In Mark 1:5, John the Baptizer is very popular:
“And the whole Judean region and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.”
Then, presumably with all of these people watching, this happens in Mark 1:10-11:
“and just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. 11 And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.””
After John the Baptizer is arrested, Jesus then decided to preach the “good news” that the end of the world is coming (Mark 1:14-15):
“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.””
Here’s where is doesn’t add up…in Mark 1:16-20, Jesus has to search out people to follow him and only finds four fishermen.
“As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.”
After that he performs miracles and his “fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee” (Mark 1:28), however, it’s not until Mark 2:14 that he finds another follower:
“he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him”
My question:
If all of the people of Jerusalem were going out to see John the Baptizer and they watched the heavens tear apart and the voice of God speak, why didn’t Jesus instantly have a huge following?
“In Mark’s gospel, it is only Jesus who sees this vision and hears the voice, which is directly addressed to Jesus in the 2nd-person singular. Later on, in Mark’s account of the transfiguration. The voice speaks of Jesus in the third person, and tells a few disciples to listen to him.”
Thanks, I never actually noticed that it says only Jesus saw that happening (“he saw the heavens torn apart”).
You would think though that after he saw and heard this that he would have immediately told everyone and he’d have followers from then.
cstu said
“In Mark’s gospel, it is only Jesus who sees this vision and hears the voice, which is directly addressed to Jesus in the 2nd-person singular. Later on, in Mark’s account of the transfiguration. The voice speaks of Jesus in the third person, and tells a few disciples to listen to him.”
Thanks, I never actually noticed that it says only Jesus saw that happening (“he saw the heavens torn apart”).
You would think though that after he saw and heard this that he would have immediately told everyone and he’d have followers from then.
Except in “Mark”, it is a strong underlying current throughout the Gospel that Jesus does not reveal everything about his Messianic status for most of his ministry, and even at the end only to his disciples, who do not fully understand what was revealed until, evidently, after the original end of the gospel of Mark. Halfway through, at the transfiguration, the three disciples who witness it are not to go spreading the word. He admonishes demons he is exorcising from saying who he is, he tells people who were the beneficiaries of exorcisms and healing miracles not to tell, and etc.
So it is at the very least compatible with this tendency in the rest of the text of “Mark”, which goes under the lovely heading of “The Messianic Secret”, for Jesus to not yell out, “hey, guys, you’ll never believe what just happened to me!”.
Robert said
BruceRMcF said
Except in “Mark”, it is a strong underlying current throughout the Gospel that Jesus does not reveal everything about his Messianic status for most of his ministry, and even at the end only to his disciples, who do not fully understand what was revealed until, evidently, after the original end of the gospel of Mark. Halfway through, at the transfiguration, the three disciples who witness it are not to go spreading the word. He admonishes demons he is exorcising from saying who he is, he tells people who were the beneficiaries of exorcisms and healing miracles not to tell, and etc.
So it is at the very least compatible with this tendency in the rest of the text of “Mark”, which goes under the lovely heading of “The Messianic Secret”, for Jesus to not yell out, “hey, guys, you’ll never believe what just happened to me!”.I appreciate the humor, Bruce, but we could at least expect Jesus to record a YouTube video to be posted later for posterity. Is that really too much to ask?
Perhaps he did and it was just lost.
I am not going to assume one way or the other whether Mark’s Messianic Secret faithfully reflected Jesus’s approach to teaching disciples versus the assembled crowd, but, yeah, a Youtube recorded in a discreet location to be viewed later might be seen as fitting for the Jesus as portrayed in Mark.
But getting either digital or analog video storage mediums to survive over the centuries is an even trickier challenge than the manuscript text preservation problem, so if he did, it would be lost to the sands of time. Oh well.
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