Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 3 Study # 1
March 14, 2023
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: Back to the "grind" ("hard, monotonous, routine work" -- The Sage).
Introduction: In our studies of chapter nine, thus far, we have seen that the "big ticket" issue is Jesus being identified as "The Christ" by virtue of His transfiguration upon the mountain (
9:1-13). This is Mark's first thought-unit in the extended chiasm of
Mark 9:1-11:11.
As we begin, this evening, a study of the next "thought-unit", we are embarking upon another consideration of one of Mark's primary contentions: Jesus is the "Mighty One" by virtue of His absolute authority over wicked spirits. This "thought-unit" has its "partner" in the chiastic structure of 9:1-11:11 in 10:46-52 where Jesus, once again, demonstrates His identity as the "Mighty One" by virtue of His absolute authority over physical creation by healing a blind man.
Our introduction into this unit of thought is given in 9:14. This will be the content of our study this evening.
- I. The Return From The Mountain.
- A. As Jesus and The Three were descending from the mountain, they got into a discussion about the coming death of Jesus as it related to the rejection of Jesus as the Christ by the scribes because "Elijah must come first".
- 1. This "descent" was from a powerful experience, designed by Jesus to firmly fix His true identity, and the future reality of the coming of the Kingdom, in the minds of The Three.
- a. That only The Three were given this "experience", and were told not to tell anyone until after the resurrection of Jesus, means that the "experience" is the basic foundation of the later "witness" and that that subsequent "witness" is a sufficient foundation for all others who were not involved in the original "foundation". All of the Scriptures exist because it is sufficient for "faith" that a legitimate "witness" be given; the original experience is not a necessity for "faith" after the fact.
- b. There are "experiences" and then there are "Experiences": some make an impact for a little while to bring about certain results; others make an impact that goes on and on in the heart/mind of the one involved in it.
- c. Sometimes the long-term Experience takes a while to "settle" so as to have a continuing impact. Peter failed miserably after this "Experience", but it "settled" over time so as to have its enduring impact as 2 Peter 1:16 testifies. John, on the other hand, was not so obviously encumbered by competitors to the "faith" that the "Experience" established. And, Mary Magdalene was singled out by Luke (8:1-3) as another example of one whose "Experience" took quick hold of her heart and mind without any obvious encumbrances.
- 2. This "descent" was into what was becoming a kind of "norm" as "experiences" go: large crowds of dull-witted people without understanding and totally self-absorbed, and wilful scribes who were committed to attempting to frustrate "The Faith" as much as they could.
- 3. This "descent" was also a "return" to The Nine who were not as far along as we might wish for them to be.
- B. Upon this return, Jesus and The Three saw a large crowd around The Nine and scribes arguing with them.
- 1. "The disciples" were surrounded by a large number of people as "audience".
- 2. The center of the picture was of "The Nine" in a, probably heated, argument with "scribes".
- a) "Scribes" in Mark are the "attack dogs" just waiting for an opportunity to attack, or, in this case, actually taking advantage of an opportunity to go into attack mode.
- b) According to Mark 3:22-30, these men were "beyond forgiveness" (as a group, not necessarily including every individual in the group -- as 12:28-34 reveals).
- c) In the immediately preceding text, it was the "scribes" leading the "Elijah must come first" rejection of Jesus as "Christ". They were rooting their "rejection" in "Scripture", but it was not actually "Scripture", but, rather, their misguided grasp of its content.
- d) The "questioning" is expressed with "suzeteo".
- 1) Mark used this word in six texts of his record.
- i. In 1:27 it refers to people talking to each other in amazement because they did not understand what "doctrine" Jesus was declaring, nor how He could teach "with such authority". This was not a "heated debate", but a confusion of ignorance sponsoring a confusing of jabbering.
- ii. In 8:11 it is decidedly antagonistic and centered, not around a hubbub of voices, but, rather, a pointed "question" that was intended to trip Jesus up.
- iii. In 9:10 it is "The Three" trying to figure out what Jesus meant by His declaration that He was going to "rise from the dead".
- iv. In 9:14 (our current text) it is, more than likely, a heated, multi-voiced argument.
- v. In 9:16 Jesus asks the scribes what their "problem" is.
- vi. In 12:28 (Mark's last use of this word) we are again reading of a "challenging" by a "scribe" that Jesus has stumped.
- 2) Mark wants us to realize that the "scribes" have jumped on the opportunity to show the disciples up as fraudulent men following a false Messiah.
- i. This is a record of the continuing "build-up" of scribal opposition to "faith in Jesus".
- ii. This is Mark's presentation of the on-going, determined efforts of the scribes to "put Jesus in His place" so as to undercut His message and its impact.
- iii. This opposition because of "failure" is irrational. That the disciples had, on many occasions, successfully cast demons out of people, indicates that this particular "failure" was "unusual" so that whatever the scribes were saying was simply an attempt to turn the issue upside down by trying to argue that the "failure" was the norm and the "successes" were mere flukes.
- 3. Everywhere in Mark's record, the issue of having to take a public "position" regarding Jesus as "Christ" is raised. Tangling with "scribes" was no small matter for most of "The Twelve" since they had no "formal education" or "standing" for public "theological debate" (as in Acts 4:13).
