What are the characteristics of Mark's Gospel?

Answer 1

Mark's Gospel was written in Greek Koine approximately 70 CE by an anonymous author and was attributed by the Church Fathers to the author whose name the Gospel now bears, later in the second century. This is the shortest and earliest gospel, and is now known to have been the principal source of material about the life and mission of Jesus for the authors of Matthew and Luke.

Mark is written in an rough, ungrammatical style, but shows evidence of having been written by someone of considerable literary ability. It has been suggested that the ungrammatical style was intentional, to appeal to adherents of limited reading ability, to disguise the identity of the author, or even that it had a literary purpose.

This book has a remarkably sophisticated structure - perhaps too well structured to be entirely credible. The book as a whole consists of a chiastic structure*. The opening set begins with John explaining the coming of Jesus, followed by the baptism and the voice of God from heaven, and ends with Jesus predicting his death. The contrasting structure begins with the Transfiguration of Jesus and the voice of God from heaven, and ends with the crucifixion, followed by the young man explaining the departure of Jesus. Within these major milestones we find other pairs such as 9:1, in which he told the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power, and chapter 13, in which he described the end of the world and his second coming, on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking.

Mark organises the first narrative account of the death of Jesus in a twenty-four hour cycle, neatly divided into eight three-hour segments. That makes the story of the crucifixion begin to look less and less like history and more and more like liturgy.

• Mark started the story "when it was evening" (14:17). In this ancient world without electricity, that would mean when the sun went down, or approximately 6 pm.
• Mark knew that the duration of the Passover meal was three hours and that it concluded with the singing of a hymn. So at the end of his segment he noted, "And when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives". It was obviously about 9 p.m.
• Mark then has Jesus and the disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane, where his closest disciples, Peter, James and John, were not able to remain awake. "Could you not watch one hour?" Jesus asked. The process was repeated two more times. The disciples could not watch one, two or three hours. It was now midnight.
• The act of betrayal, the darkest deed in human history, came next, occurring at the stroke of midnight.
• Jesus was led away for a trial before the high priest and other senior priests and elders. This governing body then judged him, on the basis of his messianic claim, to be worthy of death. It was 3:00 a.m.
• The watch of the night between 3 am and 6 am was called cockcrow. Mark now inserted his account of Peter's threefold denial of Jesus, once each hour until the cock crowed, marking the end of that phase of the night. That makes it 6 am.
• "As soon as it was morning", which would be 6 am, Jesus was led by the chief priests, scribes and elders to Pontius Pilate for judgement.
• Mark told his readers once again that this drama has been shaped liturgically, saying, " It was the third hour," or 9 am "when they crucified him".
• When "the sixth hour had come" (12 noon), as if on cue, darkness covered the whole earth for 3 hours, at which time Jesus said "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
• Jesus was buried in the final period from 3 to 6 pm, before the sun went down. That brings us to 6 pm on Friday evening. The holy sabbath had arrived.

Mark originally ended at 16:8, with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen and they fled, telling no one. In this gospel, there was no resurrection appearance of Jesus. Verses 16:9-25 form what is now known as the "Long Ending" (there was also, at one stage, a "Short Ending") and were added to the Gospel at a later stage, to provide resurrection appearances and to more or less harmonise it with the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

Dennis R. MacDonald (The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark) finds persuasive evidence that much of the Gospel of Mark was inspired by Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Others see parallels with Pauls First Epistle to the Corinthians and his Epistle to the Galatians. Since the epistles were written well before Mark, the Gospel might have been loosely based on ideas taken from the epistles.

A further characteristic of Mark's Gospel appears to be the presence of frequent 'flags' that could indicate for the initiated that the relevant passage should not be read literally. For example, 'Arimathea' could also mean "Best disciple town" in the original Greek of the Gospel. If so, it is a play on words, comparing Joseph of Arimathea with the disciples who deserted Jesus, and means that Arimathea was not a real place. If Arimathea was not a real place, then Joseph of Arimathea did not really exist, and he never provided a tomb for Jesus. A persistent tradition is that there was also a "Secret Gospel of Mark". If there was a secret gospel, then the New Testament Gospel of Mark might have been a primer for novices, who could gradually be shown the meanings of the hidden flags, until they were fully initiated and could read the Secret Gospel of Mark. It has been suggested that some novices, impatient with their progress to initiation, left while still novices and began to preach the message of this gospel, much to the consternation of the initiates.

Footnote:

*A chiastic structure is an circular sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another set of events that mirrors the first. The major structure covers the entire gospel precisely (omitting the 'Long Ending'), as seen in the following table:

A

John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B

The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C

The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D

The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E

The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F

Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G

Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H

Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I

Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J

Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K

Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L

The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M

Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)

- Where he was brought up

N

The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O

Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)

- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P

Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q

Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R

Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S

Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T

Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U

Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V

The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W

Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X

Prophecy of second coming (9:1)

- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B'

The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C'

The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D'

Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E'

A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F'

Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G'

They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H'

Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I'

Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J'

Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'

Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L'

Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M'

Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)

- Where he will die

N'

Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O'

Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)

- Jesus is asserting his authority

P'

Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q'

Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X'

Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R'

The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S'

Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T'

Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U'

And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V'

The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.

- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W'

Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A'

The young man explains the departure of Jesus (16:6-8)

Answer 2

Mark's Gospel was written in Greek Koine approximately 70 CE by an anonymous author and was attributed by the Church Fathers to the author whose name the Gospel now bears, later in the second century. This is the shortest and earliest gospel, and is now known to have been the principal source of material about the life and mission of Jesus for the authors of Matthew and Luke.

Mark is written in an rough, ungrammatical style, but shows evidence of having been written by someone of considerable literary ability. It has been suggested that the ungrammatical style was intentional, to appeal to adherents of limited reading ability, to disguise the identity of the author, or even that it had a literary purpose.

This book has a remarkably sophisticated structure - perhaps too well structured to be entirely credible. The book as a whole consists of a chiastic structure*. The opening set begins with John explaining the coming of Jesus, followed by the baptism and the voice of God from heaven, and ends with Jesus predicting his death. The contrasting structure begins with the Transfiguration of Jesus and the voice of God from heaven, and ends with the crucifixion, followed by the young man explaining the departure of Jesus. Within these major milestones we find other pairs such as 9:1, in which he told the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power, and chapter 13, in which he described the end of the world and his second coming, on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking.

Mark organises the first narrative account of the death of Jesus in a twenty-four hour cycle, neatly divided into eight three-hour segments. That makes the story of the crucifixion begin to look less and less like history and more and more like liturgy.

• Mark started the story "when it was evening" (14:17). In this ancient world without electricity, that would mean when the sun went down, or approximately 6 pm.
• Mark knew that the duration of the Passover meal was three hours and that it concluded with the singing of a hymn. So at the end of his segment he noted, "And when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives". It was obviously about 9 p.m.
• Mark then has Jesus and the disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane, where his closest disciples, Peter, James and John, were not able to remain awake. "Could you not watch one hour?" Jesus asked. The process was repeated two more times. The disciples could not watch one, two or three hours. It was now midnight.
• The act of betrayal, the darkest deed in human history, came next, occurring at the stroke of midnight.
• Jesus was led away for a trial before the high priest and other senior priests and elders. This governing body then judged him, on the basis of his messianic claim, to be worthy of death. It was 3:00 a.m.
• The watch of the night between 3 am and 6 am was called cockcrow. Mark now inserted his account of Peter's threefold denial of Jesus, once each hour until the cock crowed, marking the end of that phase of the night. That makes it 6 am.
• "As soon as it was morning", which would be 6 am, Jesus was led by the chief priests, scribes and elders to Pontius Pilate for judgement.
• Mark told his readers once again that this drama has been shaped liturgically, saying, " It was the third hour," or 9 am "when they crucified him".
• When "the sixth hour had come" (12 noon), as if on cue, darkness covered the whole earth for 3 hours, at which time Jesus said "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
• Jesus was buried in the final period from 3 to 6 pm, before the sun went down. That brings us to 6 pm on Friday evening. The holy sabbath had arrived.

Mark originally ended at 16:8, with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen and they fled, telling no one. In this gospel, there was no resurrection appearance of Jesus. Verses 16:9-25 form what is now known as the "Long Ending" (there was also, at one stage, a "Short Ending") and were added to the Gospel at a later stage, to provide resurrection appearances and to more or less harmonise it with the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

Dennis R. MacDonald (The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark) finds persuasive evidence that much of the Gospel of Mark was inspired by Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Others see parallels with Pauls First Epistle to the Corinthians and his Epistle to the Galatians. Since the epistles were written well before Mark, the Gospel might have been loosely based on ideas taken from the epistles.

A further characteristic of Mark's Gospel appears to be the presence of frequent 'flags' that could indicate for the initiated that the relevant passage should not be read literally. For example, 'Arimathea' could also mean "Best disciple town" in the original Greek of the Gospel. If so, it is a play on words, comparing Joseph of Arimathea with the disciples who deserted Jesus, and means that Arimathea was not a real place. If Arimathea was not a real place, then Joseph of Arimathea did not really exist, and he never provided a tomb for Jesus. A persistent tradition is that there was also a "Secret Gospel of Mark". If there was a secret gospel, then the New Testament Gospel of Mark might have been a primer for novices, who could gradually be shown the meanings of the hidden flags, until they were fully initiated and could read the Secret Gospel of Mark. It has been suggested that some novices, impatient with their progress to initiation, left while still novices and began to preach the message of this gospel, much to the consternation of the initiates.

Footnote:
*A chiastic structure is an circular sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another set of events that mirrors the first. The major structure covers the entire gospel precisely (omitting the 'Long Ending'), as seen in the following table:

A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I . Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J . Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)