrating himself in homage before a superior.[5]

From this point on synagogues do not figure into Jesus’ preaching or teaching ministry. On only one other occasion did he enter a synagogue (6:1–6). With this single exception Jesus turned his back on the synagogues. He has withdrawn from the institution that had been the center of Jewish religious and cultural life for hundreds of years.[6]

Furthermore, the conspiracy between the Pharisees and Herodians elevated the conflict to a new level. Up to this point Jesus had faced opposition from religious groups such as the scribes (2:6), the scribes of the Pharisees (2:16) and the Pharisees (2:24). Now for the first time representatives of the royal family have taken a position against him.[7]

A faction associated with the royal family has aligned itself with representatives of a religious party to kill him. In response Jesus withdrew from the synagogues[8]

Jesus’ withdrawal to the lake signals an important change in his evangelistic strategy. The synagogue was no longer the place where he preached the good news. The references to familiar themes like the popularity of Jesus as a healer and exorcist indicate that his appeal had not suffered. The size of the crowd (3:9) is much larger than anything Mark has described before, and for the first time Mark portrays a vast following of people from outside of Galilee.[9]

When the demons identified him as the Holy One of God (1:24) or the Son of God (3:11), they were not trying to do him any favors. Their declarations were a form of opposition—a variation of a prominent feature found in extrabiblical exorcism accounts in which a struggle occurs between the exorcist and demon. Typically when the exorcist discovers the name of the demon, the exorcism proceeds. In this case the demons used a similar tactic to resist Jesus: they exposed his identity in an attempt to assert their own power and frustrate the exorcism. It is an indication of the nearness of the kingdom of God that their tactic was useless. Jesus first disarmed them by commanding silence, and then he cast them out. The power of evil was broken, and this is a compelling sign of the imminent triumph of God’s reign.[10]

v. 13-19

The setting for this appointment is “the mountain,” which presumably is meant to be reminiscent of the setting at which Israel was constituted a people (.

The call of the Twelve in 3:14, though, has a markedly different character. It was not a demand. It was a commissioning to share his authority. The Twelve were to be with him, to proclaim the gospel and to drive out demons.[11]

but the synagogues that had been central to his initial strategy have ceased to be a factor in his public ministry. Instead of a place for proclaiming the gospel, there were now other people to share in the preaching. In a sense the Twelve replaced the synagogues. The conflict with the synagogues was not something from which Jesus withdrew in defeat. He responded to the growing opposition by expanding his ministry by a factor of twelve. Mark does not depict a meek and mild Jesus. The Jesus we meet in these pages responded to opposition with a dramatic expansion of his ministry. In addition to his growing appeal, Jesus’ opponents now had twelve more heralds of the kingdom of God to contend with.[12]

The apostles have taken the place of the synagogues.

He lives as a person in community, not as an isolated prophet. These were not merely to be Jesus’ pupils (remembering that the word “disciple” actually means learner), but his friends and coworkers. They are appointed for fellowship as well as for witness, being sent to teach and cast out demons. It is also said in v. 14 that the Twelve were named apostles, but this seems to be a parenthetical comment of Mark’s. In view of 6:30, it seems clear that Mark understands the term to refer to those who have been sent out by someone as authorized agents.

The overall impression one gets is that the Twelve was a socially diverse group including both fishermen and their nemeses the tax collectors, and both a tax collector and those who opposed paying any taxes to Rome or the overlords, indeed those who had supported opposing such oppressors even by violent means. In any event, though the list begins in good fashion, it ends in depressing fashion. One of the handpicked Twelve is remembered for one thing only—betraying Jesus. “There is a warning to the reader not to expect too much of these disciples.” At the outset these men are enlisted in the war against the powers and principalities, yet there is enough dark undercurrent to already prompt a worry that they may become casualties in that apocalyptic war.

Twelve, of course, is the number of the tribes of Israel. To associate it in any way with the kingdom of God was to evoke deep nationalistic and religious passions. Other prophets and rabbis had their schools of interpretation and their followers. Yet no matter how deeply they had left their mark on the faith of the people of Israel, none of them had commissioned twelve.[13]

It is also true that the ten tribes of the northern kingdom had disappeared. The Assyrians conquered Israel in 721 b.c. They deported large numbers of Israelites, imported other conquered peoples to Israel and forced the remaining Israelites to marry the newly arrived immigrants. The Samaritans, whom the people of Judah despised as half-breeds, were all that was left of those ten tribes within the historical borders of Israel when Jesus began to preach. Despite the tribes of the northern kingdom having been destroyed by years of deportation and forced assimilation, the prophets looked forward to the restoration of the entire people of Israel.[14]

The dry bones of are not the skeletons of individual people awaiting resurrection. They symbolize what was left of a nation God had judged. The prophecy that the bones would live again expressed the hope that the whole nation of Israel, all twelve tribes, would be restored. Texts like , and express a similar promise.[15]

Four salient points help us understand the importance of Jesus’ commissioning the Twelve. First, Jesus was preaching and demonstrating the gospel in such a way that the people of Galilee could experience the presence of the kingdom of God. Second, Jesus had turned away from the one institution that had served as the political, cultural and religious center for the people of Israel who had survived the exile.[16]

Although he continued to address himself to the Jewish people, he did so now as John the Baptist had done: he spoke from a position outside the institutions of Judaism. Third, there was a prophetic quality about his rejection of the synagogues and his preaching that would have encouraged speculation about the revival of the nation of Israel. And, finally, Jesus was preaching in Galilee, which was itself part of the territory that had originally belonged to tribes of the northern kingdom.[17]

Against this background it looks very much as though Jesus was establishing a new nation when he appointed the Twelve. If his family thought he was setting up a new regime, then from a certain point of view their conviction that he was out of his mind is understandable. * What Jesus did go well beyond the boundaries of safe and socially acceptable behavior: it is the behavior of either a megalomaniac or a human being so uniquely gifted that the institutions of first-century Judaism could not contain him. Jesus was intent upon fundamentally reshaping the people of God, and when that reshaping proved to be impossible within the existing structures of Judaism, Jesus created new ones.[18]

The appointment of the Twelve follows Jesus’ rejection of the synagogues and precedes the description of the enormous crowds that came from all the surrounding areas, some of which were outside the historical boundaries of Israel and Judah. Simon, to whom Jesus gave a Gentile name, is mentioned first, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him, is named last. Their appointment symbolizes a fundamental reshaping of the people of God. Mark has crafted this material to cast Jesus’ death against the backdrop of the formation of a new nation. He implies a connection between Jesus’ death and the formation of a new nation without specifying yet what the connection is. At this point Mark is content to imply that the death of Jesus is connected to the formation of a new people.[19]

Jesus treated religious institutions not only as centers of spiritual life, but also as centers of power. When it became clear that the synagogues would not embrace the gospel, he turned away from them and created a new center of power: he appointed twelve people to be with him and share his authority. His standard of judgment was not the success or vitality of the institution. It was whether the synagogues would embrace the good news of the kingdom of God.[20]

Conclusion

Jesus called 12 men to follow Him, not because of what they were in themselves when He met them for the first time, but because of what, under His direction and by His power they would become. Like a sculptor, Jesus could see the form buried in the marble.

The whole world came to know what the example and leadership of Jesus made these 12 men – twelve of the strongest, noblest, and most fearless and serviceable men who have appeared in human history.

The transformation of the twelve was not the least, it was almost the greatest of Christ’s miracles.

The application for our hearts in all this is that it is not what we are, in ourselves, when we hear and respond to Christ’s call, but what by His grace and power He can make us as we accompany him.

Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you…” so there are no self-made Christians in His service; they are all christ-made. Self made men are usually not made u of good material, and they can be wrapped up in a very small parcel. But those whom the Lord wants and wins, are those He is able to fashion into human books to tells the story of His love and grace. As did those He gathered around Him in the days of His flesh, disciples today begin their apprenticeship by following Christ, daily learning of, and from, Him (). Then, as they grow in grace and knowledge, they become more fitted to represent the savior in a world of sin and need.

[1] Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (p. 103). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos.

[2] Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (p. 103). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos.

[3] Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (p. 103). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos.

[4] Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (p. 104). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos.

[5] Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (p. 104). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos.

[6] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (p. 74). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[7] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (pp. 74–75). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[8] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (p. 75). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[9] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (p. 75). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[10] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (p. 76). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[11] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (p. 77). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[12] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (pp. 77–78). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[13] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (p. 78). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[14] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (p. 78). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[15] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (p. 78). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[16] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (pp. 78–79). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[17] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (p. 79). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[18] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (p. 79). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[19] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (p. 80). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[20] Kernaghan, R. J. (2007). Mark (pp. 80–81). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.