The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (58 page)

Overall, therefore, it is possible to discern four interrelated purposes in Mark's Gospel, all of which revolve around Jesus' identity as Son of God: (1) a
pastoral
purpose: to teach Christians about the nature of discipleship; (2) a
missionary-training
purpose: to explain how Jesus prepared his followers to take on his mission and to show others how to do so as well; (3) an
apologetic
purpose: to demonstrate to non-Christians that Jesus is the Son of God because of his great power and in spite of his Crucifixion; and (4) an
anti-imperial
purpose: to show that Jesus, not Caesar, is the true Son of God, Savior, and Lord.

LITERATURE

Literary Plan

Mark is an action-rich Gospel whose style is characterized by compactness, concreteness, vividness, and orderliness. Mark's frequent use of the word “immediately” (
euthus
), particularly in the first half of the Gospel, advances the narrative at a fast pace, while his more detailed descriptions add color (see shorter parallel accounts in 2:1–12; 5:1–20). Hendriksen observed Mark's vivid style expressed in his graphic descriptions of Jesus' acts, gestures, and emotions, his attention to detail with regard to place and time, and his frequent change of tense.
⁶³

But Mark also has the least polished Greek of the four Gospels, and his sentences are often simple and straightforward, a style that has earned his Gospel the reputation of being
“barbarous” or “unrefined.”
⁶⁴
However, Lane suggested that “it is better to understand it as supporting a conscious literary or even theological intention. Simple sentence construction, parataxis, direct speech and the historical present serve to make Jesus the contemporary of those who hear or read the account.”
⁶⁵

Mark often juxtaposed contrasting accounts either by placing them one after the other or by inserting one account into the other (see 3:7–19 and vv. 20–35), as well as including parallel accounts for the sake of emphasis (see 6:35–44 and 8:1–10).
⁶⁶
Throughout his Gospel, Mark sought to demonstrate by way of both direct quotations and allusions from the OT that the coming of Jesus constituted the fulfillment of OT prophecy and that his powerful acts proved that he was the Son of God.

Mark's Gospel consists of two main sections that portray Jesus as the powerful Messiah (1:1–8:26) and the Suffering Servant (8:27–16:8). The plot is centered on the “Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). The development of this plot involves conflict. However, as Rhoads and Michie explained with regard to the Markan narrative, “Although Jesus is the immediate cause of the conflicts, the story shows that God is the ultimate origin of many of the actions and events of the story.”
⁶⁷
The question of Jesus' identity also surfaces as a corollary to this conflict motif, further complicated by Jesus' own injunctions to have his identity kept secret (the “messianic secret”) and the failure of the disciples to comprehend who Jesus really was (the “discipleship failure” and “misunderstanding” motifs).

The story itself is set in an unspecified time frame between Jesus' baptism and his death, and within shifting geographical locales encompassing Galilee and the surrounding regions, the Transjordan, finally coming to a dramatic close in Jerusalem. This compactness may suggest that the events occurred within a one-year period, especially in view of the fact that only one Passover is mentioned. But Guelich correctly stated, “Though seeking to provide the reader with a connected narrative, the evangelist makes no claim about either the extent of the chronology or the completeness of his story.”
⁶⁸
The first section is action packed and centers on Jesus' miracles and stories that focus on healings, controversies, and parables. Mark presented Jesus' ministry first in Galilee and then in Jerusalem. Blomberg noted, “Mark has just described significant opposition to Jesus, appears to bring a section to a close, and then starts afresh with Jesus withdrawing from hostility and calling or commissioning his disciples for further service in a new location (3:7; 6:6b).”
⁶⁹

The major turning point in the Gospel is Peter's confession of Jesus on the road to Caesarea Philippi (8:27–30), which also provides an apt introduction to the second section. In the second half of his narrative, Mark focused on Jesus' teaching concerning his
impending suffering and death. Two key markers in this second half include Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the reference to the coming Passover (11:1; 14:1).
⁷⁰
The events of the cross occupy center stage, both thematically and in the proportion of time spent on them, showing the significance of this event for Mark. Throughout his Gospel, Mark featured selected references to Jesus as Son of God, beginning with the opening sentence in 1:1 and peaking with the centurion's confession at 15:39 (see also 1:11; 3:11; 5:7; 9:7; 12:6; 13:32; 14:61).

Outline

The structure of Mark's Gospel presents itself as follows.
⁷¹

1. JESUS THE SON OF GOD AS THE POWERFUL MESSIAH (1:1-8:26)
   
   1. Preparation for Jesus' Ministry in the Wilderness (1:1-13)
      
      1. Opening (1:1)
         
      2. The Preaching of John the Baptist in the Wilderness (1:2-4)
         
      3. The Baptizing Work of John in the Jordan (1:5-8)
         
      4. The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan (1:9-11)
         
      5. The Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness (1:12-13)
         
   2. Jesus' Initial Ministry in Galilee (1:14-3:35)
      
      1. Summary and Initial Response (1:14-45)
         
      2. Controversy with Religious Leaders (2:1-3:6)
         
         1. Jesus Heals a Paralytic (2:1-12)
            
         2. The Call of Matthew and Jesus' Ministry to Sinners (2:13-17)
            
         3. On Fasting and the Sabbath (2:18-28)
            
         4. Jesus Heals a Paralytic (3:1-6)
            
      3. Summary and Initial Decision (3:7-35)
         
         1. Jesus' Messianic Ministry (3:7-12)
            
         2. The Calling of the Twelve (3:13-19)
            
         3. Jesus' True Mother and Brothers (3:20-35)
            
   3. Jesus' Ministry on and Around the Sea of Galilee (4:1-8:26)
      
      1. Cycle 1: Responses to Jesus and Proofs of His Authority (4:1-5:20)
         
         1. The Parable of the Sower and the Purpose of Parables (4:1-20)
            
         2. Other Parables and Illustrations (4:21-41)
            
         3. Casting Out a Legion of Demons (5:1-20)
            
      2. Interval: Faith and Unbelief (5:21-6:29)
         
         1. Healing of Jairus' Daughter and an Ailing Woman (5:21–43)
            
         2. Jesus Rejected at Nazareth (6:1–6a)
            
         3. Commissioning of the Twelve (6:6b–13)
            
         4. The Beheading of John the Baptist (6:14–29)
            
      3. Cycle 2: More Demonstrations of Jesus' Messianic Authority (6:30-56)
         
         1. Feeding the 5,000 (6:30-44)
            
         2. Walking on Water (6:45-52)
            
         3. Miraculous Healings (6:53-56)
            
      4. Interval: Matters of the Heart (7:1-37)
         
         1. The Tradition of the Elders and True Uncleanness (7:1-23)
            
         2. The Faith of the Syrophoenician Woman (7:24-30)
            
         3. Jesus Heals a Deaf Man (7:31-37)
            
      5. Cycle 3: Mounting Opposition and Jesus' Continued Messianic Ministry (8:1-26)
         
         1. Feeding the 4,000 (8:1-10)
            
         2. The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod (8:11-21)
            
         3. Jesus Heals a Blind Man (8:22-26)
            
2. JESUS THE SON OF GOD AS THE SUFFERING SERVANT (8:27-16:8)
   
   1. Jesus' Ministry on the Way to Jerusalem (8:27-10:52)
      
      1. First Passion Prediction and Response (8:27-38)
         
      2. Interval: Jesus as Powerful Son of God (9:1-29)
         
         1. The Transfiguration (9:1-13)
            
         2. Healing a Demon Possessed (9:14-29)
            
      3. Second Passion Prediction and Response (9:30-50)
         
      4. Interval: Jesus as Authoritative Teacher (10:1-31)
         
         1. Jesus' Teaching on Divorce (10:1-12)
            
         2. Jesus Welcomes Children (10:13-16)
            
         3. The Rich Young Ruler and Following Jesus (10:17-31)
            
      5. Third Passion Prediction and Response (10:32–45)
         
      6. Healing of Blind Bartimaeus (10:46-52)
         
   2. Jesus' Ministry at the Temple (11:1-13:37)
      
      1. First Trip to the Temple: The Triumphal Entry (11:1-11)
         
      2. Second Trip to the Temple: Cleansing the Temple (11:12-19)
         
      3. Third Trip to the Temple: Challenges and Teachings (11:20-13:37)
         
         1. The Lesson of the Fig Tree (11:20-26)
            
         2. Rebuffing a Challenge to Jesus' Authority (11:27-33)
            
         3. The Parable of the Wicked Tenants (12:1-12)
            
         4. Paying Taxes to Caesar (12:13-17)
            
         5. Challenging Jesus on the Resurrection (12:18-27)
            
         6. The Two Most Important Commandments (12:28-34)
            
         7. Other Teachings of Jesus (12:35-40)
            
         8. The Widow's Mite (12:41-44)
            
         9. Jesus' Teaching on the End Times (13:1-37)
            
   3. Jesus' Death on the Cross and Resurrection (14:1-16:8)
      
      1. Anointing at Bethany and Betrayal Plot (14:1-11)
         
      2. The Last Supper (14:12-25)
         
      3. Prayer and Arrest at Gethsemane (14:26-52)
         
      4. Trial Before Sanhedrin and Denials by Peter (14:53-72)
         
      5. Trial Before Pilate and Mocking by Soldiers (15:1-20)
         
      6. Crucifixion and Burial (15:21-47)
         
      7. Resurrection (16:1-8)
         

UNIT-BY-UNIT DISCUSSION

I. Jesus as the Powerful Messiah (1:1–8:26)

A. Preparation for Jesus' Ministry in the Wilderness (1:1–13)
The prologue that opens Mark's story immediately informs the reader that Mark is about to narrate a story that focuses on one whom he refers to as “Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1).
⁷²
He began by grounding his story in the OT, in the words of Isaiah the prophet (actually a conflation of Mal 3:1 and Isa 40:3), hence effectively announcing that “John's ministry fulfills divine prophecy and then identifies Jesus as the beloved Son and the conveyer of the Spirit.”
⁷³
John the Baptist performed his God-ordained role as he baptized in the desert, a place that is eminently appropriate because of its symbolism as a place of new beginnings and renewal (see Exod 2:15; 1 Sam 23:14; 1 Kgs 19:3–4),
⁷⁴
and it was a baptism that he performed as preparatory for God's coming Messiah and kingdom. Before Jesus began his work, he submitted himself to John's baptism, at which significant juncture his sonship was declared by God himself as the Holy Spirit descended on him (Mark 1:11). He was subsequently driven into the desert by the Holy Spirit to undergo a period of temptation by Satan. His victory over Satan set the pattern for the narrative that continues to unfold.

B. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee (1:14–3:35)
Rooting Jesus' mission in the ministry of John the Baptist (1:2–3), the evangelist showed how Jesus began to call and train a select group of followers for their missionary task. In Mark's account of Jesus' activities in Galilee, Jesus' preaching and healing ministry is held up as the pattern for his disciples to emulate (see 1:14–15, 21–28, 34; and 6:12–13).
⁷⁵

As the narrative progresses, Jesus drew his followers more fully into his own messianic mission: he called them away from their natural vocation to follow him (1:16–20; 2:13–17); he chose the Twelve “to be with him” (3:13–19); and at the climax of the first part of this Gospel he sent them on a mission (6:6b– 13). Early in his ministry, Jesus dissociated himself from blood ties and affirmed new forms of kinship. He redefined who his true mother and brothers are (3:31–35) and was rejected in his hometown of Nazareth (see 6:1 –6a).

The important principle of access on the basis of spiritual rather than ethnic distinctives paves the way for the future extension of the gospel to non-Jews.
⁷⁶
It also demonstrates the nature of true discipleship: following Jesus involves conflict, rejection by one's own, even the bearing of one's cross. By distancing himself from his own family, Jesus modeled in his own life a stance toward kingdom membership that the disciples are to emulate in their relationships with one another and in their mission.
⁷⁷

Something to Think About: Walking on the Water of Life

F
ew of Jesus' miracles is as astounding as his walking on the water (6:45–52). Like his turning a large amount of water into wine, this nature miracle defies human explanation—not that unbelievers have not tried to account for the event by supplying some naturalistic explanation. Just recently, for example, someone suggested that Jesus was simply skipping from rock to rock, hidden just barely beneath the surface of the water. This may get first prize for imagination, but it is such a transparent attempt to explain the unexplainable that it is instantaneously self-defeating and tells us more about the unbelief of the person proposing the “solution” than about what most likely happened.

Ever since the period of the Enlightenment, deists and other antisupernaturalists have sought to devise mere cause-and-effect scenarios that drained the miraculous from Scripture. One of them was an important founding father of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, who set forth the “principles of a pure deism” supposedly taught by Jesus, “omitting the question of his deity.” The Jefferson Bible, not published until 1895 by Jeff erson's grandson, begins with an account of Jesus' birth that omits all mention of angels, prophecy, miracles, the Trinity, or the deity of Jesus. It concludes with the words, “Now, in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus. And rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.” End of story! No resurrection.

How different is this from the eyewitness accounts concerning Jesus in Scripture! It is highly unlikely that anyone would have fabricated the kind of story where Jesus walked on the water, plus told Peter to come out of the boat to walk on the water toward him, unless he actually remembered this event. Walking on the water, in turn, would clearly have evoked the memory of Scripture, according to which God “alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8). Upon seeing Jesus, his followers were so startled they thought he was a ghost and screamed. Afterward, Mark says that “they were completely astounded” and “their hearts were hardened” (6:51–52). Yet when Jesus breathed his last, the Roman centurion at the cross cried out, “This man really was God's Son!” (15: 39).