The Significance of Jesus' Death in Mark: Narrative Context and Authorial Audience

Abstract

(ProQuest Information and Learning: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.) One of the several New Testament interpretations of the death of Jesus is that Jesus was a sin offering whose death effected the forgiveness of the of humankind. But the Gospel of Mark makes no explicit connection between the death of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins. saying 10:45 is best translated a ransom in substitution many,1 implying that the problem overcome by Jesus' giving his life was captivity or slavery rather than guilt. A first-century Greek-speaking audience would probably have understood that, although the of the Markan Jesus does involve forgiving (2:1-12), the narrative taken as a whole suggests that the death of the Markan Jesus performs for many the service of liberation from bondage to oppression membership the covenant community that constitutes a house of prayer all the nations (11:17). saying 14:24 alludes to Exod 24:8, where the blood is that of a covenant-sealing sacrifice, not that of a sin or guilt offering. Because Matt 26:28 makes the connection by adding for the forgiveness of sins to the cup saying, some scholars believe that Matthew's reading must have been implicit Mark. Arguments an emphasis on forgiveness may be found the work of Adela Yarbro Collins, Rikki E. Watts, and others.2 However, this question is usually addressed by intertextual arguments somewhat to the neglect of intratextual or narrative analysis. It is the latter that we add to the conversation the hope of enriching it. In terms of contextual foci, our look at the narrative context falls the category of the internal literary context (the interrelations of elements of the text), and our look at the cultural context of the authorial audience includes both the internal historical context (the interrelations of the text with other texts) and the external historical context (the broader societal/cultural situation of the text).3 Most of the present article comments on the Markan Gospel sequence, attending to signals of the significance of Jesus' death narrative context. Because of the importance of dealing explicitly with those readings that do argue a connection between the Markan Jesus' death and the forgiveness of sins, however, sustained comments on the cultural context of the Markan authorial audience with reference to 10:45 and 14:24 are intercalated at those points. As with Markan intercalations, it is hoped that center and frame will enrich each other the act of interpretation. I. HEARING MARK'S STORY Mark's Gospel is a story, a sequential narration of events with a beginning, middle, and end designed to be heard that order.4 Despite its later liturgical and academic fragmentation, Mark's story works as a whole, and it is the whole Gospel we are regarding as the narrative context of Mark's story of Jesus' death. In addition, Mark's story is designed not the eye but the ear.5 Because the first-century context of this whole Gospel was oral, we will listen echoes (to use an oral metaphor) of earlier scenes the story of Jesus' death, or (resorting to a visual metaphor) we will be on the lookout earlier foreshadowings of the death story the stories that lead up to it.6 Martin Kahler's assertion that one could call the Gospels passion narratives with introductions,7 while reflecting form-critical presuppositions that we reject, nevertheless suggests that Mark's extended introduction prepares the audience to hear the significance of the story of Jesus' death a particular way. Kingdom (Mark 1:1-4:34)8 Mark's story of The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of (1:1; NRSV, here and throughout unless otherwise indicated) opens at a rapid pace, with Isaiah pointing to John the baptizer, who points to Jesus of Nazareth. But as soon as the audience is given reason to share the narrator's (1:1) elevated view of Jesus-through the words of the prophet Isaiah (1:2-3), the baptizer John (1:7-8), and even God (1:11: You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased)-the audience is also signaled that being God's son is no easy task. …