Ohio Yearly Meeting Sessions
Contact Sharon Helms to register at philandsharon04.01@sbcglobal.net. Click here for agenda.
Mark 11:27-33
The Jews already had a rite of baptism, but what was different about John’s baptism was that John’s was a baptism of repentance, indicating a necessary complete transformation of the person. A discussion ensues pertaining to an attempt of the Jewish leaders to entrap Jesus.
Mark 12:1-12
The Greek word, “parabolē” (which literally means “comparison”) is explained, and the meaning of the parable of the Tenants of the Vineyard is discussed.
Mark 12:13-17
The implication of Jesus’s words, to an observant Jew, is clear. The reverential respect that belongs to God is much greater than what Caesar should get. However, by his actual words, Jesus circumvents the trap his opponents were devising for him.
The Pharisees might have been considered more “patriotic” (regarding Judaism) than the Herodians, since the Herodians, were already in the employ of the Romans., they were already much more in collaboration with the Romans.
Today, in the U.S., many perceive a mistaken equivalent importance between God and country. At the time of Jesus, in the Roman Empire there was no distinction between the army and the police. They were one and the same.
The Greek word “Ekklēsia” originally referred to the group of free men in Athens who were called upon to make important decisions regarding the city. In the New Testament, it means those who are called out of worldly thinking and worldly ways to follow Jesus. In other words, the “church".
There is a brief excursion into Acts chapter 4 to underscore our “called out” status as Christians. When is it appropriate to listen to men, or to God?
Mark 12:18-27
The Sadducees (a political party within Judaism at the time of Jesus) were largely composed of the chief priest and the priests in the temple. They believed that there was no resurrection. They posed a highly contrived question to Jesus:
Israel was a theocracy, with the law of Moses forming both the civil and religious law of the nation. But it had secondary status to the Roman law of the Roman Empire that had conquered Israel, the law of the conquerors.
Leading out of the concept of the resurrection, there is a discussion on the kind of bodies we will receive in Heaven after we die. This results in a brief exploration of I Corinthians 15:5ff which speaks of our Heavenly bodies as being spiritual rather than physical .
Greek
Parabolē : comparison (translated “parable”), illustration
Doulos – slave
Diakonos – servant
Early Modern English: servant = servant or slave
Latin: servus = slave
[v. also English: servitude, servile, serf, serfdom, serve time, military service]
Ekklēsia – church (but originally a legislative assembly of Athenian male citizens)
Ek-klē-sia
Root: -klē- = call
Prefix: ek- = out of
Doxa – glory
1.)radiance, splendor, brilliance
2.)Hebrew: Shekinah – the manifested Presence of God
3.)opinion
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