It just ain’t happening ... (Part 5 - of 12) ... faithfulness, wisdom, & prayer...when the miracles don’t come. Mark ch9v14-29 (to open in a new window, hold control down as you click the link)
The Plot & Narrative Context:
The more immediate back-story
here (Mk 8:27-9:32) seems to involve Jesus trying to
break the strong (Imperial) cultural understanding that "Leadership = ruling
with power”. Jesus has kept this attack on cherished values &
understandings until the appropriate time. It is only after Peter announces
that he thinks Jesus is God’s Messiah that Jesus attacks this presupposition
& attempts to bring to Peter & the other disciples the idea that God’s
ultimate leader (the Messiah) was going to lead the WAY in suffering service of
those under his charge. Peter doesn’t listen to Jesus, instead he listens to
his cultural mores & presuppositions. Jesus responds strongly to Peter’s
unbelieving response, with the effect of “breaking down that strong-hold”, then
calls all his disciples together to make sure they understand he is outlining
the antithetical paradigm of his kingdom. A very different “rejected,
suffering, dying, rising” - Messianic
way. He spells this out as the same WAY for all his disciples, and he goes on
to say ... “I tell you, there are some here who will not die until they have
seen the Kingdom of God come with power.”[1] Then Mark continues, that (within a week)
“six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain, where they
were alone...” (Mark9:2); & Matthew’s story (Matt 16:13-17:23) says almost the same at this
point, word for word[2].
A number of times it happens that Matthew or Luke, explain a conundrum Mark has
maintained in his written rendition of this spoken gospel. In this case Luke’s
rendition (Lk 9:18-9:45) has essentially the same words
but with one small omission[3]
& one small and for our purposes very interesting variation: instead of
saying “where they were alone”, as
Mark & Matthew do, Luke says they went up a mountain/hill “to pray”. Then he explains (what is in
italics) further that it was “While he
was praying, his face changed its appearance, and his clothes became
dazzling white…. 32 Peter and his
companions were sound asleep, but they
woke up and saw Jesus' glory and the two men who were standing with him.”
Luke tells us also, that Peter, James & John fell
asleep. Sounds familiar? - to an incident that Mark does record later (Mk 14:26,32-42), where Jesus repeatedly prays
on, & the same three repeatedly sleep on … There is only so much room in a
manuscript (& nowadays Assignment tasks have word-limits, lounge-room meetings
don’t have unlimited time)...
Was Mark wanting to entice
people to see that if his disciples went up a high mountain alone with
Jesus, of course they’d (well, he’d) be praying. Maybe he wanted them to think
about, & … (as Peter used to come to Jesus after his stories) come and ask him later, something like: … “What does
Jesus think about prayer?”, “When did Jesus pray?” or “How did Jesus pray?”[4].
As for the two men with him, Moses & Elijah.. remember
that it was Moses who went up a mountain/hill next to a battlefield [Exodus 17:8-16] to hold up the rod of God (a
gesture that may be seen as indicative to the Jewish mind-set of “prayer”) -
with the help of Hur & Aaron, while Joshua was leading the people of God to
victory in a fight against the Amalekites. Although prayer is not even
mentioned in this story, it is similarly hinted at by the lifting of hands unto
God in the heavens. Their “prayer” may seem irrelevant & unrelated, but
this OT story is told in such a way that we come to see that somehow it enabled the battle to be won (or
not) by the people of God, it was actually the power-house[5].
And now, here’s Jesus up a mountain along with that same Moses. We don’t get from Mark’s account that
they were praying (unless we follow our curiosity & ask, & recall from
the story already, & look ...in Luke, or unless we were to understand that
little phrase “to be alone” as a euphemism related to prayer: “alone”, “in
private”, or “away from people” (which is consistent with other teaching Jesus
gave on prayer [Matt6:5-7] - to go away alone to pray). Elijah[6],
also models both “all alone” prayer, and models a “pray and not give up” kind
of prayer in a difficult situation that
looks like failure, when things have gone wrong. He was probably followed
by his disciple Elisha[7],
& this may have been in the mind of Jesus later in the garden, Peter[8]
in Judea, & the apostle Paul regarding his “thorn in the flesh”[9].
And it may have been another clue for the disciples (later on) as they
considered the way forward through the difficulties involved in a life of
following Jesus[10].
Luke also tells us he was discussing with Moses & Elijah “his exodus”..
Is Mark baiting/ hiding/ covering? I think he is. As one who
wraps a present for someone they love, not because they don’t want them to ever
see it, or remember it as a present from someone who loved them, but because
they want to heighten their enjoyment & make it more memorable. In Jesus’
words (as recorded by Mark): “Whatever is hidden is meant to be revealed, whatever is covered
up is meant to be brought out into the open”[11].
[1] “with power” - - a power
directed not against God’s own children, but against God’s own enemy cf. Paul's
admonition which, as I see it, could also well be made in the light of this
(and other) pericope: “Finally,
build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of his mighty
power. Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able
to stand up against the Devil's evil tricks. .. Do all this in prayer, asking
for God's help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. For this reason
keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God's people.” (Eph6:10-20)
[2]except that Matthew renders
Mark’s words “Kingdom of God come with power” as “Son of Man come as King”, as
it appears to me, explaining the more obscure, “salty”, or baiting words of
Mark.
[3]Luke says “I assure you that there are some here who
will not die until they have seen the Kingdom of God.” thus omitting the words
“come with power” that Mark uses.
[4] Once we see this, we see
that after this story Mark again raises the issue of prayer throughout his
gospel story not just once, but repeatedly: e.g. Mark 11:22-26;
12:38-40; 13:18-20, 28-33, 35-37; 14:26,32-42, and it is often related to faith/
faithfulness. See also Appendix 1.
[5] Interestingly, this story in
Exodus ends with a special comment from God for Moses to pass a reminder of
this battle on to Joshua (which was actually Jesus' name), vs. 14, that God
will certainly destroy the Amalekites (“Nur Masalha, Elliot Horowitz and Josef Stern suggest that Amalekites have come to
represent an "eternally irreconcilable enemy" that wants to destroy
[God's people]”.[12])
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