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Twist family Bible study: the Gospel of Mark
Wayne:
:) No problem - like so many things, it's open to interpretation.
By the way remember though the difference between apostles and disciples. There were exactly 12 apostles, but many followers of Jesus were called disciples. So the beloved disciple is not necessarily one of the 12 apostles.
Also the "book of John" itself does not state who the author was. It came to be ascribed to John only later by tradition.
Wayne:
Well, I've had a hard day. My cat Mister Mew died yesterday afternoon... no illness, just sleeping on the couch.
I love him so much. He will be part of me forever.
Wayne:
In Mark 14, Jesus is back at Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper. A woman brings an alabaster box of expensive perfume, pure nard, breaks the box and pours the perfume on Jesus's head.
The gospel of John tells us that Jesus had come to Bethany to be with Lazarus, and this woman is Mary the sister of Lazarus. Remember that Bethany is their home town.
The gospel of Luke says that this woman was a sinner, and she poured the perfume on his feet instead of his head, and wiped it with her hair and her tears. (My tears are with Mister Mew today...) Luke also says that this dinner was at the home of a Pharisee.
Wayne:
The next day Jesus tells the disciples that arrangements have been made for Passover supper at an upper room in the city. Again we might wonder who made the arrangements. Could it have been the Beloved Disciple?
At dinner, Jesus tells the twelve apostles that one of them will betray him. Many of them ask, "surely not I?" He tells them that the one who will betray him is the one who shares bread with him at a certain moment. Mark doesn't say whether Jesus told everyone it was Judas, but John says that he told only the beloved disciple, and the rest of the apostles did not know.
The betrayer of course turns out to be Judas Iscariot. Incidentally, if I understand correctly, Judas is the only one of the twelve apostles who was from Judea rather than Galilee.
Wayne:
Jesus tells them the time has come. This is the last wine he will drink until the kingdom of God arrives.
He tells Peter that Peter will deny knowing him 3 times before morning. Peter is aghast.
He takes the disciples to the garden of Gethsemane. Peter, John, and James fall asleep while Jesus prays. Judas arrives with the authorities carrying swords and clubs. All the disciples flee, except for one:
"A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they seized him. But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked."
As we noted above, this sounds reminiscent of the young man of Secret Mark, and of the Beloved Disciple, the author of the gospel of John, whether that is the Apostle John, or the disciple Lazarus, or someone else. The writer of the gospel of John had details about Jesus's prayers in Gethsemane as well as the arrest and subsequent events that none of the other gospels include.
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