2. an Urgent Message

8/11/2019 2. an Urgent Message

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Lesson #2

An Urgent Message


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In Lesson #1 we began our study of the Gospel

according to Markby understanding that a gospel

is a unique literary genre that reflects the

understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what he

did, in light of a living faith tradition, guided by theHoly Spirit, 30-60 years after the events it portrays.

We also learned how the gospels came to be written,

and we placed Mark squarely within the synoptic

tradition as the first gospel to emerge in written

form.


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In this lesson we take a close look at how Mark

structures his Gospel; how he tells his story; and the

stylistic devices he uses to create a intense sense of

urgency and narrative speedthe hallmarks of the

Gospel according to Mark.


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Every work of artvisual,musical and literarymirrors

the time and culture from

which it emerges.

The Gospel according toMark is no exception!


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To understand the Gospel

according to Mark, we need

to examine carefully thehistorical and cultural

background from which it

emerges; that is, we need

to understand the RomanEmpire of the 2ndhalf of the

1stcentury.


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The 1st-century Roman

Empire is not simply Italyand parts of Europe;

rather, the 1st-century

Roman Empire is the

entire land masssurrounding the

Mediterranean Sea:

nearly half of which is in

north Africa!


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1. By the end of the 1stcentury A.D. the

Roman Empire consisted of 5 million

square kilometers, encompassing 40

different modern-day countries and asmany different cultures.

2. Its three largest citiesRome,

Alexandria and Antiochwere over

twice as large as any city on earth until

the modern-day 18thcentury industrial

revolution.3. 50-60 million people lived in the

Roman Empire.

4. Although commerce was conducted

primarily by sea, the Roman empire

built over 58,000 miles of roads, many

of which are still evident today, over

2,000 years later!


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5. To encourage efficient and effective

commerce the Roman Empire had a

fully-developed banking system and

common coinage.6. Thanks to Alexander the Great, Greek

was the common language of the

empire until the 4thcentury A.D.,

creating cohesion in a very

geographically and culturally diverse

population, although a plethora oflocal languages were also used (e.g.,

Jesus and his friends spoke Aramaic,

the local language of Palestine, but the

entire New Testament was written in

Greek).

7. Unlike most other ancient cultures, the

Roman Empire did not have a rigid

class system, but evidenced a high

degree of social mobility.


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8. The Roman Empire practiced slavery.

Overall, 10-20% of the population

throughout the Empire were slaves.

Slaves were primarily war captives orindentured servants; slavery was not

racially based. Slaves could earn their

freedom or be granted their freedom

by those who owned them.

9. Freeborn women were Roman citizens,

kept their family name (not theirhusbands), could own property

independent of their husbands, could

own and operate businesses, could

inherit property and wealth, wrote

their own wills and could travel freely

throughout the Empire.


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10. Roman law formed the basis for the

entire Western legal tradition,

including that of the United States.

11. Religion in the Roman Empire was anintegral part of civil life, and it

encompassed practices and beliefs the

Romans considered their own.

Religions of other cultures within the

Empire were respected and protected:

the Jews, for example, were free topractice their religion and to operate

their temple in Jerusalem.


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On the whole, the Roman Empire was

a great blessing to humanity, bringing

stability and prosperity to millions. Ofcourse, like any great civilization it had

its share of rascals and rogues, heroes

and villains, wars and brutalities,

scandals and horrors.

The New Testament mirrors a briefslice of Romes 1,000 year history, a

time of great achievement but also of

great turmoil and strife.

At no time, however, was there

greater strife than during the 2ndhalfof the 1stcentury, the period in which

the written gospels are written.


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Our story begins with Julia Agrippina (A.D.

15-59), great granddaughter of Caesar

Augustus; adoptive granddaughter of the

Emperor Tiberius; sister of the Emperor

Caligula; wife of the Emperor Claudius; and

mother of the Emperor Nero.

Through incestuous marriages, imperial

intrigue and duplicitous assassinations,

Agrippina engineered her sons rise to

power. After poisoning Claudius (her uncle

and 3rdhusband), her seventeen year-old

son Nero became Emperor in A.D. 54, with

Agrippina controlling the reins of power.

Quickly, however, Neros relations with hismother deteriorated, ending by Nero

having her murdered in A.D. 59.Julia Agrippina, Neros mother.

National Museum, Warsaw.


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On 18 July A.D. 64 the Great Fire of Rome

erupted, destroying a large portion of the

city. According to the historian Tacitius, the

fire raged for five days. Both Suetonius and

Cassius Dio point to Nero as the arsonist,

who wanted to clear a large part of Rome

so he could build a new palace complex. To

deflect blame, Tacitus writes that Nero

blamed the fire on Romes Christians, thus

initiating the first state-sponsored

persecution against the Church in Rome,

A.D. 64-68.

Both Peter and Paul were martyred during

this time, along with an immense

multitude of others. The persecution

ended with Neros suicide on 9 June A.D.

68, the 6thanniversary of his murdering his

stepsister and first wife, Octavia.

Nero,

5thEmperor of the Roman Empire.

Capitoline Museum, Rome.


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Following Neros death

civil war erupted and four

emperors reigned in quick

succession: Galba (8

months); Otho (2 months);

Vitellius (8 months); andVespasian (10 years). The

first three emperors were

dispatched through

murder or suicide within ayear.

Galba, A.D. 68-69

(8 months)

Assassinated

Otho, A.D. 69

(2 months)

Suicide

Vitellius, A.D. 69

(8 months)

Assassinated

Vaspasian, A.D. 69-79

(10 years)

Natural Death


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At this time of enormous political chaosin

A.D. 66the great Jewish revolt began in

Palestine. Nero chose the brilliant general,

Vespasian, to suppress it. Fielding more

than 50,000 combat troops, Vespasianbegan operations in Galilee; by A.D. 68 he

had crushed opposition in the north, moved

his headquarters to Caesarea Maritima and

methodically began clearing the coast.

Meanwhile, the defeated Jewish leaders inGalilee escaped to Jerusalem, where a bitter

civil war erupted, pitting the fanatical

Zealots and Sicarii against the more

moderate Sadducees and Pharisees. By

A.D. 68 the entire Jerusalem leadership and

their followers were dead, having beenkilled by their fellow Jews, and the Zealots

held the temple complex, using it as a

staging area for their war against Rome.


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With Neros death in Rome Vespasians troops

proclaimed him Emperor. Support spread

quickly, and in A.D. 69 Vespasian left Jerusalem

for Rome to claim the throne, leaving his son

Titus to conclude the war in Jerusalem.

By the summer of A.D. 70, Titus had breached

the city walls and captured the temple. During

the fierce fighting the temple complex caught

fire, and on Tisha BAv(29/30 July A.D. 70) the

temple fell: 1,000 years of Jewish temple

worship ended in a single day. The fire spread

quickly to the city itself, destroying most of it.

Tacitus writes that no fewer than 600,000 Jews

fought the Romans in Jerusalem; those

captured were crucified, up to 500 per day;

and historians estimate that 1.2 million Jews

TitusCapitoline Museum, Rome.

died during the span of the Jewish Revolt, A.D. 66-73. It was the greatest catastrophe

in Jewish history until the Nazi holocaust of 1939-1944.


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A generation earlier, Jesus

had said:Do you see these great buildings?

There will not be one stone left upon

another that will not be thrown

down . . .. Brother will hand over

brother to death, and the father his

child; children will rise up against

parents and have them put to death.

You will be hated by all because of

my name . . .. Be watchful! I have

told it all to you beforehand.

Mark 13: 2, 12-13, 23

Henrik. Jesus of Nazareth (pencil on

paper), c. 2006.


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This is the background

to the Gospel accordingto Mark.

This is the time and

culture from which thegospel narrative

emerges.

This is the ethos thatinforms our first gospel.


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The early church unanimously agreed thatJohn Mark, son of Mary of Jerusalem,

nephew of Barnabas, and traveling

companion of both Saints Peter and Paul,

wrote the Gospel According to Mark.

Papias (c. A.D. 140) quotes an earlier source

saying: 1) Mark was a close associate of

Peter, from whom he received the things

said and done by Jesus, and 2) these things

did not come to Mark as a finished,sequential account of the life of Jesus, but

they came from Peters preaching.

John Mark wrote for a Gentile audience,

those who lived in Rome, most probably

during the persecution under Nero, in thechaos and looming catastrophe of the

Jewish revolt of A.D. 66-73.

Mark, from the Lindisfarne Gospels

(Cotton MS Nero D. IV), c. A.D. 700.

London: British Library.


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TheGospel According to MarkfollowsMatthew in our Bibles, providing a

very different point of view toward the

events that transpire during Jesuspublic ministry.

Although Matthew and Mark draw on

the same source material, Mark does

something quite different with his.

Matthews narrative begins with agenealogy that reaches back into the

Hebrew Scriptures, anchoring the

gospel in the Abrahamic and Davidic

covenants. Like a swinging door,

Matthews gospel reaches back into

the Old Testament and pulls the linear

narrative up into the New,

demonstrating the continuity of Gods

plan of redemption.Matthew the Evangelist, Grandes Heures of

Anne of Brittany(illuminated manuscript),

c. 1477-1415. Bibliothque Nationale de

France, Paris.


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In sharp contrast, Marks

narrative begins abruptly, and it

moves ahead at break-neck

speed, jolting to a stop with the

women at the tomb who did

nothing, for they were afraid.

Unlike Matthew, Marks gospel

is a sudden and dramatic

proclamation, a thunderclap on

a sunny afternoon. Whereas

Matthews structure is chiastic,Marks is purely lineara

straight line from beginning to

end.

Mark, Book of Hours (illuminated

manuscript), Rosenwald MS 10, c. 1533.

Library of Congress.


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And unlike Matthews prose

style, which uses carefully

balanced parallel components,

Marks is dramatic and abrupt,

dominated by short phrases

linked with and and pushed

forward by the repetitive use of

immediately and the use ofthe historical present tense.

Reading the two gospels in the

original Greek produces two

profoundly differentexperiences.

Jacob Jordaens, The Four Evangelists

(oil on canvas), c. 1625-1630.

Louve Museum, Paris.

Nicely done, Mark!


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Marks gospel has a two-fold

structure, framed by a prologue and

an epilogue that pivots on Peters

confession of faith at Caesarea

Philippi.

Prologue (1: 1-15)

Who is this man? (1: 16 8: 26)

Peters Confession of Faith (8: 279:

13)

What does it all mean? (9: 14 16: 8)

Epilogue (16: 9-20)


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Part 1 (1: 1 - 8: 26) takes place on and

around the Sea of Galilee and

concentrates on establishing Jesus

identity. As readers, we know exactly

who Jesus is, for we are told in the

proclamation of 1: 1Beginning of

the gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God . .

..

The demons, too, know who Jesus is:

What have you to do with us, Jesus of

Nazareth? Have you come to destroy

us? I know who you arethe Holy One

of God! (1: 24).

But the characters in the narrative

arent privy to this information; they

have to learnwho Jesus is, and that is

the focus of Part 1 (1: 18: 26).


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By giving us, the

readersand the

demonsthis inside

information, while

withholding it from the

main characters in thenarrative, Mark creates

an enormous tension

that builds throughout

the first half of thegospel.


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This tension is then amplified

by Marks use of the word

and (there are 11,022 words

in the Greek text of Mark;

1,084 of them are and1 in

10!); his use of the word

immediately (Mark uses it 41

times; Matthew 5 and Lukeonly once); and Marks use of

the historical present tense,

suddenly shifting a past event

to the grammatically presenttense, intensifying the sense of

urgency.


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Finally, Mark creates a

narrator to tell his story, and

Marks narrator, rather than

his characters, drive the

action forward at a blistering

pace.

Of the 11,022 words in Mark,

the narrator speaks 5,826 of

them, 53%; of the 19,165

words in Luke, the narrator

speaks 7,690 of them, 40%.

In Mark the narrator drives

the action; in Luke the

characters drive the action.


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These are all very

deliberate choices on

Marks part to speed the

narrative forward, to

create tension and to

build suspense as thecharacters grapple with

the question:

Who is this man, Jesus

of Nazareth, who can sayand do such things?


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The turning point in our story

comes in chapters 8: 27 - 9: 13.

Jesus takes his disciples 30 milesnorth of Capernaum to Caesarea

Philippi, and there the disciples

finally understand who Jesus is

as Peter confesses: You are theChrist. Peters statement is

confirmed only 16 verses later at

the Mount of Transfiguration by

the voice of God the Father in

the presence of two credible

witnesses, Moses and Elijah.


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Now knowing who Jesus is, Part 2 (9:

14 - 16: 20) moves us 100 miles south

from the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem

and concentrates on the implicationsofJesus identity: for himself, for the

characters in the story and for us,

Marks readers.

For Jesus, he must go to Jerusalem

where he will be arrested, tried,crucified and buriedand on the

third day rise;

For the characters in the story, they

must deny themselves, take up their

crosses and follow him; and

For us, Marks readers, we must be

willing to take up our crosses, follow

him and perhaps die, as well.


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The implications are

overwhelming, and the women

at the tomb are stunned by

them.

[At the tomb the angel said]

go and tell the disciples and

Peter, He is going before you to

Galilee; there you will see him,

as he told you (16: 7).

Then they went out and fled

from the tomb, seized with

trembling and bewilderment.

They said nothing to anyone,

for they were afraid (16: 8).


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POW!

End of gospel


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The Gospel according to Mark

is a dramatic call to action.

Faced with political chaos,

deadly persecution, armed

revolt and the very real

possibility of a brutal death,

those in the church at Rome

must decide to either:1) stand up for the truth of

the Gospel in spite of the

deadly consequences;

2) freeze in fear; or3) turn and run.


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What would you do?


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1. How do the immediate events of A.D. 54-73 (the time duringwhich the Gospel according to Mark is written) affect howMark presents his gospel?

2. Why does Mark begin his gospel with a suddenproclamation: Beginning the gospel of Jesus Christ, son ofGod,rather than a more formal, elegant beginning?

3. Every story must have: 1) an author (who writes the story);

2) a narrator (who tells the story); 3) characters (who enactthe story) and 4) a reader (who experiences the story). Whydoes Mark put his narrator on center stage, rather than hischaracters, and what are the implications of his decision forus, as readers?

4. The question of Jesus identity in the first half of the gospel isfairly straightforward; the implications of Jesus identity are

much more complex. What are those implications for you?5. Marks gospel ends at 16: 8 when the women said nothingto anyone, for they were afraid. Why would the epilogue(the longer ending) be added?


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Copyright 2014 by William C. Creasy

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2. an Urgent Message