We find ourselves in Capernaum in our Gospel scene today. Jesus has just finished driving out a demon and, at the prompting of his disciples, turns his attention to illness. Performing the first of many miracles, the whole town turns out to see this wonderworker so that Our Lord is eventually forced to seek out solitude on the outskirts of town before continuing his mission in the neighboring cities. Diving deep into our Gospel we'll spend our episode looking closer at: - The Greek word Mark uses to describe Jesus' healings and its interrelatedness with Our Lord's resurrection - The subtle way that Jesus treats both demons and illnesses alike - Simon's mother-in-law's response to being healed and its fascinating link to Holy Orders - Why the people of Capernaum waited until sundown to seek out Jesus - The ancient Jewish liturgical service of Havdalah and how one scholar thinks it sets the tone for the whole Gospel scene - The hostile nature of the disciples' pursuit of Jesus - The language Jesus employs to describe his mission and its link to combat
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Donahue, John R., and Daniel J. Harrington. The Gospel of Mark. Edited by Daniel J. Harrington. Vol. 2. Sacra Pagina Series. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002.
Donin, Hayim. "HAVDALAH: The Ritual and the Concept." Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought 3, no. 1 (1960): 60-72. Accessed January 8, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23255448.
Healy, Mary. The Gospel of Mark. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008.
Marcus, Joel. Mark 1–8: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 27. Anchor Yale Bible. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008.
REFERENCES
For a broader discussion of the city of Capernaum see Episode 015: Capernaum by the Sea
1 Corinthians 15:13 - "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised [egeiro]"
Galatians 1:1 - "Paul an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised [egeiro] him from the dead"
Romans 4:24 - "It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised [egeiro] from the dead Jesus our Lord"
Acts 3:14-15 - "But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Author of life, whom God raised [egeiro] from the dead."
Acts 4:10 - "Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised [egeiro] from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well."
Luke 4:39 - "And he stood over her and rebuked the fever"
Mark 1:13 - "And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered [diakoneo] to him."
Mark 15:40-41 - "There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome, 41 who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered [diakoneo] to him"
Mark 10:43-45 - "But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant [diakonos], 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of man also came not to be served [diakoneo] but to serve [diakoneo], and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Chiastic Structure:
A - Exorcism
B - Healing
B1 - Healings
A1 - Exorcisms
Mark 1:28 - "And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee."
Mark 16:1-6 - "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back;—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here"
Mark 1:24 - "'What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.'"
"The end-of-Sabbath context is also important because this period was marked in Jewish homes by the Havdālāh service, in which God’s creation of the world was celebrated; this custom seems to go back to Second Temple times [...] In some rabbinic and Jewish magical texts and formulae, the Havdālāh period is associated with the fight against demonic powers and other magical procedures [....] These associations of the Havdālāh period perhaps provide part of the background for Mark’s picture of the divine act of eschatological re-creation whereby Jesus heals and casts out demons in Peter’s house at the conclusion of the Sabbath." (Marcus 200)
John 13:3 - "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God"