The way of imagination

  “Again [Jesus] began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.   He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! A sower went out to sow...” (Mk. 4.1-3)      Though Mark has made it clear that Jesus is a teacher (1.21-22, 39; 2.1-2, 13; 3.20, 32ff), he has yet to give us a glimpse of the content of that teaching.   Finally, as chapter 4 opens, the wait is over.   Once again, Jesus is by the Sea of Galilee, teaching the crowds from the safety of a fishing boat (4.1; cf. 3.7-10).   As Jesus comes aboard the vessel, he adopts the typical posture of a teacher; i.e., he sits (4.1; cf. Mt. 5.1).   Hence the expression “to sit at the feet of a master” (cf. Lk. 10.39).   Jesus speaks “the word” to the crowds (2.2; 4.14ff, 33).   In Luke’s Gospel, this “word” is the very “word of God” (cf. Lk. 5.1; 8.11, 15, 21;

  “Then [Jesus] went home;   and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.   When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”   And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” (Mk. 3.19b-22)      After a reprieve in chapter 2, the demons make a return in chapter 3.   After the confrontation with the Pharisees in the Capernaum synagogue (3.1-6), Jesus withdraws to the seaside as the ever-growing crowds of seekers-after-healing throng around him.   Jesus comes up with a strategy that will both take advantage of the topography and protect him from being trampled by those he seeks to help – he teaches the crowds from the safety of a fishing vessel floating a safe distance from the shore (3.7-10).   Jesus is like a magnet, drawing all who are sick and demon-possessed towards himself (cf. 6.56).   As usual, it is the demons who off

  “[Jesus] answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.” (Mk. 1.38-39)      Preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons – or indeed, casting out demons in synagogues (cf. 1.21-28).   It’s an intriguing way to summarize what Jesus was doing as he walked around the villages of Galilee.   As a matter of fact, most New Testament scholars – even the skeptical ones – agree that Jesus had a reputation for being an exorcist.   Needless to say, Jesus had something of a habit of disrupting the sabbath routine in the synagogues he frequented (cf. 3.1-6).   As I read Mark’s narrative, I get the uneasy sense that had I been in attendance at a synagogue when Jesus made an appearance, I may indeed have taken the side of the Pharisees.   I mean, let’s be fair.   The Pharisees were “ordinary” believers, laype