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 would have had in its first century context. I found this a helpful summary worth sharing:
"When we take into account the cultural context in which Mark's Gospel would have been first performed, we see that Jesus challenges core cultural values and practices within Israel as it is portrayed within the story world, many of which were also common values and practices throughout the ancient Mediterranean region as a whole. The reign of God reverses the direction of purity: instead of withdrawing for fear of defilement, its agents are to spread holiness and wholeness through the holy spirit. Instead of fear and external contact with food and people and places considered to be unclean, followers are now to guard against internal uncleanness in their hearts resulting in actions harmful to others. The reign of God breaks the patronage cycle: Jesus does not seek followers who are beholden to him; so, instead of seeking honor for healing, Jesus tells suppliants to be quiet and go home. The rule of God subverts the core value of wealth: instead of wealth seen as a blessing, people are to relinquish their wealth to the poor. Kinship is reordered: instead of families ordered by patriarchy, the metaphorical kinship relations of the realm of God are structured so that no one serves as father and all are to function as servants to each other. The core value of honor is redefined: instead of seeking honor in the eyes of others as a mark of status, people are to choose to be least as a means to avoid the destructiveness of competition and to raise others up. The core definition of power is reconfigured: instead of using authority to dominate for one's advantage, people are to limit their power and use it to be servants to others. Even the visceral human drive for survival is challenged: instead of securing life at the expense of others, people are to risk their lives to bring the life-giving words and actions of God's reign to others. In experiencing a performance, those gathered to hear this story would not escape the challenge to certain values and taken-for-granted ways of life in so far as they were evident in their actual cultural context." While we don't share in all of the shared cultural assumptions of the first century world, or perhaps even most of them, we do have some overlap in our modern context with these counter-cultural and counter-intuitive activities of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. As such, there is much we can learn about our posture and practices today from how Mark's Gospel challenged its ancient audience. I don't intend to draw those out here, but they are well worth taking time to reflect upon.
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