We got another blogger joining the Gospel of Mark study: Mr. J. Puma at fantastic planet. He's a Gnostic, of all things, so his interpretation is quite different from the others here (and from conventional Christian interpretations).
I finally read Mark 2 on my lunch break today, so I'll blog that this evening. Sorry for the long break, but now that my home computer's functioning again, I should keep up with it more regularly.
Posted by Camassia at September 23, 2003 12:17 PM | TrackBackI'm halfway through Mark 2, and I was waiting for you to go first. :)
--Kynn
I'm ready for Mark 2, but before that, I'd like to comment on J. Puma's gnostic reading. I tend towards gnosticism myself, and I tend to agree that Jesus becomes the Christ at the moment of his baptism. What I don't believe is that this stuff "just happens". I believe that, as with the Buddha, a long period of rigorous preparation had to have taken place in order for Jesus to have become "worthy" of the transformation described by Mark. In this there is a mystery, and Mark's silence on the life of Jesus prior to his baptism by John becomes conspicuous by that very silence.
Posted by: Rob on September 23, 2003 04:08 PMRegarding Mark 1:
I'm curious as to what others think about the childhood of Jesus and his awareness (or not) that he was supposedly Gods son.
Do you think he felt at least a little different from the rest of the kids in town (or not)?
He had to have friends his own age... say 13 year olds at some point. What do you suppose he thought (or did) when Afram and Pete (from around the corner) suggested they, ah "borrow", the blacksmith's donkey and take it for a spin... not to mention the blacksmith's daughter a couple of years later?
Obviously not all teenagers choose to do wrong things, but nobody could be perfect. Did the young Jesus commit any sins?
Have you or your readers pondered this, and if so, what do you think about it?
Posted by: David on September 23, 2003 04:19 PM
I just read Rob's post and that is the sort of thing I was referring to.
Posted by: David on September 23, 2003 04:23 PMRob: "What I don't believe is that this stuff "just happens". I believe that, as with the Buddha, a long period of rigorous preparation had to have taken place in order for Jesus to have become "worthy" of the transformation described by Mark."
Good question, definitely. Personally, I don't believe that anything "just happens," but I do believe that gnosis, enlightenment, revelation, what have you, which I see as essentially the same experience, can be "sparked" by anything and doesn't necesarilly need rigorous preparation. Think about Paul's conversion on the road to Ephesus. We're talking about an inbreaking of the kingdom of Heaven-- I don't think there can be any limitations placed on it. It can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time.
This is just my personal view, of course.
David; "He had to have friends his own age... say 13 year olds at some point. What do you suppose he thought (or did) when Afram and Pete (from around the corner) suggested they, ah "borrow", the blacksmith's donkey and take it for a spin... not to mention the blacksmith's daughter a couple of years later?"
Actually, it gives me great comfort to think that Jesus was just a normal kid. I think he had to experience the full range of human emotions and experiences before his "enlightenment." I think he sinned in the same way we all do. I think he *had* to have, in order to have such insight into human nature and the nature of God.
Posted by: J. Puma on September 23, 2003 09:12 PM