A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (30)
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet.”’
David himself calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?” And
the large crowd was listening to him with delight.” (Mark 12.35-37; quoting
Ps. 110.1)
In the 31st chapter of his
book, the prophet Jeremiah describes a new covenant that Yahweh will establish
with his people Israel. Jeremiah had
spent his life warning his contemporaries of impending disaster – the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, followed by exile in Babylonia – all
this a consequence of Yahweh’s people having flouted the covenant that had been
established with Moses following the Exodus from Egypt. For centuries, Israel had proved herself to
be an unworthy covenant-partner, and – as Jeremiah put it (31.32) – had “cheated
on” Yahweh with other gods, especially Baal.
Even as the Babylonian armies were laying siege to Jerusalem, Jeremiah
prophesied a time when Yahweh would ensure that his people would keep his law
and be faithful him – he would establish a new covenant with them. This time, God’s law would not be written on
tablets of stone, but on the very heart of each member of the people of God (Jer.
31.33). What is more:
“No longer shall they teach one
another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest…” (Jer. 31.34)
The
prophet Isaiah, in another passage about the new covenant, said:
“Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come,
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out
of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
(Isaiah 2.3; cf. 54.13)
During the last supper, Jesus takes bread
and wine and gives them to his disciples, saying “This is my body… ‘this is my
blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many’” (Mk. 14.22-24). The fact that Jesus was crucified during the Passover
festival enriches the meaning that he gave to his death as a sacrifice that
would inaugurate a covenant between Yahweh and his people, a covenant that
would renew the one established following the Exodus at Mt. Sinai (cf. Mk.
14.12; 10.45; Ex. chapters 12—20).
As we have had occasion to consider, Jesus
was a teacher. Indeed, the authority of
his teaching is the first thing that captured the attention of the people of
Capernaum (cf. Mk. 1.21-22). Jesus often
taught large crowds by the Sea of Galilee, always in the form of parables (e.g.
Mk. 4.1-34). Following Peter’s
confession of his identity as Israel’s Messiah (8.27-30), Jesus began to deliberately
and repeatedly teach his apostles that “the Son of Man must suffer, be killed
and after three days, rise again” (8.31; 9.12, 31; 10.32-34). From this point on, as Jesus tries to explain
to the apostles just what kind of king he is, and as he directs his steps
towards Jerusalem, people begin to address him as Teacher/Master/Rabbi with
increasing frequency (9.17, 38; 10.17, 35, 51).
The day after Jesus arrives in Jerusalem accompanied by large crowds of
pilgrims, he “cleanses” the Temple, putting “the chief priests and the scribes”
into a murderous rage (11.15-18). Each
new day finds Jesus in the Temple courts, teaching the crowds who are “awestruck”
at his teaching (11.18; 12.35; cf. 14.49).
Beginning in 11.27 and extending to 12.34, Jesus fields a series of
trick questions from his adversaries in the Temple hierarchy. Most of these public exchanges begin with Jesus
being greeted as “Teacher” (12.14, 19).
Jesus, the agent of the new covenant, is
in the very house of Yahweh, teaching the people of God. Jeremiah and Isaiah would have been
pleased. As we will see, in the course
of his debates with his opponents, Jesus will interpret the Scriptures (the
Law), just as he has previously done (cf. Mk. 7.1-23). Jesus’ skill and incisive insight into the
Torah leave those who are receptive to his words pleased and in awe (cf. Mk. 11.18;
12.37) all the while serving to intimidate those who would oppose him (Mk.
12.34). Yahweh has come to teach his people
in person, and yet, as we have seen time and time again, the hearts of many will
remain “hardened”, their ears ever deaf and their eyes blind to the truth of Yahweh’s
final messenger.
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