And, if anyone says to you ‘Why are you doing that?’, say ‘The Master wants it, and will be sure to send it back here at once.’”
what does it mean
I don’t think it means
what you think it meansright now if is not if
it is quite simply when
harms way is still harms waya set-up is not an if
see you already have
a compromised scenarioI’ve seen you wiggle
out of problematic situations
but this doesn’t feel rightso I’m storing this if
in my hope bucket
for later review
One way of separating Jesus’ claim upon the colt from that of a Roman soldier is in the promise that the colt will be led back, none the worse for wear, when the need for it in a political theatre is completed.
Even before this promise there is a recognition that an act of untying can be favorably interpreted on its own. In a land of scarce resources during a time of occupation, even a communally-based village could easily be expected to have a privatistic concern about possessions.
It may not be the owner of the colt who notices it being untied. Wherever a challenge of the two disciples arises, they are given an encrypted password to use. This presumes an underground or resistance of some sort. Whether that is of a violent Zealot nature or the non-violent suffering of the Jesus movement can’t be told at this remove. With the same basic goal, though with different understandings and methodologies, there could be enough commonalities among those desiring to be released to have this phrase work.
It can fruitfully be asked if there are any common phrases among intersections of church and world, today, to hold them together.
There is a concern about the phrase ό κύριος (ho kurios, the Lord/master). As the only instance of this in Mark, there is a question about how to understand it. High and low Christology has some effect here on whether this is directly tied to G*D or if it is part of the Movement.
For those who have tried to be sensitive to the palin references when I have not specifically noted them, the word “back” is palin. This is also a way to think about the healing stories told in the first part of Mark— people are returned back to themselves.