July 27, 2004

Straightway

Category: Bible - NT - Mark :: Permalink

It’s well known that in Mark’s Gospel things happen “immediately.” The word appears repeatedly. Mark 1:10: “And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw…. Mark 1:12: “Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.” Mark 1:18: “They immediately left their nets and followed.” Mark 1:20: “And immediately he called them….” And so forth. Jesus and His disciples act immediately.

The Greek word translated “immediately” here is eutheos (sorry: can’t do Greek font). That’s the adverbial form of euthus, which means “straight.”

And what I noticed tonight is the quotation in Mark 1:3. Mark is citing Isaiah: “The voice of one crying: In the wilderness prepare the way of YHWH; make his paths straight (euthus).”

YHWH’s paths are to be straight when he comes to his people, and then we find that Jesus, who is YHWH coming to his people, does everything straightway (to use an older expression). Interesting, no?

Posted by John Barach @ 10:55 pm | Discuss (0)

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