WORD: OC's 60-Day New Testament Planಮಾದರಿ

Mark, The Master Story Teller

Mark’s Gospel is narrative, it is story. Describing the Gospel as “story” does not imply that it is fiction; it does, however, require us to pay attention to its literary features, its structure, images, characters, and allusions to other stories. Mark is a masterful storyteller! And at this turn in this story, we find ourselves reliving the experience of God’s prophets; they are despised, rejected, misunderstood, and murdered, as witnessed in the gruesome tale of John the Baptizer’s beheading. Jesus also is a prophet like the prophets of old; he is like Elisha in providing food for the multitudes; he is like Moses, shepherd of the people. But Jesus is more than a prophet; in this story, his divinity is revealed as he walks on water and heals the sick and the deaf mute!

Despite the story’s flashing signs that Jesus is a prophet, divine in power and identity, fulfilling God’s redemptive purposes, the disciples don’t fully understand Jesus as Messiah. At this turn, we readers encounter a very interesting feature of this story, the “bookends” formed by two episodes in which Jesus heals a blind person (8:22-26 and 10:46-52). These bookends help us realize the meaning of the series of little stories told in between.

Between the bookends, we find a repeating pattern of stories in which Jesus predicts his impending death coupled with his disciples’ wrong thinking about his identity. These stories culminate with the request of James and John for positions of power and honor, places on his right and left which, ironically, have been reserved for the robbers crucified alongside him! Here, the nature of Jesus’ Messiahship is fully revealed: the Messiah will utterly abandon power in willing sacrifice of self for the sake of others. Jesus points to “his cup” and to “his baptism,” which in the ears of those early hearers of this story evoked the significance of eucharist (Lord’s Supper) and gave meaning to their own baptism. Then, the story here is fulfilled as the second blind man receives full sight (a symbol of full understanding) and follows Jesus on the way to the cross! In these chapters, Mark, the master storyteller, opens the eyes of his readers to the identity of Jesus and the nature of true discipleship.


Written By Chris Rosser
Library Faculty, Oklahoma Christian University