MARK'S THEOLOGY
REFLECTED IN WRITING
Mark and the other evangelists used
basically five ways to change, edit or enhance
Jesus' sayings to
reflect their own views of Christianity.
According to the Five Gospels
Book, plagiarism
and changing of writing was not a crime, but actually very common Mark's
time. Besides, Mark never knew Jesus first-hand, he
somehow had to make a 'story' from
basically
Hearsay!
Mark groups different parables and
sayings of Jesus by topic; making a false
impression that
these things happened in order. This may
have little effect on changing the
meaning of the
lesson, however it illustrates the fact that Mark was trying to author a
"readable"
story for people, rather than a book of facts.
The best example would be in
Mark 10:17-31
(Jesus Counsel to the Rich) & (Parable of The Camel and the Eye of a
Needle). It is doubtful that these things happened at
the same time; however, they are
GREY in The Five
Gospels anyway ... and probably didn't happen as Mark describes. This
brings us to Mark's
writing style.
Mark seems to "tack-on"
sentences to Jesus' teachings to make them more
"Christian." This really changes the meaning more than any
other tactic! Who knows what
Mark may have
edited-out to accomplish what he wanted to impress upon his readers? In
this, he tries to
interpret the meaning of Jesus' actions ... and does this in a misleading
way!
For example: Mark
2:19, Jesus regarding Fasting. Jesus
makes a strong statement against
importance to
fasting, but Mark (in 2:20) tags on:
"But the days will come when the
bridegroom will be taken away from
them,
and they will
fast in those days."
This blatantly shows that Mark held
higher regard for the Old Traditions of Fasting
rather than
Jesus' new teachings! This is also an
example of "Christianizing Jesus" according
to traditions
that have already earned respect from Jews in their tradition. (Wow, this is
starting to sound
like a fight between Today's Political Parties, isn't it?! [Jesus = Liberal
Politics /
Judaism = Conservative Politics]).
Finally, Mark likes to "soften the
blow" of Jesus' Hard sayings. He
does this for
probably the same
reason Paul preached that Circumcision was not required for Christians.
A good example is
The Unforgivable Sin (Mark 3:28-). Jesus
clearly states that words
against the Holy
Spirit are unforgivable. However, Mark
adds that "all things are possible
with God,"
which softens this harsh rule!
MARK & THE
PAROUSIA
Mark lived during the Jewish War of
66-70 ADE. Unlike the later evangelists,
Matthew and Luke,
Mark believed the Parousia was upon us, about to happen at any time!
And, for obvious
reason: he lived in an extremely troubled time for the Jews, and he had
not been worried
yet by the Parousia's delay as were later evangelists.
Mark 13:4 - 'Tell us, when will these
things be? And what will be the sign
when all
these things will
be fulfilled?' According to Mark's
writing, Jesus first predicts the
destruction of
the Temple. However, Mark had written
after the destruction of the Temple
in 70 ADE! This tactic agrees with The Five Gospels:
writing apocalyptic sayings of Jesus
after they have
already been "fulfilled." I
would suppose he did this to give credit to his
writing of the
second coming of God.
An example is the parable of The Fig
Tree in Mark 13:28-37. This addition,
obviously written
by Mark and not said by Jesus, shows the urgency in which Mark expected
the parousia:
"Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass
away till all these
things take
place."
You can easily see why the other
evangelists, Matthew, Luke & John, re-wrote
Mark's
apocalyptic writing to be more of a "Sacred Time," and less definite.
Mark used a common tactic of quoting
scripture (especially Dan, Isa, Mic & some
Psalms) for his
apocalyptic writing. We also saw this in
Paul's letters years before. People
regarded
scripture as fact, therefore a perfect tool to give credit to Mark's &
Paul's new
writing!
Our own culture today is wrapped-up in
tradition and Bible quotes as undisputable
fact, even though
people twist these things to promote their own interests! My own family
justifies their
hatred for gays by quoting the Bible; they justify a "Woman's Place"
by using
the Bible; they
justify their racism through the Bible (saying that "Love your
Brother" could
only possibly
refer to people of your own color, because your brother could not possibly be
of another
color); they justify violent punishment for criminals by using the Bible; they
choose their
political party according to their actions being as conservative as the Bible.
There isn't a day that goes by that I
don't wish that my own community was not still
living in the
dark-ages.
PART B
THE PARABLE: THE UNFORGIVING SLAVE
This parable reflects a part of our
American Lifestyle that is very Un-Jesus!
Our
culture, our
government and our judiciary system thrives on punishment; at least we don't
still have
debtors' prison!
Contrary to Mark's interpretation of
this parable, I belive it represents a type of
perfect love for
one's neighbor that is reflected in Jesus' Kingdom of God. Rather than
forcing a rule
upon the reader, as Mark does, Jesus meant it to be a story where the listener
may choose an
appropriate mode of behavior; for forgiveness cannot be compromised
without
undesirable consequences.
Instead, Mark adds a Threat to the end
of the parable (which is obviously NOT the
words of Jesus)!
"That's what your heavenly Father
will do to you, unless you find it
in your heart
to forgive
..."
I find in many examples that Jesus
wanted to have his followers think for
themselves, and
make choices according to their own conscious; He only made sayings and
parables to aid
followers in finding the truth for themselves (much like Socrate's tactic for
the finding of
Truth or Justice).
Mark, for his own reasons, felt that it
was his duty to attach every saying of Jesus
with a command or
threat ... therefore making God seem vindictive!
CONCLUSION: COMPARISON TO MY FIRST PAPER
I remember that when I wrote my first
paper, I made a point to discuss quotes from
Jesus that seemed
foreign to my traditional feeling for Jesus.
I wanted to see something in
Jesus that I never
knew before! Well, I was surprised to
find that these same quotes turned-
up to be mostly
Pink in the Five Gospels (some grey, but no black)!
My first quote of Jesus was from
Matthew 12:49-50; Jesus refers to the multitudes as
his mother and
brothers. This turned-up pink in the
Five Gospels. I thought that this
quote represented
Jesus as a God on a equal level with his followers, creating a sense of
community (I
think that if Jesus were around today (and wasn't in an asylum), he would be a
Communist). To me, this contradicts today's church of
authority, having Bishops, Deacons,
etc.
Next, I quoted a few of Jesus' words to
live by in chapters 6 and 7 of Matthew.
Most of these
quotes turned up pink, however a few were mixed with grey, showing the
additions of
Matthew's redaction. I noted in my paper
that I felt these rules were simple &
logical ways to
lead a happy and loving lifestyle, rather than hard rules that we are used to.
The next two quotes I used (Matthew
12:13 - Jesus Breaking the Sabbath) (Mark
15:1-15 - Jesus'
dealing with P. Pilate) were grey and black in the Five Gospels. The
interesting point
to this is that these are the two quotes in which I criticized Jesus'
actions. I
made points that
I thought Jesus was a hypocrite in preaching to keep Jewish Law, and at
the same time,
break the Sabbath! I also seriously
questioned Matthew's interpretation that
P. Pilate tried
to save Jesus, knowing that Pilate was not a friend to the Jews! It is refreshing
to me to find
these quotes in grey & black, because they were very confusing to me in
forming an
opinion about Jesus.
I have enjoyed this assignment because
I really feel like I am getting to understand
the Historical
New Testament! I tested my knowledge of
Jesus by reading his quotes from
my New King James
Version Bible, and tried to spot additions that were not Jesus', and by
guessing the
color of some of his quotes. In checking
back with The Five Gospels, I found
myself to be
pretty darn accurate! Amazing!
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