Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Round 2: Jesus' Teachings According to Mark

Throughout the Gospel, Jesus keeps on performing miracles. Like in John, he makes many blind people see and cures the diseases on many others. There was one particular case in which Jesus cures the a man at Bethsaida. This man is also mentioned in the Gospel According to John. In both Gospels the story is:
"And he cometh to Bethsai'da; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.

And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up; and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town."(Mark 8:22-26, John 9:1-7).
It didn't happen exactly in each Gospel, since John pursued the story of them an further, having a trial over Jesus' actions by the Pharisees later, but it's the first healed person mentioned in both Gospels. Each Gospel has very different people who were cured by Jesus, and this is the only one in which they agree.
Going back to Mark, this Gospel has many teachings and very straight forward actions Jesus believes in (in contrast with John, in which no much was mentioned except for the lamb of God and how Jesus had come to save humanity). For example, Jesus talks about marriage and divorce. If you leave your husband/wife in divorce, you are committing adultery to him/her. It seems that to Jesus, you are married forever to the person you chose. Now that I think about it, I didn't even know divorce existed in that time. In that case, I know a lot of people who are committing adultery against their partner but they seem to be OK with it. It's just modern times. I wonder if they will go to hell for that (I hope not).
Jesus also told a rich boy to give away everything he had in order to go to heaven. He then said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:25). I suppose I won't be able to go to heaven then, because I wouldn't be able to leave everything I had to go to heaven. I mean, I would if money weren't so important to survive these days. People say that money isn't the most important thing, but I say that it is at least in the top five. You need money to get a good education, get a good job and then get a good home where you can take care of your family and be able to survive. Have you ever seen the movie "In the Pursuit of Happyness"? That explains it all. Money is key to survive in the harsh world we live in today. It might not be the source of happiness, but at least it's the source of tranquility. Anyway, I suppose it would have been easier during Jesus' time. I hope he doesn't kick me out of heaven when I die for having lived a comfortable youth.

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