23rd
Reading through Mark…
Tim Keller on the gospel of Mark:
“Everyone notices the abruptness and breathless speed of Mark’s narrative style. Everything happens so quickly, all the statements and descriptions are extremely terse and direct. What do you think Mark is trying to get across? First, “the world according to Mark is a world torn open by God”(Richard Hays). Mark immediately tells us Jesus is the Son of God. The heavens are “torn open” at Jesus’ baptism (1:10). Mark is telling us that God has “broken in” to history. His style gets across a sense of crisis, and conveys that the status quo has been ruptured. We can’t think of history as a closed system of natural causes any more. We can’t think of any human system or tradition or authority as inevitable or absolute any more. “God’s abrupt intervention fractures apparent… continuities, and human life is laid bare before God.” (Hays) Jesus has come; anything can happen now. Second, Mark wants us to see that the coming of Jesus calls for decisive action. Jesus is seen as a man of action, moving quickly and decisively from event to event. There is very little teaching in the Gospel of Mark. Mainly, we see Jesus’ doings. It is his deeds that save us, and therefore we need to respond actively. We must repent, believe, follow him. We can’t remain neutral. We must not sit and reflect and find excuses for not changing our lives now.”
