Mark 14:67

and, seeing Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him, and exclaimed, “Why, you were with Jesus, the Nazarene!”


folks warmed by light
can’t help but glow
much less disguise
any dis-ease
momentarily blocking
their bravest self

Clarence class angels
still see both
waves and particles
strangely scattered
yet patterned
no matter what

strategically diving
from bridges
bluntly confronting
hidden truths
helpers of light
beacon home


No one knows why this was decided to be a verse break between the servant’s arrival and seeing Peter. The crux of this verse is the second part.

This servant did more than just see Peter. She looked closely. The Greek is connected to the way Jesus looked at someone seeking eternal life but not being up to it because of their wealth (10:21). This was a searching look, an examining look.

Added to this connection, it is important for us to examine seemingly insignificant words such as “with”. Anderson266 notes:

Mark uses the word “with” (meta) to mark the shift in Jesus’ fellowship from its seeming cohesion to its fracturing. Although the Twelve were commissioned to be “with” Jesus (meta, 3:14), the narrative later describes Judas as “one of the twelve” who bring “with [meta] him” a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders (14:43). Likewise, when the high priest’s servant says to Peter, “You also were with [meta] him [Jesus]” (14:67), Peter denies it.

“With” is a partnership word. When “withness” is lost there is great sadness.

Peter has run away from being “with” Jesus and has sat “with” Jesus’ guards.

If Peter can’t speak his own truth, it will still come forward by a third party. This will be paralleled when Jesus dies and a centurion claims Jesus as “a son of a god”. In both these cases the one who names the situation is unexpected. In this particular, it is notably a woman who stands outside the dominant patriarchy of the culture and Jesus’ own Twelve disciples mirroring the Hebrew tribes.

Parenthetically, Mark tells no birth story. For Mark, Jesus is from Nazareth. This was noted at his baptism and here outside his trial.

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