Astonish

I feel oblivious to so many things during the school year, especially in my history and religion classes.  For instance, I never really thought about how the scriptures were originally written in other languages, ancient ones at that.  I mean I knew they were but I never thought about what that meant for me as a reader.  Many of the words can’t be directly translated into English.  Because most other languages are so much more complex, especially when expressing emotions, then English, some of the meaning of passages can be lost or end up not having the same impact it was meant to have.  So it’s interesting to look at certain words and see how they have been used and changed in the translations.  So, we’re talking about certain words in the New Testament gospels and one of them is ‘astonished’ or ‘astonishment’ and specifically it’s role in the book of Mark.

One of the roles of the word ‘astonishment’, as well as ‘marvel’ and ‘amazed’ is of course its use to express true astonishment and wonder at the miracles Christ performed.  Crazy thought, I know. 

I also think one of the uses for these words would’ve been to express the fear that all the pharisees and doubters had of Christ.  We sort of discussed this in class today, not in reference to ‘astonish’ but it made sense to me when I was reading through Mark again.  Some of the time when we read the word ‘astonished’ in Mark, fear is also mentioned.  Like in Mark 10:32 where it says, “And Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid.”

The most important role of ‘astonished’ to me is the idea that these people just don’t understand what or who Christ is.  That is why it is used over and over to describe people’s reactions to Jesus’ miracles.  Why does Mark repeatedly use this kind of word?  Why after so many wonders were so many people amazed by them?  Why was it so surprising to them that Christ could do those sorts of things.  There are so many references, Mark 1:22, 1:27,2:12, 5:20, 5:42, 6:6, 6:51, 10:24, 10:26, 10:32, 14:33.  It’s also interesting because in 7:36 it says, “And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it.”  To me that means they saw his miracles almost as gossip or entertainment to spread around.  I mean, they knew it happened but it was almost like magic to them.  To some it was good and to others it was evil.  Basically, they didn’t understand what Christ’s mission was.  Those who believed he was the Messiah thought he would turn into a great warrior and save them from the Romans and everyone else thought he was either a prophet or a great teacher.  ‘Astonished’ portrays their ignorance to the meaning of the things they witnessed and the most important person in their lives.