GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 10:32
Astonishment
We are often astonished by our children. In a conversation with one of our sons, a member of the high school band, he described music as “organized sound”—a definition I still remember. Another of our sons pursued a dream and developed it into a successful manufacturing business. A third son has mastered computer technology and speaks in a language beyond my understanding. Truly astonishing!
St. Mark wrote, “And they were on the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them, and they marveled, but those following were fearful. After taking aside again the twelve, he began to tell them the things that were about to happen to him.” ( Mark 10:32)
This small group in Perea—probably between Ephraim and Jericho on the western side of the Jordan River, northeast of Jerusalem—likely joined the caravans of Galilean pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem for the holy days. Mark, through Peter’s recollection, records that the disciples were astonished by Jesus’ earlier lessons about handling possessions, his leadership—“going before them”— and his unwavering determination. Only Mark records that the multitude traveling with Jesus and the disciples was fearful. In contrast, the disciples were “astonished”—a word Mark used three times to describe their reaction to Jesus’ teaching. Mark’s term “astonished” (θαμβέω, thambeō) derives from an earlier word meaning “to make immovable,” referring to someone stunned or dumbfounded by what they see or hear.
The disciples’ astonishment is perhaps not unlike the astonishment we feel at our own children’s accomplishments and insight.
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