Chapter 1: The Gospel of Mark
Herald of Mystery
§1 TAKE HEED WHAT YOU HEAR
Mark as interpreter of Scripture
Mark draws many images from the Scripture, but rarely makes them explicit in the text. The reader need to understand this images in order to understand what Mark if getting at.
§2 APOCALYPTIC JUDGMENT AND EXPECTANCY
Israels Story in Mark’s Narrative
The narrative context. Mark paints a picture of Israel still in exile (at least metaphorically). Only drastic divine intervention can bring deliverance. Hays identifies 4 narrative strands in Mark’s gospel. “ inbreaking judgment, eschatological restoration, the strange continuing resistance of Israel, and the shocking death of God’s son.”
1. Inbreaking Judgment.
- The harbinger of judgment and the new exodus. Suggestion of Isaiah and Malachi. “Mark 1:1-3 suggests that Israel’s story contains multiple prefigurations of the saving action of God climactically revealed in Jesus. From this point forward, if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
- Other resonances of eschatological judgment. “Fishers of people”, the phrase that Jesus used to call Andrew and Simon, has echoes of judgment in the OT (Jeremiah and Amos for example). There are other more overt allusions to judgment.
- Prophetic actin in the temple. Both the story of Jesus driving out the merchants from the temple and the story of the fig tree (intercalated into the temple story) have OT roots.
- Prefigurations of Israel’s eschatological restoration. Mark’s allusions to restoration are numerous. He uses kingdom language in reference to Jesus to show that he is the king that will restore Israel. Jesus phrase at the last supper about his blood being the new covenant is echoed loudly in both Deuteronomy and Zechariah.
- Israel’s blindness and resistance. The Israelites and even the disciples did not get his message, in spite of the resonances with the OT. Jesus’ style echoes Isaiah’s when he was told to make the people dull because of their reliance on idols.
- The parable of the wicked tenants. The story immediately invokes Isaiah 5:1-7. Other parts of the parable allude to other parts of the OT. “With eerie regularity, the beloved son in Israel’s scriptural stories becomes the victim of violence, either intended or accomplished.” Abraham and Isaac and Joseph are two examples.
§3 JESUS AS THE CRUCIFIED MESSIAH
“As we examine the way that Mark draws upon Israel’s Scripture to define the identity of Jesus, four themes emerge as the most salient: Jesus as the Davidic king, Jesus as the Son of Man, Jesus as the God of Israel, and Jesus as the crucified Messiah.”
- Jesus as Davidic King.
--Royal allusions in the superscription and baptism story.
—Davidic typology in Jesus’ actions.
—Bartimaeus’ acclamation. “Thus, after the persistently foolish misunderstandings of Jesus’ disciples (e.g., Mark 10:35-45), when we hear Bartimaeus cry to Jesus as “Son of David,” we should take heed what we hear.”
—Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem. Riding into Jerusalem on donkey alludes to Zechariah 9.
—Jesus’ riddle about David’s son. Jesu’ riddle about the Messiah and David’s son is a subtle way to get the scribes, etc to think about his Messiahship.
—Jesus as the glorified Son of Man. The references to the Son of Man in Mark can be directly linked to the used of the term in Daniel. - Jesus as the God of Israel? “And upon rereading, we discover numerous passages scattered through this Gospel that offer intimations of a disturbing truth—Jesus’ identity with the one God of Israel. Unlike the Gospel of John, which explicitly declares that Jesus is the Logos who is one with the Father, Mark shies away from overt ontological declarations.”
--Mark 1:2-3. Who is the Kyrios (the LORD God)? While not conclusive, this text suggests that Mark see’s Jesus as God.
—Mark 2:7. Who can forgive sins but God alone? You could interpret this passage as Jesus having been delegated the authority to forgive sins. But, you could also interpret that he is God and can forgive.
—Mark 4:35-41. Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? “What is unmistakably clear, however, is that Jesus’ mastery over the wind and waves demonstrates that he is the possessor of a power that the Old Testament consistently assigns to the LORD God alone.”
—Mark 6:34. Who is the shepherd of Israel? Jesus uses the sheep metaphor more than one. In one passage, he echoes the prophecy in Ezekiel 34.
—Mark 6: 45-52Who walks on the sea? There is only one direct reference to God walking on water in the OT. It is in Job 9. Mark says Jesus meant “to pass them by”, a phrase that has baffled interpreters. “… the verb παρελθεῖν almost surely alludes to Exodus 33:17-23 and 34:6, where God is said to “pass by” Moses in order to reveal his glory indirectly, for “no one shall see me and live.”
Mark 7:37. Who makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak? This verse alludes to Isaiah 35:5-6. While it is not explicit in Mark, the discerning reader will realize that the agent for healing in Isaiah is God himself. Another hint from Mark that Jesus is God.
—Mark 11:12-14. Who came looking for figs on the fig tree? In the previous story, Jesus has evoked Jeremiah about the destruction of the temple. Jeremiah continues in that passage with, “When I wanted to gather them, says the LORD, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.” It is the LORD that looked for figs and who made the leaves wither. This is exactly what Jesus did implying, at least, that Jesus is God.
—Complicating the picture: Jesus ‘ distinction from God. There are several instances in Mark where Jesus is distinguished from God. “In light of these elements of Mark’s story, how are we to understand the pervasive Markan indicators that Jesus is mysteriously the embodiment of God’s presence? Mark offers us no conceptual solution to the problem. Rather, his narrative holds these truths in taut suspension. His central character, Jesus, seems to be at the same time—if we may put it crudely—both the God of Israel and a human being not simply identical with the God of Israel.” - Jesus as Crucified Messiah. Late in his ministry Jesus says two things that allude to his death and the OT. No specific texts are referenced, but the implication is there. Four scripture references in Mark from Jesus. Two are quotes and 2 are referenced. 1. Jesus quotes psalm 118:22-23 which takes about the cornerstone being rejected. 2. After the last supper, Jesus quotes Zechariah 13:7 which says I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. 3. Mark quotes ps 22:18 (dividing the clothes) without referencing it. 4. Jesus’s last words are a quote from Ps 22:1 (Why have you forsaken me?).
- Excursus: Where is the Suffering Servant? “In sum, it is very difficult to make a case that Isaiah’s Suffering Servant texts play any significant role in Mark’s account of Jesus’ death—at least at the level of Mark’s text-production.”
§4 WATCHFUL ENDURANCE
The Church’s Suffering in Mark’s narrative.
“Our third heuristic question is how Mark evokes Israel’s Scripture to narrate the church’s role in relation to the world”.
- The church under persecution. In Jesus’ apocalyptic discourse, there are loud echoes of Daniel and other OT passages. “The language of Jesus’ apocalyptic discourse echoes all these passages, without citing them directly. But the cumulative effect of these echoes is to reassure the community that its present experience of suffering is part of the great apocalyptic script.”
- Challenge to Caesar. Mark depicts Jesus as comparing the kingdom of Caesar to the kingdom of God. There are references to the OT to help the discerning listener understand his point.
- The gospel for all nations.“The church then, is called neither to foment revolution against Caesar nor to withdraw into the wilderness like the Qumran sectarians to form a perfect society. Rather, they are simply to proclaim the good news of the kingdom, despite its paradoxical improbability, and to accept whatever suffering may come as a result. They are not to exclude Gentile outsiders but to remain critically open to those who somehow respond in faith to the gospel. Most of all, they are not to be seduced by the illusion of power projected by the empire. Instead, their radical reappraisal of power is grounded in the example of “the stone that the builders rejected,” the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Thus, their vision of community is shaped by the hermeneutical fusion of Israel’s story with the story of Jesus.”
§5 HIDDEN IN ORDER TO BE REVEALED
Marks’ Scriptural Hermeneutics.
“Mark’s way of drawing upon Scripture, like his narrative style more generally, is indirect and allusive. … The story is intelligible, at one level, for readers who do not hear the scriptural echoes. But for those who do have ears to hear, new levels of complexity and significance open up.”
Quotes from: Richard B. Hays. “Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/echoes-of-scripture-in-the-gospels/id113690192