OK, but I think the author of Mark provided a more immediate answer to that question, at least with some exposition. I think this provides a good example of how GMark includes a great deal of subtext --- of lessons lurking just below the written lines of text --- that could be used to impart a much wider and deeper level of understanding.Kunigunde Kreuzerin wrote: ↑Sat Jan 30, 2021 11:58 am
... In Mark 6:2 the people of Jesus' hometown rise the questions “Where did this man get these things? …. How are such mighty works done by his hands?“ and in Mark 6:14 initial answers to this question have been formed („Some said, ‚John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”)
Here is a cut-and-paste from my OP in a different thread ---
Mark clearly laid out the Isaian framework for his story in his opening line ---
I’ve written before that Mark painted a picture worth a thousand words just with this opening line. The following example provides some of those words.
Mark 6:2-6 | Isaiah 40:18-22 (LXX) | Interpretation |
“… many hearing were astonished, saying, "From where has this man these things, and what is the wisdom having been given to Him, even the miracles such as are done by his hands?” | Mark inserts an astonished crowd asking how a man could be so wise and perform such miracles. | |
“Is this not the tekton (τέκτων), the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" | “To whom have you likened the Lord … a tekton (τέκτων) chooses wood that will not rot … wisely … set up his image … that it will not topple …” “… Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not known the foundations of the earth?” | Mark answers the questions from the crowd: Jesus is like the tekton from Isaiah, in human form, in the flesh, with a mother and brothers and sisters even. Jesus crafts images that will never rot and never topple --- crafting the very foundations of the earth. |
“And they took offense at Him.” "... And He was amazed because of their unbelief." | “… Will you not know? Will you not hear? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not known the foundations of the earth?” | By pairing his work with the passage in Isaiah --- Mark chided the non-believers --- reinforcing his polemic against those failing to understand the significance of Jesus being like the tekton of Isaiah --- those applying a common connotation rather than a spiritual one. |
“It is he who holds the circle of the earth, and those who dwell in it are like grasshoppers, who has set up heaven like a vault and stretched it out like a tent to live in …” | The tekton of Isaiah, and of Mark, at work on the foundations of the earth --- and of heaven. |
Just prior to the above verses about the tekton in Isaiah 40, are these passages in Isaiah 40 that are chock-a-block with material often mined as Christological references ---
Then the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, because the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:5, LXX)
… the word of our God remains forever. Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Sion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up; do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “See, your God!” See, the Lord comes with strength, and his arm with authority; see, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd and gather lambs with his arm and comfort those that are with young. Who has measured the water with his hand and heaven with a span and all the earth by handful? Who has weighed the mountains with a scale and the forests with a balance? Who has known the mind of the Lord … (Isaiah 40:8-13, LXX).
One can see the tekton in Isaiah at work in this last passage --- measuring heaven and earth and weighing the mountains and the forests --- crafting the very foundations of the earth.
Surely Mark's Jesus --- possessed and driven by the spirit of the tekton of Isaiah --- could handle a few miracles.