Handout - The Structure of Mark

Mark is really just a passion narrative with a long introduction.  (Martin Kähler, late 19^th century)

 

By ignoring the life of Jesus prior to his baptism by John he makes Jesus appear quite suddenly on the scene and connects his appearance with the Old Testament (see the citation of Isaiah 40 in 1:2-3) so that there is continuity between Jesus and the prophets.

 

The Kingdom emerges in the teaching of Jesus and his mighty deeds.  Opposition also appears as well as intimation of the passion (note the intercalation of the death of John the Baptist in the story of the commission of the 12 disciples:  6:6b-13  [14-29] 30.  This scene pre-figures both the cross of Jesus and that of the disciples).  We rush through this section at great speed.  The Greek word for "immediately" appears 32 times in this section.

 

Key phrase is 'on the way' (8:27, 9:33, 10:32, 52) and the disciples are bidden to follow Jesus on his way.

 

Final section really lacks movement.  We must come to nearly a full stop in order to meditate on the passion.  In the cross the opposition has triumphed, but the church knows of the victory of the resurrection.  They disciples fled; again the Church knows that they have been restored.  And the story  points forward:  once more Jesus will be at their head on the way to Galilee as they go on mission.

 

Finally, it is from the point of view of drama that we can appreciate most easily the conclusion of the Gospel.  By its very nature the conclusion forces us to think out for ourselves the Gospel's challenge.  It would have been easy to finish with Jesus' victorious appearances to comfort the disciples:  they all lived happily ever after.  Instead the end is difficult:  the women receive a message; they do not deliver it, for they are afraid. The readers or hearers of Mark know the disciples did see Jesus;  they also know that they themselves experience his powerful presence when they heal, preach and are persecuted.  Where then is he?  In Galilee at their head.  What does that mean?  Listen to the story as a believer and work it out for yourself.  At the end we are taken back to the beginning:  in 16:7 Jesus returns to Galilee whence he came in 1:9.  Note similarly how the centurion's confession of Jesus as son of God (15:39) takes us back to God's confession of him as son at his baptism (1:11).  There is no resting place in the joy and triumph of the resurrection; we have always to return to the beginning in Galilee and advance forward again to the cross.  It is a continual pilgrimage, and the Christ whom we follow is both the crucified and the risen Christ.  In that way the story is rounded off and we realize its unity.