Stephen L . Harris, Chapter 7, “Mark’s Portrait of Jesus,” The New Testament, 5^th Edition

Critique by Jonathan Kerkian

The chapter starts out with a brief history of who the author of Mark was and w hat his focus was in creating the gospel of Mark. It then talks about Jesus’ followers, family and his disciples. The chapter than touches on Mark as a Literary Narrative which talks about how Jesus’ story were divided geographically and with two different aspects to his story the Jesus that performed miracles and the Jesus as the preacher. The chapter then goes into Mark as an apocalypse and how it ties into some events in the book of Revelation. The chapter also talks about Jesus as the eschatological Son of Man and covers what the parables were and meant.The chapter then goes on to break down Mark in chronological order from some of his first miracles to the death and burial of Jesus ending with a discussion of why Mark left Jesus being risen and manifest himself to the women open for debate.

The key idea is that Mark’s Gospel does not focus on Jesus’ teachings very much, but focuses on Jesus’ doings and miracles. Mark shows us that Jesus is the Eschatological Son of Man who will return to judge all. Mark shows that Jesus was very much rejected Messiah especially by his own people up until the time of his death. Despite humanity's resistance, God uses Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice saving all of humankind. Mark’s Gospel appears to be the earliest account of Jesus’ career and is presented in a way that parallels the circumstances of Mark’s intended readers.

The key terms include Parousia meaning a return in heavenly glory. The follower s of Christ are called Disciples which can mean the follower of a religious figure, from the Greek word meaning learner. Jesus is referred to as Christ or the Son of God. Eschaton means the end of history as we know it. Apocalypse is a revelation of unseen realities and a disclosure of events destined soon to climax in G od’s final intervention in man affairs.  The transfiguration is and epiphany (manifestation of divine presenc e0 in which the Disciples see Jesus Transformed into a luminous being seated beside the ancient figures of Moses and Elijah. The chapter makes many references to Jesus’ parables or a comparison the discernment of similarities between one thing and another. An allegory is a complex literary form which each element of the narrative is symbolic. Messianic secret is Jesus’ reluctance to have news of his miracles spread abroad. Christology are concepts about the nature and function of Christ.    Passover is the feast of unleavened bread and observance that recalls Israel’s last night in Egypt. Eucharist is the Christian Holy Communion.

The chapter gives examples of how Jesus is more action oriented on pg 141 where it gives examples of Jesus healing in the first five chapters of Mark. The experience is summed up with Mark 6:56 “Wherever he went, to farms villages or towns, they laid out the sick in the market-places and begged to let them simply touch the edge of h is cloak and all who touched him were cured” The chapter draws comparisons bet ween Jesus’ restoring physical health to humanity as a confirmation that God’s kingdom is about to dawn. There is a powerful picture of Jesus surrounded by sick with his hea ling power radiating painted by Rembrandt pg 142. Mark portrays Jesus as an Eschatological figure and begins his gospel with a powerful message “The time has co me, the kingdom of God is upon you; repent and believ e the Gospel” (1:15) pg 135. Mark wanted to portray Jesus in two ways, the being who died on the cross being the same person who is going appear in glory to cast judgment on all of humanity. Mark presents Jesus as promising the present generation that they will live to see God’s active rule “the present generation will live to see it all” (13:30). This creates much anticipation of in Mark’s community but Mark’s portrayal of Jesus as an eschatological figure is questioned by many scholars pg 136.

The key theme in Jesus’ rejection is the fact that he is rejected by his closest followers but recognized by demons and roman soldiers. Mark concentrates on how the people closest to him his neighbors and the religious elite do not recognize him, the wind and waves obey him but his closes disciples are disloyal pg 143. The text cites (8:22-26; 10:46-52) the stories of Jesus restoring sight to blind men which parallels the spiritual blindness of people that do not recognize who Jesus is but become the model for what a response should be when given Jesus’ revelation, which is to become a follower of Jesus.

Some key phrases are “In Marks view the “tribulation” climaxing in Jerusalem’s destruction is the sign heralding Jesus’ Parousia or return to heaven ly glory. The association of wars and national revolts with persecution of believers and Jesus’ Second Coming gives an eschatological urgency to Mark’s account” pg 128. Mark’s Ironic Vision is very important in that It talks about Jesus’ rejection by his supposed allies and but being recognized by many of his supposed enemies or enemies of the Jews and Ungodly people; “Demons steeped in evil instantly recognize who Jesus is, but most people---including his peasant neighbors and the educated religious elite---do not.” pg 143.

The most interesting points raised were how Mark presented Jesus’ disciples and family as being oblivious and unknowing to Jesus’ true nature as the messiah but demons and some Roman soldiers intently were made aware of whom he was. Mark seemed to be convinced or wanted to convince his readers that Jesus would be back within their generation to pass judgment on the world and the world would end as we know it. In this way Mark is seen as a modified apocalypse for its revelation of unseen realities. &nb sp; Also key is Mark’s inconclusiveness on the resurrection since he believed in the second coming of Christ and may have left out the resurrect ion so that the focus would be on the Parousia.

The characteristics of Jesus being action oriented are important to the Gospel of Mark because Mark begins his Gospel talking about Jesus’ miracles. The significance of Mark being the earliest author and making his Gospel pertain to his intended audience is also very important. The absence of the resurrection and Mark’s belief in the second coming are also very significant. Finally Jesus 217; rejection by his close friends family and acceptance by soldiers the blind and demons is very important in Mark.

I was unsure of exactly how the messianic secret is important to Jesus’ mission when Jesus is performing a great amount of miracles in different locations to a vast variety of people.

“Wherever he went, to farms villages or towns, they laid out the sick in the market-places and begged to let them simply touch the edge of his cloak and all who touched him were cured” Mark 6:56 The chapter draws comparisons between Jesus’ restoring physical health to humanity as a confirmation that God’s kingdom is about to dawn. Mark 6:56. The book describes this passage as a summary of the effect Jesus has on the Galilean public. I would agree with this summary of the content but I think the symbolism Mark is trying to portray is ambiguous the book says that it “is a confirmation that God’s kingdom is about to Dawn” pg 141. However I could also see it as confirmation that Jesus is here to save Man from itself. The intentions of Mark in this passage are not as cut and dried to me.

The most important contributions are Jesus being rejected by his followers, Jesus being action-oriented in Mark and Jesus as a sign of the apocalypse along with Mark’s lack of a resurrection and emphasis on Jesus’ second coming. The biggest limitation I found with Jesus’ actions was that the book tried to portray all of his actions in a symbolic manner. For me reading the parables and works of Jesus is at least partially subjective. As I stated before I did not completely disagree with the chapter's assessment of the similes between God’s Kingdom and Jesus healing the sick but it could definitly be interpreted a few other ways.