MARK'S SECRETIVE JESUS - WHY?
Hugh Fogelman
According
to the Hebrew bible, the Jewish Messiah will come when certain prophecies fall
into place; never mind that the Jews have been waiting for this for about 7,000
years. Supposedly once the messiah is here,
there will be a universal knowledge of God ― Invisible Man in the Sky ―
as told by Hebrew prophets:
"And no longer shall one teach his neighbor
or shall one teach his brother, saying: 'Know the Lord', for they shall all
know Me, from their smallest to their greatest" (Jeremiah 31.33). In other
words, at some unknown time in the future, the Hebrew God apparently wants people
to "know" him. "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). This contradicts
the Christian man-god, Jesus' teachings.
According
to Mark, who by the way never met Jesus, had Jesus being very "secretive"
about his identity. Mark's Jesus
insisted on hiding his identity, giving strict orders to Peter not to tell
anyone about him: “And he charged them
that they should tell no man of him.” (Mark
Notice
that Jesus never said that he was the Messiah; it was only Peter who said it. In other
times, Jesus gave the same order not to tell anyone, such as:
1.
When he cleansed a leper:
“And he straitly
charged him, and forthwith sent him away; And saith
unto him, See thou say nothing to any man…” (Mark 1:43-44),
2.
When Jesus healed the multitudes:
“And he straitly
charged them that they should not make him known.” (Mark
3.
When the disciples came down from the mountain
after the "Transfiguration:"
“And
as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, …” (Mark 9:9).
In
Mark, Chapter 5, Peter says that Jesus raised Jairus's
daughter from death. When Jesus told the dead girl to "get up," she
did, and then Jesus gave strict orders "let no one hear about it" (Mark
Jesus'
constant demands seem very odd because you would think if he was the Messiah he
would want the whole world to know, to fulfill the prophesy “"For the earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord… .”
Mark
wants us to believe that Jesus told his disciples that he speaks in parables so
the people will not understand the word of God, ― Invisible Man in the
Sky. Jesus said to them; “To you has been
given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes
in parables; in order that they may indeed look, but
not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand;
so that they may not turn again and be forgiven" (Mark 4:11-12).
In
other words, to you the insiders, the believers, the mystery of the Kingdom of God
has been given; but to those who are on the outside, the non-believers, everything
comes by way of parables so that the outsiders may look and see nothing ―
they may hear but understand nothing. THINK! This makes absolutely no sense at
all. The entire purpose of Jesus' ministry was to spread the word of God
(himself, god incarnate) , not withhold it. The Hebrew God (Hashem, Adnonai etc) is said to have told Jeremiah; “And no longer
shall one teach his neighbor or shall one teach his brother, saying: 'Know the Lord',
for they shall all know Me, from their smallest to their greatest." (Jeremiah 31.33)
Jesus took dark sayings with hidden meanings and preached
them to the multitudes, yet in Mark's gospel that the general populace was not
supposed to understand his parables. If that is true, why did he waste his
words? It doesn't make any sense!
The second point comes from Mark 4.11, where Jesus tells
his disciples that to them it is given to know and to understand these mysteries.
“And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the
From these words we learn that Jesus' chosen disciples
were supposed to receive a gift of spiritual enlightenment. Yet throughout the
gospel they remain without knowledge and cannot understand the meaning of the
simplest parable. So strange that again and
again Jesus rebuked them for their lack
of knowledge.
"And
he said unto them, know ye not this parable? How then
will ye know all parables" (Mark
What
a colossal advantage for Mark. Here was his chance to become famous then and
now, not to mention being made into a saint by the Catholics, just by writing a
story about a man-god he never met
[Jesus], putting his own thoughts, opinions and words into the mouth of this
man-god and having no one around at the time he wrote to dispute it.
For
Mark, the “Messianic Secret” (the secret of the
And Jesus said, I am: and ye
shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the
clouds of heaven.
(Mark 14:62).
The
King James concordance alludes Mark's remarks from the apocalyptic vision in Daniel:
"Behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven" (Daniel
"I say unto you, that there be some of them that
stand here, which shall not taste of death, 'til they
have seen the Kingdom of god come with power" (Mark 9:1).
In
other words, the Second Coming would be in Mark’s, and other believers', lifetime.
Oops! What a disappointment!
The
concept that the Jewish Messiah "must
suffer, be rejected by the elders, be killed and after three days rise
again" was so radical, that even Peter doubted Jesus (Mark
Luke,
who also never met Jesus, copied some of Marks writings and added:
"Then his disciples asked
him what this parable meant. He said; To you it has been given to know the
secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that
looking they may not perceive and listening they may not understand.”” (Luke 8:9-10)
The
author of John, however, uses this same text in still a different sense than the
original. He has Jesus quoting Isaiah as an indication that he understands that
the people do not believe his teachings, but if they turn [to Jesus] he will heal
them:
"And so they could not
believe, because Isaiah also said; He has blinded their eyes and hardened their
heart, so that they might not look with their eyes and understand with their
heart and turn - and I (Jesus) will heal them" (John 12:39-40).
Why
would the author of Mark and the other Gospel writers have Jesus withhold the word
of the Invisible Man in the Sky from the people when the whole idea of Jesus' ministry
was to get the holy message out to as many people as possible?
Mark's
concept of the Messiah does not tie into the original Hebrew Messianic prophecies
of identifying the Messiah, as told by Jeremiah and Isaiah. Seems as if Mark have
a different "inspiration" from his Invisible Man in the Sky " than the Jewish prophets.
Secrecy
perfectly fits with Mark's theme of the "secret of the kingdom of
God" as Mark had his own vision of what the Messiah would be, regardless
of what the Hebrew bible reported. Mark's Jesus, in effect; tells his disciples
that he is deliberately withholding information from the people so that they
cannot learn God's [Jesus, god incarnate] on word.
Does
Mark’s story sound reasonable? Does any Invisible Man in the Sky sound
reasonable? NO! They are all imaginary!
"Why is monotheistic faith
better than polytheistic? I mean, either you believe ― if you believe in,
like, a magic person who can do magic things, why is it different ― so
different if it's Superman or the Fantastic Four." -Bill Maher
DISCLAIMER:
Citation of Hebrew scripture and
sources in articles or analyses is not in any way an acceptance, approval or
validation of the Jewish religion, its works or scriptures. The Hebrew bible,
like the Christian New Testament, is fictitious; From a 6-day creation of the
universe; a cunning, walking, talking snake; big fish tales; world flood and an
"Invisible Man in the Sky" ― it is all fiction, a bold sham
perpetrated on mankind.
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