Week 2 Comments.

This post is here so that you can leave comments sharing your thoughts for our second week of reading. I encourage you to share. We will all benefit.

I have a couple of things on my mind.

About translations:

I love the range of translations available to us in these days. We can read translations that stick very closely to the words and grammar of the original languages, translations that work to provide the thought of the original writer and audience in our current language, and many variations in between.

I have been doing our reading primarily in the New English Translation (NET), and secondarily in the NIV. About mid-week I realized something was missing in the reading. This was it…

Mark’s gospel is not only action packed, but it also carries the reader along at a breathless pace. That pace was somewhat missing in my readings. And that was because there was a word missing — “immediately.” In the NIV it isn’t completely missing, but several other words or phrases are used where a word for word translation would always use immediately (or in the KJV “straightway”). In the NASB immediately is used 39 times in Mark. In the NIV, just 12 times.

Now the NIV uses good alternatives: at once, as soon as, without delay, and when (well, that one lacks some punch), in addition to immediately, but the use of these different words can detract from the pace that seeing immediately every time the Greek word is encountered provides. For example, in four verses between 1:10 and 1:20 we get this in the NASB:

Immediately coming up out of the water …
Immediately the Spirit impelled …
Immediately they left their nets …
Immediately He called them …

Whew.

My point is only that it’s good to read from more than one translation as you have time. You will see a more complete picture.

Structure of Mark:

This plan is primarily a reading plan, so I’m resisting the urge to jump in and supply all kinds of additional information about the reading each day (mostly successfully). But since during our readings this week, we entered into a new phase of Jesus’ ministry as organized by Mark, I did want to comment on that. In the simplest terms there are four sections to Mark.

I. Introduction — 1:1 — 13
II. Galilean Ministry — 1:14 — 8:26
III. Heading to Jerusalem — 8:27 — 10:31
IV. The Jerusalem Events — 10:32 — 16:8 (or 16:20)

The transition from part II to part III is Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ. From that point on, the group is on the way or finally arriving in Jerusalem. During this time Jesus prepares the disciples for what will happen in Jerusalem.