Bible Course for the Laity - 2004, DVK, Bangalore

Full Reports on the Bible & Theology Course - 2004

6.2   The Gospel According to Mark

Mark's Gospel portrays a tight geographical/theological structure.

Geographical: Jesus' movement from Galilee to Jerusalem, as follows:

• Prologue: Mk 1:1-15
• The first half of the Gospel (1:16 - 8:21) describes Jesus' activity in Galilee and beyond.
• The second half focuses on Jerusalem:
  - Journey from Galilee to Jerusalem (8:22 - 10:52)
  - Symbolic actions and teachings during the first part of the passion week in Jerusalem (11:1 - 13:37)
  - The passion and death, and resurrection (14:1 - 16:8)

Theological: Authority of Jesus, rejection and misunderstanding by His own people/disciples, as follows:

• Once we know who Jesus is (Mk 1:1-15), we see His authority revealed in work and word (1:16 - 3:6); his rejection by his own people (3:7 - 6:6a) and the misunderstanding of Him even by His own disciples (6:6b - 8:21).
• On the way up to Jerusalem (8:22 - 10:52), Jesus clarifies the nature of His authority and spells out its consequences for His followers. At Jerusalem, He encounters resistance to His teaching (11:1 - 13:37) and meets a cruel and tragic death at the hands of those who reject His authority (14:1 - 16:8).

Mark created the literary genre of Gospel (Mk 1:1). Being the first to write and account of Jesus' ministry in an orderly fashion, Mark appears to have created a model followed and developed by other evangelists. Mark had various kinds of traditions at his disposal: sayings, parables, controversies, healing stories, other miracles, and probably a passion narrative. Some of these traditions may also have been grouped as controversies (Mk 2:1 - 3:6), seed parables (Mk 4:1-34), miracles (Mk: 4:35 - 5:43), etc. Mark gave order and a plot to these sayings and incidents, connected them with bridge passages, and added parenthetical comments for the sake of the readers, to deepen their faith in Jesus.

6.2.1 Marcan Theology

The Kingdom of God and discipleship; and
The climax of the prologue in Mk 1:15: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."

During Jesus' time, in Judaism, the "Kingdom of God" referred to the definitive display of God's lordship. Much of Jesus' teaching, especially the parables, is aimed at deepening people's understanding of the coming kingdom and helping them prepare for it. Even Jesus' healings appear as anticipations of the life in God's kingdom.

While Jesus taught about the kingdom of God in parables, his life was really the parable par excellence of the kingdom. Mark's message is that whoever wishes to understand the kingdom must look at Jesus the healer, the teacher, and the crucified-and-risen one.

A peculiar feature of Marcan Christology is often called "the Messianic Secret". It is Mark's way of accounting that Jesus, during His public ministry, neither claimed to be nor was recognized as the Messiah. Jesus never takes Himself the title of the Messiah (Mk 8:27-38). Some references in the Gospel, where Jesus commands people to be silent about his actions or identity, underline this account (Eg: Mk 1:34-44, 3:12, 5:43, 7:36, 8:26-30, 9:9). Moreover, the messiahship of Jesus was manifest only after His death and resurrection.

The third part of Module-6 is a summary of the Gospel According to Mathew.

Module 6, Part 1   Module 6, Part 2   Module 6, Part 3
Module 6, Part 4   Module 6, Part 5
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