Paul brings Galatians to an end with notes of exhortation and encouragement and yes warnings and challenges As a good parent he also manages to tell them in no uncertain terms not to make any trouble for him any longer the parental Enough Let s begin with exhortation and encouragement In

A most interesting story in Mark s Gospel is the account in which Jesus cures a daughter who had an unclean spirit Unlike the bulk of the Gospel this cure takes place outside the recognized boundaries of Israel and is performed for a Greek at the request of a Greek Indeed the story tells us

Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ you have fallen away from grace 5 3-4 Again Paul makes a charged statement about the role of the law - You w

Paul begins this next section by comparing the Galatians interest in the law of Moses to the stoicheia the natural elements which were sometimes treated as gods see A A Long and D N Sedley The Hellenistic Philosophers Vol 1 Cambridge 1987 280-89 The comparison is clear enough but h

Following the marvelous miracles of multiplication of food and walking on water and a host of still other wonders Mark again interjects a conflict story Here Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem want to know why Jews followers of Jesus do not obey the Tradition of the Elders but instead eat

The episode following the feeding of the 5000 through the instrumentality of the Twelve is the story of Jesus walking on the water No doubt one can study individual episodes to learn their meanings but we do recognize that it is Mark and his intentions that linked certain stories with others