23 February 2010
Psalm 45; Gen. 37:12-24; 1 Cor. 1:20-31; Mark 1:14-28

The last time we are told Joseph is with his brothers among the sheep he came back to dad bearing tales. They have every reason to suspect he is up to the same mission this time. Their reaction to seeing their brother tells us that their hatred of him was not hyperbole but was deadly real. For the third time in the book of Genesis (and potentially the fourth depending on what we make of the situation with Ishmael and Isaac that caused Sara to demand that Ishmael be driven away) we see a potential fratricide over jealousy. Fortunately, Ruben steps in and saves Joseph from his brothers’ murderous intent. We know nothing of Joseph’s reaction to any of this, what he thought or said, nothing at all. The text is strangely silent on this issue.

Jesus calls the first disciples and does his first miracle in Capernaum in Galilee. As I mentioned, Mark’s readers will never be bored as the action moves swiftly. Here in the healing in the synagogue we see another characteristic of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus telling someone or something (like demons) not to divulge what they know, His identity, the Messianic secret. The time has not come for that to be openly spoken and demons are not the bearers of that testimony. If Jesus said He didn’t need the testimony of men, how much less the testimony of demons. His power over them is testimony enough.

Paul’s argument is interesting, since philosophers and other wise men could not see or understand God, God chose what was foolishness in the eyes of the world to reveal Himself, the foolishness of a man dying on a cross. As he says, it is foolishness to Greeks that the God of the universe is said to have died on a cross but a great stumbling-block to Jews as the Scripture says, “Cursed is the one who hangs on a tree” and this was applied to those who die on the cross. At the end of that argument, Paul points to the Corinthians themselves and asks if they are not also the foolishness of God, not being an impressive lot. He isn’t saying this to embarrass them, but rather to build them up, God has used them to point out the foolishness of the world.

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness