The Last Supper is a remarkable overlap of ritual and routine. The menu for the meal recorded in this chapter was almost certainly quite familiar everyday food for Jesus and his disciples, and yet it was also a Passover meal with deep historical and ritual significance. This same ...عرض المزيد
Mark 13 - Not one stone
The destruction of the temple seems to be blended here with the end of time, and things are not super clear. This chapter is almost entirely a sustained speech by Jesus, which is prompted by some observations about the impermanence of the temple. Some of it seems quite specifical ...عرض المزيد
Mark 11 - The fig tree you cursed
A number of challenging statements are made in this chapter of Mark. We focus on the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree, which seems somewhat unfair given that it was not the season for figs. There's something interesting here because when the disciples ask about it Jesus answers ...عرض المزيد
Mark 10 - What do you want?
Is it possible that Jesus enhances the gift by allowing Bartimaeus agency in choosing it? At first it seems almost strange for a proven healer to ask a blind man what he wants, and yet that is the conversation between Jesus and Bartimaeus. We explore this story and some others wi ...عرض المزيد
Mark 9 - Only by prayer
A lot happens for the disciples once Peter declares Jesus to be the Messiah. It is fascinating to connect this conversation Jesus has with his disciples with the story of the Transfiguration which happens soon afterwards. The preceding healing of a blind man is the only recorded ...عرض المزيد