What was the subject matter of the council?

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Key Topics/Themes Between about 64 CE , when Nero began Rome’s fi rst offi cial persecution of Christians, and 70 CE , when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem (along with its Temple and the original apostolic church), the Christian community faced a series of crises that threat- ened its survival. Responding to the wars, revolts, and persecutions that affl icted his group, Mark composed what appears to be the earliest narrative account of Jesus’ public career, presenting Jesus’ story in a way that

was strikingly relevant to the precarious circumstances of Mark’s intended readers. Mark’s Gospel thus portrays a Jesus who faces attack on three crucial fronts: from Jewish religious leaders, local ( Herodian ) rulers, and Roman offi cials. Painting Jesus as a “ hidden Messiah ” who was misunder stood and deval- ued by his contemporaries, Mark emphasizes that Jesus came to serve, to suffer, and to die—but also ultimately to triumph by submit- ting fully to the divine will.

The shortest and probably the earliest of the four canonical Gospels, the narrative “ According to Mark ” contains relatively few of Jesus’ teach- ings. Instead, the author—who was the fi rst to call his written account an evangelion (gospel)— presents Jesus as a miracle-working man of ac- tion who is almost constantly on the move, dashing from village to village in Galilee and adjacent regions and, fi nally, journeying to Jerusalem for a fatal confrontation with its reli- gious and political authorities. Mark’s Jesus an- nounces God’s kingdom, exorcizes demons, heals the sick, and voluntarily sacrifi ces himself for others.

Mark’s Historical Setting

Several critical methods are helpful in studying Mark, beginning with historical investigation of the Gospel’s authorship, date, place of compo- sition, possible sources, and social and religious environment (see Figure 7.1 ). The earliest ref- erence to Mark’s Gospel comes from Papias , a Christian writer who was bishop of Hierapolis in Asia Minor about 130–140 ce (see Box 7.1 ). As quoted by Eusebius, Papias states that Mark had been a disciple of the apostle Peter in Rome and based his account on Peter’s reminiscences

c h a p t e r 7

Mark’s Portrait of Jesus The Hidden Messiah and Eschatological Judge

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give up his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

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of Jesus. Papias notes that Mark “ had not heard the Lord or been one of his followers ” so that his Gospel lacked “ a systematic arrangement of the Lord’s sayings ” (Eusebius, History 3.39). Besides his intention to link Mark’s Gospel to apostolic testimony, a consistent trend among church leaders during the second century ce , Papias makes two important historical observa- tions: The author of Mark was not an eyewitness but depended on secondhand oral preaching, and Mark’s version of Jesus’ activities is “ not in [proper chronological] order. ” Careful scrutiny of Mark’s Gospel has convinced most New Testament scholars that it does not derive from a single apostolic source, such as Peter, but is based on a general body of oral teachings about Jesus preserved in the author’s community. Mark’s author offers few hints about where or for whom he wrote, except for his insistence that following Jesus requires a willingness to suf- fer for one’s faith. Mark’s near equation of disci- pleship with suffering suggests that he directed his work to a group that was then undergoing se- vere testing and needed encouragement to re- main steadfast (see Mark 8:34–38; 10:38–40). This theme of “ carrying one’s cross ” may derive from the effects of Nero’s persecution (c. 64–65 ce ), when numerous Roman Christians were crucifi ed

City Country

Provincial aristocracy: Herodian ruling house, priestly and lay aristocracy, members of the Sanhedrin

Elite (upper-stratum

groups)

Members of the Sanhedrin, administrative and military retainers, functionaries, priests, scribes, local judges, tax collectors, foreign traders, wholesalers

Nonelite (lower- stratum groups)

Prosperous craftsmen, traders, peasant farmers, tenants, service workers

Small farmers, tenants, businessmen, day laborers, fishermen, shepherds, widows, orphans, prostitutes, beggars, bandits

Minimum existence

The Gospel According to Mark

Author: Traditionally John Mark, traveling companion of Paul and “interpreter” for Peter in Rome. The writer does not identify himself in the Gospel text, and scholars, unable to verify the mid- second century tradition of Markan authorship, regard the work as anonymous. Date: About 66–70 ce, during the Jewish Revolt against Rome. Place of composition: Rome or Syria-Palestine. Sources: Primarily oral tradition. Many schol- ars believe that Mark used a few written sources, such as a collection of Jesus’ parables (ch. 4), a compilation of apocalyptic prophe- cies (ch. 13), and, perhaps, an older account of Jesus’ arrest, trial, and execution (chs. 14–15). Audience: Gentile Christians suffering per- secution.

f i g u r e 7 . 1 Social Pyramid 2: Social Stratifi cation of Jewish Society in the Land of Israel (Without Religious Groups). In Jesus’ day, Jewish society was sharply divided between two unequal groups: a powerful elite, represent- ing a tiny percentage of the total population, and the non- elite masses. Whereas the elite upper stratum, such as the Roman-appointed Herodian kings, aristocratic chief priests, and large landowners, enjoyed the privileges of po- litical infl uence, wealth, and prestige, the lower stratum, encompassing the vast majority of the population, lacked access to power or social privilege. Nonelite groups ranged from some relatively prosperous artisans, small farmers, and merchants to large numbers of landless day laborers whose families existed in utter penury. Many of Jesus’ par- ables deal with the social and economic inequities that pervaded his society. See also Figure 5.7 for the pyramidal structure of Roman society. (Pyramid fi gure is reprinted from The Jesus Movement by Ekkehard W. Stegemann and Wolfgang Stegemann, English translation by O. C. Dean, Jr., copyright © 1999 Fortress Press. Used by permission of Augsburg Fortress.)

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embellishment, for second-century churchmen tried to connect extant writings about Jesus with apostles or their immediate disciples. The Gospel is anonymous; for convenience, we refer to the author as Mark.

Mark’s Puzzling Attitude Toward Jesus’ Close Associates

Jesus’ Family

If scholars are right about assigning the Gospel to a time when the Jewish War against Rome had already begun and the Temple was ex- pected to fall, most of the adult generation that had known Jesus was no longer alive. Even forty years after Jesus’ death, however, there must have been some persons who had heard the dis- ciples preach or who had known members of Jesus’ family. James, whom Paul calls “ the Lord’s brother ” (Gal. 1: 1 9), was head of the Jerusalem church until his martyrdom in about 62 ce ( Josephus, Antiquities 20.9; Acts 12:17; 15:13–21;

or burned alive. Papias and Ir e naeus , another early church leader, agree that Mark wrote shortly after Peter’s martyrdom, which, accord- ing to tradition, occurred during Nero’s attack on Rome’s Christian community. Although Rome is the traditional place of composition, a growing number of scholars think it more likely that Mark wrote for an audi- ence in Syria or Palestine. Critics favoring a Palestinian origin point to Mark’s emphasis on the Jewish Revolt (66–73 ce ) and concurrent warnings to believers who were affected by the uprising (Mark 13; see Box 7.6). In Mark’s view, the “ tribulation ” climaxing in Jerusalem’s de- struction is the sign heralding Jesus’ Parousia , or return in heavenly glory. The association of wars and national revolts with persecution of believers and Jesus’ Second Coming gives an eschatological urgency to Mark’s account. Even though Papias and other second- century writers ascribe the Gospel to John Mark, a com- panion of Peter and Paul (Philem. 24; Col. 4:10; Acts 12:12–25; 14:36–40), the author does not identify himself in the text. The superscription— “ The Gospel According to Mark ” —is a later church

The oldest surviving reference to Mark’s authorship of the Gospel bearing his name comes from Papias, who was a bishop of Hierapolis about 130 or 140 ce. An early church historian, Eusebius of Caesarea, quotes Papias as writing that an unnamed presbyter (church elder) was his source:

This, too, the presbyter used to say. “Mark, who had been Peter’s interpreter, wrote down carefully, but not in order, all that he remembered of the Lord’s sayings and doings. For he had not heard the Lord or been one of his followers, but later, as I said, one of Peter’s. Peter used to adapt his teach- ings to the occasion, without making a systematic arrangement of the Lord’s sayings, so that Mark was quite justifi ed in writing down some things just as he remembered them. For he had one purpose only—to leave out nothing that he had heard, and to make no misstatement about it.” (Eusebius, The History of the Church 3.39)

Eusebius also quotes Papias’s declaration that he preferred to learn Christian traditions from the testimony of persons who had known Jesus’ com- panions rather than from written documents, such as the Gospels:

And whenever anyone came who had been a follower of the presbyters, I inquired into the words of the presbyters, what Andrew or Peter had said, or Philip or Thomas or James or John or Matthew, or any other disciple of the Lord, and what Aristion and the presbyter John, disciples of the Lord, were still saying. For I did not imagine that things out of books would help me as much as the utterances of a living and abiding voice. (Eusebius, The History of the Church 3.39)

Although Papias is a relatively early witness to the Christian tradition, scholars caution that we have no means of verifying the historicity of his claims.

b o x 7 . 1 Papias on the Origin of Mark’s Gospel

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take charge of him, convinced he was out of his mind ” (3:21, Jerusalem Bible). When “ his mother and his brothers ” send a message asking for him, apparently demanding that he cease making a public spectacle of himself, Mark has Jesus de- clare “ whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, my mother. ” This is a startling repudia- tion of his blood ties and an implication that in the Markan Jesus’ view, his relatives were not do- ing the divine will (3:31–35). The force of this antifamily episode is intensifi ed because Mark uses it to frame a controversy in which Jesus’ op- ponents accuse him of expelling demons by the power of Beelzebub, another name for the devil. Jesus countercharges that those who oppose his work are defying the Holy Spirit (God’s presence active in human life), an “ unforgivable sin ” (3:22–30). At this point in the narrative, Mark shows Jesus’ family attempting to interrupt his ministry, thus subtly associating them with his ad- versaries (see also John 7:1–9). Mark also depicts Jesus’ acquaintances in Nazareth as hostile to a local carpenter’s

21:16), making him a contemporary of Mark. Through his surviving associates, James pre- sumably would have been an invaluable source of information when Mark began compiling data for a biography of Jesus. Strangely, Mark does not seem to have re- garded Jesus’ relatives—or any other ordinary source a modern biographer would consult—as worthy informants. One of the author’s prevail- ing themes is his negative presentation of virtu- ally everyone associated with the historical Jesus. ( Box 7.2 lists Mark’s leading characters.) From “ his mother and brothers ” (3:31) to his most intimate followers, Mark portrays all of Jesus’ companions as oblivious to his real na- ture and/or as obstacles to his work. Mark’s Gospel consistently renders all Jesus’ Palestinian associates as incredibly obtuse, unable to grasp his teachings, and blind to his value. The Markan picture of Jesus’ family implies that they, too, failed to appreciate or support him: “ When his relatives heard of this [his draw- ing large crowds around him], they set out to