Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] The Gospel of Mark Are you interested in a more extended discussion written by Bart Ehrman, read by Ken Teutsch?
[00:00:12] These In a nutshell, posts on the books of the New Testament are obviously meant to provide quick, concise, and accurate information about each of the books of the New Testament. Many of you may be interested in longer expositions. To that end, you may be interested in the far more extensive discussions that I give in the various lecture courses that I've done on some of them for the venture I started a couple of years ago. Paths in Biblical Unconnected with the Blog One of the first I did was on the Gospel of Mark. 50 minute lectures, two Q&As and additional materials provided you can find it at colon slashcourses.bart erman.com Unknown Jesus Blog members get a discount with the code blog 5.
[00:01:07] Whether you want to get the course or not, I thought it would be valuable to explain what I cover there lecture by lecture, and so here is a summary along with questions for reflection that some should be able to answer if they've listened to the lecture.
[00:01:21] Lecture 1 the beginning of the Gospel the very opening words of Mark's Gospel, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that is Jesus the Messiah, show what a tall order the author has set for himself. Everyone expecting a Jewish Messiah knew that he would be a figure of grandeur and power who would overthrow the enemies of Israel to set up a good kingdom of God on earth. But everyone also knew that Jesus was nothing like that. He was just the opposite, a poor itinerant preacher crucified for crimes against the state. Mark's Gospel, our first account of the life of Jesus, is meant to show that he is the Messiah, not despite the fact that he was rejected and crucified, but precisely because of that.
[00:02:11] Already in the opening passages of the Gospel, the reader sees that Jesus is the Son of God who has come to fulfill Scripture, but no one else seems to see it, and that becomes a constant theme of the gospel.
[00:02:25] Questions for reflection 1. Discuss the views of the coming Messiah among ancient Jews. Where did these ideas come from, and what would Jews with such expectations make of the claim that a crucified man was the Messiah?
[00:02:42] 2. Mark stresses that Jesus has come in fulfillment of Scripture. Discuss the ways Mark appeals to Scripture already In the first 15 verses of the Gospel. In your view, did Jesus actually fulfill Scripture? Or does Mark shape his story in order to claim that he did? Or both?
[00:03:05] Mark's Unknown Jesus the opening narratives of Mark's Gospel portray Jesus as an extraordinarily authoritative and powerful son of God who speaks and people obey, who powerfully casts out demons and who heals the sick by a word or touch? The reader realizes that his astounding powers demonstrate he is not a mere mortal. But Mark provides an unexpected twist in this narrative. No one in the story recognizes who Jesus is except the demons. Everyone else is clueless about his true identity. His fellow townsfolk in Nazareth, the Jewish authorities, his own family, including his mother, who thinks he has gone out of his mind.
[00:03:50] Mark says nothing about her giving birth as a virgin.
[00:03:53] Even his disciples are repeatedly said not to understand. Even more striking, Jesus goes out of his way to keep his identity secret. But why?
[00:04:05] Questions for reflection 1 think through the scenes that open Jesus public ministry after his baptism and temptation. How is Mark stressing Jesus authoritative character at the outset of the narrative? And why is he doing so? What kinds of reactions do his activities elicit here?
[00:04:26] 2. Make a list of everyone who appears not to understand who Jesus is in the first eight chapters of Mark. For each group of people, what do they appear to think about Jesus? Now make a list of those who do appear to understand.
[00:04:42] Why do you suppose no one seems to be getting it?
[00:04:47] Lecture 3 the Teachings of Jesus in Mark Many of the most familiar teachings of Jesus are not found in Mark. Here we find no Sermon on the Mount, no Lord's Prayer, no Beatitudes, no teachings about Jesus himself as the one who has come from heaven to bring eternal life. Jesus main topic of preaching is about God's coming kingdom to be brought by the coming Son of Man at the end of the age, a teaching that makes sense only within the world of ancient Jewish apocalypticism.
[00:05:21] Jesus teaches the crowds through parables, but he says he does so so that they will not understand and repent. When he teaches his disciples directly, he tells them of the approaching end of the age and the cataclysms that will happen at the end of time. To enter that kingdom, they need to live for the sake of others, giving away everything to help those in need. Jesus talks very little about himself in this Gospel. He never speaks of being born of a virgin, of existing before his birth of being God. He does say repeatedly that he must be rejected, crucified and raised from the dead. But oddly, the disciples never understand what he means.
[00:06:07] 1 summarize Jesus teachings about the coming kingdom of God in Mark and reflect on how he says people can enter into it. Is this the message that Christians have traditionally preached? Does Jesus message about salvation coincide with the message of Christianity as you yourself have heard it over the years? Is it basically the same message? Is it radically different? Something else?
[00:06:34] 2. Do you think Mark is portraying Jesus as God? Do you find any place in this book where Jesus declares himself to be God? What does seem to be his self understanding in Mark's version of his teachings?
[00:06:51] Lecture 4 the Suffering Messiah Mark's misunderstood Jewish savior Mark stresses that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah sent by God to fulfill the Jewish scriptures. Yet throughout the Gospel, Jesus not only opposes Jewish teachers and leaders, he also speaks out against the Jewish law, the Jewish temple and the Jewish people. Is this gospel Jewish or non Jewish or somehow both?
[00:07:21] As the gospel proceeds, the disciples continue to misunderstand who Jesus is. Halfway through the account, Jesus heals a blind man who only gradually begins to see. This is followed by a discussion that shows the disciples too are only gradually beginning to see. They know Jesus is the Messiah, but they do not understand what that means. It does not mean that he will be entering into his glorious kingdom with them ruling at his side, but that he is going to an inglorious cross and they must follow him. One of the big questions of this gospel is whether the disciples ever come to understand or if anyone at all. Does one discuss ways that Mark's gospel could be seen as Jewish and ways that it could be seen as anti Jewish?
[00:08:13] What in the end do you think? Is Mark opposed to Jews? To Judaism? Is he a Jew?
[00:08:21] Explain how the gradual healing of the blind man in Mark 8 can be understood as a metaphor for those who only gradually come to see who Jesus is in the gospel. How do Peter and the other disciples repeatedly show that that even though they see that Jesus is the Messiah, they only dimly see it and don't really understand.
[00:08:43] Lecture 5 the Passion Narrative in Mark Oddities at the End Mark has sometimes been called a passion narrative with a long introduction. The first ten chapters cover Jesus entire public ministry, but the final six focus on his final week. Many of the familiar events of Jesus last days are recounted. Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his cleansing of the temple, the Last Supper, the prayer in Gethsemane, the betrayal of Judas, the trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin, the trial before Pilate and the crucifixion.
[00:09:23] But Mark is not merely providing an objective account of the final events. He is infusing his account with important narrative and religious ideas meant to explain his understanding of Jesus.
[00:09:36] In particular, his account raises the question yet again of who actually knows Jesus identity and understands his mission. In the end, he portrays Jesus himself as in doubt. The crowds have turned against him, the leaders have rejected him. One of his followers has betrayed him, another has denied him, the others have all fled. Everyone mocks him, and at the end he cries out, asking God why he too has forsaken him. But the reader knows why. Mark constructs his narrative to show that despite almost universal misunderstanding and rejection, the death of Jesus fulfills God's purposes of salvation.
[00:10:19] Questions for reflection 1.
[00:10:23] Make a case that the anonymous woman who anoints Jesus in chapter 14, verses 1 through 9 understands who he is or not.
[00:10:32] Why would Mark leave her anonymous? Would there be any significance in her being a woman?
[00:10:39] 2. Do you think Jesus was genuinely in doubt at the end, just before his death? How does Mark show the reader that whatever Jesus own attitude, his death achieved God's plan of salvation? Think of what happens immediately after he dies.
[00:10:57] Lecture 6 the ending of Mark A silence that speaks volumes One of the most shocking features of Mark is the way it ends. Jesus dies on a Friday and is hastily buried before the Sabbath begins with the setting of the sun. On the third day, Sunday morning, several women come to the tomb to provide his body with a proper burial. But when they arrive, the stone in front of the tomb is rolled away. Jesus body is not there, and a young man tells them that he has been raised. They are to go tell the disciples that he will meet them in Galilee. But the women flee from the tomb and don't tell anyone what they have seen and heard, period. That's the end of the Gospel.
[00:11:43] Later Christian copyists could not abide to such an abrupt ending, and so appended an additional 12 verses to describe how the women did convey the message and the disciples did meet with the resurrected Christ, similar to the other Gospels. But scholars have long known that the oldest and best manuscripts of Mark are right. The gospel ended without the disciples ever hearing about the resurrection. This ending may not make sense historically, since if no one ever heard, how does Mark know? But it makes perfect sense in the context of Mark's account of Jesus. No one, including his disciples, could understand who he was in the end. They still don't, but the reader does. And so Mark has achieved his goal, showing that Jesus really is the Messiah who had to suffer, even if most people don't get it.
[00:12:37] Questions for reflection 1. Do you think it is plausible that Mark could end his gospel with no one but the women at the tomb, knowing that he had been raised from the dead? What is Mark trying to say by that? Why don't the disciples ever hear about it?
[00:12:54] 2. If Mark is right that the women never told anyone about Jesus resurrection How would Mark himself know? If he means, as some people claim, that the women didn't tell anyone until later, why wouldn't he say that instead of indicating they didn't tell at all? Is it possible to make sense of this ending as part of the story, even if it doesn't make much sense as what happened historically?
[00:13:21] Lecture 7 intriguing textual variants in Mark's Story the ending of Mark is not the only place in this Gospel that scribes altered their manuscripts. In the New Testament as a whole, manuscripts contain hundreds of thousands of differences, though few are as significant as the ending of Mark. But even within Mark there are dozens of interesting textual variants, and scholars have to decide which manuscripts have the original reading. In case after case. Many of the variant readings are significant for interpretation. Does Mark call Jesus the son of God in 1:1? Even before God declares him his son at baptism? Does Mark cite Isaiah for a passage that actually comes from Exodus and Malachi?
[00:14:12] Does Jesus feel compassion for the leper he heals, or did he get angry? Does Mark call Jesus a carpenter? Chapter 6, verse 3 is the only verse in the New Testament that says so. Or does he simply say that his father was a carpenter? At the end, does Jesus cry out to ask why God has forsaken him or mocked him?
[00:14:36] In all such instances, textual scholars have to decide what Mark originally said and try to understand why scribes altered his text, leading to the pressing can we actually know which words Mark wrote in one verse or another?
[00:14:53] Questions for reflection 1. Summarize how many Greek manuscripts of the New Testament we have and how many differences appear to be in them. Why do you suppose scribes didn't copy them more carefully? Which of the variant readings seem to you to be significant in your view? Do the differences have any effect on whether the Bible can be trusted?
[00:15:18] 2. Since we have different manuscripts of Mark with different readings, how do scholars decide what he originally wrote? Is this just guesswork? Do you think we can ever reach certainty? If not, do you think it matters?
[00:15:35] Lecture 8 who wrote Mark and why does it Matter?
[00:15:41] Since the second Christian century, the Gospel of Mark has been attributed to an alleged companion of the Apostle Peter John Mark, who is mentioned in the New Testament Book of Acts. The first author to certainly make this attribution is the Church father Irenaeus, around 180 CE. But why did the account circulate anonymously for so long, for over a century? Or was it known earlier as Mark? Is it plausible that the John Mark mentioned in the Book of Acts was the author? He was an Aramaic speaking Jew in Jerusalem. This gospel was written by a Greek speaking Christian living outside of Israel. Is he Mark?
[00:16:23] There is good evidence from the book itself that the account was produced after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE. Whoever the author was, he has produced a stunning account filled with widely overlooked and misunderstood ironies. The Son of God, sent to fulfill scriptures, is recognized by almost precisely no one. He urges people to repent, but uses parables so no one can understand. He teaches that the way to glory is by suffering horribly. To gain all means to give up everything.
[00:16:56] To live it is necessary to die.
[00:16:59] The Gospel of Mark is one of the great pieces of ancient literature, worthy not just of respect, but of detailed study in order to penetrate its mysteries and explore its claims that the mighty Savior of all is a crucified outcast that no one could understand.
[00:17:19] 1. Why do you think the author of Mark wrote anonymously? Why wouldn't he give his name, as most authors do?
[00:17:28] 2. What do you think is the strongest evidence that the book really was written by Mark, the companion of Peter? What would be the strongest argument or arguments that it was not? Which evidence do you find the most compelling and where do you stand on the issue?
[00:17:45] Do you think it matters.
