The Gospel According to St. Mark
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THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK Sermons by The Revd. KARL A. PRZYWALA C&P C & P Books Copyright © 2018 Karl A. Przywala All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in academic discussions, critical articles and reviews. ISBN: 978-1-7751062-5-8 (sc) ISBN: 978-1-7751062-6-5 (e) C&P Books first printing 6/20/2018 ____________________ To those who have gone before me and those who will follow ____________________ FOREWORD The Revd. Karl Przywala’s engaging volume is especially valuable in being a collection of sermons that move sequentially through every chapter of Mark, thus allowing the reader to fit carefully explained details into the ongoing sweep of the narrative. These sermons, which were delivered at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Vancouver, BC between March 2014 and April 2016, are written in a clear, graceful style; they are sparked with humour and attention-getting points and are designed to encourage people in their Christian lives by applying Mark’s words to their personal sit- uations. Karl has a remarkable ability to make complex ideas understand- able without watering down the material. He combines erudition with wit, offering historical context, explication of the text, and references connecting Mark’s words to relevant sections of the Old and New Testaments. While not a formal commentary on Mark, this sermon series illuminates the Gospel, making its overall pattern clear and its message applicable to the present. One does not often find a book that presents solid biblical teaching and scholarly explanation in clear, straightforward language leav- ened with colloquial anecdotes. Karl’s The Gospel According to St. Mark is a pleasure to read and study and it will make a valuable addition to one’s library of Christian literature. Dr. Margaret Blom Rector’s Warden Holy Trinity Anglican Church Vancouver, BC, Canada CONTENTS Bible Bible Reference Page Reference Page 1:1–15 1 10:1–16 129 1:16–39 7 10:17–31 137 1:40–2:17 13 10:32–45 143 2:18–3:6 19 10:46–52 149 3:7–35 25 11:1–11 155 4:1–20 31 11:12–19 161 4:21–34 37 11:20–33 167 4:35–41 43 12:1–12 173 5:1–20 49 12:13–27 179 5:21–43 55 12:28–37 185 6:1–29 61 12:38–13:2 191 6:30–44 67 13 197 6:45–56 73 14:1–11 203 7:1–23 79 14:12–26 209 7:24–37 85 14:27–52 215 8:1–21 91 14:53–72 219 8:22–30 97 15:1–20 225 8:31–9:1 103 15:21–47 231 9:2–13 111 16:1–8 237 9:14–32 117 16:9–20 243 9:33–50 123 Mark 1:1–15, March 16th, 2014 We’ve spent the past six weeks looking at the opening chapters of Genesis. Today we start a sermon series looking at Mark’s Gospel account. A ground-rule that I’m going to set myself — you can see how well I keep to it — is that I’m going to try not to say “Mark’s Gospel”: it isn’t. It’s, as most translations of Mk. 1:1 say, “The gospel of Jesus Christ” according to Mark; although the words “according to” can have a slightly apologetic ring to them. A friend of mine who was brought up on the Prayer Book thought that of the phrase in the Nicene Creed “according to the Scriptures”. Perhaps the modern version, “in accordance with”, is clearer on this point. I heard the Sydney evangelist John Chapman say that in his ex- perience Sydney Diocese clergy have a habit of starting a new min- istry with a series on Mark. He speculated that this is what they’re taught to do at Moore Theological College. There are good reasons to look at Mark early on though. Mark’s, it is now gener- ally accepted, is the earliest written of the Gospel accounts. The reason Matthew comes before it in our Bibles is because it was previously thought that Matthew was written first. And if you look hard enough, you’ll find theologians who’ll make a case for each of the four Gospel writers having been first. If you want to know the basis for the majority opinion, ask me afterwards. (It involves the mysterious character Q, not to be confused with James Bond movies!) Also passé is the idea, prevalent in the nineteenth and the earlier twentieth century, that the Gospel accounts weren’t written until the second century. The evidence now indicates that all four were first century compositions and Mark was written no later than AD 70, possibly as early as AD 50. That still leaves the question, why did Mark wait twenty or so years before putting reed-pen to papyrus? An answer is that the ‐ 2 ‐ earliest Christians thought that Jesus was going to return in their lifetime. When it became apparent that this was in fact unlikely to be the case, they wrote down what they knew so that the oral tradition could be reliably passed on. In the case of Mark, he largely drew upon Peter’s preaching. Richard Burridge, Dean of King’s College, London, has written a very readable book, Four Gospels, One Jesus?: A Symbolic Reading. In it, he draws upon the four images traditionally associated with the four gospel writers or evangelists. Can anyone volunteer what those images are and, more trickily, which one goes with whom? It’s actually a bit of a trick-question regarding which with whom. Before 398, Sts. Irenaeus and Augustine had a go, then Jerome came up with something different and that’s what we have today. Richard Burridge does a good job of expounding Mark’s lion-like qualities. I have a friend who is wont to tell me, “Your problem is ... ” At this point I usually interrupt and say, “You mean, one of my problems is ... ” “Yes,” says my friend, “One of your pro- blems is that whereas I’m an Eeyore, I never expect anything to work and therefore I’m never disappointed, you’re a Tigger. You bounce around all over the place with all your ideas and plans, and then you’re disappointed when others don’t fall into line and share your enthusiasm!” I know lions are different from Tiggers, but Mark has that bouncy quality about him; we never quite know where he’s going to land next, leaping all over the place: fast, furious, frenetic, fantastic. Look at how he starts: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Mark leaps onto the stage with a pro- clamation. What does gospel mean? The answer usually given is ‘good news’. But evangelion, gospel, is a stronger word: it’s great news, life-changing news. Baptism was something with which the Jews were familiar. It re- presented repentance, confessing sins. But John’s baptism was lim- ited. Sin could be confessed but there wasn’t forgiveness or new ‐ 3 ‐ life on offer: that required Jesus. “I [John] baptise you with water, but he [Jesus] will baptise you with the Holy Spirit”, v. 8. Why was Jesus baptised? Did he need to be? Not on his own ac- count, for he was without sin. But his baptism heralded the begin- ning of his public ministry. And right here we get an indication of where that was to lead: his death on our behalf on the cross. Jesus, through his baptism, fully identifies with our human state, just as he did through his temptation in the desert. It wasn’t his sin that he was being baptised for, it was ours. The question of baptism was raised at our Lent study group last Thursday. I want to share with you some of the things we talked about. We are told that Jesus was baptised by John in the River Jordan and that Jesus came up “out of the water.” The only thing that we can be sure of from this is that water is involved in baptism, not how much nor that Jesus necessarily was totally im- mersed in it. There’s evidence that while Jews baptised at this time may have stood in a river, the water would have been poured over them. As for the nature of the water, I recommend that it be warm, especially where babies are concerned! We use ordinary tap water, just as John used river water. In Acts ch. 8, v. 36 we read, “As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptised?’ ” And he was, in some water they found by the roadside. The Baptism service in the Book of Alternative Services provides for ‘Thanks- giving over the Water’ and that is what we do. We say, “sanctify this water” which means we’re going to set it aside for a holy pur- pose, but it remains water nonetheless, just as the water in the Jordan did as it flowed on. The prayer continues: “sanctify this water that your servants who are washed in it may be made one with Christ in his death and resurrection, to be cleansed and delivered from all sin.” The water is an “outward and visible sign of [the] inward and spiritual grace” of accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.