Introduction
I used
to not like the Gospel of Mark. Over the last several years, however, Mark has
grown to become my favorite of the four.
John and
Matthew are the most frequently read of the Gospels, and have been since
antiquity. Both have episodes that quickly come to mind as unique to each
Gospel (e.g., Matthew: the birth story with Wise Men, infant slaughter, and
flight to Egypt; the Sermon on the Mount; Peter being named the rock and
getting the keys to Heaven; finding the coin in the fish’s mouth to pay taxes;
posting of guards at Jesus’ tomb and claim that disciples stole his body; John:
pretty much all of it).
Luke is also
frequently read because it is (mistakenly) believed to be the most “historical”
(i.e. chronological and factually accurate) in its recording of the sequence of
events in Jesus’ life. Luke also has a lot of unique and memorable episodes. Luke's
birth narrative features the Christmas story, in which Mary and
Joseph travel to Bethlehem for a census, baby Jesus is laid in a manger, and
angels announce his birth to shepherds.
Also unique to Luke is John the
Baptist's birth story and the story of the 12-year-old Jesus at the Temple. More
than a dozen of Jesus’ most memorable parables are unique to Luke, including
the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. Luke also tells the story of the
disciples on the road to Emmaus.
In contrast, try to think of an
episode that is unique to the Gospel of Mark...
...
...
...
It’s hard, isn’t it?
Because Mark
is the shortest of the four Gospels and over 90% of Mark is included in some
form in Matthew, Mark is an oft-neglected Gospel. Until the 19th
Century, Mark was actually considered to be merely a summary of Matthew (which
is why it is placed after Matthew in the Bible), and was read less frequently
as a result. A little of this stigma still hangs over Mark: think about it –
why read the abbreviated version when Matthew has much more detail and depth? As
a result, Mark still lags behind the others in how frequently it is read and
how much people know about it.
However,
this perspective only focuses on the quantity
of events recorded within the Gospel. But each Gospel presents a unique picture
of Jesus, reflecting a blending of the author’s perspective, the audience the
work was written to, the issues being faced by the community at the time the
work was written, and the aspects of Jesus’ character the author wished to
emphasize. Even events that are present in all four Gospels (e.g. feeding the
5000) give different representations of Jesus when read in context. To neglect
Mark simply because nearly all the events are also in Matthew is to ignore a
unique portrayal of the character of Jesus, one that is just as theologically
deep, as literary, and as artistic as any of the other three Gospels.
So, this
is my chance to support the “underdog” of the Gospels. Hopefully by the end of
this study, you will have gained a greater appreciation for the Gospel of Mark,
just as I did as I learned to let it stand as a work of literature in its own
right.
To
introduce the study proper, let me give you some background information to the Gospel:
·
Mark
is considered by almost all scholars to be the earliest written of the four
Gospels. It was probably written after the start of the Jewish War in 66 AD but
before the destruction of the Temple in 70, most likely near 68-69 AD.
·
Mark was written to a predominantly
Gentile (Greek and Roman) audience, rather than to Jews. Many scholars think
Mark was written to Christians in Rome.
·
Mark’s structure and storytelling
show influences of Greco-Roman popular biographies, dramas, novels, and epics.
·
The
author is never named within the Gospel, and there are up to three different
Marks mentioned in ancient Church tradition: John Mark, traveling companion to
Paul and Barnabas (mentioned multiple times in Acts), Mark the cousin of
Barnabas (mentioned in the closings of Philemon, Colossians, and 2 Timothy),
and Mark the Evangelist, not mentioned in the New Testament but associated in
patristic tradition with Peter and not with Paul. Whether or not these multiple
Marks were one and the same is somewhat unclear.
·
Mark
is frequently described as “a passion narrative with an extended introduction.”
The suffering of Jesus is a central focal point to the Gospel, and fully 1/3 of
the Gospel is devoted to Jesus’ last week.
I am assuming that, if you are
reading this study, you have at least a passing interest in the historical and
cultural context of the New Testament. However, for people who may not find
this information as incredibly fascinating as I do, why does any of it matter?
·
Knowing that Mark was most likely
written during the Jewish War can help give context to some of the more
subversive and apocalyptic language in the Gospel. And if it was written to
Christians in Rome, the subtle jabs at the Emperor become that much more
forceful.
·
Understanding the background of Mark’s
audience can help explain some of the ways Jesus is characterized, as well as
the Greco-Roman influences on the structure and style of the narrative.
·
Recognizing that even early
Christian fathers weren’t sure about how many Marks there were can redirect us
to what matters in our reading of the narrative. Regardless of who the author was, what he has to say is ultimately
more important.
·
Understanding the central focus helps
to explain the author’s decisions about pacing the narrative: namely his speeding
up the events in Jesus’ ministry and pushing the action towards Jesus’ Passion
Week in Jerusalem.
Finally, before we jump into Mark
itself, let me explain a little bit about the standpoint from which I will be
writing this study:
I will
be looking at Mark from a blending of 3 perspectives:
·
Historical
criticism – I will be reading with questioning eyes, treating the text as an
intentional document whose purpose is to make the author’s points. The author
is writing down what he believes to be the single most important and
life-changing message of his age. It is not done haphazardly. He is telling the
story to present the message. As such, I will be asking questions about
authorial intent (e.g., Why would the author choose to write this episode in
this way?). Can we ever completely know what was on “Mark’s” mind when he was
writing? Of course not, but we can read between the lines and infer quite a lot
about the author’s perspective.
·
Theological
– I will be examining the theological message(s) intended for the original
audience. Jesus’ teachings were recontextualized as early Christian communities
formed their community theologies, dealt with individual struggles,
persecutions, disagreements, and splits, and tried to live in a multicultural
world. I will not be attempting to determine what the “original” words of Jesus
were. This is not a quest for the historical Jesus; this is an examination of
how Jesus’ teachings were integrated into the community receiving the Gospel of
Mark.
·
Literary
– I will be looking at the literary elements of the Gospel; particularly at the
characterization of the protagonist, secondary characters, and antagonists, the
themes and motifs, the structure, tone and mood, the symbolic and figurative
language, and the influences from other literary genres. I will take Mark as
standing alone, as much as possible bringing no interpretive clues from outside
sermons or theology. I will not “harmonize” (i.e. attempt to reconcile seeming
contradictions with other Gospels). I will also do my best to avoid
anachronism; that is, the literary interpretation has to make sense in 1st
C. Greco-Roman-Jewish context. In other words, I will not read the Gospel as a
21st C. American biography.
With that said, we can begin reading
the Gospel of Mark:
1:1 The beginning of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Despite this being only a single
sentence, it is loaded with information. We can learn a lot about the text by
unpacking this sentence.
·
We are told this is the “beginning”
of something
·
We are told this is a “gospel”
·
We are told that this is a work either
about Jesus or recording his message
·
We are told that Jesus has a title, “Christ”
·
We are told that Jesus has another
title, “Son of God”
The first verse of Mark appears to
function as a title or chapter heading. It is unclear, however, whether this
“beginning” refers to the entire Gospel, the ministry of John the Baptist
recorded in the next 8 verses, or is intended to make an allusion to Genesis
1:1 (in the context of Jesus’ appearance being a “new beginning”). I think that
one of these interpretations is more likely than the other two, but I will come
back to this verse and explain my thoughts at the end of the study. For now,
you decide which makes more sense to you and go with that.
The word “Gospel” is a translation
of the Greek word “evangelion,”
meaning “good news.” Mark introduces his book as a “gospel.” It could be enough
to say that Mark is recording the “good news” about Jesus. However, Mark does
not explain specifically what the message is that would make his book good news
(if you have read it, then you know the original ending doesn’t really close on
a positive note). This hints at the idea that by the time Mark was written
down, the word “Gospel” had evolved into a technical term describing a specific
narrative style (as a biography of Jesus’ life, ministry, and death) conveying
a specific message (the
saving power of God through the death of Jesus), and was something
that did not need to be explained to the audience, because they already knew
what it was.
The phrase “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ” contains a
series of genitive cases (marked by “of” in English). Genitives in Greek can
show possession/ownership or can be “objective.” These different meanings lead
to two possible interpretations of the phrase:
1) the gospel about Jesus Christ
(i.e. Jesus’ life and ministry is the gospel message); or
2) the gospel message that belongs
to Jesus (i.e. what Jesus himself taught).
This could be an example of an
intentionally ambiguous sentence structure by the author. By using the language
the way he does, the author is able to convey both meanings simultaneously:
that the message that Jesus taught was the message about himself.
The
titles given to Jesus in Mark 1:1 (Christ and Son of God) give us an
understanding of the Christology (understanding concerning the person
or nature of Christ)
of Mark’s community. Mark does not explicitly tell us what the title “Christ”
means, so it is up to us to figure out from the text. In
Jewish context, Christ, “anointed one,” came to mean a king who would come at
the end of time, one who would be far greater than all God's previous
messengers to Israel, ruling in justice and glory, or a king who would overthrow
the yoke of Roman domination and reestablish Israel’s preeminence as a world
power. However, we will see through our study that Mark redefines what the term
“Christ” means. The Christ in Mark had to suffer and die, suggesting that, for Mark,
Jesus can only be fully understood in that context.
Mark also does not explicitly state
what he means by the title “Son of God,” nor when sonship was given to Jesus. The
term "Son of God" had a specific range of Jewish meanings. One
of the most significant of these was a king at his coronation, adopted by God
as his son, legitimizing his rule over Israel. But in Greco-Roman culture, the
phrase had a different meaning; it meant a “divine man.” Legendary heroes like Hercules,
specific Roman Emperors, or famous philosophers like Plato all had the status
of “divine men.” I already stated that Mark was written to a Greek and Roman
audience. It makes sense, then, that Mark would use a framework that Gentiles
would understand. When Mark calls Jesus “Son of God,” the intention is not to
identify him as a Jewish ruler but to place him in the class of Greek and Roman
divine men, the “sons of God” who were endowed with divine authority and power
to perform healings, exorcisms and other miraculous deeds. However, Mark also redefines
the title “Son of God,” pushing the character of Jesus beyond just that of
another in a series of Greco-Roman heroes, leaders, and miracle-workers. As we read through Mark, keep in mind the ways in which
Mark will redefine expectations about these titles (and the others Jesus
receives).
Another interpretation puts a more subversive
spin on the sentence. A writing from 9 BC known as the Priene Calendar Inscription
declares the birth of the “god” Augustus (Caesar) as the “beginning of the good
news for the world” and naming Augustus as “savior.” However, by the late 60’s
AD, the “Golden Age” ushered in by Augustus had degenerated into chaos and disorder.
Julius Caesar and the Emperor Augustus had been deified after their deaths, but
Augustus was the only Roman Emperor to have that status conferred on him
(Claudius had his divine status rescinded by the Emperor Nero). Nero was forced
to commit suicide in 68 AD, and by that time, the Jewish War had been waging
for 2 years, and had been going rather badly for the Romans. After Nero’s suicide,
Rome was thrown into a period of civil war and assassination called the “year
of four Emperors.” However, even within the period of moral decay, paranoia,
instability, and murder, the propaganda of each Emperor’s coronation would have
been the same as that of Augustus, a divine herald of a new golden age. If Mark
was written around 68-69 AD (which is a very probable date of composition), and
written to Christians in Rome (as is thought by many scholars), then this
single sentence introducing the Gospel of Mark would have been very powerful
and takes on much more significance. Craig A. Evans describes the impact of
this sentence very well:
“the
social backdrop [in Rome] would have been one of anxiety and foreboding. One emperor after another, each seemingly
worse and more impotent than his predecessor,
had failed—and each one had been hailed “son of God”! The emerging cynicism would have been equalled
only by the growing fear and alarm. It
was against this setting that the Markan evangelist dared to put forward the Christian gospel and declare that the
true son of God was Jesus, the Messiah of Israel
and “king of the Jews”— not some would-be Roman emperor.”
Whew! That’s a lot of information
contained in one sentence!
“The beginning of the good news of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God”
(Future postings will cover more
verses, I promise.)
At the
beginning of this introduction, I had challenged you to think of some episodes
unique to the Gospel of Mark. Because you are probably dying to know, here are
some examples:
·
The quote, “The Sabbath was made for
man, not man for the Sabbath”
·
Jesus’ family trying to restrain him
because they think he is crazy
·
The Parable of the Growing Seed
·
James and John having the name
“Boanerges"
·
Jesus using Aramaic in his healing
commands
·
The two-stage healing of a blind man
·
The naked young man running away
when Jesus is arrested
·
Pilate being surprised that Jesus
died so quickly
