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Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The Priests & Judas Iscariot
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The Priests & Judas Iscariot
by BRF - Dick France
The PRIESTS & JUDAS ISCARIOT We have had plenty of indications of how the religious authorities are reacting to Jesus. Even as far back as 3:6 they were plotting his death. Now he is in Jerusalem, within their grasp, and the time has come…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The End?
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The End?
by BRF - Dick France
The End? The death of Jesus Most victims of crucifixion lingered on in pain for many hours, and gradually lost consciousness. Jesus’ death is very different. Now that he has borne the ultimate horror of his Father’s withdrawal from him, his work is done, and his death comes sudde…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - A Demonstration in the Temple
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - A Demonstration in the Temple
by BRF - Dick France
A DEMONSTRATION in the TEMPLE Mark has carefully interwoven two themes here, as the scene shifts repeatedly between the temple and a fig tree on the Bethany road, thus: Verse 11, temple; verses 12–14, fig tree; verses 15–19, temple; verses 20–25, fig tree; verse 27, temple (which…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - A Difficult Visit to Nazareth
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - A Difficult Visit to Nazareth
by BRF - Dick France
A Difficult Visit to Nazareth Nazareth was a small, rather insignificant village tucked away in the hills between the lake of Galilee and the Mediterranean, and away from the main centres of population. It was Jesus’ home (1:9, 24), but for the whole of his public activity so far…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Dead and Buried
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Dead and Buried
by BRF - Dick France
DEAD & BURIED The sabbath The Jewish day began and ended at sunset. So the evening of that Friday would be the beginning of the sabbath. The desire to bury the body of Jesus before the sabbath began was partly due to the convention that it was not proper for the body to remain pu…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Betrayal & Arrest
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Betrayal & Arrest
by BRF - Dick France
Betrayal and Arrest The arrest of Jesus is carried out by an armed ‘crowd’, not specifically described as either soldiers or police, but sent out with the authority of ‘the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders’. Mark has used this full listing of the component groups of the…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - He Is Not There
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - He Is Not There
by BRF - Dick France
“He is Not Here” All four Gospels tell about the finding of the empty tomb early on Sunday morning. The details do not all agree—how many women? which women? the stone already gone or an angel rolling it back? How many angels and where were they? and just what did they say? But t…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - PBC Mark: Introduction
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - PBC Mark: Introduction
by BRF - Dick France
PBC MARK: INTRODUCTION Many members of the first-century churches could not read, and many more could not afford to possess a scroll of their own. So we should think of our New Testament books as intended to be read aloud, when the members of the church were gathered together. Ma…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Enter Pontius Pilate
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Enter Pontius Pilate
by BRF - Dick France
ENTER PONTIUS PILATE It was one thing for a Jewish court to decide on the death penalty, but quite another to implement it. Under the direct Roman rule which had now been imposed in Judea the right to pronounce the death penalty was reserved to the Roman governor alone. So to ach…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Trouble Ahead
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Trouble Ahead
by BRF - Dick France
A DEMONSTRATION in the TEMPLE Mark has carefully interwoven two themes here, as the scene shifts repeatedly between the temple and a fig tree on the Bethany road, thus: Verse 11, temple; verses 12–14, fig tree; verses 15–19, temple; verses 20–25, fig tree; verse 27, temple (which…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The Veil Is Drawn Aside
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The Veil Is Drawn Aside
by BRF - Dick France
The VEIL is DRAWN ASIDE There is a further possible meaning of Jesus’ puzzling saying in verse 1 about seeing that the kingdom of God has come with power. For ‘some’ (only three) of those who heard it would indeed have a more immediate vision of power and glory, a foretaste of wh…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Ultimate Realities
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Ultimate Realities
by BRF - Dick France
ULTIMATE REALITIES Gaining and losing Verses 35–37 are hard to translate, since the same Greek word, here translated by ‘life’ (but sometimes also by ‘soul’), means both the fact of being physically alive and not dead and also the real self which is far more than physical life an…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The Secret is Unveiled
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The Secret is Unveiled
by BRF - Dick France
The SECRET is UNVEILED ‘Are you the Messiah?’ The high priest’s question is not so much a change of subject as it may seem. To claim, as Jesus is alleged to have claimed, the right to replace the temple was, in effect, to claim to be the Messiah, since the Messiah was expected to…
Mark The People's Commentary - ‘BLASPHEMY against the HOLY SPIRIT’
Mark The People's Commentary - ‘BLASPHEMY against the HOLY SPIRIT’
by BRF - Dick France
‘BLASPHEMY against the HOLY SPIRIT’ For Satan or against him? In verses 23–27 Jesus offers what might be called a ‘common-sense’ reply. The scribes’ accusation does not make sense. Why should Satan want Jesus to drive out his own demonic forces. That would be to divide and weaken…
Mark The People's bible commentary - Alone on the Cross
Mark The People's bible commentary - Alone on the Cross
by BRF - Dick France
Alone on the Cross If to overhear Jesus praying in Gethsemane was to tread on holy ground, surely here we venture into the Holy of Holies, as we hear the only words of Jesus on the cross which Mark has recorded. Indeed, these are the only words of Jesus in this Gospel after his e…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - "Not One of Us"
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - "Not One of Us"
by BRF - Dick France
John the son of Zebedee was one of the ‘Sons of Thunder’ (3:17) and here he lives up to his name. In 10:35–40 he and his brother James will show even more blatantly how far they have yet to go to grasp the values of the kingdom of God...
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Another Blind Man