Jesus and his disciples are
on the road. It would seem that they were not alone as we are told that Jesus
took the disciples aside. People would often join a group of others when
travelling, for safety reasons, so that is not surprising. However, we might wonder
as to the direction the conversation took, as we are told of those who were
there being both amazed and afraid.
Was it that they saw, or
talked, around something of the great things that Jesus was saying and doing?
Was that what caused the amazement? Was it that the sense of tension and
conflict was building? Was that the source of the fear? Jesus is leading from
the front, walking ahead. It is difficult to know how this might have
happened on the road, but Jesus takes the twelve disciples that form the core
group aside for what amounts to a private chat. Maybe they just fell into a
group and got ahead as can happen when a large group is out walking. Maybe they
stopped, perhaps for lunch, while everyone else carried on.
Jesus is described as
telling the twelve something of what is going to happen. He talks of suffering
and death, and even of resurrection. This suggests that tension was indeed building
and gives some explanation of the feeling of fear that has been expressed.
However, as we will discover, the disciples still do not ‘get’ it, even though
this is the third reported such conversation. But I wonder what we would have
made of what Jesus was saying in that situation?
Of course, we do need to
remember that Mark is writing this down long after the event, and so,
inevitably, in the light of all that happened. Like the other gospels, this is
not written as either a diary or a news report. It is a proclamation of the
good news of Jesus. As Morna Hooker (The Gospel according to Saint Mark) suggests – “Mark’s three passion predictions serve to remind his
readers not only that Jesus’ death and resurrection were part of God’s purpose,
but that Jesus himself was totally obedient to God’s will.”
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