The Tao of Mark
Mark seen through the prism of the Tao adapted from the King James Version of the Gospel of Mark.
1
Hated seers spoke most precious words
A messenger of peace came from the wild
Water could not wash all sins away
A deeper power was brought into play
The lowest becomes highest
The least become the most
There is happiness in heaven
2
The seer in the wilderness gained strength
Then made the world’s weight featherlike
The seer changed a sickness unto death
Into most fulsome health
The seer opened eyes to things unseen
The seer gathered other seers too
Who learned to see the subtle in the weak
And lift their killing burdens with a word
The very power of the Tao
Made palpable
And many came
And heard
And healing knew
3
The seer rose alone deep in the night
And spoke with the unseen in solitude
Next day with other seers he set out
For many sought to learn his healing power
The seer said I came to speak to all
And so he spoke and lifted burdens too
A hand a touch a bidding to be clean
A plea of secrecy no one would heed
And so both word and deed spread far
4
The seer loved the sick and suffering
And touched them with the power of the Tao
Where faith was found their burdens became light
The power of forgiveness made them right
This was the seer’s lethal blasphemy
The way of Abba made reality
Forgiveness is more powerful than flood
More purifying than a holy flame
The one who knows oneself knows also need
The one knows no need goes dumb and blind
The one who knows one’s need will feel the touch
The one who knows no need feels only pride
The seer knit the fabric of the Tao
Into a mantle fit for those in need
Those filled with pride saw what was happening
And called this brand new garment blasphemy
The seer saw the fate that was in store
A world unready for the way
Inured to patching over wrongs
Instead of turning
Making all things new
5
The seer saw beyond all sacred laws
And lifted high all simple human needs
Like hunger and relief from fear and pain
The keepers of the law were most displeased
6
The seer’s way defied the holy laws
The seer’s healing touch drew multitudes
Soon the seer was deemed to be god
Though he protested word spread far and wide
The seer’s followers were called the twelve
And they were likewise set to healing tasks
The seer did not come to act alone
The seer came to spread the way to all
7
The seer faced more enemies each day
They called the seer’s healing devil’s work
Under this threat the seer’s speaking changed
To speak directly would result in death
Forgiveness is incendiary power
A way of life beyond all ways thus far
A way of unity not sundering
The seer explained this in parables
To bind the devil or to stop a thief
To seize the stores of a strong man
Such stories warded off the end
Truth too direct could lead to death
Under the charge of blasphemy
The seer did point out one truth
Deny the power to forgive
And your forgiveness will be lost
8
The seer’s mother and whole family
Were like everyone the seer loved
All were one who heard and understood
Only one who can forgive is good
This is the only family there is
9
The seer knew that many lacked in depth
The seer knew that many were burnt out
And lacked the roots to hear or see
And but a few would truly understand
But these would share the truth with all
And more and more would come to see things plain
And all might know forgiveness finally
And then no further secrets would obtain
10
The seer spoke outlandishly of life
Huge promises to those with ears to hear
You get all you choose to get
You turn away your hearing vanishes
Growth like a seed becomes a tree
Such riddles held the stuff of Abba’s way
11
The seer was not daunted by fierce storms
And when his followers were filled with fright
His unfazed manner added to their fear
How could the seer have such calm control
The seer kept on and their fear increased
One look becalmed the craziest of men
One nod sent demons crashing to the sea
The word went out this man a god must be
12
The seer’s power scared his witnesses
He would not take the man he healed with him
He said go tell your friends what has been has done
Large crowds pressed in on him and he pressed on
The seer touched a dying girl she lived
A woman touched the seer and was healed
By faith by grace by love the healing came
And there was no end to the seer’s fame
13
The seer was not heeded when at home
He was remembered as a simple sort
And for this reason not to be believed
He passed on power to his followers
And sent them out to do as he had done
Shod in sandals carrying no purse
Moving on whenever not received
They went out healing urging all to turn
Meanwhile the king did not like what he heard
The stage was set to bring the seer down
14
The seer listened to his followers
The deeds and teachings they had spread
New crowds pressed in there was no privacy
Crowds followed them to a lone desert place
The seer turned to teach the listening crowd
He had his followers get food for them
Five loaves two fishes fed the multitude
And then twelve baskets left all filled with food
He sent his followers by boat across the lake
And then he went up on a hill to pray
The wind came up fright seized his followers
They called out petrified the seer came
The seer calmed the sea then hung his head
Saddened to see his follower’s hard hearts
They did not understand the twelve baskets
Or how the seer’s hand could still the waves
The seer’s power increased as new crowds came
It seemed they were made whole with just a touch
15
Religious leaders from the city came
And found the seer’s followers unclean
The seer showed them their hypocrisy
His words made him their enemy
Nothing from outside can defile
Only the heart shows truth aright
16
Once more a crowd of seekers came to him
Once more he sent his followers for food
Once more the crowd was more than amply fed
All told there were some seven baskets left
Once more they took a boat across the lake
Where waiting enemies came forth demanding signs
No sign shall you receive the seer said
And with his followers departed once again
The followers forgot to bring the food
There was no more than one loaf in the boat
The seer saw into their hearts and spoke
Beware the leaven of our enemies
His followers stared blankly back and asked
Is this because we have so little bread
The seer used the ancient prophet’s words
Hear and hear but do not understand
Do you not see me yet for who I am
And then the seer looked at them and asked
How many baskets were left over when I taught
They answered twelve and seven that was right
But to the seer’s meaning they were blind
17
The seer asked who people said he was
He knew he bore the truth to everyone
You are the Christ said Peter it was so
The seer ordered them to tell no one
Then he explained that he was doomed to die
High priests and high officials would conspire
But after three days he would rise again
Peter rebuked him in disbelief
He rebuked Peter and said follow me
All those who follow me deny themselves
And bear the cross that I shall bear
Who loses life for my sake saves themselves
And with the angels with me shall abide
18
After he died and rose it was recalled
The seer said the first shall be the last
For he believed the judgment was at hand
And full obedience would be required
He told his followers to live in peace
He said that he was sent to them by God
That they should receive children in his name
And live pure and obedient without blame
19
The seer said law’s for the hard of heart
Example faithful hearts do not divorce
Example giving hearts no child reject
But know there is none good but God
And know with God all things are possible
Still human beings test God mightily
The rich have ways of losing out for good
So too the ones aware of what is right
Who will not follow right when called upon
Conclusion none can be saved no not one
Conclusion none is good save God not one
20
With persecution came the seer’s pledge
To those who left their all to follow him
That one day they would have a hundred fold
Of houses families and property
His followers repeated nascent creeds
That he had been mocked scourged and crucified
And they recalled their conflicts over place
And that the seer had no power to decide
They concluded in the seer’s words
First place will go to those who humbly serve
21
The seer gave sight to the blind
He knew his hour was coming soon
He headed for Jerusalem
It’s said he rode in on a colt
That garments were before him strewn
And people praised him as the one who comes
He visited the Temple and got mad
It had become a house of thieves
He cast out merchants in a rage
Just one more thing to seal his fate
His doctrine could not be allowed to stand
His doctrine was not difficult to grasp
He spoke it plainly at the time
Faith in God can mountains move
When you pray you must forgive
If you remove your differences
Any difference you have will be removed
If you cannot forgive
You cannot be forgiven
And finally it came to his authority
He stumped the chief priests and the scribes
They did not see heaven and earth as one
Nor would the seer tell them his authority
22
The end drew near the seer spoke a parable
Condemning the religion of the past
For they had killed the prophets and the seers then
And soon would add the seer to their toll
Even now they sought to catch him out
Caesar’s to Caesar God’s to God he said
And no there is no marriage in heaven
In fact God rules the living not the dead
He left them with the greatest commandments
To love the One God heart and mind and soul
And neighbor as self treated as you’d be
There’s no commandments greater than these two
He sided with the people and condemned
The scribes and priests who sought to do him in
The small donation of the widow low
Was worth more than the pittance of the rich
23
After the seer died his followers
Recalled words that seemed tailored to their time
Apocalypse destruction sorrow war
How their defense of him could lead to death
Still they believed that holding to his way
Forgiveness seen as power all people share
If they repent and cleave to this good news
The very jaws of hell will not prevail
They thought the seer would come back to them
And snap them up redeemed washed clean made new
They knew the seer’s way was God’s own pledge
To forge a world beyond all cant and creed
24
Chief priests and lawyers did the seer in
Without inciting popular revolt
The seer knew the sentence from the start
New wine could not be stored in such old skins
His followers collected memories
Devoted acts and teachings at the end
The story took on vestments of a creed
Decades elapsed before words were set down
It’s said they gathered for a final feast
It’s said the seer broke bread and poured wine
And said this is my body and my blood
This communion now a vital sign
The time came for the seer to depart
Identified and taken to his trial
The memories of fear were palpable
For power had leeched all hope he would survive
The witnesses agree on how he died
Mocked and scourged and crowned and crucified
Did he rise bodily and promise us the same
In Mark the women’s fear is what remains
AFTERWARD:
This text is an exercise in dealing with the received canon not merely through the lens of the Tao, by which I mean a lens which leaves a good deal up to the beholder, which does not obscure ambiguity, but also through the lens of creedal messianism. By creedal messianism I mean the process by which the initial impact of Jesus was modified in an effort to create a creed as a basis for a religion based on the worship of a creedal deity.
I believe the most significant contribution of this text is to show that even in Mark, which is understood to be intensely creedal, focusing on the end, there are key junctures where the actual intent of Jesus, which is to change humanity, is made clear. Such junctures also form a tangible contradiction to the notion that one is saved by a mere confession of faith. The radical reason for the execution of Jesus was his insistence that what had been the province of priests was now an accessible truth, a changing reality, an option for humankind.
In this, the Tao of Mark offers a stark contrast to the Tao — that amorphous but strangely coherent work which has been the subject of so many retranslations and commentaries. The fundamental difference lies in the nature of the seer — in the Tao of Mark the seer is the change agent, and the way things are depends upon response. It is an interactive and decision-centered reality.
In the Tao, there is a reality out there that embraces the attributes we might assign to an omnipotent (if mysterious and hidden) deity. To follow the Tao is to be aware of what works in the world, based on one’s grasp of the text. The Tao has the most resonance not with the text of Mark but with Matthew and Luke — or with the hypothetical Q document. Jesus’ sayings about not being anxious and his beatitudinal utterances are not distant from the Tao’s emphasis on seeming contradictions like the strength of weakness and the power of passivity.
I conclude with a selection from the above which I believe shows beyond any contradiction what Jesus considered his mission and aim to be:
The seer loved the sick and suffering
And touched them with the power of the way
Where faith was found their burdens became light
The power of forgiveness made them right
The seer saw the fate that was in store
A world unready for the way
Inured to patching over wrongs
Instead of turning
Making all things new
The seer saw beyond all sacred laws
And lifted high all simple human needs
Like hunger and relief from fear and pain
The keepers of the law were most displeased
The seer faced more enemies each day
They called the seer’s healing devil’s work
Under this threat the seer’s speaking changed
To speak directly would result in death
Under the charge of blasphemy
The seer did point out one truth
Deny the power to forgive
And your forgiveness will be lost
… more and more would come to see things plain
And all might know forgiveness finally
And then no further secrets would obtain
Religious leaders from the city came
And found the seer’s followers unclean
The seer showed them their hypocrisy
His words made him their enemy
Nothing from outside can defile
Only the heart shows truth aright
He told his followers to live in peace
He said that he was sent to them by God
That they should receive children in his name
And live pure and obedient without blame
His doctrine was not difficult to grasp
He spoke it plainly at the time
Faith in God can mountains move
When you pray you must forgive
If you remove your differences
Any differences you have will be removed
If you cannot forgive
You cannot be forgiven
He left them with the greatest commandments
To love the One God heart and mind and soul
And neighbor as self treated as you’d be
There’s no commandments greater than these two
He sided with the people and condemned
The scribes and priests who sought to do him in
The small donation of the widow low
Was worth more than the pittance of the rich
Since the time of my seminal work on messianism in the lare 1970s, I have held to the growing sense that Jesus was and is about obliterating the distinction between heaven and earth. We live in that sense between stasis and movement, but always the urging is toward the latter. The obliteration which Jesus sought is entirely consistent with the gradual obliteration of the power and influence of religion and its replacement by an ever more coherent and realistic spirituality based on the values of nonidolatry, tolerance, democracy and genuine helpfulness.
