I've been working recently through the short yet very helpful Mark as Story: An Introduction to the Narrative of a Gospel by Rhoads, Dewey, and Michie. While I have quibbles here and there with the assumptions and conclusions of the authors, I've found it overall a very helpful guide to the narrative of Mark and how this Gospel frames its central conflict and characters, as well as how it uses secondary characters to reinforce and shape the narrative. In the concluding chapters, the authors summarize the counter-cultural force which Mark's Gospel
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In working at the beginning stages of a new project, I have been spending a bit of time of late in the scholarly literature surrounding the Gospel of Mark. Those familiar with this Gospel know that it has some unusual features which distinguish it from the other Synoptics: the "messianic secret," it's often enigmatic character, and it's strange ending where the women leave the empty tomb in silence (earliest manuscripts have the gospel ending at 16:8). The lack of any "resurrection" appearances in this Gospel, which most New Testament scholars consider the earliest of the four canonical Gospels, has lead some scholars to suggest that the appearance accounts in the other Gospels developed later in Christian thought. The thought goes that since they aren't in Mark (the earliest Gospel), they must not have existed yet, and thus Matthew and Luke either borrow from later traditions or just outright invented them. Some hold that the longer ending of Mark is simply lost, and is possibly reflected in the longer endings which are attested in later manuscript evidence.
It seems Mark's theme of hiddenness, which occurs in various places in the Gospel, particularly in the first half, could have something to do with the presence of this strange ending. Note for example, Mark 4:33-34: "33 And with many parables such as these he was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 And he did not speak to them without a parable, but in private he explained everything to his own disciples." (LEB) Commenting on Mark 4:30-34, Hooker suggests: "Mark does not think of the parables as intended to mystify Jesus’ hearers. Their meaning may not be immediately obvious, but they are a challenge, and they call for a response. To those who are prepared to respond, understanding will be given." (Hooker, The Message of Mark, 56-57) A tension persists throughout the Gospel of Mark between concealing and revealing. There is mystery in Jesus' parables, yet he speaks them not to confuse, but to both veil and unveil. For those who are willing to follow him and open themselves to his message, understanding of his identity eventually comes (even the disciples themselves, who receive explanation of the parables, still don't get it throughout Mark's Gospel - it presumably takes the resurrection for them to understand). So, as we come to Mark's ending, Hooker again notes: "the evidence is there for those who have eyes to see it. It is there - but in order to see it, it is necessary to believe... this is the real beginning of discipleship; and it is the beginning for Mark's own readers, who do not 'see' Jesus in any physical way. The promise is to them, as well as to the eleven frightened disciples. Follow Jesus; that is the only way in which you will find him." (Hooker, The Message of Mark, 121) Rather that evidencing a gap in Mark's historical understanding or in the Christian traditions at the point of his writing, it is possible to see Mark's abrupt ending as consistent with his earlier theme. Those who are open to seeing Jesus for who he is will, and those who are not, like the majority of the religious authorities through his Gospel, will not. Mark's ending thus opens up both possible responses to the good news he has just described, and calls the hearer to respond, either in hopeful trust, or in skeptical rejection. |
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