Week 20: Mark 14:1 - 16:8
Section 3: The Jesus of Myth and the Jesus of History
Questions
You mentioned Mark might project back on Jesus the status of Divine Son of Man, can you explain that?
Can you give detail about why you say it was the Romans and not the Jews who killed Jesus?
When Jesus was riding the donkey you mentioned that the Zechariah prophecy used by Matthew was written about the same time as the story of Solomon. Wasn’t the story of Solomon written almost 1,000 years before Jesus?
The Messianic Failure: Mark 14:1- 15:37
Mark again makes clear that he places blame for the death of Jesus on the Sanhedrin. Politically, Mark cannot blame Rome—the power that historically was responsible for Jesus’ death—because Christians at this time are vying for legitimacy during the Flavian dynasty, when they did face some opposition and some scattered persecution.
This first story of Jesus anointing we must be careful not to read in context of other gospels. Luke and John add significant and different details to the story; so different in fact that Luke may be detailing a different event. Here in Mark we have very little information. This woman is historically believed to have been Mary Magdalene, because John names this woman Mary and Luke calls the woman a sinner. It is a long and complex story of how we get to that conclusion, but it actually does appear to be the best supported by historic evidence. We’ll unpack this more when we get to Luke and John, but for now, it is ok to assume this is Mary, as it isn’t actually important to Marks story. Mark, unfortunately, gives the woman no name. But what is happening here is absolutely clear. Remember what the term ‘messiah’ actually means. It means “someone anointed”, and in Judaism it refers to the anointed King and/or the anointed High Priest. In Hebrew the word itself, translated literally, means “to smear”, and christos is the Greek equivalent. What is happening here is this woman has seen Jesus announce himself as king, assert the Kingdom of God, and defend it philosophically. She knows what must happen now—he must be anointed. She uses an oil that costs 10-12 months worth of wages for a poor day laborer, which Jesus is believed to have been, and pours it on his head, anointing him the king of this new Kingdom of God. It is official. The Kingdom of God is here, and Jesus is the king.
Once again, those helpless, squabbling, petulant disciples just don’t get it. Of all things, this they should have gotten! This they would expect for their great military conqueror hero—the kind of messiah Jesus has tried to explain he will not be—just as the kings of Israel and Judah in the past were anointed. But somehow they are too thick to understand, and they “scold” (v5) this unnamed woman for wasting money. Jesus even attempts to tell them again this anointing is for his burial, but they can’t see past the money—just as they have been obsessed with their future power, status, and wealth in the Kingdom of God. Jesus scolds them right back, telling them she will be remembered wherever the gospel is preached…which is some thick irony because Mark leaves out here name!
It is interesting to understand the historicity of this event. There were absolutely Jewish burial practices at the time that involved oil, but—and this is key to understand—they only took place after death. It is unlikely that this woman would have understood herself to be anointing Jesus for his burial—this is what Mary and the other woman go to the tomb to do after the Sabbath. This, at least historically, would have been seen as his anointing as king. That he calls it his anointing for his burial gives us two distinct possibilities, and I don’t know which is most likely.
First, it is possible this is not something Jesus even said. This could be part of Mark’s narrative arc to frame Jesus as the messiah in the way the early Proto-Orthodox understood him. Equally likely, the original in Mark may have said something different, but not wanting to make the failure of Jesus’ prediction and expectations quite as clear as Mark did, a later copyist could have altered the text when transcribing new copies. We know this happened all the time because of all the major changes between existing manuscripts. If this version that was “corrected” to reflect the theology current to that day eventually became the most widely accepted, then this change would have been made in future copies until the other change died out. Again, we know from existing ancient manuscripts this sort of thing happened all the time.
Second, it is also possible that Jesus was trying to shock his followers—the woman included—into realizing what was about to happen. Mark tells us that Jesus has tried to explain his death to his followers on several occasions, and they just refuse to listen. Perhaps Jesus understood what was coming. In fact, Mark specifically tells us he did at several points. If Jesus knew what would happen, he may have taken the kingly anointing understanding/expectation everyone present would have had and flipped it on its head to get the idiots to finally understand his mission. The modern equivalent would be a winner of the United States Presidential Election on their way to their inauguration. Their campaign staff is annoyed at some expensive thing someone did, and the President Elect looks at them and says, “cool it you idiots! Don’t you realize that I’m on my way to my assassination? Leave the expense alone.” Perhaps it would be difficult to grasp this. Having done election work before even I might have thought “surely they meant ‘inauguration’?” and probably brushed it off. Hopefully you’re not as dumb as I am, but the disciples in this story, if it is historic, certainly seem to be!Mark tells us that immediately after this scolding Judas went to betray Jesus. There is a lot to discuss about the betrayal by Judas, but I will save that for later gospels because in this first gospel we should try to keep reading it as Mark’s narrative so that we are comfortable doing so with the gospels that will follow. We can get more side tracked a little later; besides, Mark gives us little information about the betrayal anyway. What we are led to believe here by Mark is that his motivation was potentially a financial one. Later gospel writers even say Judas was the accountant for the ministry, so he cared a great deal about the cost of the oil. Mark gives us no such information. Here is what we know from Mark: the 12 never understand Jesus—no matter how hard he tries, they simply never get it; Jesus gets upset and frustrated with the 12 because of their inability to learn; in this episode the 12 seem upset with Jesus that he allowed oil worth a year’s wages to be used rather than be sold and provide for the poor—as was consistent with his ministry; Jesus scolds the 12 again, possibly in an attempt to help them understand one more time; Judas decides to betray Jesus.
While Mark certainly suggests the finances of the ministry were an issue here, we must also read the entire context. Given the narrative of Mark, one can easily imagine the 12 perhaps being upset with Jesus. Perhaps their feelings were hurt or their egos bruised because they were sensitive and felt belittled by Jesus’ understandable frustration. Perhaps, for Judas, this anointing was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. It is impossible to say how much of this is historic, but this seems to be the intent of Mark’s narrative. And it is sufficient for his purposes, as Judas never enters the story again.This will be a critical detail for later discussions. Mark is very clear of the sequence starting in v12. All of these events occur on the day of the sacrifice—the day before Passover. It is not until the next day, Friday—Good Friday, if you are a modern Christian—on the day of Passover that Jesus is killed in Mark’s story. This is unimportant for now, but hold on to this nugget for a while, it will be interesting.
The sun sets, which officially begins the next day in Judaism, meaning Passover has begun. Jesus and the 12 have a Passover meal, and Jesus reveals that he knows who his betrayer is. This seems quite odd historically, and is not likely true. If Jesus had pointed out to the whole group who his betrayer would be, one would think this might prevent that act. Unless, perhaps Mark is suggesting all the 12 are equally as frustrated with Jesus. I don’t think this is the case, as later hints suggest it is not. But I’m sure you can imagine 100 different ways this would have played out had Jesus actually identified the traitor in public. Matthew recognizes this and changes it to make it more plausible.
Another reason we know this is not likely to be historic goes back to our discussion about the Lord’s supper in the Didache. No Jew would have accepted the ritualistic cannibalism, even metaphorically, of eating human flesh or drinking human blood. Even though not literal, this would absolutely have been unacceptable to Jews, and was certainly a Greek introduction by Paul. Mark places it here, likely in place of the more historic version found in the Didache. As we discussed at that time, even Luke preserves some of the more historically accurate supper of thanksgiving.
Jesus makes another interesting statement at the end of the last supper. He tells the 12 he will not eat with them again until the new Kingdom of God has been made sovereign. With that prediction of the establishment of the Kingdom of God, Jesus and his crew leave for the Mount of Olives. Jesus then tells the 12 what must have been obvious to him, given his failure to help them understand his mission. They will all become deserters.
Now the real hard part begins. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John and leaves the other nine to sit while he prays. The English downplays what happens next. This is one of the most important scenes in all of Mark, and we will not understand Mark’s narrative without understanding this. Jesus is terrified. I know in the other gospels this comes across differently. They don’t like this depiction of Jesus, and they want to make him less afraid, less vulnerable, and less human. Because of this modern Christians think of this event as Good Friday, but in Mark there is literally nothing good about it. This is tragic, this is awful, and this is heartbreaking. There is no nobility here, this isn’t a solemn event to admire and or to revere. In Mark, Good Friday doesn’t exist. It is just tragic. In Mark there is no indication Jesus is paying for sins. All he is doing is suffering.
Jesus really sounds like he is having a panic attack. His stress and his anxiety are at maximum. The panic is so intense the only way he can possibly hope to find relief is from God, so he goes to pray. He brings Peter, James, and John with him, and then asks them to stay awake while he prays. In says that he “went a little farther” (v35), but this is slightly different in Greek. Proelthon is often used to mean something like coming near, or approaching, and it is qualified with mikros, or micro in English. So this is a small, tiny approach. This may not necessarily mean he went away from Peter, James, and John. It may mean Jesus timidly attempted to approach God. To me, the important context is that it reads like Jesus was still near enough to Peter, James, and John that they would be able to hear his words. Jesus is absolutely in distress. Dealing with anxiety and panic attacks are, thankfully, not a burden I have had to bear, so I may not be the best messenger to convey just how difficult a time Jesus is having. I have seen the heart wrenching impact of severe panic attacks, where those affected cannot even compose their own bodies, and can collapse and be unable to move. I think this is what is happening to Jesus. “He threw himself on the ground” (v35), and the only thing he could try to do to help himself is pray. And this is not an eloquent prayer. This is not noble or poetic as his prayers will be in other gospels. This is desperate, begging, pleading. But God doesn’t seem to hear. Jesus gets no relief. As soon as he is able to stand, he goes back to his three most trusted students—and they have fallen asleep! Within earshot, able to see and hear everything Jesus is going through they couldn’t be bothered to stay awake one hour. At this point Jesus doesn’t sound upset or disappointed with the 12 anymore. At this point he simply seems to have fallen into a deep depression, too numb to care that even Peter wouldn’t be there for him. And in the midst of his panic attacks, Jesus had to face this realization two more times. His friends were not his true friends. They were unconcerned with his mental health crisis. Perhaps all they ever cared about was their future power and wealth in the Kingdom? Surely that thought had to cross his mind. After the third time, Jesus simply seems too defeated, too lonely, and too distraught by this reality. He seems to almost welcome the coming arrest.
I have often heard Christians talk about Mark’s use of “Abba” in v36, and how it means “daddy”. While the sentiment is accurate, the translation isn’t. Jesus, as we just learned, is absolutely going through a crisis. He is desperately begging God for help, and he does call him father. But, while Abba is a very familiar and familial Aramaic word, it does not really mean “daddy”. This is Mark throwing in an Aramaic phrase again, and providing the translation to help bring authenticity to his narrative for his Greek readers. But the sentiment is there. Jesus is crying for help from God the way a little child would.
Judas brings, what in this story, sounds like a mob and betrays Jesus. Someone attempts to defend Jesus. This is the messiah after all! If he dies the newly established Kingdom of God dies with him! Later gospel writers will tell us this is Peter who defends Jesus. Perhaps that is true historically, but not here. Perhaps it was Peter, and Mark didn’t want to paint Peter in a positive light after having just spent an entire narrative explaining how dense Peter is. But, perhaps the opposite is true. Perhaps this was not Peter, and later gospel writers inserted him over an anonymous character. That is what Mark suggests, because he simply says it was “one of those who stood near” (v47). We know there were others with Jesus, v51 specifically says so, and so often when Mark wants to single out the 12, he calls them “the 12”. Moreover, he has all their names as well. For Mark, it seems the only person to show any courage in defense of Jesus was one simple anonymous follower. Perhaps this disciple was hoping others would also find the courage if they first say this follower grab their sword and take action first. They did not. Instead, we get v50—the most depressing verse in the entirety of the Bible: “All of them abandoned him and fled.”
At this moment, having suffered through panic, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and fair-weather friends, Jesus must now know. He is completely and entirely alone. Nobody was willing to bear the cross as he said they must bear to follow him. Not one single soul. The king of the Kingdom of God has no subjects and no soldiers. So desperate were Jesus’ followers to get away from him that Mark inserts an interesting aside. A young man was grabbed by his linen cloth—perhaps a Roman toga—and it falls off as he attempts to escape. So eager are his friends to abandon him, that even running naked through the streets of Jerusalem on Passover is preferable to being with Jesus in this moment. There is nothing good about this Good Friday.
Jesus gets arrested, utterly and entirely alone. Jesus must feel completely dejected at this point. Peter follows from a distance, but there would be no way for Jesus to know this. Instead, what he knows is that the Sanhedrin conducts an illegal trial. Capital punishment trials could not take place at night, nor could they take place during festivals—this trial does both; the trial and the sentence handed down could not occur at the same meeting; the accused had a right to a defense counsel, but Jesus was given none; the trial took place at the home of the high priest, rather than in the counsel chambers; none but the High Priest was permitted to rip their clothing. It is also quite odd that Jesus is accused of blaspheme for admitting to being the messiah. Only the speaking of the name of God—JHVH—would be considered blaspheme. Claiming to be the messiah, and claiming that the divine Son of Man was coming were, as we have seen, are not at all uncommon in the hundred or so years both before and after. None of those claimants appears to have ever been accused of blaspheme. In fact, some of these claims instead appear to be given legitimacy by highly prominent members of the Sanhedrin.
But we cannot get too side tracked with these historical facts. We must, painfully, continue to focus on the narrative of Mark as continues in its absolutely tragic sequence. While false testimony is given of Jesus, none are there to defend him. Peter refuses to speak up in his defense, even though he apparently found the courage to follow and spy on the proceedings. Throughout all the events of the illegal trial, Jesus “was silent and did not answer.” (v61). Jesus’ panic attacks do not appear to have subsided. He cannot seem to understand what is going on or why he is in this situation. As the son of God he clearly expected divine help. He established the new Kingdom of God only a few days ago. This was supposed to be a glorious week. This was supposed to be the week God made things happen for him—the aid of heaven was meant to bring about the downfall of Rome. That was the entire point of this message of nonviolent deliverance. And instead he has failed. Not only is Rome in full control, but his own people, the Jews, are fighting against their own Kingdom of God! At worst, with other failed messianic claimants, those who disagreed stayed on the sidelines. But here, the Sanhedrin are attempting to falsely accuse Jesus of wanting to destroy the Temple.
Jesus has known he would die for much of the narrative of Mark, but nothing in the story suggests he expected to die like this! Arrested “as though [he] were a bandit” (v48), tried illegally by his own governing body—the one he was supposed to rule, no less! And yet, through all of this he still believes that God will be with him. Jesus received no deliverance in the Garden of Gethsemane through three attempts at prayer—it is clear God wants Jesus to go through this. Perhaps Jesus comes to this realization at this very moment. He is emboldened. He gains a small measure of strength. Yes! God must want him to go through this for some reason. He is the son of God! God has given him help so many times. Through all the healings, the casting out of evil spirits, walking on water, and all the other divine manifestations, God has always been there. Of course he will be here now! Jesus finally calms down from his panic attack and at last gains the courage to speak to the illegitimate accusations against him. He finally is able to muster out, perhaps sheepishly, that he is the son of God, and that the High Priest will “see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (v62). Of course, Jesus must be thinking, the Son of Man will come now and save him at the last moment, and all the commencement of the Kingdom of God will occur.
At this very moment, the very moment Jesus finally works up the courage to speak; the very moment he finally regains hope; the very moment when he realizes divine help will come; the very moment he expects to be delivered by the appearance of the divine Son of Man from heaven; the very moment he receives some relief from his hours long, desperate panic attack; at this very same moment, Peter denies even knowing him. Not just once, but on three separate occasions, perhaps all in a row, perhaps over the length of time the trial is occurring, but what we know for sure is that as Jesus is finally mustering the courage to speak the truth, Peter utterly lacks such courage. Peter has failed Jesus again! And just as Jesus asked God for relief and was denied on all three attempts, Peter is asked to recognize Jesus, and denies all three attempts. There is nothing good about this Good Friday.
Jesus’ pronouncement does not have the effect he intends. Rather than inspire faith in members of the Sanhedrin, or initiate the appearance of the Son of Man, Jesus is instead he is given the death sentence. He is blindfolded, beaten, spat on, derided, and mocked. All of this would render his trial and judgement illegitimate, but there is no one there to defend him. God has not sent any help. Perhaps Jesus is still clinging firm to his realization that the aid from heaven will come, and the Son of Man will manifest in the clouds and remove Jesus’ blindfold, and replace it with a crown. But surely the panic must be setting back in. How much more must Jesus endure before he is delivered?
When the sun finally comes up—and we are probably to infer that Jesus endured the mockery and the beating the rest of the night—the Sanhedrin takes Jesus to Pilate. Pilate’s character was massively toned down in the four gospels as part of the attempt to remove the role of Rome from Jesus’ death. In reality Pilate was a vicious and nasty ruler. He was notorious for killing troublesome Jews at the drop of a hat. Pilate was so cruel to the Jews that some lodged a formal complaint against him with Rome, and his iron fisted rule was apparently tyrannical enough that he was called to Rome to answer this complaint. In our story here Pilate asks a simple question: is Jesus King of the Jews (15:2)? If Jesus answered yes, then he absolutely would be killed. Rome could not tolerate any messianic claimants, as these pests have already fomented rebellion on multiple occasions, that cost Rome a large amount of resources to put down over and over again. If Jesus answered no, he would be a liar. He has already declared himself king, including to the Sanhedrin; he has been anointed king; he has philosophically defended his kingship and his kingdom in the Temple; and he has shut down the Temple for a day, declaring his authority over it. The hours of beatings and mockery have apparently robbed the courage from Jesus that he mustered in that moment the night before. The Son of Man is yet to appear, and where the hell is he!?! Jesus needs him NOW! So, the best Jesus can do is deflect. The Greek here is quite unclear—likely an expression of Jesus’ attempt to deflect. Su legeis is all Jesus answers. Literally, “you say” in English. It is not so clear what this means, but legeis is a verb form of logos, and while “you say” is absolutely the translation, perhaps because of the context of logos in Greek, the meaning may be something more. Perhaps Jesus means “if you say so”. Perhaps Jesus is asking “is this what you think?”. Maybe Jesus is telling Pilate to make his own judgement. It really isn’t clear, but it is a brilliant deflection.
Pilate does not know how to respond, so he lays out all the accusations from the Sanhedrin. Jesus’ confidence has now expired. “Jesus made no further reply” (v5), and this amazes Pilate. He has a chance to defend himself, but apparently the panic has returned in full force. Or, perhaps Jesus thinks the Son of Man will not come to deliver him until after he is sentenced. Whatever the case, Jesus is silent again.
What happens next is absolutely literary, and not at all historical. Historians know of no tradition that a prisoner is released at Passover, and this would contradict every bit of evidence we know of Pilate. But this is critical literarily. Barabbas plays a key role. His name, in Aramaic, is Bar Abba. Meaning, his actual name is “Son of the Father”. We know he was “in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection.” (v7). We know of no actual insurrection in the final week of Jesus’ life, or in the months leading up to it. But it is possible that a smaller insurrection occurred, and it was similar to Jesus’ expectations that once the Kingdom of God was announced it would gather large scale support and swell to an independence movement. This is similar to what had happened with the Hasmonean revolt. With a name like “Son of the Father” we have to wonder why the Sanhedrin was not so preoccupied with having Barabbas killed also. He would certainly be guilty of the same crime Jesus was accused of—(false) blaspheme by invoking the title of messiah. But for whatever reason this man, who seems to have led an actual violent insurrection, is preferred to Jesus.
While this is almost certainly not historical, Mark’s point is nearly impossible to miss. The hatred for Jesus is so intense from the Sanhedrin that they would rather let free a man accused of the same crime, who committed murder (of Roman soldiers? Of elite Jews who opposed him? We don’t know) in pursuit of his crown. Mark tells us that even Pilate can see the accusations against Jesus are “out of jealousy” (v10). But the Sanhedrin demands Jesus be crucified.
The entire time Jesus is silent. He is alone. The only sliver of hope he can cling to at this point is his belief that the Son of Man will come now. Perhaps this keeps him from falling into another panic attack. But surely his anxiety is at the brim once again. Surely he knows his friends will do nothing for him. Depressed, lonely, and abandoned, Jesus hears his fate from a crowd of jealous clergymen. “Crucify him!” (v13 ). There is nothing good about this Good Friday.After all of this, what occurs next must be devastating for Jesus emotionally. The Roman soldiers take him into he praetorium, where he could be seen publicly, possibly by some of those in Jerusalem who saw him ride into town on the donkey, or shut down Temple operations for a day. They dress him up in royal clothing, and mock and torture him. Just days ago he had been anointed with oil; now he is given a crown of thorns. Just days ago those who celebrated him spread out tree branches in front of him; now he is whipped with a reed. Just days ago he had been blessed as the one who comes in the name of the Lord; now he is mocked with “Hail! King of the Jews!” (v18). Mark gives no indication that Jesus ever speaks. Given his mental state we have seen up until now, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to assume he must be in shock. He knows that right now he is on his way to face a death that Rome thought too horrific for its own citizens; a death that was reserved only for slaves and rebels. The sentence was cast down, at the behest of the Jews if we believe Mark, by Pilate and it was irrevocable. Historically we know Pilate wouldn’t have though twice about Jesus. He would have had him crucified and immediately forgotten who he was—just another nameless, faceless Jew like thousands of others he had crucified. The only hope Jesus has now is the Son of Man appearing in the sky.
The beating Jesus suffered at the hands of the Romans was so severe he was unable to carry his cross to Golgotha. This beating, believe it or not, may have been merciful from the soldiers. Crucifixion was a type of death that took days. Usually victims were crucified naked, baking in the hot sun. We know nails were driven through the victim’s heal bones into the sides of the standing post. Their hands were either nailed or tied to the cross. This created an effect where the victim would try to keep their weight off of their feet because of the pain, but this caused suffocation from the pressure the outstretched arms placed on the lungs, so they would have to then push them self up on their feet, which required their heals baring the entirety of their weight. Thus this was an agonizing dance between suffocation and excruciating pain. Often it took days, sometimes more than a week. Ancient writings mention that scavengers, like wild dogs and vultures, would often pick at victims while they were still alive. Death often came only after the body could no longer function and the victim suffocated. Other times it came just from dehydration. It almost never came quickly. If Jesus was too weak to carry his cross, perhaps the beating was severe enough that he would not have the strength to survive long.
Jesus is given wine mixed with myrrh, but refuses it. This, some scholars of mystery cults believe, may have been a drug. Often Christians suppose this is a sedative, which Jesus would likely have wanted. But, if it were similar to the drink used by mystery cults, it may have been a hallucinogen, which would explain why it was refused. Everyone mocks Jesus. Other gospel writers change this narrative fact from Mark because they want to have some good in Good Friday. They would like this to be a day worth remembering, a day worth celebrating or revering. Mark disagrees, and this is likely more historical. Instead, even passers by mock him, because they recognize him from his declarations and defenses of the Kingdom of God in the Temple throughout the week. The scribes and the chief priests also mock him. Unlike other gospels, both the criminals crucified with him taunt him, despite their own circumstance. “You who would destroy the Temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” (v30). “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” (v31-32). Aren’t these legitimate questions? One has to wonder why the son of God, who has been given power by God to do extraordinary things, could not use that power now? Jesus could walk on water; Jesus could multiply loaves and fish to feed large crowds; Jesus could heal those he had never even seen. Why couldn’t Jesus take himself off the cross?
For many Christians, the answer is that he stayed there willingly to pay for sins. Perhaps this is the case, it is impossible to refute completely. However, we should consider other possibilities. As we discussed in Section 2, the purpose of Jesus’ death was not understood to be to pay for sins until about 1,500 years after Mark was written. Also, it is commonly understood that Jesus paid for sins while suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. I know in this traditional belief Jesus also had to die to break the hold of death on humanity and initiate the resurrection; but why did he have to die here? Why did he have to die now? Why did he have to die by crucifixion? Would death have any greater hold on Jesus if he had lived to a ripe old age, passed naturally, and then walked out of the tomb three days after that? Perhaps these questions are heretical, and I’m fine with that. But, we also should add up the totality of circumstances that face Jesus. His friends have abandoned him, and none are here for him now; his followers dispersed, refusing to support his Kingship at the very first sign of trouble; the religious leadership, rather than celebrate the liberation of Israel and the establishment of the Kingdom of God, wanted him dead because he was a threat to their power; one of his closest friends had betrayed him to those leaders; he had a severe panic attack in the Garden of Gethsemane; he was almost certainly depressed and anxious; he was lonely, exhausted, and hopeless; finally, he had desperately attempted to receive help from God three times, and not only did no help come, but his “pillars”, likely within ear shot, had fallen asleep on him. Maybe we should consider the possibility that Jesus wanted to die. We have seen, as he grew into his role as the son of God, that perhaps he wasn’t all that happy in this role. He has constantly felt the need to do things he didn’t want to do; he has attempted over and over for months to get the 12 to understand what is going on, and they never did, constantly disappointing him; he has attempted over and over again to declare the coming Kingdom of God, but all people wanted from him were miracles; and he has tried to keep his identity and his power secret, only for people he has helped to ignore his requests and publicize his feats far and wide. Maybe, after all of this, combined with the mental state of Jesus and his destitute situation, Jesus is ready for it all to be over.After being on the cross for six hours, Jesus cries out, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (v34). All of us are familiar with this cry. All of us know what Jesus meant. After all Jesus had done, after all Jesus had been through, even God had abandoned him too! This specific phrase is given to us from the 22nd Psalm. In fact, the entire crucifixion episode in Mark follows this Psalm. Having lots cast for his cloths; being counted among the criminals; Jesus has cried out three times, but God has not answered; Jesus has been scorned by others, and despised by all people; and all who see him mock him, sneer at him, and shake their heads. The 22nd Psalm ends in triumph and glory. Mark flips this on its head. Bystanders hear, and believe Jesus may have been calling for Elijah, so they get him sour wine to drink. But they aren’t even allowed to give it to Jesus. They are stopped by those who say to wait and see if Elijah will come save him. He will not. Mark specifically wants the point clear, nobody is coming for Jesus. Psalm 22 is flipped on its head, this is not going to end in triumph. This will end as it began, with Jesus being abandoned by everyone. Completely helpless, with Elijah nowhere to be seen, Jesus gives a loud cry and dies. It is over. The Kingdom of God, just as quickly as it had come, is gone. The messiah is dead. Jesus was wrong. The Son of Man never came. His peaceful revolution was given no help from heaven. Friendless, hopeless, helpless, pitiless, and powerless, the Kingdom of God and its king are now lifeless. Jesus has failed.
Mark’s Shocking Conclusion (Mark 15:38 - 16:8)
With Jesus dead, the vale of the Temple rips in half, from top to bottom. Symbolically, all humanity now has access to God, not just the High Priest, who is responsible for having Jesus killed.
A centurion, commander of 80 troops, or if in the first cohort, 160, recognizes Jesus as the son of God. There is some debate among scholars as to whether this is a true recognition or one final mockery of Jesus. Matthew and Luke make it clear that the centurion admires Jesus, thinks he is innocent, and does believe he is the son of God. Some scholars are not so sure in Mark. Perhaps it is a final mockery of Jesus, or perhaps it is the only human to recognize Jesus as the son of God in all of Mark. This would be quite ironic for Christianity in its later, and modern phases, as the Roman recognition of son of God would be the same recognition in Roman culture as any son of God: this soldier would think Jesus a great man or a hero, just like a Roman Emperor or Hercules. As this is decidedly not the type of son of God Christians insist Jesus was.
Joseph of Arimathea, about whom scholars debate his historicity, is granted burial rights to Jesus’ body, something that was often not done—in fact, often the body was left on the cross until the corpse had been picked clean by scavengers, and the remains were thrown in mass graves. Pilate is surprised Jesus has died so quickly. This sequence moves quickly, and we are simply told Jesus is placed in a tomb hewn out of rock. These tombs were common in Jerusalem at the time. Bodies were laid on a rock slab or bed to decompose for a year or more. After that time the bones were placed in stone boxes called ossuaries. Hundreds of these have been found around Jerusalem by modern archaeologists.
As soon as the Sabbath is over, that is, Saturday after sundown, the prominent women in Jesus’ life—Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ mother Mary, and Salome, who was possibly the mother of James and John, or possibly the sister of Jesus—go buy spices to put on the body for the decomposition period. The next morning, Sunday morning, they set out for the tomb. When they arrive they see the stone blocking the entry way was already moved aside. They enter the tomb and all they see is a lone boy in white. Later gospel writers will tell us this was an angel, but Mark is very clear that his is a young man—the Greek word suggests likely age 10-14. This frightens the women, but they boy already knows what the women are doing, so he puts them at ease by telling them he knows they are looking for Jesus. He informs them he has been raised up—in Greek this means literally to stand up or to wake up—but instructs the women to go tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus will see them in Galilee “as he told you” (v7). What happens next is quite shocking for most Christians, so I am going to quote it. V8 reads, “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.” (emphasis mine).
The End
We know for certain this is where the original version of Mark ended; the earliest and best manuscripts indicate this. This ending was obviously shocking for later Christians who had built a tradition around appearances and teachings of the resurrected Jesus, but Mark has none. The women at the tomb simply run away and tell nobody. Later manuscripts appear with several different endings created to try to make the ending less shocking and fit more in the tradition that is held by the other gospels. But we should not be so shocked by this. In Greek literature the empty tomb motif is somewhat common. This motif is always an indication that the deceased was taken up by the Gods, and became a divine being themselves. Often this happens because the life that had been lived by the person was so great they are rewarded with immortality. Other times this can happen because a god or the gods think a woman was simply too beautiful to be left as a human. What Mark’s readers would know immediately with this shocking ending is that Jesus was now a God. Somehow, through the tragedy of his failure, he had been rewarded with divinity.
Remember that Mark seems to be writing his gospel as a prelude to Paul’s letters. Paul gives us very little information about Jesus, and instead focuses on instruction and theology. Mark wants to tell us why Jesus is the god from whom we should receive instruction, and around whom we should structure our theology. But this abrupt and shocking ending leaves a lot of loose ends that we can attempt to tie ourselves.
Blind Explanation
I’m going to skip any explanation this week. I think it may be useful for us to have some time to sit with the shocking tragedy and failure that is Mark’s story. This is something I have never seen done in the Christian church. For good reason, every sermon or Bible study I have been a part of wants to skip the tragedy and pain—often they leave Mark out all together and focus on the other three gospels—and immediately move onto the glory and the celebration of the resurrection with all its theological implications. We are not going to do that here. Let’s take some time to reflect on just how different Mark is—the story with no good in Good Friday; the story with no resurrection appearances; the story where the women run away afraid and tell nobody.
I have hinted several times as to what I think Mark is trying to tell us about Jesus, and about who he was as a human. Next week I will lay out my argument in detail. Though it is by no means the only answer, and may not even be the correct one, hopefully it will help us all to think about Mark’s purpose, and to see that these gospels are not histories, they are biographies that focus not so much on factual events, but on displaying the character and grandeur of their subject. As we cover the other gospels I will not slowly drag this out. We will instead know from the beginning the author’s opinion of who Jesus was. I wanted to slow walk this one and drag it out over the entire narrative for two reasons. First, Mark is often overlooked by modern Christians. The language is less eloquent than the other gospels, and there is very little focus on the teachings of Jesus. The story moves rapidly and feels jumpy. Because Matthew is the first gospel in the New Testament, often people read Mark and simply see a truncated version of Matthew, and hear the same message over again. Hopefully now we have all seen that nothing could be further from the truth. Mark is a brilliant work of theology, and a fascinating composition of literature. Next week we will wrap up Mark and hopefully bring the Paul-Mark message full circle for everyone to understand what the purpose of this shocking and tragic gospel is.