The Gospel of Mark

Table of Contents

High praise for John W. Martens’ The Gospel of Mark

What the author wants you to know

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Prologue, Mark 1:1-13

Act 1, Mark 1:14-3:6 15

Act 1. Scene 1: 1:14-20

Act 1. Scene 2: 1:21-28

Act 1. Scene 3: 1:29-34

Act 1. Scene 4: 1:35-39

Act 1. Scene 5: 1:40-45

Act 1. Scene 6: 2:1-12

Act 1. Scene 7: 2:13-22

Act 1. Scene 8: 2:23-28

Act 1. Scene 9: 3:1-6

Act 2, Mark 3:7-6:6

Act 2. Scene 1: 3:7-19

Act 2. Scene 2: 3:20-35

Act 2. Scene 3: 4:1-34

Act 2. Scene 4: 4:35-41

Act 2. Scene 5: 5:1-20

Act 2. Scene 6: 5:21-43

Act 2. Scene 7: 6:1-6

Act 3, Mark 6:7-8:26

Act 3. Scene 1: 6:7-13

Act 3. Scene 2: 6:14-29

Act 3. Scene 3: 6:30-45

Act 3. Scene 4: 6:46-56

Act 3, Scene 5: 7:1-15

Act 3, Scene 6: 7:16-23

Act 3, Scene 7: 7:24-30

Act 3, Scene 8: 7:31-37

Act 3, Scene 9: 8:1-9

Act 3, Scene 10: 8:10-21

Act 3, Scene 11: 8:22-26

Act 4, Mark 8:27-10:52

Act 4. Scene 1: 8:27-38

Act 4, Scene 2: 9:1-13

Act 4, Scene 3: 9:14-29

Act 4, Scene 4: 9:30-50

Act 4, Scene 5: 10:1-12

Act 4, Scene 6: 10:13-16

Act 4, Scene 7: 10:17-31

Act 4, Scene 8: 10:32-45

Act 4, Scene 9: 10:46-52

Act 5, Mark 11:1-13:37

Act 5, Scene 1: 11:1-11

Act 5, Scene 2: 11:12-19

Act 5, Scene 3: 11:20-25(26)

Act 5, Scene 4: 11:27-33

Act 5, Scene 5: 12:1-12

Act 5, Scene 6: 12:13-17

Act 5, Scene 7: 12:18-27

Act 5, Scene 8: 12:28-34

Act 5, Scene 9: 12:35-44

Act 5, Scene 10: 13:1-37

Act 6, Mark 14:1-16:8 (20)

Act 6, Scene 1: 14:1-2

Act 6, Scene 2: 14:3-10

Act 6, Scene 3: 14:10-11

Act 6, Scene 4: 14:12-26

Act 6, Scene 5: 14:26-42

Act 6, Scene 6: 14:43-52

Act 6, Scene 7: 14:53-65

Act 6, Scene 8: 14:66-72

Act 6, Scene 9: 15:1-20a

Act 6, Scene 10: 15:20b-39

Act 6, Scene 11: 15:40-47

Act 6, Scene 12: 16:1-8

Epilogue: Act 6, Scene 13: Mark 16:9-20

Afterword

End Notes

Appendix: Essay on Clean/Unclean, Purity/Impurity

Bibliography

Online Tools and Documents

Other Books and Writings by John W. Martens

About the Author

Copyright © 2015 by John W. Martens and Red Maple Press

All rights reserved. With the exception of short passages quoted in a review, no part of this book may be reproduced without the prior permission of the author and Red Maple Press.

Hard copies of this book can be ordered in Canada and the US from:

www.redmaplepress.ca or Red Maple Press, Box 18043, Delta, BC V4L 2M4

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Martens, John W. (John Wesley), 1960-

The Gospel of Mark [electronic resource] : a Bible Junkies

complete online commentary / John W. Martens.

Includes bibliographical references.

Electronic monograph format.

Issued also in print format.

ISBN 978-0-9699667-7-7

1. Bible. N.T. Mark--Commentaries.  I. Title.

BS2585.53.M36 2013              226.307          C2013-901987-1

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover Design by Gabriella Glavez - ggillustrates.squarespace.com

High praise for John W. Martens’ The Gospel of Mark . . .

Fr. James Martin—as seen on Colbert Report and New York Times bestselling author—says this about The Gospel of Mark:

"John Martens reminds us that the Gospel of Mark is a dramatic book—with an energetic Jesus moving rapidly from one exciting moment to the next.  Martens’ book is a terrific invitation to encounter Jesus of Nazareth in all his immediacy and excitement. Bringing together deep learning with his trademark flair for clean, clear, direct prose, Martens offers us one of the most creative and innovative books on the Gospel that I've read in years."

James Martin, SJ

Author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage and editor at large of America magazine

What the author wants you to know . . .

"The Gospel of Mark Commentary is the first of the Bible Junkies Commentaries which will ultimately cover the entire New Testament. The commentaries will emerge, like the Gospel of Mark Commentary, on the website www.biblejunkies.com in a series of weekly installments which will then be revised and crafted for book form. The goal is to bring solid biblical scholarship to as broad a readership as possible and to make this scholarship accessible to anyone who is interested in exploring the Bible. The goal of Bible Junkies is not to create controversy and rancor, but to create meaning and to provide readers with comprehensive insights into each book of the New Testament. The ultimate goal is to addict you to the truth, to make you a Bible Junkie."

John W. Martens

Acknowledgments

I want to thank my readers for following the Bible Junkies blog, for using the blog posts in Bible studies, for commenting on the posts, and for encouraging me to put the posts together in book form. I appreciate your engagement and investment in this product. I hope you find pleasure and insight in the book. I also must thank Eric Larson of the University of St. Thomas who helped me with all technical aspects of the blog and who continues to help me today. I could not have started the blog without him. Apart from his technical help, we have great discussions about the Bible. It is almost a treat to have a problem with the blog because then Eric drops by to help me out! I also need to thank Isaac Alderman and Fr. Juan Miguel Betancourt who joined the blog in 2013 and have made it better than it was before with their writing, their insight and their ideas. I hope someday you see Bible Junkies commentaries written by them.

I want also to thank Fr. Jim Martin from America Magazine for agreeing to read the manuscript for me. He has supported me in numerous ways and his constant trust and belief in me has been a source of genuine spiritual comfort. I need to thank also Janelle Peters for reading the manuscript for me and giving me feedback on the text. It is much appreciated. I need as well to thank Gabriella Galvez for what I consider stunning book art. She read the posts and grasped exactly what I was attempting to do in this book. I still remember looking at her original watercolors and being blown away by her artistic gifts.

Many more thanks go to Red Maple Press for agreeing to publish this book for me. My brother Jim Martens started the press a few years ago and he knew what I was looking for in this book: a book designed and geared for a broad readership and e-book formats to reach as many people as cheaply as possible. We want this book to be accessible in every way and Red Maple Press and Jim have made that a reality, working every step of the way with the project from inception to completion. I thank him for his diligent work, commitment to the book and constant support. And while most people do not necessarily love the press for whom they are writing, I love this one, not because of the careful attention to the book, though that does not hurt, but because I love my brother! His love for me and my work shine through in all of his labors. This book would not have happened without him. You will be hearing more from Red Maple Press and the Bible Junkies in the future.

Finally, this is a different book than I have ever written before, not because it was written for an online forum, but because it was written in increments, week by week, blog post by post, first at Bible Junkies and then cross-posted at the America Magazine blog The Good Word. As a result, it did not seem like an onerous task, but a part of my life. It also became a part of my family’s life as they could find me at the desk or in the dining room, tapping out my words, slowly but persistently, as I finished my posts morning after morning. Much of my writing was done in the early mornings of the weekend after Hunter the dog and I would come back from our morning walks. This book, then, emerged out of a normal family life and routine. Apart from Hunter the dog, who curls up near me while I write, I want to thank my family, my son Sam, my wife Tabitha (and my son Jake when he visits us) for putting up with my routine and allowing me to put in the ear buds and zone out while I wrote. I also appreciate Tabitha’s constant support, her faith in me, and her advice on my writing when needed. She read many of the original blog posts for me and then read the final draft at the end of the project, making the final suggestions and edits. I feel lucky and blessed to spend my days writing about the Bible and to have a family who loves me, supports me and understands my need to write. I love my family. I am not sure I deserve them, as I am the least of the husbands and fathers, unfit to be called a father or husband many days, but I am what I am by the grace of God. So, I thank God for my family and the ability to carry out my work. It’s all grace at the end of the day.

John W. Martens

Introduction

I think that the Gospel of Mark is a dramatic narrative, by which I mean not simply that the content is dramatic, which it is, but that Mark has constructed a Gospel which is in essence a play, a drama, albeit divine and cosmic in its implications. This does not mean that I think that Mark is ahistorical, only that each Gospel author had to make choices in how their Gospels were constructed and Mark functions as a natural dramatist in how he presents material and how he structures the events in Jesus’ life.

As the first written Gospel, and with the oral tradition more apparent on the surface, Mark is sometimes seen as simplistic and even shapeless, but I will argue that the Gospel of Mark is formed with great care, shaped by a series of six Acts, with many scenes, naturally, comprising each Act. Each Act is at the service of Mark’s overall purpose, to explain and unfold not only the identity of the Messiah, but the destiny of the Messiah and his followers.

Mark draws the reader into his narrative, so that the reader himself becomes one of the disciples following along the journey with Jesus, a point that will become more apparent as we move deeper into our study of the Gospel.

This study, however, is not a traditional academic study of the Gospel of Mark, though it draws on my own academic training, research and teaching, but an online study that emerged from my blog Bible Junkies. My goal in beginning this commentary was to present a study of Mark on the internet that was influenced by serious research on the Gospel but that was presented in such a way as to make it accessible to general readers with little or no formal study in the Bible. A part of that goal was to demystify the process of studying the Bible and allow people the freedom and opportunity to read the biblical texts with the same sort of questions they would bring to literature of any kind. Related to this was the aim of presenting the Gospel without recourse to rancor, controversy, apologetics or polemics. It is not that I do not have a point of view about Mark—I do, I consider it Scripture, the word of God—but so much about religion, biblical studies and theology on the web is presented in diatribes, attacks and defenses. I wanted to avoid that and let people ask their own questions, guided by reflection and thoughtfulness.

This stance was driven by my concerns that the Bible is too often seen as a place of internecine fighting amongst Christians when it should be a source of unity, or a weapon used to hurt people who disagree with one’s particular reading of the Bible instead of a means to create understanding. I have been guided in this by my own writing on the internet, both at www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org, where I have seen attacks and counterattacks on pieces I have written with little consideration for what I have actually said. I want to take the Apostle Paul’s exhortation as my own: Let your gentleness be known to everyone (Phil. 4:5). This attitude should drive all engagement with biblical study, even when essential disagreements take place, and authors and readers should always ask themselves, Could I be wrong? Differences in understanding are normal and they should be a way to engage questions more deeply not cut off conversation.

I have also been influenced by Antonio Spadaro, S.J., author of the book Cybertheology, who challenges biblical scholars and theologians on the internet to think about how the World Wide Web ought to change our discourse about the Bible. I was able to meet with him in Rome in January 2013, and he asked me whether the internet should change the way in which the Bible is communicated and whether the internet needed a specific form of writing on the Bible. I have thought about these questions a lot and I have no final answers, but I do think that the internet should influence writing on the Bible in these ways, which I hope come through in my writing: accessibility; caution; and engagement.

Accessibility is meant in two ways: the Bible should be made available to as many people as possible, which by virtue of being on the web it is; and the writing should be thoughtful and measured, but not soaked in academic language or sources. This is why the The Gospel of Mark: A Bible Junkies Complete Online Commentary has so few footnotes. Many people turn off when they see scholars at play, feeling that the text is being distanced from them, and although this sort of technical writing has its place, even on the web, my purpose is to bring people into conversation with a serious study of the Bible without academic accoutrements and then let them track these sources down if they become engaged or interested with more technical study. At the end of this book I supply a Bibliography of academic studies on the Gospel of Mark that have influenced me and that I think would be helpful for further and deeper reading.

By caution I mean that the web is notoriously unforgiving of what is written for it and once placed online the words live on, perhaps not for eternity, but for long enough to last the writer’s lifetime. As a result, when writing about the Bible, one must be careful about what one says and how one says it. Since one can have a thought, write it and post it to the world in a period of minutes, it puts an increased burden on writers on the Bible. In academic circles, peer review takes place in a number of ways, at conferences, in seminars, and when one sends an article or book for publication, and this process allows for sober second thoughts, clarification and the time to smooth over errors and rhetorical excesses. The rapidity of publication on the net places the writer in the position of being able to reach readers quickly but also sometimes to forgo caution before sending out one’s thoughts to the world. An author, therefore, writing on the Bible for the web needs to have a constant attitude of restraint and attentiveness, especially because the material can reach everyone and anyone so rapidly.

There is one final way, though, in which I think the Bible needs a specific form of writing for the net: it must be engaging. Some academic writing will be complex, in depth and technical; some issues are difficult and require specific expertise. When writing on the Bible for the web, one must be aware of keeping the writing engaging and open to interested readers of all levels. This means that when difficult issues are faced, the readers should be alerted to the problems, but not made to drown in technicalities. They should be pointed to trustworthy sources for further study if it interests them. For me, engaging writing on the Bible is direct, clear and connected to the life experiences of both the figures in the biblical text and current readers. Writing on the Bible should not distance us from the Bible, but draw us closer to its characters, its world and its ideas. Engagement, though, does not mean dumbing down writing or ideas, just keeping it free from jargon and insiders language. In practice, this often just means letting readers in on what the issues are in the academic context and then moving on with the narrative.

These are the goals of The Gospel of Mark: A Bible Junkies Complete Online Commentary: to be accessible, cautious, and engaging, but never to speak down to readers. It is a process in which I hope to clear away those things which might keep people from having an encounter with the Gospel and allow people to read the Gospel with new eyes or in a new way. And if, in this process, they become Bible Junkies, so much the better. But these are not just the goals of The Gospel of Mark: A Bible Junkies Complete Online Commentary; these are the goals of the Bible Junkies Complete Online Commentary Series. I hope over the next years to write a Bible Junkies Complete Online Commentary for the web on every book of the New Testament. There are 27 texts in the New Testament, some short, some long, but this will be a long, ongoing project, taking many years to complete. If you have any thoughts on the project, such as ideas regarding which texts to write on next, or if you want to join in on the project in some way, please contact me at jwmartens@stthomas.edu or www.biblejunkies.com.

Prologue, Mark 1:1-13

I consider that the first 13 verses of chapter one function as a Prologue to the drama, to set the scene for what is about to take place, the story of the Messiah who once lived in the midst of the people, largely unrecognized and rejected, and why his story has implications for every reader. In these 13 verses, the whole notion of the coming Messiah is established, first in terms of language, identifying the story of the Messiah as good news and the Messiah as son of God and Christ, and second from the promise of the Scriptures that a Messenger would prepare the way of the coming Messiah, drawing from an amalgam of Malachi and Isaiah (1:1-3). Once the premise is established, Mark quickly presents the Messenger, John the Baptist, and the Messenger’s baptism of Jesus (1:4-10), who is identified by God as my son, the beloved (1:11). Following the short and direct Temptation narrative in Mark (1:12-13), the Gospel proper begins.

1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ 4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. 9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased. 12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. (NRSV: New Revised Standard Version—All subsequent scripture references are taken from this version, unless indicated otherwise.)

It is a vivid and intense opening, as in the Prologue the reality of the coming Messiah is established, but nothing is explained and nothing is clarified. Mark presents to us the Messiah, drawing from Scripture, from the baptismal experience, and from the Temptation, but we know nothing about him. If we want to know, we must read on. Why is Jesus the Messiah? What makes him the Messiah? What does the Messiah do? What will be his fate?

Act 1, Mark 1:14-3:6

Act 1, Scene 1: 1:14-20

The first Act, which I believe runs from Mark 1:14-3:6, will establish through deeds, and sometimes through words, the presence and authority of the Messiah, but again, we will know little more about him than his actions and words reveal. Rarely will Mark give us insight into Jesus' life prior to his ministry, whence he came, his family, his livelihood, or his friends. And so the story begins, abruptly, rapidly drawing us in:

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news. 16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, Follow me and I will make you fish for people. 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

In the Act 1, Scene 1, Jesus begins his ministry only after John was arrested (1:14), subtly announcing that this is now Jesus’ time, the time for which John at least partially has prepared him and the people who had been going to John for baptism. According to Mark, John’s baptism was for repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins (1:4b-5). John’s baptism and message were necessary to prepare the people and to prepare Jesus, but his time, too, is fulfilled. Mark then begins to create the dramatic tension, as Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news (1:15).

While many since the earliest 20th century, beginning with Alfred Loisy, have stated that Jesus pronounced the Kingdom, but what he received was the Church, this quip does not make proper sense of Jesus’ understanding of kingdom or the reality of Church. The whole notion of the basileia, the Greek word for Kingdom, is that of the reign of God.[1] Most of Jesus’ counterintuitive proclamation, and Mark’s counterintuitive writing, is still to be unfolded in the Gospel, but if you expected a Kingdom with towers, parapets, moats and armies, a King lording it over his enemies, your expectations will soon crumble. Nevertheless, a reign of God needs one thing, as does a Kingdom, and that is people. The Church, ekklêsia, a word which is not used in Mark at all, is simply the gathered people of God. Loisy and others have made the same mistake as many who propound a high ecclesiology and that is to think that the nature of the institutionalized Church as structured through buildings and hierarchies is the necessary and essential structure of the Church. This is not an argument against the Church, or the authority of the Church, but a return to the bedrock nature of the Church: those who hear the call of Christ and follow him. Jesus is calling people to belong to the reign of God. What the reign of God is and what it means for those who follow, as well as those who do not, is yet to be unfolded, but for Jesus to proclaim the Kingdom is to expect that people will hear the call and respond to the call and enter the Kingdom, however ill-defined it is to the