Mark's Interpretation of the Death of Jesus

Abstract

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) Two articles on significance of Jesus' death in Mark appeared in this journal in 2006.1 Each of these studies opens up intriguing perspectives on topic, yet aspects of each are problematic. The article by Sharyn Dowd and Elizabeth Struthers Malbon is treated here because of its more comprehensive character. The most problematic aspect of their study is their interpretation of saying in 10:45, Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a in behalf of many. They rightly place this saying in context of request of James and John and Markan Jesus' teaching on discipleship that responds to it. In focusing on context, however, Dowd and Struthers Malbon infer that 'the many' need-and, in fact, Markan Jesus urges his followers to provide-is ransoming 'their ones who are tyrants over them' and 'those they recognize their rulers [who] lord it over them' (10:42).2 They quote with approval Ched Myers, who argued: The phrase as a (lutron) for many appears to be an allusion back to slave [at 10:43-44]. The term referred to price required to redeem captives or purchase freedom for indentured servants. Jesus promises then that way of servanthood has been transformed by Human One into way of liberation.3 The problem with this interpretation is that it misconstrues relation between saying and its context. The speech of Markan Jesus in 10:42.45 does not instruct Twelve that their duty is to serve especially those undervalued and 'lorded over' by powerful, Dowd and Struthers Malbon claim, however much such service is to be valued and encouraged.4 Rather, he is teaching by means of a negative example: actual relations of power among nations involve mastery and exercise of authority. Leadership among followers of Jesus is not to be of that type. Instead, those who wish to be great or first ought to practice a leadership of service, based on genuine concern for welfare of every member of group. This ideal had already been articulated among Greeks. For example, Macedonian philosopher-king Antigonos Gonatas (ca. 320.239 b.c.e.) taught his son, Do you not understand, my son, that our kingdom is held to be a noble servitude [...]?5 The issue is not oppression of followers of Jesus and others by tyrants and rulers of Judea and Rome. The issue is how alternative society constituted by followers of Jesus will organize and conduct itself. Dowd and Struthers Malbon rightly conclude that links between Son of Man saying in Mark 10:45 and Greek version of poem of Isa 52:13-53:12 signify only that both Servant and Jesus lost their lives for benefit of many.6 The nature of that benefit is not illuminated by this intertextual relationship because word ... does not occur in relevant poem in Isaiah-yet it is controlling image in Mark 10:45. They overstate, however, their next conclusion. They claim that all parties to discussion admit that the word group ... relates to necessity of free those being held captive or enslaved by another.7 All would agree that word group concerns loosing or setting free, but question of from what or from whom depends on context and shared cultural assumptions. The Son of Man saying in Mark 10:45 clarifies cryptic allusions to the cup that Jesus will drink and the baptism with which he will be baptized in vv. 38-39. The aim of giving his life makes clear that these two metaphors refer to death of Jesus. The idea that he will give his life a ransom (...), however, is a new image in relation to context of Mark, well to inter-text of Isaiah 53. The usage of term ... in LXX applies to a wide variety of contexts. …