Bible Studies Jeanie C. Crain http://crain.english.missouriwestern.edu

The Gospel of Mark: A Study Based on the Old Testament

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Summary  Two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and scribes are looking for a way in stealth to have Jesus killed; they are, however, afraid of the crowds following him, believing any incident with "their Messiah" could cause them to riot. Jesus has retreated to the house of Simon, a leper whom he has healed, and is resting; a woman comes with a costly jar of unguent and anoints his head.  Because the ointment was expensive, some observing become angry at the woman.

Events develop rapidly, as narrated by Mark:

10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

Next, we have the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover Lamb is slain. The disciples ask Jesus where he would like to go to celebrate the Passover; they are instructed

, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, 14 and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." 16 So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

This day pushes on into evening, and while they are eating, Jesus predicts that one of them present will betray him. He identifies this person as one of the twelve who is to betray the Son of Man and says it would be better if that man had not been born.

The next session has come to be recognized as the institution of the Last Supper:

22 While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. 24 He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

Jesus indicates he will next drink of the fruit of the vine only in the kingdom of God. Finishing the dinner, Jesus goes with his disciples once again to the Mount of Olives.  Jesus predicts that they will all become deserters, that he himself will be struck but only to be raised up.   Peter denies that he could be capable of such desertion.

Next, Jesus prays in Gethsemane. Peter, James, and John, instructed to wait, begin to be agitated and restless, sensing events about to come it would seem. Jesus himself reveals a degree of emotional upheaval:

34 And he said to them, "I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake."

Jesus returns from praying three times only to find his disciples sleeping:

"Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand."

Jesus himself seems to have a premonition of what is about to befall, for he has addressed his Father, asking if possible that the cup he is to drink be taken from him:

"Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want."

Such is not, however, to be the case; he is to drink the bitter dregs. Judas arrives with a crowd holding swords and clubs, among them, the chief priests, scribes, and elders. Judas addresses Jesus as "Rabbi" and betrays him with a kiss. Jesus reminds this religious group that he has been with them for days in the temple teaching and that they have not arrested him. One follower has hastily donned only linen cloth and no outer cloak; in the turmoil of the moment, he loses his linen coat and runs from the scene naked.

Jesus is taken to the high priest, chief priests, elders, and scribes. The council and chief priests are looking for a reason to put Jesus to death, but among the testimonies against him, much is revealed and nothing is consistent. When Jesus is first questioned, he is quiet; next, though, he is asked outright: "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?"   Jesus replies, , "I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power,’ and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’ "   The high priest tears his clothes at this blasphemy and turns Jesus over to the crowds, all condemning him as deserving death, blindfolding him, spitting on him, and commanding him to prophesy.

Chapter fourteen ends with the ever adamant Peter's denial. As predicted, Peter denies Jesus, denying, also, that he himself is a Galilean.  On hearing the cock crow after his third denial, Peter remembers that Jesus has told him he, too, will forsake.

If the Passion story was written before the rest of Mark, and scholars seem to think it was, then Mark would have prefixed the narrative tradition of the Passion with the tradition of Jesus.  It is commonly agreed that Mark is the earliest Gospel and that it was used for the other synoptics.  The framework for the narrative is quite straight forward: the conspiracy of the authorities against Jesus, Judas' agreement to betray Jesus, preparation for the Passover, mention of the traitor, prophecy of Peter's denial, and Jesus being taken captive (Edwin Freed, The New Testament: A Critical Introduction, Wadsworth 1991: p. 113).  Certain basic issues emerge in the narrative; for example, the Mishnah (published in 200 CE) would suggest that a trial on the day of a Jewish festival runs counter to Jewish law.  Even the manner of the crucifixion is problematic: archaeological evidence indicates one nail would be driven through both heel bones.  A seat would have been fastened  on the upright part of the cross to prevent a quick death. The traditional view is, of course, that Jesus had his hands nailed to the horizontal bark of the cross. In another area, Jesus is resurrected; the nature, however, physical or spiritual, is debated. Evidence exists for both a physical and spiritual resurrection. Other questions might include the following: why is there an anointing at Bethany which interrupts the narrative of conspiracy against Jesus? Why is the name of Judas not mentioned in the story of the traitor?  Why would a criminal like Barabba be released instead of Jesus? Why does Mark, unlike Matthew, Luke, and John, not contain any narratives of Jesus' resurrection. Whatever else is said about Mark, the passion narrative is the climax to his Gospel, which ends as it began, with a confession that Jesus is the "Son of God."

What is unique in Mark is that he presents Jesus as often speaking privately to his disciples. He also presents Jesus as being conscious of his Messiahship and of being the Son of God.  Jesus has become aware of his uniqueness at his baptism, but this fact continues to be revealed throughout the narrative. Mark, as pointed out above, also begins and ends this Gospel with the theme of Jesus as the Son of God, and this becomes his theme.

Why were the scribes and priests looking for a way to kill Jesus? We should note that this is not a new development; recall Mark 3.6 and Mark 12.12; in the first, Jesus has healed a withered hand on the Sabbath, and the second comes after the story of the wicked tenants which those present begin to see as applied against them:

6 The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

12 When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.

We note here that the conspiracy in the first case is with the Herodians; the second indicates the fear of the crowd following Jesus. Whatever else Jesus has provoked, he has certainly criticized the existing Jewish religious piety.  He has seen it as having more show than sincerity. It has, also, ostracized too many in the community, stigmatizing them as falling short of the law.  Jesus has consistently demonstrated compassion based on a thorough understanding of human nature and spiritual realities.  He has attracted followers from those who have been marginalized by the temple advocates. The priests and scribes are enough aware of Jesus' popularity to want to postpone any public confrontation.

Who is the woman who anoints the head of Jesus?  All we know is that she is a woman from Bethany, that she anoints the head of Jesus with apparently quite expensive ointment; nard, one of the ingredients, was imported from India. This event and the event of Judas Iscariot's first contact with the chief priests set the stage for the Passion. The Passion then unfurls quickly; it culminates in the crucifixion and death and burial of Jesus.  We know that it is evening when the disciples gather with Jesus for the Passover:

17 When it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me." 19 They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, "Surely, not I?" 20 He said to them, "It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread † into the bowl † with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born."

Jesus at the Passover meal predicts his betrayal, interpreting the bread and wine of that meal as his body and blood.   The meal concludes with a hymn, and Jesus and his disciples go out to the Mount of Olives.  This is apparently a grove of olive trees containing an olive press.   Since this is the first watch of the night, we conclude it to be about 9:00 p.m. At some garden within the Mount of Olives, Jesus goes apart from his disciples to pray, taking Peter, James, and John, his inner circle with him.  We find out that they do not keep watch with him even one, two, or three hours.  Probably about 12:00 p.m., they leave the garden. This means the betrayal comes at the darkest part of night. Jesus is led away by the chief priests, elders, and scribes in the dark of night; early in the morning, Peter has already made his dramatic three times denial, matching the the three hours you could not pray. Jesus has been betrayed by Judas Iscariot, possibly for both monetary and political reasons.  Judas could have tired of waiting for Jesus to assume the Messiahship role expected of him.  At any rate, when Jesus is asked directly if he is the Messiah, he replies with apparent knowledge of Daniel 7:

I saw one like a human being

coming with the clouds of heaven.

And he came to the Ancient One

and was presented before him.

14 To him was given dominion

and glory and kingship,

that all peoples, nations, and languages

should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion

that shall not pass away,

and his kingship is one

that shall never be destroyed.

The high priest interprets this as blasphemy: according to the Oxford Companion, blasphemy is defined in the following way:

Blasphemy. Speech that is abusive to humans or derogatory to God. Blasphemy against humans occurs when people speak words harmful to one another (Matthew 15.19; Colossians 3.8; NRSV: "slander"). Blasphemy also occurs when a person speaks against God in a way that fails to recognize the sacredness and honor of God’s person and name. According to Leviticus 24.10–16, it was punishable by death.

Blasphemy was also used to describe a claim to a divine prerogative. According to Mark 2.7 (par.), Jesus was accused of blasphemy when he claimed to forgive sins; see also John 10.33–36; Mark 14.64.

The gospel writers also describe Jesus’ opponents as blasphemous when they mocked him (Mark 15.29; Luke 22.65). Similarly, 1 Timothy says that Paul blasphemed Jesus when he persecuted the church (1 Timothy 1.13), and that those who deserted the gospel were also guilty of blasphemy (1 Timothy 1.20).

In a passage that has elicited much debate, the synoptic Gospels (Mark 3.28–29 par.) speak of blasphemy against the (Holy) Spirit as a sin that cannot be forgiven. The context indicates that this sin is not committed unintentionally by Jesus’ followers, but is ascribed to the adversaries of Jesus, who had attributed his success to an evil spirit.

That Jesus has said he is the Messiah has apparently been interpreted as claiming divine prerogative.  Interpreted as deserving death, Jesus is subjected to physical abuse and buffoonery. What follows quickly is Peter's denial.

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Last modified: December 07, 2009