Week 02 – Thursday | Mark 2:18-22
This week’s readings are all from Mark chapter 2. Click here to see a list of each day’s readings. Each day’s segments of the readings will be posted on this site during the week. Today’s Reading: Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. So they came to Jesus and said, “Why do the disciples …
Mark 2:3-17 and Meals
In Jesus’ context meals were not at tables with chairs. Meals were most often with people lying on the floor on pallets or slightly raised benches that would have been called “couches.” The food may have been on small raised tables in the center, or simply on the floor, likely on some kind of fabric floor covering (remember, the floor for most people would have been dirt or stone). Participants likely used their hands rather than utensils such as forks and spoons, and they ate from a shared dish (think about “it is he who dips his had with me”, Mark 14:20). It was common to only eat with one hand in particular, and, in many cultures even today, that would be the right hand.
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Week 02 – Wednesday | Mark 2:13-17
Today’s reading is from Mark 2:13-17. Click here to see a list of each day’s readings for the Week 2. Each day’s segments of the readings will be posted on this site during the week.
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Week 02 – Tuesday | Mark 2:6-12
This week’s readings are all from Mark chapter 2. Click here to see a list of each day’s readings. Each day’s segments of the readings will be posted on this site during the week.
(more…)Forgiven in Mark 2:5
The Greek word for “to forgive” (afiēmi) has many uses. It means “to let go, throw, hurl, cast, send forth…throw away, abandon, unburden…release…”, just as a start. As an example of how this word and its related terms can be used, Mark has already used this word several times in what we have already read:
(more…)Speaking not Preaching in Mark 2:2
In Mark 2:2 in the NET and several other versions the Greek laleis as “preach”: “…and he preached the word to them.” (Mark 2:2 NET) “…And he was preaching the word to them.” (Mark 2:2 ESV) “…and he preached the word to them.” (Mark 2:2 NIV11) However, the word does not mean “preach.” It means …
Forgiveness and Healing for The Paralyzed Man in Mark 2
It may seem strange to us that Jesus first offers forgiveness to the paralytic brought to Jesus for healing by the paralytic’s friends. Below is insight from Jewish sources regarding the connection between sickness, sin, forgiveness, and healing. It may seem strange to us that Jesus’ first response to the paralyzed man was to engage in forgiveness of sins, but, though Jesus’ direct act of forgiveness is controversial to the scribes, the connection between forgiveness and healing itself would not have been strange to their culture.
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