Abiding Quaker

And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power (Mk. 9:1).

In chapter 8, we saw Jesus accepting his new role as Messiah, which then allowed him to call others to the same self-denial or taking up of the cross to which he himself had acceded. One might think this first verse of chapter 9 would be better placed in the preceding chapter, as it continues the scene begun a few verses earlier in 8:34. Chapter 9, however, features Jesus preparing for his earthly departure by educating his disciples to the end that they and others might come to see the kingdom of God. Thus it is appropriate to have stated at the beginning of this chapter the intent of the work for which the disciples are being trained: that some may come to see “the kingdom of God come with power.”

This teaching chapter has two main lessons: 1) there is a new vision of life that is above and beyond  worldly capacity to know, and 2) its ways and means are distinct from worldly ways and means, and are taught by the Son of God.

The Transfiguration

How better to impress upon the three leading disciples (Peter, James, and John) that there is a reality hitherto beyond their ken than to bring them into a new space, “an high mountain” (2), and before their eyes to be moved into that brilliant reality, which is the Light! That this phenomenon is legitimately grounded in the tradition is affirmed by the appearance of Moses (the Law) and Elias (the Prophets). The disciples are desirous to normalize the event by building tabernacles, yet they are prevented from doing so. That is to say, they are prevented from taking an active hand in worship – worshiping in man’s will – and are instead instructed by God to worship in the new way: by hearing the Light that is the Son of God (7). Having witnessed the transfiguration from flesh to Light is the first and necessary lesson for these disciples, for until then only the darkness of worldly life had suffused their awareness. They had need to see, to experience the Light, for how could they bring others into the kingdom if they themselves did not know, had not seen, its reality.

In admonishing the disciples to “tell no man what things they had seen”(9), Jesus is taking steps to prevent speculation. It is essential that knowledge be gained in a manner more akin to sensory experience, i.e., hearing, seeing, tasting, rather than conjecture. For human pride often enthrones conjecture with a certainty that is not warranted, and thus usurps Truth’s rightful place.  

It is conjecture about the meaning of “rising from the dead” that the three disciples engage in amongst themselves as they come down the mountain (10). That they then question Jesus about the prophet Elias tells of the tradition’s close association of Elias’s return – a prophet rising from the dead – with the subsequent coming of the Lord.¹  Jesus identifies John the Baptist with Elias, in that the righteousness of which man is capable in and of himself was the necessary and core attribute of all prophets, and John exemplified this quality most fully. Ironically, in chapter 6, these several ideas of rising from the dead regarding Elias, John the Baptist, and Jesus are likewise linked by Herod, John’s executioner.²  In turn, Jesus obliquely links Elias, John, and Herod in the verse concluding this section: “But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed as it is written of him” (13). That the messianic rising follows upon the prophetic diminishment is a motif presented repeatedly in this and the previous chapter where Jesus himself moved from one to the other: we are being told that the prophetic and the messianic are linked and similar but sufficiently distinct to have their difference noted repeatedly at various times and by disparate characters.  

Thus in this first lesson Jesus gives to his disciples, the reality of the kingdom of God is shown in the transfiguration (2-3) where flesh becomes Light and the beloved Son is to be heard (7). Furthermore, the triumphant reign over inevitable worldly opposition is foreshadowed in the words “the Son of man were risen from the dead” (9). Having experienced the Light of Christ and having been taught the dynamics of opposition and triumph that are to be expected, the disciples are now ready to see a demonstration of the work they will do. They are to see humanity in its rebellion, its ignorance, pride, cruelty, helplessness, and grief, and they are to overcome it all.

The people and the authorities (14-16)

Increasingly, Jesus has become less willing to engage the authorities: in verse 16, he asks a question of them and does not stay to hear their answer. It would appear that his previous encounters with the authorities were predicated on weaning the people away from their influence. That is no longer necessary, as the people who have been speaking with the scribes quickly lose interest in them when Jesus appears (15). Diverting his attention from the scribes and moving on to those conscious of the need for help, Jesus models spiritual triage: for his disciples, a lesson in practicality. Time and resources are limited and must to be spent where most productive.

The healing (17-29)

Although this healing story features particular characters, a distraught father and his demon-possessed son, it serves, in fact, as a universal template for humanity’s unredeemed condition. In Scripture healing stories, a son or daughter – that which is most precious to us in our fleshly life – often functions as a symbol for the soul, that which is most precious to us in our spiritual life. That the son in this story is debilitated by a troubling spirit is to say that the human soul is troubled by a debilitating spirit. Upon hearing the father’s list of his son’s symptoms, Jesus immediately interjects the diagnosis: “O faithless generation”(19). Note his use of the word “generation”; he does not address the man directly but expands his particular problem to encompass many people: an indication that it is lack of faith that universally troubles and debilitates the human soul, the human life.

The father, brought to desperation in his fully exercised but inadequate power, cries out in tears from his earnest heart, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (24). All the elements for receiving faith are thus present: the recognition of the soul’s need, that all one’s earnest effort cannot meet that need, and the crying out for help. The Lord can then proceed to exorcise the demonic spirit from the soul and forever prevent its return (25). The son’s appearing dead at first but then lifted up to life (27) prefigures the resurrection to life that Jesus will model following his crucifixion and entombment, which he refers to a few verses later (31). His crucifixion, entombment, and resurrection, in turn, prefigures our inward, spiritual ascension to Life.

This healing episode is a lesson that provides a prototype for the work the disciples must come to do. We are reminded that it has been a lesson when they ask Jesus why they themselves could not cast out the demon (28). He replies, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting” (29). Fasting is the restriction of worldly appetite, and prayer is communion with God. Jesus is teaching his disciples that the demonic is cast out following the restriction of the worldly appetite and the ascension into heavenly communion.

How the disciples are to conduct themselves

Having shown the disciples the work they are to do in the world, Jesus then spends the remainder of this chapter on the inward discipline they are to maintain that they may perform this work, both individually and among themselves. Each disciple must consider his primary role to be serving others in their progress toward the kingdom (35); it is the kingdom that matters, not one’s position in the worldly hierarchy. To empathize with and assist the unworldly innocent is to integrate oneself into the way of Christ and God (37). Attend to the spirit a person manifests, not to the letter of his words (39-40). Those who provide relief to you (and you will need it!) shall be favored by God, and, conversely, for those who thwart the unworldly innocent, it were better for them to be without life altogether, for their souls are irrevocably sunk in the chaos of hell (42).

And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast in hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched (43-48).

This passage near the end of chapter 9 differs in style from what has come before, and through its poetry indelibly stresses the necessity of disallowing worldly inclinations from interfering with one’s determination to enter the kingdom. For if a person does not enter the kingdom himself, he hardly can expect to assist others in the same pursuit. What one does (the hand), where one goes (the foot), what one desires (the eye) are to be kept aligned and purposeful to the end that the kingdom is entered. Maintaining this intent is essential, and so Jesus uses repetition and refrain to impress upon his disciples the all-important oversight and regulation of their inward state.

For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it (49-50)?

Beautiful is Jesus’s play upon the word “salt” in the final two verses of this chapter. Continuing with the reference to the “fire” of hell from the prior admonitory passage, he speaks of the difficulty of making the sacrifice of one’s worldly self (everyone is “salted with fire”) while also alluding to the tradition’s practice of the salting of temple sacrifices.³ “Salt is good”; it is the essential seasoning: just as a vital soul seasons all one’s being. Life loses its palatability when not seasoned with a soul that lives in the Light. Jesus completes this teaching chapter by calling his disciples to keep this necessary seasoning, the living soul, in themselves, for it is that which allows for “peace one with another” (50).

Throughout this teaching chapter, Jesus has provided experiential knowledge of the kingdom, a demonstration of the work to be done, and numerous guidelines for maintaining the vitality of spiritual life within and among his disciples.

¹ “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5). “Elijah” is the prophet’s name in the Hebrew language, while “Elias” is the Greek form.

² And king Herod heard of him [Jesus] . . . and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him. Others said, That it is Elias. . . . But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead (Mk. 6:14-16).

3 And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt (Lev. 2:13).

Transfiguration, 1442 Fra Angelico

Many other grounds there be that brings not fruit to perfection, who are not found faithful to him that hath called them therein; so that now truth is, that many are called, but few chosen and faithful; many are ashamed at the Lamb’s appearance, it is so low & weak & poor & contemptible, & many are afraid seeing so great a power against him; many be at work in their imaginations, to compass a kingdom to get power over sin, & peace of conscience, but few will deny all to be led by the Lamb in a way they know not, to bear his testimony & mark against the world and suffer for it with him. – James Nayler¹

Early in Mark’s Gospel,we are told that Jesus saw his mission to be traveling to different towns to preach.² Although he had healed individuals one by one in his travels, his teaching ministry had grown to the extent that he was reaching thousands at a time: five thousand in chapter 6 and another four thousand in chapter 8. Yet in spite of the large number fed by his teaching, we do not see him rejoicing in this ministry. On the contrary, throughout the first and major portion of chapter 8, there are hints of Jesus’s dissatisfaction, impatience, and growing realization that more is required of him in his sojourn upon the earth. By comparing the events that occur early in this chapter to similar events that have taken place in the preceding two, we see Jesus being led to this difficult realization.

The first nine verses of chapter 8 revisit the feeding of the multitude that occurred in chapter 6; in the next verses, 11-13, the run-in with the Pharisees and scribes from chapter 7 is repeated. His disciples’ incomprehension is admonished in verses 16-21, and the healing of the blind man is in verses 22-26, each echoing events in chapter 7. Although chapter 8 repeats stories from chapters 6 and 7, the events differ in the later rendition, revealing Jesus’s changing awareness, moving from prophet to  Messiah: from seeing himself as a man to seeing himself as the Son of man.

First, however, let’s delve into the details and compare these correlated stories.

The feeding of the multitude (6:33-44 and 8:1-9)

Both stories in chapters 6 and 8 are set in the wilderness where many people have nothing to eat; Jesus commands them to sit down, and then gives thanks for and blesses the food; his disciples distribute the food, and the people are filled; the remainder is gathered and fills a number of baskets; the people are sent away, and the episode is followed by travel on a ship. These many similarities tell us what is typical, and thus the differences between the stories inform us of the new direction the narrative is taking.

In both stories, it is Jesus’s compassion that moves him to meet the people’s needs.³ In the earlier story in chapter 6, however, his compassion arises from seeing the people as sheep not having a shepherd, and he thus begins to teach them. Comparing this with the feeding the multitude story in chapter 8, we see that his compassion arises directly from the people’s “hav[ing] nothing to eat.” The earlier use of the shepherd metaphor calls for some roundabout mental maneuvering to equate material food with spiritual food (the material food of loaves and fishes is used as metaphor for the spiritual food of Jesus’s teaching).⁴ In the later story, no such metaphor appears; Jesus states outright: the people “have nothing to eat” (2). This bluntness suggests an impatience on Jesus’s part: he is now seeing human need for sustenance is to be met directly, and not circuitously through metaphor. Additionally, he states the people have been with him three days with nothing to eat, indicating he’s aware of time’s passing and his need to act directly and without delay.

Following the feeding of the multitude in chapter 6, the disciples were put onto a ship, and Jesus went to a mountain to pray before later joining them. In chapter 8, they all debark together (10). The event is condensed, abbreviated, as if there’s no time for anything but action. Things need to move forward, get done.

When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. (Mark 8:19-20)

The reader is invited to compare the numbers. Previously a larger number were fed with fewer loaves and fishes, and more baskets were retrieved. The later event fed fewer though the supply was greater, and fewer baskets were retrieved. The numbers show a decline in efficacy. The number seven appears twice in the chapter 8 story: both as the number of loaves offered and as the number of baskets of fragments taken up. The number seven signifies completion⁵ and is here used to signify that the time is fulfilled; Jesus can no longer continue in the same manner; the time for this kind of work is now finished.

The run-in with the Pharisees and scribes (7:1-13 and 8:11-13)

When the Pharisees and scribes challenge Jesus in the earlier story, he responds by expanding the discussion into a new topic (the Corban oath), and then he goes into detail about what that is, why it’s morally wrong, and that it is not in accord with the intent and spirit of the tradition. When the Pharisees again challenge him in the chapter 8 story, Jesus curtails rather than expands the discussion. He dismisses the Pharisees with one blunt statement, telling them they will not get what they want (12). Jesus seems to have realized that there is nothing to be accomplished by his explaining or interacting with these adversaries.  

The uncomprehending disciples (7:18 and 8:16-21)

In each of these stories, the disciples fail to understand Jesus’s use of metaphor. Spiritual lessons often use metaphor, which relies upon a person’s ability to correlate familiar material objects and sensory processes with inward truth or reality; metaphor provides an outline of a real but unseen form.

The reality itself sits like a photograph beneath a sheet of tracing paper, onto which an artist copies barely visible forms. The traced image is an abstraction that suggests the reality hidden beneath. Though without some prior familiarity with the hidden thing itself, the viewer may not be able to make sense of the lines he sees; he may not understand what the drawing represents.

In both of these stories, Jesus expresses surprise that his metaphors do not communicate the hidden, inward reality. In the first story in chapter 7, however, he explains and elaborates upon the nature of that reality (18-23), while in the second story, he simply ends the conversation with the words “How is it that ye do not understand?” (21) and makes no further attempt to explain.       

The healings (7:32-35 and 8:22-26)

In both of these stories, Jesus removes the one to be healed from the multitude or town (7:33 and 8:23), for he heals individuals, one by one—not groups. In the earlier story, one word, “Ephphatha,” was sufficient to heal the man. In the correlating story in chapter 8, the healing of the blind man requires two passes: the first attempt doesn’t fully work (24). Jesus is finding that his methods of working are not as effective as they were previously, and this signals a need for change. He ends the healing in his typical way: with a charge to tell no one. And here, the slow progress of his work must have been keenly felt.

In these early stories of chapter 8, Jesus has interacted with the people and with adversaries, disciples, and one ready to be healed, and he has repeatedly found a diminished effect.  A tone of restless disquietude pervades these stories. The narrator conveys Jesus’s growing sense that there’s no longer time for elaboration and circuitous methods: things have to change, move forward, get done. That Jesus’s method of working no longer seems valid to him is a necessary development for his coming to accept the role of Messiah. The teaching he has done thus far is the work of a prophet, but the Son of man is called to more than prophecy.⁶

He and his disciples walk northward to the towns of Caesarea Philippi (27). The two previous chapters were set either in the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas or in territory under the province of Syria. They now enter the tetrarchy of Philip, Herod Antipas’s brother. Jesus is entering new territory: geographically and spiritually. 

Whom do men say that I am?

A sense of oneself can arise either from within or be derived from the opinion of others. Jesus is here asking for information on how he is seen, not solely to determine whether others see him accurately but also, perhaps, to propel him into accepting the work he is to do and the role he is to embody.  

“One of the prophets”(28), his disciples reply. It is not enough.

Prophets are sent to bear witness to the kingdom, but they are not entered into it;⁷ prophets bear witness to the Light, but they are not the Light.⁸   The identity Jesus is to have is not one that merely bears witness to but, in fact, is the Light. He is to become that which is born witness to: to be one with the Light. His identity – no longer tied to self-concept and certainly not to the opinion of others – is distinct from these worldly means of gaining self-knowledge.

But whom say ye that I am? . . . And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things (29 and 31).

These two verses, 29 and 31, show Jesus transitioning from being grounded in his personal self (using the personal pronoun “I” [29]) to his new way of being, in which he refers to himself in the third person, “the Son of man” (31). No longer defined by solitary personhood, he speaks of himself as representative and forerunner of the new way of being: the Son of man, the second Adam.

Thou art the Christ.   

Perhaps Jesus needed to hear some headlong rashness to push him forward into accepting what he knew for certain must come. And Peter was just the man to provide it! “And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ” (29). Jesus’s routine command, “they should tell no man of him”(30), validates Peter’s assertion, and – now confident – Peter again steps forward, takes Jesus aside, and “rebuke[s]” him (32) after he’s heard the dire forecast of Jesus’s suffering, rejection, and execution. This time, however, Peter’s rashness has landed him on the wrong side, and he incurs Jesus’s strong rebuke in return. The back-and-forth positioning of Peter in this exchange suggests a similar back-and-forth struggle that Jesus must have experienced inwardly as he grew to accept what was to come. The passage shows the different forces at work – God’s will versus man’s (i.e., Satan’s [33]) – and the inward strife of man coming to grips with the will of God.

That the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again (31).

Conclusion

This chapter began with Jesus teaching the multitude and realizing that his manner of teaching, as well as his interactions with adversaries, disciples, and those in need of healing, were no longer sufficient. Having become aware of that fact, he took steps to accept the new work and role required of him. In this final passage of chapter 8, we see him having accepted all, and he is now ready to resume teaching the people.

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me (34).

In the final passage of chapter 8, Jesus distills the nature of the struggle that he has undergone and that others, too, must undergo: denial of self and taking up the cross. In the Scriptures and “in the flesh,” Jesus is an example for us: showing us the human who senses the need for a better way and moves forward in truth, and is ultimately given to instantiate the Truth and the Life. To quote Nayler once again, we are “to be led in a way [we] know not,” a way not our own but Christ-taught, Light-filled. In this passage, Jesus firmly places the responsibility upon each person to undergo the struggle to renounce one’s worldly self and preoccupation and to turn one’s open, empty soul inward to receive the glorious substance that is Christ, the Light Within.

Christ in his people is the substance of all figures, types, and shadows, fulfilling them in them, and setting them free from them: but as he is held forth in the scripture letter without them, and in the flesh without them, he is their example or figure, which are both one, that the same things might be fulfilled in them that were in Christ Jesus.⁹

¹ James Nayler, ^“The Lamb’s War against the Man of Sin,” Works of James Nayler (Farmington, Maine: Quaker Heritage Press, 2009), 4:9.

² And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth (Mk. 1:38). The King James Version is used throughout this essay.

³ Jesus immediately speaks in this chapter of his having “compassion on the multitude” (8:2). In the earlier story, the same reason for assisting the people is given: “when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them” (6:34).

⁴ A shepherd who feeds sheep is a metaphor for Jesus’s teaching spiritual truth to people, a metaphor also used by George Fox: “All . . . who are made alive by Christ Jesus . . . and so are come to feed upon the heavenly and spiritual things, which Christ your shepherd directs you to, according to your capacity, age, and growth: and so to know him that God has sent to feed you, above all the feeders that men have sent” (The Works of George Fox [Philadelphia: Marcus T.C. Gould, 1831], 8:76).

⁵ “[T]he number 7, which is referred to in one way or another in nearly 600 passages in the Bible. . . . [is] the number of totality, of completeness” (The International Standard Bible Encyclopeaedia [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1939], 2159).

⁶ “the son of God, who is the end of the prophets” (The Works of George Fox, 7:43)

⁷ For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he (Lk. 7:28).

⁸ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light (Jn. 1:6-8).

⁹ The Works of George Fox,3:592-93.

Christ with Disciples, c. 1655, Rembrandt

Occasionally in Scriptures, we catch a glimpse of Jesus learning to better perform his work. Chapter 7 of Mark gives us one such example. Midway through this chapter is an encounter with a woman from Phoenicia, an area north of Jesus’s own region of Galilee. Ironically, this woman teaches Jesus that he’s come perilously close to making the same errors with which he has earlier accused the Pharisees and chastened his disciples. Jesus, however, learns from the incident and is then able to carry on his work more effectively.

Chapter 7 has four parts: (1) Jesus lambastes the religious authorities [1-13]; (2) teaches the people and his disciples [14-23]; (3) encounters the Syrophenician woman [24-30]; and, finally, (4) heals the deaf, dumb man [31-37].

Jesus lambastes the religious authorities (1-13)

Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites in these words: “This people pays me lip-sevice, but their heart is far from me: their worship of me is in vain, for they teach as doctrines the commandments of men”¹ (6).

Quoting the prophet Isaiah (29:13), Jesus charges the religious authorities with the all-too-common error of relinquishing the imperative to honor God so as to practice man-made religion. What interests me in this first passage of the chapter, however, is not Jesus’s valid criticism of the authorities. Rather my attention is drawn to what appears to be ebbing power in Jesus’s speech, from the beginning of the passage to its end.

After a strong start – quoting the great prophet and succinctly identifying the offenders’ spiritual error – Jesus launches into a specific example: i.e., the Corban oath, a man-made addition to the tradition. His lengthy, detailed account of this practice (10-13) seems to convey a pent-up resentment of the authorities’ hypocrisy, as it does not address the topic at hand: that his disciples don’t wash their hands before they eat (5). Jesus’s resentment – though understandable – is a self-indulgent, emotional release. Its spiritual consequence can be monitored through the loss of power in his speech as it progresses. He ends this exchange with the authorities with what appears to be a vague attempt to load on more fault: “And many other things that you do are just like that” (13). It is as if he is trying to regain the force he felt and manifested at the beginning of the exchange.

Jesus teaches the people and his disciples (14-23)

Although Jesus is superb in his use of metaphor to explain that defilement comes from within and not from without, his lack of patience with his hearers – both people and disciples – shows. He asks his disciples, “Are you as dull as the rest?” (18) Regardless of how astonished Jesus is at his hearers’ lack of understanding, he does not foster their learning by remarking on the magnitude of their insensibility.

In both of the beginning episodes of this chapter, Jesus has exhibited great understanding of the faith, but he’s shown himself unable to present the wisdom in a way that is beneficial to others; in fact, his presentation thwarts his intent to communicate. With the religious authorities, he veers off into a complex description of a different offense, and with the people and disciples, he speaks beyond their ken. He’s resentful toward the former, and surprised and annoyed with the latter.

Jesus encounters the Syrophoenician woman (24-30)

This pivotal mid-chapter episode begins with Jesus attempting to hide himself away from others in a house in Phoenicia (24); one surmises that he was disgruntled with his recent encounters and felt entitled to some respite. We are told that his intention was not met, for “he could not be hid”(24 KJV). Here we are subtlely reminded that the prophet’s will is not always in accord with the Father’s, and it is the Father who prevails: a lesson also taught in the tale of Jonah.

In this passage with the Syrophoenician, Jesus’s attention is turned once again to the earlier concern of defilement or the “unclean spirit.” (It’s as if he’s given another chance to – this time – get it right.) In comes a woman in great need; her young daughter has an “unclean spirit” (25), and she seeks Jesus’s help to “cast forth the devil out of her daughter”(26). Her plea for his help is rebuffed with his harsh words:

Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs (27).

Jesus calls the woman seeking help a dog; she is a Gentile, a Phoenician of Syria: not of his faith and not of his nation.  Just as earlier in the chapter, the religious authorities were bound by man-made, cultural rules, Jesus here is likewise bound by cultural suppositions: namely, it is the children of Israel who alone have the right to the spiritual sustenance God has sent to his people; others, not of this nation, are not worthy of this gift. Similarly, just as the people and disciples were ignorant of the dynamics of defilement, Jesus here shows himself to be ignorant of God’s loving Providence for all people.  

At this turning point in the chapter’s narrative, Jesus is schooled by a Gentile woman of a foreign nation. (Could there be a more humbling circumstance!) To his ignorance and pride, the woman responds with  humility: “Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs” (28). The teachable prophet, now humbled, acknowledges her humility and its remediating effect: “For saying that, you may go home content; the unclean spirit has gone out of your daughter”(29 NEB).

True humility is a spiritual condition that is located beyond its semblance: the man-made, voluntary counterpart (Col. 2:18 KJV). It is not humility for humility’s sake but accompanies the realization that one is sent not to claim ownership of and gratify oneself with the heavenly gifts that have been bestowed. True humility is to suspend the self with its fleshly pride and resentment, for the work to be done must and will originate from the higher and truer Spirit. 

Jesus heals the deaf, dumb man (31-37)

In the first verse of this final passage, we are told that Jesus has left the foreign land and is located in his home country of Galilee (31). He is at home geographically and metaphorically: spiritually at home in his newly recovered humility. He no longer is engaging in diatribes against the hypocrites or marveling at the dullness of the people. In fact, he hardly speaks at all but silently acts to heal humanity one person at a time (33). No longer reacting to the “godforsaken, obscene, quicksand of life,”² he instead looks to and settles his mind in heaven, though human sighs and groans still accompany his work (34).

The Aramaic word “Ephphatha” is his sole verbalization in this final passage. He now speaks in language that can be understood by those around him: in words that are not beyond the ken of the metaphorically deaf and dumb. His language, the Word, mediates the spiritual separation between heaven and ailing humanity (34 -35): “Be opened” is his Word within, his command and pronouncement.

Ending the chapter is the familiar charge that no one be told of the healing. Jesus would have all be open and unprejudiced by stories of his power that inevitably lead to mistaken interpretations and expectations, which cannot be anything but a hinderance to his work. Nevertheless, his command goes unheeded, and the people remain astonished and uncomprehending that he “makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak” (37).

If any man have ears to hear, let him hear (16).

¹ The version of the Bible used here is The New English Bible, but I have also used the King James Version.  In the text of the essay, I’ve indicated when there’s been a shift from one to the other.    

² This phrase is from a poem by Ann B. Weems titled “Jesus Wept,” from her book Psalms of Lament, which was published in 1995 by Westminster John Knox Press. The poem was featured in the April 18, 2023, issue of “Richard Rohr Daily Meditation,” an online publication of the Center for Action and Contemplation,.

Jesus and the Canaanite Woman, 1650 Rembrandt

Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while (31).

Chapter 6 in the book of Mark is a primer on gospel work, which is largely characterized as overcoming the force that possesses fallen humankind. With its 56 verses, the chapter is one of the longest in the book. (The only one longer is chapter 14, which covers the time preceding Jesus’s execution.) I’ve divided this chapter into five segments and titled them as follows: (1) how the work begins, (2) how it progresses, (3) opposition and advancement, (4) overcoming nature, and (5) restoration to wholeness. Though the chapter is comprised of many different scenes and stories, as a whole, it exhibits one overriding theme: there are ways to handle worldly opposition so that the gospel continues to prosper and, in the end, prevail.  

How the work begins: verses 1-6¹

Chapter 6 begins by placing the story in Jesus’s “own country” (1). More specifically, the scene occurs in a synagogue on the sabbath (2), that is to say, at the spiritual center of the culture. Jesus’s beginning his ministry at this time and place tells us that gospel work begins when one person – with all his historio-cultural, geographical, and personal specificity – embodies and expresses the Spirit of God. Like the origin on the number line, the starting point for gospel work is the individual – located in time and space – who receives and knows the power of God, and is given to speak His wisdom (2): in short, gospel work begins with a prophet.

These first few verses introduce both the beginnings of and the resistance to gospel work, the forces -pro and con – that will appear repeatedly throughout the chapter. In these opening lines, the ministering prophet is met at once with opposition from the congregation, which having heard and recognized his heavenly wisdom (2), nevertheless strive to bind him to earth with ties of trade and kin: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses,” etc. The group is offended (3) by the prophet’s wisdom, perhaps conscious that God has raised up one from among their number, and it hasn’t been them! Envy of the prophet is the first opposition expressed in this chapter, as it is likewise presented early in Scripture. The spirit of Cain is characterized by outward religious observance and profession and an accompanying persecution of those who manifest inward, authentic faith. The first lesson in gospel work is to recognize that neither earthly ties nor ill-treatment can stop the work’s progress. Opposition will arise from those who profess but do not possess the faith, but the work must continue, even though its pace be slackened:

And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching (5-6). 

How the work progresses: verses 7-13  

In verses 7-13, the gospel reach is extended through empowering and delegating others in the work. In this passage, Jesus instructs and enables the 12 disciples to go two by two, to have power over unclean spirits, and to bring certain provisions but not others (7-9). In the next two verses (10 and 11), Jesus continues his instruction, but now it is he himself – not the narrator – who speaks, indicating these spoken commands have more significance than the previously narrated ones. Jesus says:

In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from the place. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city (10-11).

The earlier instruction addressed logistics: how the disciples were to travel, supply and clothe themselves, and do their work. The instruction Jesus himself gives in verses 10 and 11 guides the disciples in handling the less tangible problems they will encounter. To abide solely in one house while visiting a community (10) heads off wayward tendencies among the townsfolk, such as competition between hosts, speculation on reasons for the travelers’ shifting between households, or discrediting the motives for their travel and visit. For the disciple pairs to remain in one household in each place visited helps both the surrounding community and the disciples themselves to remain focused on what they are there to say and do, rather than become hindered by distractions.  

The second piece of advice Jesus gives (to “shake off the dust under [their] feet” [11]) serves to protect the disciples’ inward state when they come across rejection. In this instance, Jesus’s language is fierce as he teaches the disciples how to respond to those who are unworthy of the gospel message; the disciples’ dismissive dust-shaking will testify in heaven, and divine retribution will come upon all who reject the gospel message (11).

This second passage (verses 7-13) follows a back-and-forth pattern: positioning a prediction of resistance between two segments in which the work is advanced: the first, preparing the disciples for the mission (7-10) and the second, telling of their success (12, 13).

Advancement and opposition: verses 14-44

Mark 6 is about advancement of and opposition to the work of the gospel, the activity of bringing the power of God to earth, as it is in heaven. The first 13 verses of the chapter have briefly eyed this progress and resistance. Beginning with verse 14 and continuing through verse 44, however, is the chapter’s central exposition, which features an illustration of each of these two opposing forces, each presented in its most pronounced, essential form. The evil opposition mounted against the gospel is represented in verses 14-29: the story of a prophet’s execution. By contrast, the second story illustrates the gospel as providing sustenance to a multitude of people: the feeding of the 5,000. The two stories are equal in length, each comprising 15 verses.

The story of John the Baptist’s execution begins in an odd, nonchronological way: we come upon king Herod guiltily obsessing over his part in the prophet’s death. Apparently deranged, he repeatedly claims that Jesus is, in fact, John “risen from the dead” (14, 16). Before we readers are launched into the telling of the horrendous events of this crime, we see its perpetrator distraught with guilt. Killing the prophet is the ultimate act of opposition to gospel work, yet at the outset of the tale of the prophet’s death, we see one of its perpetrators not elatedly triumphant but debilitated and overthrown by his own sin and crime.

Herod is a man of divided mind: he is in awe of John’s righteousness, his holiness; gladly hears John speak (20); and was sorry to execute him (26). These worthy sentiments are countered, nevertheless, by Herod’s unbridled pride and lust (22, 26). HIs inner division weakens him, and he is easy prey for his manipulative and vengeful wife (19), who holds a grudge against the prophet (19) and plots his death (24). Unlike Herod, his wife Herodias entertains neither inward reflection nor guilt prior to or following the death. The dancing daughter, the third accomplice, likewise shows no evidence of inward life; she plays her part and is done. Each of the three has had a role to play in the prophet’s demise, and the lesson gospel workers are to learn from this passage is that conspiracy features in the most severe type of gospel resistance (a fact that will be verified later on a grander scale when religious leaders collude with their people and with empire to kill Jesus).The charger, or large platter, that carries the head of the prophet is an emblem of the moral crime of the three, and in verses 27 and 28, the charger is passed among them, touching all three: 

And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison. And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother (27-28). 

The charger is significant in another way, for it is a platter for carrying food, and, in fact, John’s beheading has occurred during a feast. We are being told that the death of the prophet is food for the demonic, gospel-resenting spirit. It is no accident that the story which follows – the feeding of the 5,000 – also centers on food. In each story, the type of “food” is appropriate to the nature of the spirit it sustains. In the first story, death feeds the demonic spirit. In the second, “food” is blessed by one who looks up to heaven, and leaves all who eat filled with sustenance (41-42): filled and sustained by the Living Word. 

Before getting into the main portion of the second story – feeding the multitude – we’re first given a brief introductory passage, which parallels the earlier introduction to the story of the prophet’s death, which featured the king’s anxious, demoralized state. The brief introduction to the second story shows the disciples returning from their mission, gathering to Jesus, and telling him “what they had done, and what they had taught” (30). Unlike the earlier dark introduction with its deranged king guiltily ruminating over what he had done, the introduction to the second story shows the disciples’ eager and joyful recounting of what they had done in their travel.  Jesus then encourages them to rest in solitude, before they get on with the work of responding to “many coming and going” (31), who want to hear the gospel message. The second introduction brims with jubilant, purposeful, caring, light-filled comradery, which is in high contrast to the king’s guilty, solitary rumination.

The contrast between these two stories is striking, and the narrator accentuates that contrast by using the same format (introduction before the story proper), as well as the same motif (feeding), in both. This technique serves to underscore the many differences between the two stories: in setting; tone; plot; and, most of all, in the spirit of the characters who inhabit each. The settings are different: “a desert place” contrasted with the king’s palace. The class of people who spontaneously and eagerly seek and run afoot to gather to hear Jesus contrasts with the elite society invited (summoned?) to the king’s celebration of himself on his birthday. The worldly king is subject to his wife’s manipulation, the girl’s wishes, and his guests’ favorable opinion, while Jesus, the heavenly king, is subject to no one. After hearing the disciples’ command, “Send them away” (36), Jesus ignores it and counters with a command of his own, “Give ye them to eat” (37). Herod is unable to lead even his own household, while Jesus compassionately takes on the role of shepherd to an assembled crowd of strangers. While the prophet’s head is brought from a dark prison to a dark banquet hall; the feeding of the five thousand occurs in the open air with heaven above and the food blessed. The death of the prophet John is a great loss that figuratively feeds but a few condemned souls; while the prophet’s speaking the living Word – though he  has but little (five loaves and two fishes) – is able to feed and fill a great many. To drive home the point of abundance, we’re told the disciples “took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes” (41- 44).

Overcoming Nature, 45-52, and Restoration to Wholeness, 53-56

Chapter 6 has a symmetrical structure: two short segments of approximately half a dozen verses each begin the chapter; they are followed by one lengthy central portion, illustrating first resistance to and then advancement of the gospel work; and finally, two additional short passages complete the chapter, balancing the narrative structure by mirroring the two short segments at the beginning. On either side of the central main portion of the chapter are two short passages.

In the first of these two ending passages (45-52), Jesus is shown to be in command: putting disciples into a ship and sending away the people (45). Though he directs and sustains others, he himself must turn to God for direction and restoration, and so “he departed into a mountain to pray” (46). Readers are then immediately taken to a night scene where disciples row upon the sea and are troubled by heavy wind. In this vignette, we see the same necessity for reliance upon the Lord (48) that Jesus exhibited in the scene immediately before: in his going to a mountain to pray.

The disciples’ struggle with nature speaks of the need for assistance: they are out of control and afraid. Their situation symbolically represents human nature in its fearful reaction to being overpowered and out of control.  Jesus overcomes human nature, symbolically represented by his overcoming our natural incapacity to walk upon water (49). He hears the disciples cry (49), identifies himself (50), and comes into their ship (51). We can take from this miraculous account the correlating lesson that human nature is stilled and at peace (healed) when Jesus appears and comes into the vessel of our soul.² As Jesus in prayer relies upon God, so the disciples can rely upon Jesus who restores their “good cheer” (50).

The final verses of this chapter (53-56) rebut the limitation placed upon the work in verse 5, where we were told that Jesus, in “his own country,” was unrecognized by the townsfolk and could “do no mighty work save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and heal[ed] them.” In these final verses of chapter 6, Jesus is recognized for who he is (54), and, as a result, many sick are brought to him (55). Unlike in the corollary verse early in the chapter in which Jesus could heal only a few (5), at the end of the chapter, he heals those from “villages, or cities, or country” (56); we are being told that Jesus is the universal healer.

As Jesus, the prophet “without honor” (4), began his ministry (as told in this chapter), his work was stymied by people’s unbelief and ill-treatment. In chapter 6, we learn that these forces of resistance do not have the last word. Whether the prophetic spirit is raised up in John; in Jesus; in you or me; or in those who come after, we are empowered to persevere in time, undergo persecution, remain diligent, and rely upon the Lord. In doing so, the gospel work goes forward, and the human soul – fractured and fallen – is miraculously healed and made whole, having touched Christ Within (56).  

¹ The King James Version is used throughout the essay.

² And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased; and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened (51-52). (Underlining is mine.)

Had the disciples had the tendered heart to understand “the miracle of the loaves,” they also would have understood the wind’s cessation upon Jesus’s entering their ship. Each rendition of a miracle correlates outward events with inward, spiritual reality. A heart made tender by Jesus’s having entered the soul understands that correlation; whereas hardened hearts do not (52). Once again, we are reminded of early Friends’ insistence on the need to read the Scriptures in the same spirit in which they were written.

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Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, c. 500, Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy

 

We are a people whom God hath converted to himself . . . and joined to his own Spirit. We, many of us, sought truly and only after God from our childhood . . . and knew not how to turn to that of God in us. . . . By this means we came to great distress and misery beyond all men. Not but that all men were in as great a want of God, his life, power, and presence as we; but the sense thereof was not so quickened in others as in us.¹ – Isaac Penington

Through the metaphor of suffering and healing, chapter 5 of the Book of Mark illustrates the realization of conversion to God. Throughout this chapter in both the first and the second halves, a few individuals stand out as possessing – to use Penington’s words – a quickened sense of their want of God; it is they who are to be healed/converted. Similarly in both halves of the chapter, the crowd acts as a foil to these individuated persons. It is the herd or throng, those acquiescing to the dominant social consciousness, who openly resist or covertly deny healing through Jesus Christ, the power of God.

In the first half of chapter 5, we visited one whose mind, soul, and heart vividly manifested his “want of God”: the Gadarene demoniac.² By way of contrast, we were also exposed to a group of people who requested Jesus “depart out of their coasts”(17), indicating their refusal to undergo the difficult, solitary trial of entertaining the truth of their inward state, as had the demoniac. In their refusal, they opted for an alternate, less courageous way of being: reliance upon the sanction and acceptance of the tribe or herd. In this story, the one saved and the many lost function as prototypes: the demoniac demonstrating courageous willingness to undergo transformation/healing, and the herd representing cowardly refusal and enabling conformity.    

In the second half of the chapter (verses 21 through 43), Jesus has once again “passed over . . . unto the other side,” and we are again on that side of the sea where society congregates and crowds form: immediately, we are told that “much people gathered unto him”(21). This is the place where shortly before, Jesus had taught parables to those who see but do not perceive, to those who hear but don’t understand (4:12). On this side of the sea, where society comes out in force (24), people are lacking in the inward depth that follows from conscientious self-scrutiny, and instead turn to shallow, social enmeshment.

Jesus’s healing work is performed solely within individuals (23-24, 30). Though the crowd on this side of the sea does not bluntly request he leave – as did their Gadarene counterparts (17) – they, nevertheless, deny him. Their collective stance exempts each from acknowledging the deceit that lies within the heart, and consequently there is no sense of personal need for truth: no “want of God.” The refusal of truth in their inward parts disqualifies them all from receiving Jesus’s response or healing.

Rather his attention is given to two individuals, the synagogue ruler (22-24) and the woman with “an issue of blood”(25), each of whom expresses his or her own deeply felt need. It is they who stand out from the crowd and receive Jesus’s assistance. As with the demoniac in the first half of the chapter, it is once again individuals who receive Jesus’s regard and healing.

Throughout the chapter, those who act collectively are given short shrift. For example, though the crowd presses upon him, he senses and responds only to the touch of the distressed woman who acts in faith (30, 34). To accompany him to the ruler’s house (37), he selects only a few disciples, and they are individuated by name: Peter, James, and John. At the house, he sends away the grandstanding weepers and wailers who, lacking sincerity, quickly resort to scornful laughter (38, 40); he again selects only the truly distraught ones, the parents, to enter the healing chamber. Finally, after the healing of the girl, Jesus firmly commands those present to not speak of it to others: “And he charged them straitly that no man should know it” (43). He would stem the contagion of idolatrous faith that quickly spreads through hearsay and, in turn, becomes the dominant social consciousness. Instead, he insists upon authentic faith that arises from the transformative healing itself.

There are two sorts or degrees of Faith: – the first is, that by which the mind gives its assent to the truth of a thing on the testimony of another; the second is of a more exalted nature, being of Divine origin, and is a gift of the Holy Spirit. – A Guide to True Peace³

Greater and Lesser

In the first half of chapter 5, we saw the most extreme, vivid example of an individual’s restoration to Life. In the second half of the chapter, the stark, unembellished battle for the soul is no longer on view, rather we see examples of the suffering that beleaguers every person in the world: the threat of losing what is most dear. In this second half, a prominent man fears the death of his daughter, and a woman fears for her health. Though each is threatened with exceedingly great loss, neither the man nor the woman undergoes the direct attack on the soul that we witnessed earlier in the Gadarene. The loss of a child or of one’s health are two of the most severe losses one can undergo in the world, yet they do not automatically lead to loss of the soul: a lesson also presented in the book of Job.

The division of the chapter midway between the two locations suggests the two passages are in balance: the telling of the demoniac’s story is given space equal to the two healing stories in the chapter’s second half. Balance or equation between the two halves of the chapter implies the first threat was as severe as the latter two combined. The worst loss in the world – even of child or health – is not as injurious to one’s being as is the loss of one’s soul, that is to say, the loss of one’s connection to God: a lesson also presented in the story of Abraham and Isaac.

In the Gadarene story, the archetypal threat to being (a soul overrun by demons) was illustrated. In the stories of Jairus, the synagogue ruler, (22) and the woman with “an issue of blood”(25), we are shown lesser threats. Yet suffering the loss of what is greatly valued can and often does lead to despair, bitter resentment, cynicism, or narcissism: all signaling unbelief and alienation from God.⁴ Thus the synagogue ruler hearing his daughter has died (35) is bolstered immediately by the Living One’s guidance: “Be not afraid, only believe” (36). Believing that God can and will see us through our deepest losses maintains an open conduit to that infinite Source of strength and well-being: Christ, the power of God.

Essentials and Incidentals

In the second half of chapter 5, we have witnessed two individuals’ need for God. The writer gives us numerous details about each of them, which we can analyze to find what qualities they have in common and what qualities are particular to each. The common qualities inform us of what is needed to be ready to receive Christ’s healing in our lives, while the differences signal that each healing occurs within a unique individual in all his particularity. Given our natural propensity to confuse the incidental with the essential,⁵ the writer distinguishes between the two by making the essential qualities appear in both characters and the incidental, only in one.

Both the ruler and the woman are in need and are confident Jesus can help⁶ (23, 28); both believe that touch (connection to or unity with Jesus) will provide the healing they seek (23, 28); both honor Jesus by falling down before him: i.e., subjecting themselves (22, 33); and the healing each of them receives is linked to the number 12 (25, 42), indicating wholeness or completion.⁷

The individuality of the synagogue’s ruler and the woman with “an issue of blood” is indicated by their dissimilarities: the ruler is a man of high status, and we’re given his name (22), while the woman is among the crowd and anonymous (31); the ruler asks directly for Jesus’s help (23), while the woman secretly touches Jesus’s clothes (27); Jesus intentionally heals the ruler’s daughter (41), while his healing of the woman is accomplished without his knowledge or intent (30). The dissimilarities inform us of qualities that are incidental to spiritual healing, namely social status, gender, age, and Jesus’s consent (30).⁸

Conclusion

Chapter 5 of Mark is a lesson in the personal dynamics of salvation. Suffering comes to everyone in this world; it is a given. Our response to that fact of life determines whether or not we are prepared to receive God’s merciful resolution. The individual who inwardly reflects upon the truth of his condition and conscientiously endures that truth will become open to receiving God’s grace. The many who turn away from the truth to outward, social distraction will come to find that their lives have been no more than a confounded, man-made flight, downed in darkness: without wisdom, without virtue, and without fulfillment. The stakes are high in this life, and we are responsible for meeting the high expectation inherent in our humanity. In Scripture, we have been given guidelines and information on the way forward, particularly in this chapter where options are so clearly delineated. Our progenitors in faith, the early Friends, lived fully into the responsibility that confronts us all.

Pull down that dead, dark, corrupt image, and mere shadow and shell of Christianity, wherewith Antichrist hath deceived the nations, for which end he hath called us to be a first-fruits of those that serve him, and worship him no more in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit.⁹—Robert Barclay

Oh, the mystery of life! Oh, the hidden path thereof, which none can learn but those whom the Father teacheth! But many think to learn in that, which ever was, and ever will be, shut out. If Christ would lay his doctrine before them, and make it good to their understanding, they would receive it. No, no; they must bow to Christ, to his name, to his power, to his will, to his way of manifesting his truth; he will not bow to theirs.¹⁰ – Isaac Penington

¹ Isaac Penington, The Works of Isaac Penington (Glenside, Pa.: Quaker Heritage Press, 1995), 1:92-93.

² See my essay “The First Workings of the Lord: Mark 5:1-20” at Abiding Quaker, December 2022.

 ³ Miguel Molinos, Jeanne-Marie Guyon, and Francois Fenelon, A Guide to True Peace, facsimile of 1815 edition compiled by William Backhouse and James Janson (Sebastopol, Calif.: Jim Wilson, 2019), 17.

⁴ [Satan challenges God:] ”Thou hast blessed the work of his [Job’s] hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face” (Job 1:10-11).

⁵ A blatant example of confusing the incidental with the essential is recorded in Fox’s Journal where people claim the incidental of gender is an essential determinate in whether or not one possesses a soul: “After this, I met with a sort of people that held women have no souls, adding in a light manner, no more than a goose. But I reproved them and told them that was not right, for Mary said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.’” The Journal of George Fox, ed. John L. Nickalls (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 1985), 8-9.

⁶ To apply these essentials to ourselves, it would be appropriate to substitute the word “truth” in place of the word “Jesus,” as we have no knowledge of who Jesus is until he appears within, whereas prior to his appearing, we can attempt to discern truth from falsehood. Initially – in the first birth – it is solely to truth that we owe our allegiance. It is the allegiance itself that deepens and readies the soul to receive Jesus Christ.

⁷ “The number [12] pointed in the first instance to unity and completeness, which had been sanctioned by Divine election, and it retained this significance when applied to spiritual Israel.” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, Mich. 1939), IV:2162.

⁸ Jesus’s sensing that “virtue had gone out of him” and not knowing who had “touched [his] clothes”(30) suggests both his “being in the form of God . . . and [his being] made in the likeness of men”(Phil. 2:6-7) That is to say, he has the virtue (power) of God, yet is not all-knowing (Mk. 13:32). It is his Spirit that is the operative force in the healing, not his flesh, which “profiteth nothing”(Jn. 6:63). The healing is attributed to the woman’s faith, “Thy faith hath made thee whole”(34). [Italics mine.] In this way, the distinction is subtly made that Jesus is to be worshipped as the conveyer (mediator) of the power of God, and not in a fleshly way: as an idol who magically heals physical ailments. Faith is the life and power of God received.

⁹ Robert Barclay, Apology for the True Christian Divinity (Glenside, Pa.: Quaker Heritage Press, 2002), 480.

¹⁰ Penington, Works, 4:23.

Mosaic of Woman with Hemorrhage from Basilica of Sant’ Apollinaire Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy

For more than a year now, I’ve been attending the Canadian Friends Historical Association’s (CFHA) biweekly Zoom meetings to read and discuss the Journal of George Fox. Called “Friendly Fridays,” the hour-and-a-half to two-hour sessions are one means by which CFHA carries forward its mission “to preserve and communicate the history and faith of the Religious Society of Friends in Canada.” (More may be learned of their activities by visiting their website: cfha.info.)

Generally, around a half-dozen or so Friends from Canada, a few from the United States, and one or two from Europe attend. Recently, a YouTube channel was created, which features recordings of our discussions. Near the end of this introduction, I’ll provide information and a link for accessing one of our  recent discussions, which was held on 12/9/22. The topic slated for discussion that afternoon was Fox’s answers to charges of blasphemy, given at Sessions at Lancaster in 1652. Fox answered the eight charges leveled at him by justice Colonel William West by using Scripture passages to defend his position. Although there were eight charges, our group reviewed only three of them at that meeting: #s 1, 3, and 7, which I’ll copy below.

In the edition of the Journal that we use, the Nickalls 1985 edition, the exchange between the justice and Fox can be found on pages 134 and 135. Editor Nickalls follows each charge with Fox’s answer and a list of verses from Scripture that Fox used to support his words. Preparing for the Friendly Friday session, I checked these Scripture references and found many of them to be faulty (Fox had made no reference to the specified verses Nickalls had listed, but Fox had referred to other verses), and so I located the correct verses and listed them in a document I had prepared and then sent out to a number of other group participants. Below are three (#s 1, 3, and 7) of the eight charges put to George Fox at Lancaster Sessions in 1652, and Fox’s answers with references to Scriptures underlined.¹

__________________________________________________________

#1. The charge against Fox: That he did affirm that he had the divinity essentially in him.

Fox’s answer: For the word essentially, it is an expression of their own, but that the saints are the temples of God and God doth dwell in them (1 Cor. 3:16) that I witness and the Scripture doth witness, and if God doth dwell in them the divinity dwelleth in them and the Scriptures saith the saints shall be made partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) this I witness.

The verses that Fox refers to in his answer are transcribed below:

1 Cor. 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

2 Pet. 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

#3. Fox was charged: He did dissuade men from reading the Scriptures telling them it was carnal.

Fox’s answer: For dissuading men from reading the Scriptures, it is false, for they were given to be read as they are and not to be made a trade upon. But the letter is carnal and killeth, but that which gave it forth is spiritual and eternal and giveth life (2 Cor. 3:6).  This I witness.

The verses that Fox refers to in his answer are transcribed below:

2 Cor. 3:6: Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

#7. Fox was charged with having said: That he was judge of the world.

Fox’s answer: The saints shall judge the world (1 Cor. 6:2), the Scripture doth witness, whereof I am one, and I witness the Scripture fulfilled.

The verse that Fox refers to in his answer is transcribed below:

1 Cor. 6:2,3 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?

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Although our discussion was ostensibly to focus upon the trial at Lancaster, it often moved into more general topics regarding the faith of early Friends. For example, early on in the recording (from 8:00–17:00), there’s a discussion on the way Friends read the Bible. A discussion on charge #7 (beginning around 17:30), which is concerned with judgment, began by delving into different inward conditions that either disable or empower a person to judge righteously. That, in turn, led to a discussion of Friends doctrine of perfection (27:40). From 34:00 to 1:03 in the recording (or thereabouts), differing ideas are aired on early Friends claim that the inward Cross—i.e., dying to the Self—is a necessary precondition to receiving Life in Christ. A contribution on gifts occurs near the end, and the telling of an incident involving dying to the self completes the session.

To locate this recording, follow this link: is.gd/georgefox, scroll once to the right, and click on the item titled “3 Blasphemy Refuting Scriptures Fox Uses to Defend vs. charges of Blasphemy by the Lancaster Priests.” Preliminary material on the geographical area around Lancaster and linguistic tools for Bible study consumes the first eight minutes of the recording. A discussion on Friends way of reading the Bible begins at 8:00.

¹ George Fox, The Journal of George Fox, ed. John L. Nickalls (Philadelphia: Religious Society of Friends, 1985), 134-5.

Crucifixion of Jesus by Giotto 1303-5

A newspaper cartoon that intrigued me as a child appeared every year on the first of January. Just under the headline on the front page of the Des Moines Register was the depiction of the old year and the new. The old was a hunched, bald, and bearded old man, carrying a sickle and wearing a banner with the number of the year that had just passed, and the new year was a spunky baby wearing a diaper and a different banner that named the year that had just begun. Every year there was a new drawing that had these same hallmarks, and every year, from around the age of nine through twelve, I was fascinated by them, and recall studying their every detail.¹

I also recall thinking that the baby too soon became old: In one year, he, too, would move from lively sweetness to decrepitude, and another new baby would take his place, and so on and on. This once-a-year cartoon heralded both the linear and cyclical quality of time: its linear movement from point to point (from year’s beginning to end) as well as its cycling round from beginning to yet another beginning, year after year.

It seems to me that the cyclical structure of nature (by which we measure time) is the format through which God signals his gift of loving opportunity after loving opportunity to be turned to him, intimating his offer is constant, perpetual, and unending.  And we, once having

tasted of the truth, of the true wisdom, of the true power, of the true life, of the true righteousness, of the true redemption . . . we come to know that that which the world hath set up in the stead of it, is not the thing itself. . . . [A] real change [is] brought forth in us out of that spirit wherein the world lives and worships, into another Spirit, into which nothing which is of the world can enter. . . . Whatever comes from us, is to come from the new principle of life in us, and to answer that in others; but we must not please the old nature at all in ourselves, nor in any else.²  

Once having found “the thing itself,” we can earnestly declare: Out with the old, worldly self, and in with “the new principle of life!” Our path is no longer determined by nature and its cycles, but becomes linear – purposeful – as we move ourselves into position to receive, know, and live by the inward light of “Christ [who] is all, and in all.”³ His paths made straight, we are teleologically attentive, Omega-bound creatures.

Here the Apostle lists qualities, which – this first day of 2023 – we may resolve to emulate. Moreover, they are qualities to be received, as the day star arises in our hearts⁴:

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.⁵

¹ It’s likely these cartoons were the work of Frank Miller, who worked for the Des Moines Register from 1953 to 1983. In 1963, Miller received the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. 

²  Isaac Penington, The Works of Isaac Penington (Glenside, Pa.: Quaker Heritage Press, 1995), 1:93.

³ Col. 3:11 The King James Version is used throughout the essay.

⁴ 2 Pet. 1:19

⁵ Col. 3:12-15

Day Star risen over waning Moon

But my troubles continued, and I was often under great temptations; and I fasted much, and walked abroad in solitary places many days, and often took my Bible and went and sat in hollow trees and lonesome places till night came on; and frequently in the night walked mournfully about by myself, for I was a man of sorrows in the times of the first workings of the Lord in me. . . .  And when all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could tell what to do, then, Oh then, I heard a voice which said, “There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition.” ¹  — George Fox

In the Mark 5 story of the Gadarene demoniac, we are given an intimate look at the soul that has accepted the first workings of the Lord and is thus prepared to hear the voice of Christ. This story is from “the other side”² (1), the inward side of life, where one is alone and apart from the give and take, the gratuities and obligations that make up social life. No one wielding social imperatives can bind this solitary man of the tombs, for he has “plucked asunder” all their chains and broken to pieces all their fetters. He will not be tamed (4); nor yield; nor conform to their ways, manners, and customs. Though the man harbors the unclean spirit of the unredeemed and suffers the deathlike despondency of its influence, he tenaciously holds and will not deny the hard truth of his inward condition: he is alienated from God, a truth conveyed in his poignant words: “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?” (7) It is his willing capacity to see himself as he is that is the “first workings” of the Lord, and which mark the man as prepared to receive Christ Jesus.

This honest soul is beleaguered by a contrary force that has claimed preeminence. The man’s divided self is evident when he addresses Jesus (italics mine): “I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not” (7). The man calls upon the power of God to limit Christ, the power of God: so muddled is he that the poor man contradicts himself! Firm in his allegiance to truth, yet in the grip of demons, the man is torn and, in his misery, tears himself (5). Legion – his name/self – is victim to forces that appear numerous and controlling; he is fragmented and broken into many parts, yet heroically holds himself present to and aware of the misery of his alienated state.

Because the man has not shirked or hidden the truth of his condition from himself, he is able to likewise see the Truth when it appears outwardly, “afar off.” Truth as it is in Jesus, he recognizes and runs to worship (6). The man’s openness to receiving Truth and Life – when he appears – is proportionate to his having consciously endured their prior absence. Though suffering, the man remained faithful to the truth.

In Scripture stories, polarities – such as good and evil, right and wrong, and life and death – are often contrasted, one from the other, through the use of particular motifs. In this story of the demon-possessed man, the motif used to distinguish these opposites is number: Is a word singular or plural? That is to say, “one” signifies what is good: integrated and alive; and “many” signifies what is evil: disintegrated as in death.³

The protagonist is a solitary man who lives apart from the many in society, and Jesus interacts with him one-to-one. In his first address to the man, Jesus asks his name, using the singular pronoun “thy”: “What is thy name?” The man answers: “My name is Legion: for we are many” (9). The man’s answer begins with the singular pronoun (“my,” not “our”) but immediately shifts to a plural pronoun, verb, and adjective: “we are many.” This short interchange shows the dispersal into the many of what should be a single, integrated whole: the man’s self. The interplay between singular and plural continues through the next sentence (italics mine): “And he [the man] besought him [Jesus] much that he would not send them [the demons] away out of the country” (10). Again, the singular pronoun (he) is quickly lost to the plural (them) when the demons’ will prevails. The poor man cannot speak one coherent sentence without the demons interfering and taking control.

The motif of contrasting the one with the many continues when the devils request entry into the herd of swine. “Herd” signifies the many in which each member has forfeited his own autonomous discernment in order to fit into and be accepted by the many. The herd is comprised of those who have connected to others as the means to fend off innate, universal loneliness. This existential loneliness, however, can be truly overcome only when the self comes into unity with the spirit of Christ. To elevate group acceptance over one’s fidelity to truth is to snap the cord of one’s humanity, which is characterized by an alert and open devotion to truth. Those of the herd dismiss the very thing needed for salvation: a soul given to watching for Truth, and instead watch for opportunities and threats to their standing and connections within the social sphere. Thus they come to worship the fetters and chains, which, by rights, should be plucked asunder. Unlike the single, distraught man, the herd puts up no resistance to the devils’ corruption, and, as a result, they quickly descend to their death⁴ (13), which is to say: spiritual death awaits those who forfeit truth for social connection.     

We are told that people from “the city, and in the country” (which is to say, the many)

went out to see what it was that was done. And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind [his own integrated self]: and they were afraid. And they [that fed the swine] that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts (14-17).

Why should the many be afraid when they see the one has come to himself and is “in his right mind?” The many have chosen a different path: they have foregone the protagonist’s solitary trial and have opted instead for the easy, downhill slide of the herd. Seeing the once-possessed man now restored to himself, they are brought face-to-face, each with his own sin: the failure of him- or herself as a human being to be no more than a herd animal, osmotically embodying the communal ethos. Within the group’s simulacrum of reality, there is a semblance of a connected life, but it can never reach to the unbounded life and soaring freedom that the blessed, perfected soul enjoys when in unity with the light of Christ: where we know our true self and the life that the Creator would work within us.   

And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts (17).

[H]e that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him (18).

Here is yet another comparison between the one and the many. The many “pray him [Jesus] to depart out of their coasts,” and the one – no longer possessed with the devil – “prayed him [Jesus] that he might be with him.” The same dynamic continues through every time and place: those who rely upon the connection with the many would have the Truth depart and trouble them no longer; and those who pray in the privacy of their hearts to be with the Truth are they who, having known the worst the adversary can mount against them, have, nevertheless, endured unto the end (13:13), and known the victory.

Jesus’s third and final statement in this story brings together the one and the many but in a new, wholesome configuration. This time the one is not overrun by the hostile, demonic many but instead is to be a single witness, testifying to the many who wish him well. “Go home to thy friends, [says Jesus] and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee” (19).

And the light is in the world where all are sinners, but none have the life but who receive it, and are led out of the world by it; to such sheep Christ is keeper, who follow him out of uncleanness . .  . but the swine he keeps not, the shepherd they will not follow, there the devil must enter and hath power, and into the sea must they run headlong.⁵ — James Nayler

¹ The Journal of George Fox, ed. John L. Nickalls (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1985), 9-10, 11.  

² The King James Version has been used throughout this essay.

³ Note that Jesus’s first statement in this story (“Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit” [8]) uses the singular pronoun to address the devil: “thou,” not “you.” Though the devil will later confuse and debilitate the man by presenting himself as many demons, not one demon, Jesus is able to correctly identify from the start that he is one, signifying the demons’ will and character are put in service to one, single end, which is to defy the God of Truth. Though the demons are many and diverse, their purpose is single.

⁴ The herd ran “violently down a steep place” (13) to their death. By having the herd run downhill rather than arduously struggle uphill, the writer conveys the herd’s preference for the ease of following the demons’ directive, which will be always to descend to a lower or worse condition. By contrast, we read of the protagonist that “always, night and day, he was in the mountains” (5), suggesting a determination in him at all times (“night and day”) to ascend to a higher place, in spite of the demons’ unrelenting assault.  

⁵ Works of James Nayler (Farmington, Maine: Quaker Heritage Press, 2004), 2:210. Gratitude goes to Esther Greenleaf Murer and John Edminster for their work on the Quaker Bible Index, which is where I located a portion of this reference.

Mosaic of the Gadarene Demoniac from the Basilica of Sant’Apollinaire Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy

And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side (Mk. 4:33-35 [KJV]).

The opening verses of this passage point to Jesus’s awareness of differing powers of apprehension, and his adapting his teaching method to accommodate each. To the multitude, Jesus has spoken the Word in parables “as they were able to hear it” (33). To the disciples, “he expounded all things” (34), indicating Jesus thought his disciples could better see the correlation between figurative language and spiritual conditions. In the final verse, verse 35, Jesus directs his followers to new territory in which the literal mind of the multitude and the disciples’ intellectual grasp of analogy are both transcended. This verse foreshadows a coming into a new kind of understanding that is neither literal nor intellectual but is gained through inward experience and accompanies being itself. Jesus beckons: “Let us pass over unto the other side” (35).

The story begins in a matter-of-fact way: the multitude is “sent away”; there are “other little ships” (36) in the crossing; “a great storm” (37) comes up; and Jesus sleeps comfortably before he’s awakened by the disciples, who fear for their lives (38). There’s nothing in this opening description to alert us that these particulars are anything but facts that describe outward events of time and place. Nothing here seems extraordinary.   

It is not until Jesus rises and rebukes the wind and the sea, saying “Peace, be still” (39), that we realize we have moved beyond the mundane and into other territory. The account is no longer a literal description – though the multitude may claim it so; it has shifted into a space where nature neither rules nor sets the bounds of the possible; in this space – on this “other side” — Man prevails over nature.  

This passage began as a recounting of events taking place in time and space, but having moved past these confines of nature, the passage reveals itself to be a parable, and thus it has an inward, spiritual significance. As a parable, it correlates objective reality with inward states; Jesus Christ performs an outward act (he overcomes the threat of nature – here a storm at sea) that correlates to Man’s overcoming his inward nature: that of a suffering, storm-tossed creature, fearfully aware of his own mortality. As a parable, Man mastering outward nature, as Christ does here, signifies humankind’s overcoming and transcending the nature of our being.

Just as the multitude was given parables to bring them to an awareness of their spiritual condition, we are here given to understand that through hearing the commanding Word, Christ within, we may overcome fear and anxiety, our inward “storm,” and live in peace.

And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? (40)

See how Jesus challenges his disciples to pass into a way of being in which fear has no foothold and faith strides secure. We must leave behind the sure but stodgy ground of the multitude, and embark in darkness upon the watery, formless void, for there is where the Spirit moves and speaks, and it is there that we may receive the light of faith.

The disciples have yet to learn that they, too, in faith may “pass over unto the other side” (35) and become a different “manner of man” (41). Were it not already verified by personal experience, we could turn to the early Friends to affirm the validity of this teaching.

To all the elect, chosen and faithful . . . who have not feared the waves of the sea, nor the winds; who fear not the storms nor the weather; whose anchor holds, which is the hope, the mystery, which anchors the soul, which is immortal, to the immortal God. –George Fox (Ep. 169)¹

¹ The Works of George Fox (Philadelphia: Marcus T. C. Gould, 1831), 7:157. Gratitude goes to Esther Greenleaf Murer and John Edminster for their work on the Quaker Bible Index, which is where I located this reference. 

Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, ca. 1596 Jan Breughel the Elder

 

If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat! – Pink Floyd

Anyone who has listened to Another Brick in the Wall (part 2)¹ will not forget the words the distraught teacher screams at the child. The teacher intends to maintain order (as well as control) by enforcing the rule: eat your meat, and you can have your pudding. What makes the scene funny—as well as tragic—is the man’s blindness to the absurdity of his full-throated enforcement of this petty rule. His behavior is absurd because he destroys the very thing his role as teacher requires him to preserve: good order in the classroom and healthy, flourishing children. The man has lost sight of the true purpose and meaning of his role and responsibility.

It takes a short leap of imagination to project the dynamic of this classroom fiasco onto the larger screen of society: the school becomes the society, and its rules are replaced by society’s laws, manners, and mores. “Eat your meat” becomes: Comply, and do the things that make these laws, manners, and mores second nature to you, and that will allow you to fit in and progress within the society (have your pudding). The problem that ensues, however, is the growing blindness to life’s larger, true purpose, which becomes obscured by the determination to gobble endlessly life’s petty puddings. Like the teacher, the child may develop into an adult who unquestionably shuts out the light that lies beyond the bricked-in cave that he and his society have unwittingly, absurdly chosen to inhabit. How do we reach those who see no further than their society’s ways (be it those of culture, tribe, or faith community), and have neither ability nor desire to think, feel, or see into the true realm of light and life?

Enter the parable.

^11bAll these things are done in parables: ¹²That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

No more direct than this explanation is the method by which the parable does its work. Using guerilla tactics, the parable avoids the road of well-traveled and defended ideas, and travels alongside on a path forged by its own narrative. In metaphorical disguise, it draws close to what its hearers have refused to see and have kept hidden. Slipping past the guard of inward blindness, it presents a spiritual truth to be recognized and acknowledged: so that “they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them” (This verse [12] cleverly alludes to the resistance of the heart that is “fat,” the ears that are “heavy,” and the eyes that are “shut” [Isa. 6:9-10] to the person’s own best interest: i.e., that their sins be forgiven them. Such “heavy” resistance can be overcome through the parabolic ploy.)

Jesus uses the parable to teach of the mystery of the kingdom of God unto them that are without (11). Through metaphor, the parable functions to evoke a recognition of its hearers’ inward, spiritual condition. In verses 13-20, Jesus rehearses the particulars of the parable of the sower, which he’s given to the multitude, and shows his disciples each particular’s corresponding, inward condition. Point by point, he correlates the type of soil onto which the sower’s seed is cast to the kind of soul to whom the Word of God is preached.

The long parable of the sower and the equally long explanation of its meaning has been a lesson for his disciples on the objective and strategy of parables. This beginning 20-verse segment is then followed by a series of short, one- or two-verse parables or metaphors that quickly follow one upon another. It’s as if Jesus has patiently explained how parables work, and is now presenting example after example of their use in teaching of the kingdom “unto them that are without” (11).

The remaining verses in this passage (21-34) are cast into five segments. Four of the five begin with similar introductory phrases. “And he said unto them” is the phrase that begins both verses 21 and 24; “And he said” is the phrase that starts both verses 26 and 30. Each time one of these introductory phrases appears, the reader is cued a new parable or metaphor is beginning.

The first segment (21-23) begins:  

²¹And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick? ²²For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad. ²³If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

Both the sower parable that came before, and this candle metaphor call a person to take stock of himself: What is the condition of your soul (soil), the sower parable asks. Am I bringing forth light into the world, or am I hiding what I’ve been given, prompts the metaphor of the candle. In verse 22, however, Jesus opens the possibility that not only goodness and light are within; his reference to hiding, secrecy, and exposure (22) implies that darkness, not light, can prevail within. In this first segment, Jesus has moved from encouraging his hearers to warning them: whether it be good or evil, what resides within will become outwardly manifest.  

Capping this three-verse segment is the phrase “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear” (23). The statement introduces a new metaphor: “to hear,” meaning “to give one’s attention to.” He chides his audience to not excuse themselves from attending to his words.

The second segment (24-25) begins:

²⁴And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. ²⁵For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.

Jesus continues to warn of looming, inevitable justice: what one hears, i.e., what one attends to, will determine not only one’s behavior but the content of one’s inner being. The true substance of being—the Truth as it is in Christ—is worthy of attention, and attending to that Truth guarantees its beneficial increase. Conversely, attending to that which is without substance—lies from the father of lies—will leave one empty and bereft of existential meaning, even the meaning that one has self-generated. Whatever spirit one harbors will grow or spread within consciousness, eventually to subsume one’s entire being: one’s will, emotion, mind, and body.

The third segment (26-29) begins:

²⁶And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; ²⁷And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. ²⁸For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. ²⁹But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

With this new parable, Jesus focuses once again on the benevolent “kingdom of God.” As in the previous segment, he stresses the incremental growth of life within, and here offers an illustration: through stages, the seed grows into “the full corn.” Man “knoweth not how” this growth comes to be: thus Jesus draws attention to the One who is beyond comprehension, who reigns and enables our growth, and we are both the harvest and its beneficiaries: His creation and His image. 

The fourth segment (30-32) begins:    

³⁰And he said, whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall we compare it? ³¹It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: ³²But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.

Building upon the previous segments’ teaching of incremental growth, this new parable tempers the idea by warning not to ignore small promptings: it “is less than all the seeds that be in the earth.” The spirit of Truth doesn’t assist one in acquiring the goods – both material and immaterial – that society worships, and is therefore usually overlooked or bypassed. Yet if tended to, the seed of Truth grows into a tree “shoot[ing] out great branches” in which the restless flight of being can “lodge.”

In the last segment (33-34) of this passage on parables, the narrator himself speaks:

³³And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. ³⁴But without a parable spake he not unto them; and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.

The narrator has provided readers with a summary of Jesus’s teaching method: with the crowd, he uses figurative language: parable and metaphor; with his disciples, he explains the spiritual meaning of his stories and images. A storyteller or artist of any kind must inwardly sense the nature of the substance he would make visible or sensible to others, and he must faithfully assess whether his expression is true to that inward sense: if he is, in fact, meting that measure (24). Jesus’s parables bear an exactitude to the Spirit that testifies to the clarity and strength of the inward vision bestowed upon him. This passage in chapter 4 of Mark is rich and alive with wisdom from above. To enter into its language and thought is to be replenished with the power and beauty of the mind of Christ.

¹ Pink Floyd, The Wall: Another Brick in the Wall (parts 1, 2, and 3), Columbia P2T36183, 1979, cassette.

² The King James Version of the Bible has been used throughout this essay.