Conrad Gempf

re: Mk 14:53-54, 66-72 — posted on Blue sky

@BrianZahnd Not just the Bible, Brian. Contemporary society trains people to see “books as data-intake vehicles for optimizing knowledge rather than, you know, things to intellectually engage with.” —Kreitzman, on lithub . com

re: Mk 14:51-52 — posted on Blue sky

re: Mk 14:47 — posted on Blue sky

re: Mk 14:43-45 — posted on Blue sky

Mk 14:36 — posted on Blue sky

Mk 14:26 — I miss my friend Jeremy. Historian me reads that the Last Supper ended with a hymn, and all I can think about is “what hymn?” Instead, Jeremy reads 14:26 and worships. —moving from X to Blue sky

Mk 14:3-11 — That “the poor will always be there” comes from Dt 15:11, which stresses our duty to help. The point in Mark is to discern an occasion. Always give; know when to splurge. —moving from X to Blue sky

Mk 13:29, 32 — Two final paragraphs summarize Jesus’s speech correcting verse 4. The labour pain/signs tell you it’s immanent & inexorable. But they don’t tell you precisely when. —moving from X to Blue sky

Mk 13 — Many English Bibles split the chapter incorrectly. Before verse 28, it’s “what are the signs.” After, it’s “how to read signs.” —moving from X to Blue sky

Mk 13 — The key to Mk 13 is the disciples’ mistake in verse 4. They assume the end of the Temple = the endtimes. Jesus has to pull those things apart. —moving from X to Blue sky

Mk 12:28-34 — Usually Jesus says that the Kingdom has come near (to us). But to a guy who truly understands the Law, Jesus inverts it: “YOU are not far…” Is it the same thing?

Mk 12:25 — Ok, pictures of dead folks with harps, wings, & halos are dumb. But Jesus did say “…they will be like the angels.” What will this entail? Wings? Rings of eyes? God knows.

Mk 12:25 — At “The Resurrection”, it’s not just that the Fall will be undone. Even some good things of the old creation will no longer apply. It really is a new heavens & earth.

@BrianZahnd Like those soldiers before the cross, we have held Jesus captive & dressed him up with the artefacts of an earthly ruler (Mk 15:16-20). But they KNEW they were mocking him; we don’t.

Mk 12:1-12 — I sometimes wonder if the first 3 gospels intend to give the public parable & the 4th to give Jesus’s private explanation. Does “he had one left to send, a son, whom he loved” = Jn 3:16?

@BrianZahnd I love this. Compared to the transformation of “cross as the hatred of the Empire” to “cross as the love of the Kingdom”, the transformation water to wine is trivial.

Mk 11:27-33 — The politician Pharisees ask themselves “If we say answer X how does that make us look?” rather than consider “Is answer X true?” Do not seek and you will not find.

@BrianZahnd “… for all are jerks and fall short of the glory of God…” (Ro 3:23, Rick Barr translation)

@BrianZahnd Pity any emperor who becomes a follower of Jesus! Compartmentalize your faith from ruling & you’re an inconsistent jerk; try to integrate the two as best as you humanly can & you’re a nationalistic jerk; abdicate & you’re a jerk who’s missed an opportunity to enact true justice.