Tuesday, May 20, 2008

In synagoga Capharnaum docet

Galilee is a backwater to Judeans, Beloved. The scribes taught there in the hopes of bringing the redeeming value of Torah to the illiterate north. Now Jesus astonished them with his teaching.

What kind of authority do we need that we might know we have found what we seek? Whether Greek or Jew, Samaritan or Galilean, Italian, Spanish, from Libya, or Asia, there is a certain common question in us that seeks a real author. Not one who argues over each word, but one who sounds a note that vibrates with our spirit or one whose words may be tried and found to be reliable. Such a one will inspire trust.

In this passage, uncle Mark switches from Matthew's order to Luke's. His story does not need long sermons and he avoids them. I have a different problem in my reconstruction of all four witnesses together. I have to discover if these 12 tables with their paper and coloured thread will - after all - yield to me their precious ointment, so that my tears as meat will cease and my joy in having been fished out of my confusing seas will be complete.

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