Friday 25 October 2024
Whenever the unclean spirits saw him [Jesus], they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” (v. 11)
Background
The focus and tone of Mark's Gospel changes in verse 7 of chapter 3, begging the question why a new chapter started six verses earlier and not here. (It's worth remembering that the original Greek text did not have chapters and verses.)
After a series of controversies culminating in the question of healing on the Sabbath in yesterday’s passage (3:1-6), Mark's Gospel now picks up on some other themes introduced in the first chapter. (Mind you, it’s not long before controversy re-enters the story, at chapter 3, verse 20.)
The first theme is that Jesus’ fame had spread beyond his home country of Galilee and people were travelling long distances to see him. They were coming from Judea and Jerusalem to the south; from Idumea, which was even further south; from areas to the east of the River Jordan; and from Tyre and Sidon on the Mediterranean coast to the north-west. Crowd control and Jesus’ safety were concerns evidently. The chief attraction for the crowds, unsurprisingly, was his fame as a healer.
Another theme first mentioned in chapter 1 is that it was evil spirits who most clearly recognised Jesus as the Son of God. This strikes us as peculiar, but for Mark and his first readers it made perfect sense. Jesus was bringing God’s goodness and righteousness into the world in a revolutionary new way and it was the powers of evil who had most to fear. No wonder it was they who shouted the loudest.
Verse 12 of today’s passage raises the 'Messianic Secret' theme (ie Jesus telling others not to broadcast his identity as the Messiah), which was trailed in the first chapter of Mark's Gospel. Here in chapter 3 the evil spirits recognise Jesus and he tells them to keep quiet about who he really is.
Perhaps the most notable instance of the Messianic secret theme is Mark 8:27-30 when Peter proclaims Jesus to be the Messiah in answer to the question “Who do you say that I am?” (which is the central question in the whole of Mark's Gospel). There Jesus was saying that he must suffer and die, something Peter could not accept.
A great deal of scholarly effort has been spent grappling with the mystery of why Jesus didn’t want his Messiahship broadcast. One leading theory is that the popular understanding of 'Messiah' at the time might have involved political and military action (the Jews might have seen Jesus as someone to lead them against their Roman rulers). Jesus however understood his vocation very differently.
To Ponder:
- How can we know when those we think are of evil intent might be speaking the truth?
- Consider how Jesus’ fame would spread in today’s world of broadcast and social media.
Prayer
God known in Jesus the healer, thank you for scientific medicine and thank you for faith which transforms people’s lives. Amen.
Bible notes author: The Revd Alan Bolton
Alan Bolton is a supernumerary presbyter in the High Wycombe Circuit, having sat down in 2018. He preaches regularly round the Circuit and edits the ministerial obituaries for the Conference. His other occupations are family, music, model railways, walking and reading, with a close interest in politics.