The year of Mark

I missed posting on the lectionary for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany. I hope no one was counting on me for sermon ideas! This is the year of the Gospel of Mark, and it seems like we've been stuck in the first chapter of Mark for three weeks now, and we have one more week to go of that before we get to chapter two!

Chapter one is prologue and set up for the rest of the story. The first big controversy doen't happen until chapter two, but there are certain foreshadowings in chapter one. There is the passing reference to the arrest of John the Baptist. It seems, maybe, that John got in trouble because of his popularity and all the crowds that were coming from everywhere to rally to him in the desert. Now, in the later part of the first chapter, Jesus is beginning to go down that same road--gathering huge crowds to him attracted by his ability to heal the sick, and hearing his preaching the coming of the Rule of God.

I agree with John Dominic Crossan who suggests that Jesus was a threat because he provided the crowds an access to God that did not go through "the proper channels" (through the brokers of power). The "proper" religious channels were under control of the Roman puppet rulers, the priestly class, of Jerusalem and all their clients (those who depended on the patronage of the powerful). John the Baptist provided the masses with "a baptism for the repentence of sins." No need to go to Jerusalem and enrich the Temple system--just go to the river and wash. John preached the coming Rule of God--and what will become of Roman rule then? John is arrested, and Jesus goes down the same road. Is it any wonder Jesus is headed for trouble in chapter two?

And then there is the big secret announced in verse one of chapter 1, the secret that the demons keep wanting to cry out--Jesus is the Son of God! Why is that such a secret? Ceasar had public artworks erected everywhere (the mass media of the day) to proclaim that he was the Son of God (Augustus was the son of the divine Julius Ceasar!) Best to keep that secret, Jesus. You'll be in trouble with Ceasar if he should ever hear that one!