Tuesday, February 13, 2007
A Headless, Resurrected Baptist is Travelling the Countryside
Mark 6:14-29 is the story of the beheading of John the Baptist. I've been thinking about how Mark ever received wind of what Herod was thinking about Jesus. How did Mark manage to hear about Herod's beheading of John the Baptist? The transmission of the Gospel to its original writer is a mystery but at the same time an extremely interesting avenue to proceed with only pure speculation to decide the outcome. Mark could have either drawn from Peter if Peter was who Mark used as a source or Mark could have drawn from oral tradition, not that it would be that old of a tradition. Somebody at the palace had to tell the story and it would just be interesting to know about that person or persons. Were they some palace guard who was just eavesdropping, was it an attendant of Herod, or was it even just bragging from Herodias or her daughter. However it was told and made its way to Mark who placed it in his Gospel. I find it fascinating the subject material of the Gospels I just wish we knew where exactly it came from. Mainly just because I find that interesting.
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That’s pretty neat. I guess I just think of the gospels as having this omnipotent narrator like a kid’s story. Though living in a town with a pop. Of 3,000 and going to WBC has made me realize that word of mouth can carry quite true stories to quite a few unlikely people, despite the ethics of gossip. Like how does Matthew know what Pilot’s wife said about her dream to Pilot through a messenger? (Matt. 27:19) Or what Judas said to the priests after returning the money? (Matt. 27:3-5) I think it’s the say way we know who Jennifer Lopez is dating and where she went on said date and what she did.
The rulers and priests were the closest things to our celebrities in their culture and there were inside sources. If not even that a guard tells his wife before bed, she tells her cousin, who happens to tell everyone else.
I think these stories are reliable, most of our history is here say anyways.
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