ACHING BONES

 Long lost my youth

so many years ago

a thousand or just ten

it's difficult to know.

lost youth 

oh no regrets

i arrive at old age's

aching shore.

each moment now

dressed in sweet joy

each day a little nearer

to my heavenly Lord.

MARK 3 7-8 JESUS BY GALILEE - CONTEXT

 JESUS WENT OUT TO THE LAKE WITH HIS DISCIPLES, AND A LARGE CROWD FOLLOWED HIM.  THEY CAM FROM ALL OVER GALILEE, JUDEA, 8 JERUSALEM IDUMEA FROM EAST OF THE JORDAN RIVER, AND EVN FROM AS FAR NORTH AS TYRE AND SIDON.  THE NEWS ABOUT HIS MIRACLES HAD  SPREAD FAR AND WIDE, AND VAST NUMBERS OF PEOPLE CAME TO SEE HIM.

 

CONTEXT.  This is immediately after Jesus teaching in an unspecified synagogue in Galilee an interior space where he healed an anonymous man's withered hand.  The Teachers of the Law watch him closely.

Jesus 'had withdrawn' NIV version to the Lake - is more suggestive of a need for privacy and this is an accurate translation from the Greek.  There is thus a need for perhaps prayer.  We are now in a specific geographical location, outside, rather than inside.  It is suggested that it is immediately after the healing but no time or day is given.  It is clearly not the Sabbath.  Mark details the cosmopolitan nature of the crowd by naming exact locations of where the inexact crowd comes from.  Each name has its biblical significance, for example in Matthew 4 Jesus warns Tyre and Sidon, where there was mostly a Phoenician population.   Jezebel came from the Sidon area, so there are dark echoes of the sinful history of the area.   The number of names listed shows how far Jesus' reputation had followed and how diverse the population was in this area, thus as Bible Hub suggests, more open to ideas than Judea which was more conservative.

Nevertheless there is no actual description of anyone of these places and only someone from the area, or someone who has had access to images of these areas (or has visited them) would be able to conjure up any significant image in the minds eye.  

As an example of what some may call a dry literary style, we can contrast the great poet Virgil and his personification of 'rumour' which is full of exquisite visual imagery, making the transmission of information visual.  Here Mark simply says that 'news' of Jesus had spread.  Within any spreading of news there will be exaggeration, wonder, criticism, inaccuracy.  

Great absence of detail, proper names and information could make this dry reading, if it were not for the fact that the tension has been mounted by the word 'enemies' in the previous verse.  This gives enough dramatic tension to enable the reader to continue.

Amen

WHO PLANTED THE YEW TREE?

Down the dusty road

past the beech tree high

The blackbird a passing shadow

who doesn't bother 

asking me what or where or why?

Where is his nest and in what tree

and where does it grow?

Is it next to the oak  

and is there mistletoe?

How many times has he flown

this very road and more

how many chicks does he have

two, or three or four.

High by the mistletoe, no doubt

he will sleep tonight 

as I rest on a simple couch

severed from the world once more

 I wish I was 

beyond the  trees

in a

 world where no one sleeps

as quiet rest restores

in silent hymns of praise.

Copyright L. Ivison 2025

MARK 3 5-6 JESUS HEALS THE WITHERED HAND AND THE PHARISEES PLOT HIS DEATH. Place, time, viewpoint

HE LOOKED AROUND AT THE ANGRILY AND WAS DEEPLY SADDENED BY THEIR HARD HEARTS.  THEN HE SAID TO THE MAN 'HOLD OUT YOUR HAND' SO THE MAN HELD OUT HIS HAND, AND IT WAS RESTORED. 6 AT ONCE THE PHARISEES WENT AWAY AND MET WITH THE SUPPORTERS OF HEROD TO PLOT HOW TO KILL JESUS.

Context:  In an unspecified synagogue, probably in galilee - no other protagonist is mentioned by name - thus the focus is on Jesus.  According to Bible Hub the fact that Jesus' human expressions can be read on his face suggests an eye witness.  It goes on to explain the difference between a just anger and the anger of man which usually comes from pride and is based on self-love.  This is an anger which desires the justice of God.  It is quickly followed by Jesus' understanding - it comes from their hard hearts and the anger is swiftly followed by compassion.  Although the Pharisees are described as enemies Jesus wants all to repent including his enemies.   To know what a hard heart is, we must recognise this in ourselves otherwise we would not understand the expression.  The text leads us to discovering our own hearts.

As soon as the man's hand is restored - a witness to Jesus' divine power, the immediate exit of the Pharisees is telling - it suggests both anger and fear - they have a formidable opponet, one who is not going to obey them, and who is challenging their control over the Jewish people. 

Once again the narrative becomes vague - it does not say to which place they go to, nor who were the supporters of Herod.  Who knows this?  This must be retrospective knowledge because the witness who saw the expression on Jesus' face would not presumably left with the Pharisees.  

The tone is now changed and the reader knows that Jesus' life is now in danger and that He will die.

amen/ 

MARK 3:5 JESUS DEFIES THE TEACHERS OF THE LAW AND CALLS THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND TO COME FORWARD

 Context:   Jesus is in a synagogue in the region of Galilee.  He is being watched closely by his enemies to see if He will break the Law.

JESUS SAID TO THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND 'COME AND STAND IN FRONT OF EVERYONE

The Greek actually indicates that the man should stand in their midst.  Nevertheless it is an overt defiance for 'his enemies' who are watching him.  As the writer knows that his enemies are watching Him, we know that Jesus would have known.  Previously, Jesus has asked those He has healed not to tell anyone presumably to keep the attention on his teaching.  Jesus is then deliberately confronting his enemies.  He would have known that this would have increased the risk for Him and made Him more of a target.  He could have waited until the service was over and done the healing more secretly.    

The tension is thus heightened in the narrative.  In the following verse He asks the teachers of the Law whether it is permitted to do good deeds on the Sabbath or evil deeds?    The question must be asked what kind of deeds is Jesus referring to as 'evil deeds'.  The 'good deeds' clearly refers to the healing He is about to do, but the 'evil deeds' encompasses all possible sin.  Is it an implicit criticism of the teachers' of the Law and their lives and evil deeds?

Notice what is absent: no description of anyone, including Jesus, or the Synagogue - but what could be described as a detail of description in the state of the withered hand.  The focus therefore rests on Jesus' words and his compassionate action.  There are no distractions.

Amen.

MARK 3 1 JESUS HEALS ON THE SABBATH. TIME AND PLACE IN NARRATIVE

 JESUS WENT INTO THE SYNAGOGUE AGAIN AND NOTICED A MAN WITH A DEFORMED HAND. 2. SINCE IT WAS THE SABBATH JESUS' ENEMIES WATCHED HIM CLOSELY.  IF HE HEALED THE MAN'S HAND, THEY PLANNED TO ACCUSE HIM OF WORKING ON THE SABBATH.

The last time we hear of Jesus preaching in synagogues was Mark 1 39.  This was Jesus teaching in many synagogues in the region of Galilee where he was casting out demons.  Place then turns to Jesus having to go to secluded places because of the crowds and then a house in Capernium where he was staying Mark 2.

Next Mark 2.13 Jesus is walking by the lakeside, and after finding Matthew as a disciples, goes to his home for a meal.  There follows several discourses on eating and fasting.

The time then shifts - an unknown quantity of time and indeterminate 'one Jesus was walking through some grainfields'.  A shift from indoors to outdoors and a discussion on healing on the Sabbath occurs with the teachers of the laws.

In Mark 3, Jesus in 'again' in the synagogue.  Once more both the time and the exact place are kept vague.  The focus is on the regard of his 'enemies' - this is the first time the teachers have been elevated to such a status and thus the first time we realise Jesus is in danger.    Once again it revolves around healing on the Sabbath with a man with a withered hand.  

Following the narrative can be difficult because of the undefined nature of most of Jesus' encounters - they are deliberately kept vague to keep the focus on Jesus' actions and words and the actions and words of other protagonists.  Description is very limited.

Amen

MARK 2 25 JESUS DEFENDS PICKING OF THE CROPS TO THE PHARISEES. TIME AND PLACE

 JESUS SAID TO THEM;  HAVEN'T YOU EVER READ OF THE SCRIPTURES WHAT DAVID DID WHEN HE AND HIS COMPANIONS WERE HUNGRY? 26 HE WENT INTO THE HOUSE OF GOD (DURING THE DAYS WHEN ABIATHAR WAS HIGH PRIEST ANDBROKE THE LAW BY EATING THE SACRED LOAVES OF BREAD THAT ONLY THE PRIESTS ARE ALLOWED TO EAT.  HE ALSO GAVE SOME TO HIS COMPANIONS.

Time:  We are still in the undefined Sabbath day. 'Once'

Place:  Jesus and his disciples are in an undetermined field, which can be assumed to be near Galilee.

People:  Only Jesus is specified- his disciples, presumably all 12, are not named.  Where were the protagonists standing? Or were they sitting.  The Pharisees in verse 24 seem to appear from nowhere, like disembodied voices.  We do not know if they met Jesus and his companions en route, or whether they had followed the group.  

Jesus defends his disciples by using scripture - moving the time back centuries and placing Himself within the Mosaic tradition, showing his knowledge of the Torah.  

VISUAL IMAGE

The visual image in verse 26 is much more defined and explicit than that of Jesus and his disciples. It is a specific moment in history where the place (House of God), the name of the High Priest Abiathar (athough at that moment he was still High Priest in waiting), and David's companions.  We know the reason for the eating of the sacred bread, the conflict with Mosaic Law that the bread should only be eaten by priests and the circumstances that led David to do this.    

Jesus and his Disciples however, are placed in an indistinct, ill defined place which is difficult to imagine.  We need the essence of Jesus' teaching, illustrated from examples of the Old Testament.  This relates Jesus to the House of David.

The Disciples were hungry perhaps not only physically but also spiritually for Jesus' teaching.  Notice that the theme of eating is carried over right from verse 13 at the home of Matthew.  Jesus has addressed various kinds of eating - with friends to celebrate, leaving eating to fast and here eating out of physical hunger to survive.

Amen.