Jerusalem.
In today's gospel Christ stops at Jericho. In Mark's next chapter, He is in Jerusalem.
This gospel itself is unusual. It contains another encounter with another blind man. This time Christ cures him immediately and there is none of the "hidden" qualities of the previous encounter where the blind man was enjoined not to tell anyone of the miracle. According to an interesting interpretation I heard recently by a Holy Ghost father, Mark is writing for a Roman audience under persecution with the specific intent to emphasize the spiritual rather than any physical development. Here Christ is hurrying the time, pushing everything along. He is going to Jerusalem.
This gospel is introduced with lines from Paul's letter to the Hebrews, 5: 1-6 which ends with the line "Thou art a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek," a quote from the Psalms. Who is Melchizedek? He appears once and only once in the Old Testament, in Genesis, in the story of Abraham when he rescues his kidnapped nephew, Lot, by defeating a coalition of Mesopotamian kings. Melchizedek is identified as the king of Salem, a "priest of the most high God" and he brings bread and wine and Abraham, the victor of this world changing battle, gives him tithes.
Melchizedek is an old Canaanite name meaning “My King Is Righteousness.” Salem, of which he is said to be king, is probably Jerusalem. So a Canaanite is a king before Abraham, a priest before the Levitical Priesthood, he offers bread and wine and is honored by the new king of Canaan.
There is a self-contained completeness here reminiscent of great poetry. Adrienne Rich writes that "Poetry is above all a concentration of the power of language, which is the power of our ultimate relationship to everything in the universe...." Here is a moment where one can only wonder at the power of the event, an event that is more poetic than historical. In essence a universal being inserts himself into human time, into the boundaries of history. And that this event is not just reflected in history, not just symbolized. He was there before the Hebrews, before Abraham. He has been waiting.
In Jerusalem.
In today's gospel Christ stops at Jericho. In Mark's next chapter, He is in Jerusalem.
This gospel itself is unusual. It contains another encounter with another blind man. This time Christ cures him immediately and there is none of the "hidden" qualities of the previous encounter where the blind man was enjoined not to tell anyone of the miracle. According to an interesting interpretation I heard recently by a Holy Ghost father, Mark is writing for a Roman audience under persecution with the specific intent to emphasize the spiritual rather than any physical development. Here Christ is hurrying the time, pushing everything along. He is going to Jerusalem.
This gospel is introduced with lines from Paul's letter to the Hebrews, 5: 1-6 which ends with the line "Thou art a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek," a quote from the Psalms. Who is Melchizedek? He appears once and only once in the Old Testament, in Genesis, in the story of Abraham when he rescues his kidnapped nephew, Lot, by defeating a coalition of Mesopotamian kings. Melchizedek is identified as the king of Salem, a "priest of the most high God" and he brings bread and wine and Abraham, the victor of this world changing battle, gives him tithes.
Melchizedek is an old Canaanite name meaning “My King Is Righteousness.” Salem, of which he is said to be king, is probably Jerusalem. So a Canaanite is a king before Abraham, a priest before the Levitical Priesthood, he offers bread and wine and is honored by the new king of Canaan.
There is a self-contained completeness here reminiscent of great poetry. Adrienne Rich writes that "Poetry is above all a concentration of the power of language, which is the power of our ultimate relationship to everything in the universe...." Here is a moment where one can only wonder at the power of the event, an event that is more poetic than historical. In essence a universal being inserts himself into human time, into the boundaries of history. And that this event is not just reflected in history, not just symbolized. He was there before the Hebrews, before Abraham. He has been waiting.
In Jerusalem.
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