Christology is a very important -- if not the most important -- element in
the Gospel According to Mark. Mark himself indicates this in the way he
opens his Gospel: "Here begins the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God." Jesus the Christ is himself the gospel (good news), and by reading
Mark's book we may encounter him and learn, with the disciples, the
mystery of who he is.
Critical study, especially redaction analysis, has shown that the Markan
Gospel is a carefully constructed piece of theological writing in the form
of a literary narrative. It is not a historical or biographical work (at
least not in the modern senses of those terms), but rather a
theologically-motivated proclamation which aims to bring us into
relationship with the real Christ. As Martin Kelber points out, Mark's use
of "beginning" in 1:1 is not fortuitous; the Gospel is but our
introduction to Jesus Christ. Once we have met Christ and been met by him
through Mark's proclamation, we must deepen our relationship with him and
enter on his "way," the way of the cross. In showing us the true identity
of Jesus, Mark also demonstrates the nature of genuine discipleship.
Mark begins and ends his story of the earthly ministry of Jesus with the
Christological title "Son of God." But framed within these two passages
(1:1 and 15:39) is the evangelist's narrative which explains and gives
content to that title. Perrin felt that Mark sought to "teach the
Christians of his day a true Christology in place of the false Christology
that he felt they were in danger of accepting." Kelber agrees in principle
with his teacher but feels, as does Weeden, that the false Christology was
already established in Mark's community. Indeed, for Kelber it had been
the Christology of the prestigious church of Jerusalem, which had been
dispersed or destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. It is possible that the
false Christology which Mark addressed was a Hellenistic "divine man"
Christology, similar perhaps to that which Paul opposed in Corinth, which
(to paraphrase Weeden) saw Jesus as a superhuman savior, endowed with
miraculous powers and supernatural knowledge which he passed on to his
followers. Thus, Mark's opponents may have represented an elitist type of
Christianity, proud of its esoteric knowledge and miraculous powers and
filled with the conceit of knowing itself to constitute the elect. In any
event, it may not be too far off the mark (if the reader will pardon the
pun) to describe Mark's Gospel as a definition, or re-definition, of the
meaning of "Son of God" as applied to Jesus.
For Mark, "Son of God" can only be understood in the light of another
title, "Son of Man." Although, as Perrin and others have shown, Jesus may
not actually have used the term in reference to himself, "Son of Man"
appears in Mark's Gospel in the words of Jesus, who uses it as a
self-designation. Furthermore, the Markan Jesus seems to employ this title
specifically as a corrective to the common, erroneous understanding of
"Son of God." For example, in 8:27-38, Jesus' reply to Peter's confession
of him as messiah is that the Son of Man must suffer. Similarly, while
Jesus' answer to the high priest's question, "Are you the messiah, the son
of the Blessed One?" is "I am," he immediately qualifies that response by
adding, "And you will see the Son of Man seated upon the right hand of
God...."
Mark's point seems to be that we cannot understand who Jesus is, and
cannot, therefore, be his disciples, until we realize the centrality of
suffering in his mission -- and in ours. Jesus is not a messiah of earthly
glory, but of self-emptying, suffering love of God and humankind. Mark
prepares us for this realization in subtle ways in the first half of the
Gospel. This section could almost be, as Weeden notes, a "divine man"
story, concentrating as it does on Jesus' "mighty deeds" and his imparting
of esoteric information to his disciples. Perhaps this is why there has
been some confusion over Jesus' rebuke of Peter in 8:33: from the
foregoing material in the Gospel, it is not difficult for the reader to
assume that Peter's confession is correct. Yet Jesus finds it not only
inadequate but even demonic. It appears that Mark has "set up" his
readers. Up to this point in the Gospel, they have been nodding their
heads, comfortable in their understanding of Jesus, feeling confirmed in
that understanding by Mark. But now Mark delivers the blow: they are
condemned, not by Mark, but by Jesus himself.
Yet it seems to me that Mark has not left the critical reader totally
unprepared for the development in 8:33. Throughout the first section of
the Gospel, we see Jesus identifying himself with those who suffer: the
poor, the sick, the hungry, the sinners and outcasts. We see him bridging
the gulf between Jew and Gentile. And in Chapter 4 we have a glimpse of
what is to come, as the disciples, to whom "the secret of the Kingdom of
God has been given," are likened to outsiders in their inability to
understand Jesus' parabolic teaching. Mark is beginning, in a subtle and
creative way, to expose the un-Christian errors of elitism and
triumphalism.
From 8:33 on, those errors will be repeatedly condemned and
corrected by Jesus.
Although the climax of Mark's Gospel is often considered to be Peter's
confession, the Gospel's high point for me is the confession of the Roman
centurion at the foot of the cross. Here, Mark's Christology and its
implications are embodied in an unforgettable scene in which Mark's
narrative style of presenting theology reaches its dramatic height.
Misunderstood and finally deserted by his disciples, and seemingly
abandoned even by God, Jesus dies in anguish of body and spirit. He speaks
no fine words from the cross (as in later Gospels); he can only cry out
his desolation to God before he dies with a loud, inarticulate cry. And it
is only then that a human being -- not one of the "saved," but a hated
Gentile oppressor and idolater -- can call him "Son of God."
This, then, is the essence of Mark's Christology: Son of God = Suffering
Son of Man. Mark's conception of Jesus certainly includes power and
authority implied in the Son of God title (the miracles and exorcisms, the
setting aside of the Sabbath, the imminent judgment); but for Mark the
power and authority are hidden in Jesus and will not be fully revealed
until the parousia, the return of Jesus in glory. In the meantime, we must
not attempt to appropriate Jesus' future glory to our present, but must
follow him in the way of the cross. The gnosis which he has left us is not
the esoteric, power-bestowing knowledge of the "saved" elect, but the
secret of a hidden Kingdom born in weakness, a Kingdom which must grow
through suffering and opposition so that the divine will may be fulfilled.
It is not those who boast of their salvation, who prophesy, and who
perform miracles who will be saved, but those who "endure to the end" by
"doing the will of my Father," that same will which Jesus accepted at
Gethsemane. Jesus, the "suffering servant of God," must be not only our
savior but our model. We cannot share in his resurrection unless we have
also shared in his ministry of suffering love. This was Mark's message to
the Christians of his day; it is a message that Christians today still
need to hear and heed.
