The bible…as literature!

What if we read novels the way we read scripture?  Reading passages here and there could lead to concluding that Hermione is the bad guy for punching Malfoy (I am not condoning violence) or that Hobbits do nothing but eat (not so far off).  Certainly, there is merit to reading scripture in small bites, maybe along with a devotional or as part of a worship service, but reading it in chunks also causes us to lose some of what the author intends to communicate.  The Gospel of Mark is a great example.  I read the first 8 chapters in about 45 minutes and was surprised by the ridiculous amount of conflict, whose cumulative effect I’d missed by focusing on one story at a time.

Literary device of the day: character development

The main conflict in Mark is between Jesus and his followers on one side, and the Jewish religious establishment and their Roman rulers on the other (Oxford Bible 56). Before we dive in though, we need to talk about a little something called character development.   Consider the last time you complained about your boss.  Did the way you told the story affect how your listener saw him or her? Or how your listener saw you?  Was the story completely historically accurate? Of course not.  But it got your point across, didn’t it?  As you shared your story, you developed the character of your boss a certain way.  Mark also creates characters of the people he depicts, and this character development, like any other literary device, is used as a tool to tell the story.

According to Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, New Testament scholars consider the animosity between Jesus and the local Jewish leaders to be less historic fact and more a reflection of the “struggles of the early Christian church and the Judaism from which it had just recently separated” (262).  Mark wrote during that separation, between 66 and 74 AD and the tension shows up in his storytelling.  I know.  Deep breath.  That’s a lot to take in, especially if, like me, it’s not what you learned in Sunday School. It’s another good place for two hands. Similar to when we emphasize our boss’s frustrating tendencies over complete accuracy, Mark’s concern is convincing his readers of  “the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” as he states in the first line of his gospel, not getting the historic details spot-on.  In support of that effort, he characterizes the religious establishment as generally bad guys.  He also generally characterizes the 12 disciples as doofuses, and, my personal favorite, the women as pretty with it.  Of course, these last two characterizations are easier for us to stomach because they haven’t led to anti-semitic stereotypes, and, as Amy-Jill Levine writes, “millennia of distrust, and worse, between church and synagogue” (21).  Her book, “The Misunderstood Jew,”  is an important and challenging resource for understanding Jesus in his Jewish identity and context.  I especially appreciate her last chapter as a guide for Jews and Christians to engage in conversation.  After all, the best part of any good story is getting to talk about it with friends!

We’re reading scripture mostly from a literary perspective, so while trying to keep these historical issues in mind, let’s take a look at the story Mark is telling.  By the time we get to the bit we’ve been studying in chapter 5, Jesus has already clashed with the Jewish leaders 7 times (see Notes: Conflict), and it’s getting intense.  In Mark 3:6, the Pharisees and Herodians are conspiring to destroy him, and in Mark 3:22, the scribes from Jerusalem have come to the Galilean village to accuse him.  No one is playing anymore.

What’s making them so mad at Jesus? The Pharisees and the scribes from Jerusalem ask Jesus in Mark 7:5, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders…?” Jesus challenges certain traditions and interpretations of the law encouraged by some of the religious establishment. The ones in charge are bothered that people are following Jesus in this challenge (Malbon 266). They’re threatened by him.

Jairus, the synagogue leader

It’s time to pay a little more attention to Jairus, the synagogue leader. Remember, Mark calls him “synagogue leader” or “leader” 4 times.  His position is important.  He is part of the religious establishment, one with authority to oversee the “worship and life of the congregation” (Oxford Bible 113).  He’s part of the club.  And Mark tells us the club is so ticked at Jesus, they want to destroy him.  What do you imagine happens to Jairus after Jesus heals his daughter?  Do you think he’ll be invited the next time the other authorities go for a beer?  Think about the juxtaposition we’ve already discovered.  I’d like to throw another one your way. The woman regains her social status after she falls humbly at Jesus’ feet.  Although it’s not stated in the text, it is both logical and according to the pattern that the same action causes Jairus to lose his social standing.  It doesn’t seem possible that Jairus can both have the faith required to save his daughter and remain loyal to a group so hostile to Jesus.  If this interpretation flies, Jairus must lay down his (social) life to save his daughter’s actual life.  Here’s another fun note about Jairus.  Most of the other members of Mark’s religious establishment don’t change.  They stay bad guys, flat characters, throughout his gospel.  Jairus does change, though, which makes him a round character, and illustrates an important point for Mark: anyone can come to Jesus.

What does faith look like?

Remember last time, we talked about the stories of Jairus and his daughter and the bleeding woman being paired together to form a sandwich? And remember that one of the points of that was to highlight the theological theme of faith?  Now that we understand the position of Jairus a bit better, I think we can unpack what the stories show us about faith.

First, faith often looks like desperation.  Neither the woman nor Jairus would have gone to Jesus for help if they weren’t desperate.  The woman is out of cash to pay more unsuccessful doctors (verse 26), and Jairus tells Jesus in verse 23 that his daughter is not only sick but “at the point of death.”  There’s no time to waste for either of them.  But does Jesus chastise them for this?  Does he scold them for coming to him as a last resort?  No. He calls it faith. 

Second, faith involves risk.  The woman breaks the purity laws and then courageously confesses her whole story to Jesus.  She does this with “fear and trembling” (verse 33).  She has no real way of knowing how Jesus will respond or if she’ll be protected from an angry crowd.  Consider this: the scariest part for her, the confessing, comes after she’s healed.  She’s already gotten the physical healing she wants, but she takes yet another risk to trust Jesus with her story.  Maybe it’s that further faith that earns her the spot in the middle of the sandwich.  

If you accept my reading of Jairus sacrificing his social/political life by going to Jesus, you see that he takes significant risk, too.  What if Jesus hadn’t saved his daughter?  Then Jairus would have lost her and his position too.  

Third, Jesus isn’t afraid to crank the need for faith up a notch.  He does it with both of them.  After feeling power flow to heal the woman, Jesus stops to ask “Who touched my clothes?” (verse 30).  In doing so, he essentially asks the woman, “How much do you trust me?”  Jairus faces the same question when the people from his house tell him his daughter is dead.  Jesus tells him, “Do not fear.  Only believe” (verse 36).  Can Jairus trust Jesus to save his daughter even now that she is dead?  Notice, Jesus is in full control of both of these extremely distressing situations.  He’s the one asking the woman to come forward and trust him with her story, possibly risking her life.  He’s the one who pauses long enough for the daughter to die.  Both the woman and Jairus have faith that begins their interactions with Jesus.  Jesus sees their faith and then calls them to strengthen it by again choosing that faith over fear.  This is not without a loving purpose.  Their increased trust in Jesus leads to even fuller restoration and further healing than they initially seek.  

Finally, Jesus stays within the faith parameters the woman and Jairus set.  Jairus says, “Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live” (verse 23).  The woman thinks, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed” (verse 28).  It seems strange that these two are the ones who decide the requirements for healing, not Jesus, yet the healings happen just the way they say.  Some scholars say it’s because there’s a connection between healing and touch in the gospels, so it’s obvious to all involved that Jesus has to somehow touch the one to be healed.  There’s something to this (see Mark 3:10), but there have also already been 4 personal miracles in Mark where no touch is mentioned (see Notes: Personal Miracles).  I think the bigger point is there is somehow a connection between what humans believe Jesus can do, and what Jesus does.  I say this cautiously because I think the last thing God wants is for us to shame ourselves or others, blaming pain or death in our lives on a lack of faith.  Sometimes God doesn’t heal, and we can’t pretend to know why.  What’s also true is sometimes we don’t even dare to dream of what can be because we simply don’t trust God enough.

Okay.  I believe I’ve squeezed out all the juxtaposition this story holds, as well as the most obvious lessons about faith, but if you find more, please let me know!  I truly do want to know what you have to say about all this, whether you agree with me or not!  What has surprised you? What is hard to swallow?  What thoughts or questions do you have?  These stories are meant to be chewed on in community, friends, so I invite you to share on Instagram or Facebook.  This episode will have an image of clinking beer, so that’s a good place to tell us your thoughts, but we won’t be fussy about where you comment!

Notes

Conflict: Mark 1:22, Mark 2:6-11, Mark 2:15-17, Mark 2:18-20, Mark 2:23-28, Mark 3:1-6, Mark 3:22.

Personal Miracles: Mark 1:23-27, Mark 2:1-12, Mark 3:1-5, Mark 5:1-13

Works Cited

The New Oxford Annotated Bible Third Edition. Edited by Michael D. Coogan, Associate Editors: Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Pheme Perkins, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001

Horsley, Richard A. “Early Christian Movements: Jesus Movements and the Renewal of Israel.” HTS Theological Studies, 62(4), 2009, pp. 1201-1225

Levine, Amy-Jill. The Misunderstood Jew, The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus. Harper San Francisco, 2006

Malbon, Elizabeth Struthers. “The Jewish Leaders in the Gospel of Mark: A Literary Study of Marcan Characterization.” Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 108, 1989, pp.259-281