The way of imagination

“She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed…what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”… Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council…went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus…   When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Joseph… taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb…”  (Mark 14.8-9; 15.43-46)        Who cares about a dead king?   As Mark will tell us, not those whom we might have expected…   As the corpse of the Messiah hangs from the cross, Mark provides the names of three women and mentions “many others” who had followed Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem and who were watching events transpire from a distance (15.40-41).   This is the first time in the narrative that we meet these women.   Upon Peter’s d...

“ It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left…When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land…At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” …Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.    Now when the centurion…saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”   (Mark 15.25-27, 33-39)        Jesus came to Jerusalem as the king of Israel .   That is evident from the demons’ frequent declarations of Jesus’ identity as Son of God (e.g. 1.24; 3.11), Peter’s confession (8.29), God’s two declarations of Jesus’ sonship (1.11; 9.7), and the crowd’s acclamation duri...

“ While they were eating, [Jesus] took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” (Mark 14.22-25)      Jesus came to Jerusalem as a priest – as the mediator of a new covenant between Yahweh and his people.   A prophet speaks for God to the people; a priest represents the people before God, stands in their place.   Jesus came to Jerusalem at Passover time to make a sacrifice – a sacrifice that would not occur within the confines of the Temple, a sacrifice very different from (but not unrelated to) the slaughter of the Passover lamb (cf. Mk. 14.12), a sacrifice that would do for...

  “ [Jesus] entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple… And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.” (Mark 11.15-18)        Jesus came to Jerusalem as a prophet of doom – to announce and enact the outpouring of God’s wrath on the Temple, just as Jeremiah had done six centuries earlier.   There had always been a prophetic dimension to Jesus’ mission.   In Galilee, Jesus had spent much time speaking “the word” (of God) to the crowds who thronged around him in search of healing (cf. Mk. 2.2; 4.1-9, 33).   The subject of Jesus’ message (“word”) was the kingdom of God (cf. 1.14-15; 4.26-32...

  “ Some stood up and gave false testimony against [Jesus], saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” …Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus…“Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power,’ and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’” (Mark 14.57-62)        Jesus came to Jerusalem to fight – not with weapons, but with words.   Like Jeremiah before him, Jesus was convinced that the Temple and its hierarchy had become hopelessly corrupt and was ripe for judgment.   Jesus came to confront those same people who had slandered him in Galilee, those who had accused him of being in league with Satan and of being demon-possessed (cf. Mk. 3.22-30).   Then, Jesus had accused his accusers of blasphemy, and soon, they will ret...

  “ But in those days… the sun will be darkened,     and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven,     and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.” (Mark 13.24-27)      We have seen that several dark themes converge as Jesus enters Jerusalem and teaches day-by-day in the Temple.   In the preceding chapter, Jesus had told the apostles: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles;   they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.” (Mk. 10.33-34) Not only ...