Mark Chapters 4 through 5 - Christogenea on Talkshoe 10-21-2011

Here tonight we shall see, when we get to Mark chapter 5, that there are a couple of discrepancies in the chronology of events between Mark and Matthew, where Luke agrees with Mark, which are difficult to resolve. These do not, however, discredit the Gospel, once we realize the nature of the Gospel accounts and their purpose. At this point, Mark chapters 4 and 5 contains events found in Luke chapters 8 and 9, and also in Matthew chapters 8 and 9.

IV 1 And again He began to teach by the sea, and a very large crowd gathers to Him, so as for Him boarding into a vessel to sit in the sea, and all the crowd was by the sea upon the land.

In the ancient Greek world, it was very common for teachers of philosophy to have many followers, and to teach people in diverse places. In Acts chapter 19:9, we see a certain school of philosophy mentioned. Such schools were begun by private individuals who would attract - or perhaps already had – adherents to their philosophy. Sophists, Platonists, Epicureans, Stoics, Cynics, Gnostics, there were many different types of philosophical beliefs in the world at that time, and each had many followers and many teachers. Therefore if Christ had a few dozen followers, He would never have been so despised by the religious authorities in Judea, since it was quite normal for a philosopher to have and be followed by a few dozen students. Yet if Christ had hundreds, then hundreds more would have joined the crowd simply out of curiosity, if for nothing else, and it is not hard to imagine that there were thousands of people at many of His gatherings. By this, the official authorities would indeed feel threatened.

Interestingly, the Greeks used their leisure time for learning such things as rhetoric, philosophy and mathematics, among other things. The Greek word σχολή is rest, leisure or spare time, and it is the word from which we get the English words scholar and school. Today we have a lot of people professing a philosophy or religion, but they still live the same pop-culture lifestyle. In the ancient world, people who professed a philosophy or religion lived in the manner of those professions. Today most people are shallow, and do not live their profession. So we have gluttons and hedonists professing to be Christians, and they are hypocrites. Today American men spend their leisure time drinking beer and watching apes run a ball around on television, and we look down on our ancestors, who would probably think that most of us were retarded.

2 And He taught them with many parables and said to them in His teaching: “3 Listen! Behold, the sower has come out to sow. 4 And it happened during the sowing that some fell by the road, and having come the birds then devoured them. 5 And others fell upon the rocks where they did not have much earth, and immediately sprang up on account of not having deep earth, 6 and when the sun arose they burned and on account of not having root they withered. 7 And others fell into the thorns, and the thorns rose up and strangled them and they did not give fruit. 8 And others fell into the good earth and rising up and growing gave fruit, and one had borne thirty fold and one sixty and one a hundred.” 9 And He said: “He who has an ear to hear must hear!”

From the Septuagint, from the Wisdom of Solomon, 2:18-24: “18 For if the just man be the son of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies. 19 Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience. 20 Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected. 21 Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their own wickedness hath blinded them. 22 As for the mysteries of God, they knew them not: neither hoped they for the wages of righteousness, nor discerned a reward for blameless souls. 23 For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. 24 Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.”

I will discuss the meaning of this parable shortly, after Christ Himself explains it below. First. Another note on culture. We often see in the New Testament and the Old, phrases such as “eyes to see” and “ears to hear” of people who neither realize nor understand certain things. This adage is also found among the Greeks. While it is seen in Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, all which were written long before his own time, in the Greek tragic poet Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, on lines 446-447, we read: “First of all, though they had eyes to see, they saw to no avail; they had ears, but understood not; but, like to shapes in dreams, throughout their length of days, without purpose they wrought all things in confusion.” (Herbert Weir Smyth, trans., Loeb Classical Library.) There are other examples of this adage in Classical writings. This is illustrated as another example of philosophy and culture shared between Hebrews and Greeks. It seems simple, but a thousand such examples add up.

10 And when He was alone, those of His relations with the twelve asked Him about the parables. 11 And He said to them: “To you the mystery of the Kingdom of Yahweh is given, but to those outside all things come in parables, 12 that ‘Looking they should look and should not see, and hearing they should hear and should not understand, that at no time should they repent and it would be forgiven them!’”

The phrase οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν in the Christogenea New Testament is “those of His relations”, where in the KJV and other versions it is translated literally as “those around Him”. While that may be literal, the phrase was generally used of one's companions, associates, colleagues, relations or family. Since the apostles were chosen for His colleagues and associates, the only logical use of the word that remains is family, in the wider sense of ones national kindred, if one wants to demonstrate the fact that these people could not have been the polyhemic, multiethnic, diverse crowd so typical of such settings today. The setting being in His own land of Galilee, the intent was to show that the people around Him were indeed His kinsmen, people from His own tribe. The word “tribesmen” may have been more appropriate. The codices Bezae and Washingtonensis have “those of His students with the twelve”.

“To you the mystery of the Kingdom of Yahweh is given”: It is not that His disciples somehow had the understanding to figure out the parables for themselves. Rather, the record is clear, that they had to ask Him the meanings of His parables. For instance, at Matthew 16:11 Christ said to the disciples, “How do you not perceive that it is not concerning bread that I spoke to you? But be on guard because of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” The parables were given to the disciples to know, because He explained to His disciples what He meant by the parables, and He let everyone else to try figure out His words for themselves, if indeed they could. It is clear from verse 12, as it is also repeated in Luke at 8:9-10, that He did not want them to repent. This is a reference to Isaiah 6:9-10 where it says: “Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”

13 And He says to them: “You do not perceive this parable? Then how shall you know any parables? 14 The sower sows the Word. 15 Now these are those by the road, where he sows the Word and when they hear it, immediately the Adversary comes and takes the Word sown in them. 16 And these are those being sown upon the rocks, which when they should hear the Word, receive it immediately with joy, 17 and they do not have root in themselves but are temporary, since upon the coming of tribulation or persecution on account of the Word immediately they are entrapped. 18 And the others are those being sown in the thorns. These are those hearing the Word, 19 and the cares of this age and the deceit of riches and desires for the future entering in strangle the Word and it becomes fruitless. 20 And these are they having been sown upon the good earth, who hear and take up the Word and bear fruit, one thirty fold and one sixty and one a hundred.”

This parable should not be confused with others that use similar language, only because the language is similar. Each parable is quite independent, and has its own meaning. I reference the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, found in Matthew chapter 13, where in that parable the seed – as we are explicitly told – are actually people. Here the seed is represents the Word of God, but it also represents those who grow in that Word, especially in verses 18 through 20.

Four types of people are illustrated in this parable, and we can readily see that the majority of our people today are of three of those types.

• Those by the road: where he sows the Word and when they hear it, immediately the Adversary comes and takes the Word sown in them. The people by the road are in a place of traffic where there are many passers-by. There is the truth, and then there are many other ideas and philosophies, most of which are created by the Adversary, or Satan. You can hear the truth, and before it takes root – or develops - in you, one of these with their disputations and alternate theories comes along and convinces you out of it.

• These are those sown upon the rocks: which when they should hear the Word, receive it immediately with joy, and they do not have root in themselves but are temporary, since upon the coming of tribulation or persecution on account of the Word immediately they are entrapped. You can hear the truth, and believe it and perhaps even be comfortable with it. But unless you study for yourself why it is the truth, you will not be well established in it, having no foundation of your own. So when you are questioned, and persecuted for what you profess to believe, you will break down and perhaps even begin to renounce it, because you cannot provide the solid answers which are necessary to convict your persecutors.

• Those sown in the thorns: hearing the Word, the cares of this age and the deceit of riches and desires for the future entering in strangle the Word and it becomes fruitless. These people love the world more than they love God. They hear the Word, but they decline to live after the Word, because they would rather become wealthy in the world. Difficult it is, to become wealthy in today's world without first embracing the enemies of God.

• Those sown upon the good earth: who hear and take up the Word and bear fruit, one thirty fold and one sixty and one a hundred. These are the few, those who hear the truth and pursue it. They study it for themselves so that it develops within their minds, and they become firmly established in it. These people are unshakable, and can answer their accusers, and are also able to teach their brethren to do the same, thereby bearing fruit.

This is why it is written, that “44 The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in a field, which finding a man hides, and from his joy goes and sells all things whatever he has and buys that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a merchant man seeking a beautiful pearl. 46 And finding one very valuable pearl, having departed sold all things whatever he had and bought it!” (Matthew 13:44-46.) When one finds the truth, one hides it until he he is assured of himself, that he knows it and can defend it. Once he possesses it with certainty, then he can display it to others, showing that he has it.

21 And He said to them: “Does any lamp go that is set under a basket or under a cot? Not that is set upon a lampstand? 22 For it is not hidden except that it should be revealed, nor has it been concealed but in order that it would come to be evident. 23 If one has an ear to hear, he must hear!”

Christ is talking about His words which are uttered in these parables, the subject still being the Word represented in the parable of the sower which preceded. These sayings of Christ, the parable of the sower, this statement here, and the one which follows concerning judgement, are all found in Luke chapter 8. The lamp here, which is not hidden but placed upon a stand for everyone to see, is an allegory for the Word made flesh, the Light which is come into the world, as Yahshua Christ is described in John chapter 1. With that understanding, we see that these are quite profound words. For these sayings of Christ have indeed been a light set upon a lamp for all the civilized world to see, ever since the gospel was first spread throughout Europe. This foreknowledge which He had concerning His words is also revelatory of His divinity.

24 And He said to them: 'Watch how you listen. With the measure by which you measure it shall be measured for you and it shall be added to you. 25 For he who has, it shall be given to him, and he who has not even that which he has shall be taken from him!'

Luke 8:18 says “...even that which he supposes to have shall be taken from him.” The admonition concerns hypocritical judgement. If you judge your brethren harshly, you shall also be judged harshly. If you treat your brother fairly, you shall be judged fairly. Those who love their brethren and store treasure in heaven, shall be rewarded much. Those who care not for their brethren, have no treasure in heaven, and even what they seem to have they shall lose.

26 And He said: “Thusly is the Kingdom of Yahweh like a man who would cast seed upon the earth 27 and sleeps and arises night and day, and the seed sprouts and lengthens, how he does not know. 28 By itself the earth bears fruit: first grass, then the stalk, then the fullness of the grain on the stalk. 29 And when the fruit would be delivered, immediately he sends out the scythe, because the harvest is at hand.”

These last two statements, the one previous concerning judgement and this one concerning the harvest, both seem to be echoed in James 5:7-9: “7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Prince. Behold, the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the earth, having patience for it until he should receive the early and the late. 8 You also have patience. Establish your hearts, because the coming of the Prince has approached. 9 Do not bemoan, brethren, against one another, in order that you would not be judged. Behold: the Judge stands at the door!” Of course, from the beginning Christians were taught that the last day is imminent, because Christians should always act as if it is, as if the harvest were always at hand.

30 And He said: “How should we liken the Kingdom of Yahweh, or in what parable may we place it? 31 It is as a grain of mustard, which when it is sown upon the earth it is the smallest of all the seeds of those upon the earth, 32 and when it is sown, it comes up and becomes greater than all of the vegetables and produces great branches, so for the birds of heaven to be able to nest in its shadow!”

Our race was small in number 5,000 years ago, and grew to cover Europe, Northern Africa, and a large part of Asia quite quickly. Among those people, 2,000 years ago, the moral precepts and foundational ideas which are Christianity supplanted all of the pagan ideas in a short time. Christian society built the greatest civilization which the world had known to date. This pattern may have been repeated in the ancient world, however most of the former world empires, the great societies of the distant past, also began on solid moral principles. Paul told the Romans, that they had the truth of God and turned it into a lie, which is true. They started out as a moral republic founded upon a sense of justice and the rule of law, and ended up a debauched, demoralized, race-mixed empire embroiled in scandal and gripped in tyranny. Sounds like America today. The same disease that has stricken America, also struck ancient Rome.

33 And with many such parables He spoke to them the Word just as they were able to hear, 34 and without a parable He did not speak to them, but by Himself expounded all things to His own students.

Psalm 78:1-3: “1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: 3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.”

He spoke “just as they were able to hear”, but most of the things He said were spoken already, in the Old Testament scriptures. We today who profess to know the truth should do the same, to state it bluntly every chance we get, and let people think about it for themselves. A proper Christian weltanschauung does not need excuses or apologetic defenses.

35 And He says to them on that day, it being late: “We should go across to the other side.” 36 And having left the crowd they took Him, as He was in the vessel, and other vessels were with His. 37 And there came a great tempest of wind and the waves cast upon the vessel, so for the vessel to be already filled. 38 And He was in the stern sleeping upon a cushion. And they arouse Him and say to Him: “Teacher, is it not a concern to You that we are destroyed?” 39 And waking up He admonished the wind and said to the sea: “Silence! Be muzzled!” And the wind abated and there came a great calm. 40 And He said to them: “Why are you cowards? Not yet do you have faith?” 41 And they feared a great fear and said to one another: “So who is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Psalm 107:28-30: “28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.”

If we have faith, we know that our mission shall indeed be fulfilled, no matter the obstacles. We will get to the other side. One who is pursuing the fulfillment of a Godly mission has no concern for rocking boats.

V 1 And they came to the other side of the sea to the region of the Gadarenes, 2 and upon His coming out from the vessel immediately a man with an unclean spirit from among the tombs met Him, 3 who had a dwelling among the tombs, and not even in chains was anyone any longer able to bind him, 4 on account that often he having been bound in fetters and chains and the chains being torn apart by him and the fetters being shattered, and no one prevails to overpower him. 5 And throughout each night and day among the tombs and in the hills he was crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And seeing Yahshua from afar he had run and made obeisance to Him 7 and crying out with a great voice says: “What is there with me and with You, Yahshua Son of Yahweh the Highest? I adjure You Yahweh, do not torment me!”

“I adjure You Yahweh”: the Accusative case of the Greek words for you and God show that both of these words are the object of the noun translated as I adjure. The King James and other versions have “I adjure you by God” or something similar, however with that I would expect to see the word for God in the Dative or even in the Genitive case, accompanied by an appropriate preposition, or perhaps the inclusion of the Greek word kata with the Accusative case to express the facility of the action by God. Wanting any of these, it is difficult to read the phrase in any other manner except what is being portrayed, that the demon considers Christ to be God incarnate.

The problems with the identification of the place where this event is said to have occurred were illustrated at length when Matthew chapter 8 was discussed here some months ago. But even that illustration by itself is not sufficiently complete. Matthew, Mark and Luke all relate this event, if indeed it is a single event, and the manuscripts do not agree on the name of the place where it occurred, nor on several other aspects. Discounting the manuscripts of the Alexandrian tradition, the oldest manuscripts of Luke are generally split between Geresa and Gergesa. The oldest manuscripts of Matthew are generally split between Gadara and Gazara. In Mark they indicate Geresa. Basing a decision solely upon what is perceived to be the best manuscripts for each gospel, I would have to write Geresa in Luke and Mark, and Gadara in Matthew, which is what the NA27 also has, but even this would not necessarily be conclusive. Following the opinions of Joseph Thayer and the accounts of these places in the ancient historians, Gadara is the preferred reading for this account as it appears in the gospels, if we are to assume that all three gospels are describing a single account, as in the Christogenea New Testament I certainly did.

It is seemingly unlikely that this is a reference to an account other than that which is also described at Matthew 8:28, where the men living among the tombs and possessed by demons were two rather than one alone. Luke from Luke 8:26, tells of only one man, as Mark does here. There are other differences, for instance the mention of Legion made in Mark and Luke is wanting in Matthew, although the rest of the dialogue is similar. These differences are not really all that alarming, however they must be noted because there is also a discrepancy in the record as to when Matthew became an apostle.

First let it be said that neither Mark nor Luke had recorded these events until much later, from the testimonies handed down by other witnesses, and neither of these men were eyewitnesses themselves. We have seen that the source for the accounts throughout Mark's entire gospel was surely Peter, but we do not know exactly who Luke received his version of these accounts from.

We are told in Luke and in Mark that Levi, a publican had become an apostle prior to this event (Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27). It is apparent that Levi must be Matthew, who was also a publican, because Levi is not mentioned again, where Matthew is then mentioned among the apostles (Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15). The events in Luke and Mark which follow the selection of Levi as an apostle are the same as those following the selection of Matthew as recorded by Matthew. Yet Matthew himself tells us that he became an apostle after this event with the possessed man (or men) in Gadara. He records this event at Gadara in chapter 8 of his Gospel, and tells us in chapter 9 that he became an apostle only then. Both Luke and Mark have the account of Matthew becoming an apostle much earlier in their gospels. This discrepancy concerning when Matthew became an apostle may also be the fault of the eyewitnesses that Luke and Mark received their accounts from.

So if it were interpreted that there were indeed two incidents – one at Geresa and a later one at Gadara - Matthew knowing only of one of them - that were very similar and later confounded in the memories of the witnesses, that would explain why in Mark and in Luke the better manuscripts read Geresa, and in Matthew they read Gadara. It would also explain why Mark and Luke mention the name Legion, and Matthew does not, and why Matthew describes two possessed men and not just one. Mark and Luke may have confounded and incorporated certain events of an earlier incident at Geresa with what later happened here in a similar incident at Gadara. Geresa was across the Jordan, but it was not near Galilee, being far south. Gadara was apparently across the Jordan, near Galilee.

Bear in mind, that the gospels are only relatively brief accounts of what the writers thought were the most important events of a ministry which lasted three and a half years, and that those accounts were not set down in writing for some time after. When they were finally set down in writing, they were pieced together from various shorter accounts from different sources. Luke's and Mark's accounts were only pieced together from the testimony of other witnesses, and so is the first third of Matthew.

(8 For He had said to him: “Unclean spirit, come out from the man!”) 9 And He asked him: “What is your name?” And he says to Him: “Legion is my name, because we are many!” 10 And he exhorted Him very much that He would not send them outside of the region. 11 But there was there by the mountain a great herd of swine feeding, 12 and they exhorted Him saying “Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them!” 13 And He allowed them. And the unclean spirits having gone out entered into the swine, and the herd rushed headlong down the bank into the sea, about two thousand, and drowned in the sea.

It seems that the demons recognized who Christ was, and knew that He was their enemy – obviously we learn from this that even the demons know that it is not the intention of God to convert His enemies. It also seems that even the swine could not stand the presence of the demons, and we also see a sign that the demons could not escape the fate designated for them. For in Luke's account, at 8:31, we read that “they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep”, yet the demons ended up there anyway, in the carcasses of the swine.

The word demon is a Greek word. It generally refers to a spirit-being inferior to God. It is not the same as a devil: the word devil is really an adjective which is often used as a noun in the New Testament, but it is not a noun in itself – it is rather a descriptive term. The word demon was also used to describe the genius of a man, which would be considered a facet of the spirit from a Hebrew perspective. The idea of the existence of spirit-demons is as old as Greek writing. In Hesiod, demons were the souls of men who died during what the poet called the “golden age” of men. In the Enoch literature, which is quoted or referred to on several occasions in the New Testament, demons were the disembodied spirits of bastards which began to be produced in those first days of the Adamic race, when certain race-mixing episodes occurred. It seems that Hesiod and Enoch were referring to the same beings, one from a pagan perspective, and the other from a Christian perspective! I do not believe that this is a coincidence.

14 And those feeding them [the swine] fled and reported it in the city and in the fields, and they came to see what it is which happened 15 and they come to Yahshua and observe him having been possessed by demons, he who had the legion, clothed and sober-minded, and they feared. 16 And those seeing it described for them how it happened to him possessed by demons and concerning the swine. 17 And they began to exhort Him to depart from their borders.

There is nothing in Scripture or in history that we can ascertain about the race of these people. Luke (8:26) tells us that this district was adjacent to Galilee. There were many settlements of Greeks, Romans, Syrians and even some remnant Israelites in this area. An examination of the Old Testament reveals that there were children of Israel who escaped the Assyrian captivity, and not taken by the Assyrians, although they were nevertheless cut off from their relationship with Yahweh.

As it was also noted in the Matthew commentary given here, one thing that is obvious is that these people would rather continue to suffer with the status quo, than to see change come even if it were for the better. They preferred the world – and their swine – to the Word of God. That, to me, is a very good portrait of most of our own race today. Most so-called Christians would never trade in their swine for any amount of the Truth.

18 And upon His boarding into the vessel he having been possessed by demons exhorts Him that he could be with Him. 19 And He did not let him, but says to him: “Go to your house to those of your own and report to them as much as Yahweh has done for you and had pity for you.” 20 And he went off and began to proclaim in the Dekapolis as much as Yahshua had done for him, and they all marveled.

Christ had already chosen his apostles, and therefore He is is not necessarily despising this man. Rather, the man would serve as an apostle in a way, being a witness to the people of the area as to what God had done for him. That would be of greater value than anything the man may have done elsewhere. The Dekapolis was so named because it was a region of ten cities, as the name means in Greek, which was on the east bank of the Jordan stretching most of the distance from the Dead Sea to the Sea of Galilee. Most of them were probably not as large as what we may consider that a city should be. Some of them had Greek names, and were probably newer Hellenistic-period settlements.

21 And upon Yahshua’s going across in the vessel back to the other side, a great crowd gathered to Him, and He was by the sea. 22 And one of the leaders of the assembly hall comes, named Iahiros, and seeing Him he falls to His feet 23 and exhorts Him very much saying that “My daughter hangs on at the end, at which coming You may place the hands upon her, that she would be preserved and live!” 24 And He went off with him. And a great crowd followed Him and pressed together upon Him.

Iahiros is an interesting and uncommon name. It certainly seems to come from the Hebrew Yah, for Yahweh, and the Greek word hiros, a poetic form of hieros, which means priest, and therefore means priest of Yahweh.

There are events recorded here in Mark which are not in Matthew, and in Matthew that are not in Mark. That does not mean that there is conflict, but only that the different witnesses had different recollections, and different ideas as to what was important to relate. It is at this point in Matthew's gospel, that Matthew is recruited to be an apostle.

25 And a woman being with a flow of blood for twelve years 26 and being treated often by many physicians and having spent all of her means and having benefited nothing but having come to be still more worse, 27 hearing things about Yahshua, having come in from behind the crowd grabbed His garment, 28 for she had said that “If I could grasp even His garment I shall be saved!” 29 And immediately the source of her blood had dried up and she perceived in the body that it had been healed from the scourge. 30 And immediately Yahshua knowing within Himself that there had gone out from of His power, turning upon the crowd said “Who grabbed My garments?” 31 And His students said to Him: “You see the crowd pressing together upon You and You say ‘Who grabbed Me’?” 32 And they looked about to see she who had done this. 33 Then the woman being afraid and trembling knowing that which happened to her, came and fell before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her: “Daughter, your faith has saved you! Go in peace and you must be healthy from your scourge!”

It is evident that Christ certainly knew who grabbed His garments, but did not want to say so Himself, rather wanting the woman to testify as to what she had done and why. Yahshua, calling this woman daughter, asserted authority over her, therefore in a way He was indirectly asserting for Himself to be God.

35 Upon His still speaking they come from the house of the assembly hall leader saying that “Your daughter has died, why trouble the Teacher further?” 36 But Yahshua overhearing the word being spoken says to the assembly hall leader: “Do not fear, only have faith!” 37 And He did not allow anyone to follow along with Him except Petros and Iakobos and Iohannes the brother of Iakobos. 38 And they go into the house of the assembly hall leader, and He observes a clamor of many weeping and crying, 39 and entering He says to them: “Why do you make a clamor and weep? The child has not died, but sleeps!”

Christ had no empathy for the crowd, which was evidently holding what we may call a wake.

40 And they mocked Him.

People are very quick to mock any display of an attitude, right or wrong, which is contrary to their own immediate experience.

But He casting them all out takes the father and the mother of the child and those with Him and goes into where the child was. 41 And holding the hand of the child He says to her: “Talitha Koum!” which is interpreted: “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” 42 And at once the little girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were immediately confounded with great astonishment. 43 And He ordered them severely that no one should know this, and said to give to her to eat.

Again, as it was discussed when illustrating the closing chapters of Matthew, and the opening chapters of Mark's gospel, if Christians do not think that God can indeed have efficacy in the world, then Christians have no hope at all.

“Talitha Koum”, or “little girl, arise”, as Aramaic words appear elsewhere in Mark, this among other things helps to demonstrate that the gospel was originally written in Greek, and not in another language and later translated into Greek.