In the first paragraph above both the Pharisees and the Herodians distinguish themselves from the civic authorities asking Jesus whether or not they should pay taxes. But in the second paragraph the chief priests assume the role of the civic authority by condemning Jesus to death for blasphemy. They then try (and succeed) in coercing Pilate, Caesar’s representative, to execute Jesus. It is an odd tangle given that the same group claimed Caesar himself was committing blasphemy in making the assertion that he was god. The first paragraph above helps to highlight the tangle.

Why is Peter’s denial of Jesus included in the second paragraph above? Note he is barely distinguished from the group. That is, mention of him does not present a paragraph "hook" for another paragraph or a sub-paragraph. Rather Peter is part of the condemning forum. It may well be that even at this early stage in the church - when the gospel was written, that it was realised that church leaders could fall into the same trap as the leaders of Judaism in the time of Jesus. They could usurp secular authority and/or attempt to use this for their own ends. Putting this point another way they could claim that all authority comes from themselves without recognising that authority also exists outside their group.

9. (Power of One - deals with) Regeneration

12:18-27

Sadducees c/f dying / Lord of living

14:51-52

Young man c/f shroud / mistrusts

12:18-27 The Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and questioned him saying, “Teacher Moses wrote that if a brother should die and leave behind a wife without a child, his brother may take the wife in order to have a child on behalf of his brother. There were seven brothers. The first took a wife. But he died childless. The second married her but he also died without having a child. Similarly with the third and the whole seven, were childless. Last of all the wife died. In the resurrection when they rise again, whose wife shall she be? For the seven had had her as a wife?” And Jesus said to them. “You err in not knowing the scriptures and the power of God. For when the dead shall rise again from death they neither marry nor are given in marriage. But they are as angels in the heavens. Concerning the dead being raised, did you not read in the scroll of Moses about the bush and how God said to him “I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?” He is not God of dead persons but of living ones. You err greatly.”

14:51-52 A certain young man accompan-ied him (Jesus). He was clothed in a nightgown over his naked body. They grabbed hold of him. And he, leaving the night gown fled away naked.

The night-gown reference in the second paragraph here calls to mind the burial rites of the time and the way people were clothed for this. Traditionally it is said that the young man may have been Mark, the writer of this gospel. Later on in Acts Mark’s reputation for running away was such that Paul did not want him to come with Barnabas and himself on a missionary journey. There was such an argument that the two split up. Barnabas took Mark with him.

Perhaps Mark was making a point here that he admitted his fear. Also the gospel contains quite a few references to others (besides himself) who were afraid. At the time the gospel was written (some think in Rome) the Christian community was under persecution by the Emperor Nero and had many defectors. Or, perhaps the gospel was written in Syria around the time of the Jerusalem seige. Also because Mark was a common name, scholarship is undecided about who Mark actually was, though it is generally accepted he was an interpreter for Peter.