Kata Markon

[phil AT sedona.net (Philip B Lewis)]

On Nov.2 Susan Jeffers wrote:

>Last meeting of a local Bible study group we discussed Mark 6:47-52.
>Someone asked whether "walking on water" was something Mark's readers or
>Jesus' followers or any of the others "back then" would have been familiar
>with.  In other words, are there other biblical instances of this
>miraculous behavior, or extrabiblical examples, in the way that one can
>find extrabiblical precedent for such other synoptic miracles as virgin
>birth, healings, and casting out demons.
>

Since then several replies have been offered.  In response to her question
of whether there were extrabiblical examples, may I point out the probable
"original pattern" for the story as it developed in tradition before
reaching Mark, namely _ben Sirah_, (Ecclesiasticus) in the OT Apocrypha,
Ch.24.  One finds there a poetic praise of Wisdom which has Wisdom saying,
vss.3-8: [NRSV]
        "I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,
        and covered the earth like a mist.
        I dwelt in the highest heavens,
        and my throne was in a pillar of cloud.
        Alone I compassed the vault of heaven
        and traversed the depths of the abyss.
        Over waves of the sea, over all the earth,
        and over every people and nation I have held sway...
        ...Then the Creator of all things
        gave me a command...
        ...He said, 'Make your dwelling in Jacob,
        and in Israel receive your inheritance.'"

The "original pattern" of the story in GMark must be distinguished from the
*use* Mark made of the story in the Gospel.

Several phrases in _ben Sirah_ would be suggestive to anyone telling a story
about Jesus and his "triumph over the waves."  In _ben Sirah_ itself, of
course, the poem in praise of Wisdom likened her to The Word (from the mouth
of God) through which Creation took place.  "Logos Christianity" exercises
the same appeal to scriptural history.

But Mark used the story as it came to him with reference to Israel's escape
from Pharaoh's host at the Red Sea crossing.  The disciples struggle against
the wind until the fateful hour of Israel's deliverance when Jesus appears
intending to "pass them by", just as the divinely sent ANGELOS of the Exodus
story passed Israel by to stand between the people and their pursuers.  Then
passing by to guide them through their wilderness wandering.  (Note that
Ex.23.20 forms the first part of the conflation of scripture in Mk.1.2.)

What Mark does with this story is to offer it as "a sign" in his "Messiah of
Israel" chapter, beginning with the Feeding of the 5k, and going on with one
"bread reference" after another through the healing of a deaf-mute.  That
collection of five pericopes is then paralleled by a second collection of
five in Mk.8.1-26 in which Jesus is presented as Lord of the Gentiles.
Therein after the Feeding of the 4k we find Jesus refusing to give a sign
"to this generation" (signifying the outsiders).  The refusal
counter-balances the "sign" offered by the story of Jesus' Walking on the
Water.  The disciples, of course, do not "understand about the loaves"
(vs.52).  Mark has been develop[ing in both the Messiah of Israel structure
and the Lord of the Gentiles structure a Bread Theme, the dominant message
of which is "Man does not live by bread alone but by everything that comes
from the mouth of God."

Mark is a genius, little appreciated IMO.

Philip


-phil AT sedona.net
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