A short and rich guide to a short and rich gospel! Rowan Williams explains that the purpose of this book is to “offer suggestions for a slow reading of what notoriously feels like a rushed and packed text" and we used it accordingly, over a six week study group at St Stephen Walbrook this autumn. For those looking for a more formal structure and reading guide, the appendix contains questions for group discussion around the themes covered in each chapter and a weekly reading guide, followed by a short reflection.
Williams describes Mark as a “Cinderella among the gospels” - for too long
ignored in the lectionary of the church and by commentators. Perhaps inspired
by Mark's fondness for groups of three, the book is divided into three parts;
an introduction, a central section on the ministry of Jesus and the final
chapter focussing on the passion.
Regime Change
The first chapter presents the key themes of the gospel, which Rowan Williams
explains begins in the style of an official proclamation; such as that
announcing the rule of a new Emperor. This is a story about "regime
change" - an announcement that God is taking over. There is no account of
the birth of Jesus in Mark; he walks on to the stage fully formed and ready to
go. Regime Change has begun.
Messianic secret
Whist the gospel starts with a proclamation, Jesus attempts to conceal his
identity, especially after performing healing miracles; this is known by
scholars as the “Messianic secret”. Jesus does not wish to be known as a
miracle worker or base his authority on working miracles (like travelling
preachers of the time). Jesus wants people to recognise what is unique about
his mission. To this end, trust or belief is always required from those with
whom he works; trust in Him heals. This is why Jesus can’t heal anyone in his
hometown; the people of Galilee do not trust him.
Relationship
Rowan Williams explains that this is the secret of Mark's gospel story
- the event that alters the shape of
what is possible for everyone, everywhere and in every time is brought about
not by power and force - but by a trusting, loving relationship. A relationship
which we are to share.
About Mark
In the first section of the book we also learn about the traditions
associated with the author of the gospel - that Mark was secretary to St Peter
and took down and re-ordered his teaching in Rome at a time when Christians
were being persecuted, although others make a strong case for one of the
trading settlements in North Africa as the location where the gospel was first
written. Rowan Williams explains that the style of Greek that is used by Mark
is that of a trader not one of the intelligensia; he writes in “Daily Mail”
Greek! One tradition claims Mark had short fingers - although it is not clear
if this is an explanation for the brevity of this, the shortest gospel, or a
description of the author’s physical attributes, or both!
Ministry and misunderstandings
The central section of the book explores the ministry of Jesus. Rowan
Williams explains that compared to the other gospels, Mark is “light on
teaching”; he doesn’t want to distract us with interesting ideas or miracles,
he wants us to focus on “the person of Jesus and the relationship you might
have with him - through which radical change comes about.”
But the gospel does contain several parables, which are often misunderstood
even by those closest to Jesus. At one point Jesus explains that he
deliberately speaks in parables so people can’t understand him! Rowan Williams
suggests this is a case of Jesus being ironic. Jesus does want us to understand
- that is the whole purpose of the parables.
Parables, Williams explains, are comparisons (they sometimes begin with the
phrase “the Kingdom of Heaven is like...”) Jesus describes the work of God in
comparison to recognizable natural processes (a seed, a lamp). He is telling us
that if we want to understand more about the nature of God, we have to open our
eyes to the clues all around us.
The parables reveal the nature of Gods transforming power; which is at work
within the processes of the world and from the heart out, not the top down
(like light slowly entering a dark room; not like thunder and lightening). This
message would have been comforting for the first readers of the Gospel; “Mark
is writing for a church fearful because the miracles aren't coming thick and
fast. For a community experiencing fear and persecution. A life where God is
not stepping down to solve their problems.”
Passion
The final section of the book focuses on the passion of Jesus - which, Rowan
Williams explains, has been the focus of the gospel all along (“Mark is a
passion gospel with a long introduction”).
The pace of the narrative slows, with events occurring in fewer locations
and Jesus left more and more isolated and alone. One explanation for this
change in pace is that the text is based on an early liturgy used by the first
Christians as they walked the streets of Jerusalem - similar to the Stations of
the Cross. This might account for the increased use of Old Testament quotations
or references in this part of Mark’s gospel.
Rowan Williams highlights the differences between Marks account of Jesus’s
passion and the other gospels. In John, for instance, Jesus responds eloquently
to the challenges leveled against him. Mark lets the sham of the political and
religious authority play out before Jesus who, stripped of everything and in
the middle of this “meaningless nightmare” speaks only once. As Rowan Williams
explains; “responding to the high priest, Jesus makes his one utterly
unambiguous claim : “I am” (the annointed one, Son of the Blessed).”
This is when the Messianic secret is revealed - by a “God whose authority
appears only when all worldly power has been stripped away....God has chosen to
be manifest at the lowest, weakest point of human experience.”
“Jesus’s execution is the price that is paid to free us once and for all
from the fantasy that God's power is just like ours.”
“Jesus dismantles the myth of power that holds us prisoner.”
The end is also the beginning
Rowan Williams notices the irony in the ending of the gospel (the original
or ‘short’ ending at 16.8 : “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for
terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they
were afraid.”)
Whilst throughout the Gospel Jesus has told people not to reveal who he
truly is, after the encounter with the angel in the empty tomb, who
specifically tells the three women to go and tell the disciples about the
resurrection of Jesus, nobody wants to talk about it! Clearly, they did so
eventually - or we would not be reading the Gospel today!
The resurrection of Jesus re-created our relationship with God - a
relationship of trust and love. The end of the Gospel of Mark invites us to go
back to to the beginning; to tell the story ourselves; to make the gospel part
of the narrative of our lives.
Links
Some Start: Stop reflections based on our discussions at our Autumn Study
Group:
Keep
Awake (Mark 13)
Restored
to his right mind (Mark 5.1-20)
Another author, Richard Burridge, has written a number of books on the Gospels, one of which I wrote about at this link
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