2012-09-23
David
Timbs
The Disciples
Mark’s
narrative is the starkest, most confronting of all the canonical Gospels. The
author crafted his story for a community under extreme stress. It had
experienced a bitter persecution at the hands of the Roman government, probably
under Nero. Many had been killed; confusion, fear, anxiety and inadequate faith
abounded. Betrayal had been felt and resentment was palpable.
This
Jesus Community was asking big
questions about their very existence and they were tempted to look for a
miracle-working, divine man to rescue them from their world of bitter pain which
seemed to be endless and without hope of relief. Instead of a ‘quick fix’
divine man, Mark presented his followers with the image of a rejected, vilified,
betrayed and condemned Messiah-Son of God.
The
whole of the first half of Mark’s Gospel, paralleling the others, has Jesus
preaching teaching and doing mighty works in Galilee and neighbouring areas.
Within this narrative block in the synoptics, there are three predictions
expressly made by Jesus. They are the passion
(suffering) sayings and they all include descriptions of just what awaits
him in Jerusalem: denunciation, betrayal, rejection, humiliation, physical
torture and all culminating in his eventual ignominious death as a condemned
criminal. Every one of these predictions is followed by teachings on imitation
and discipleship. Some of them have an extended discourse on who is the greatest
in the Reign of God. Jesus followers, however, just don’t understand.
The
inadequate faith of the insiders
Mark
constantly highlights the dullness and the incomprehension of Jesus’ inner
circle. He places in the mouth of Jesus some of the most scathingly critical
comments one could ever find coming from a charismatic leader and relentlessly
directed at those he entrusted with his message and ministry. Mark’s narrative
is largely a blue print for how not to be
a disciple!
In
adversity they are paralysed with fear and lose faith (a central motif of Mark’s Gospel), “He said to them, Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” (Mk 4: 40; 4: 35-41).
Having
described the storm at sea and Jesus’ manifest power over it (a metaphor of
the struggling Community and its rescue by Jesus) Mark writes, “But
immediately he spoke to them and said, Take
heart, it is I; have no fear. And he got into the boat with them and the
wind ceased. And they were astounded, for they did not understand about the
loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” (Mk 6: 45-52)
At
the feeding of the four thousand Jesus scolded the inner circle once again, And
being aware of it (the anxiety of the disciples at not having enough bread to
feed the crowd), Jesus said to them, Why
did you discuss the fact that there was no bread? Do you not yet perceive or
understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes, do you not see and having
ears, you do not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand; how many baskets
full of broken pieces did you take up? They said to him, Twelve.
And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broke
pieces did you take up? And they said to him, Seven. And he said to them, Do
you not yet understand?” (Mk 8: 17-21)
Ultimately,
even the women witnesses to Jesus’ death and the empty tomb were overcome by
bewilderment and fear and they failed in their commission to announce the
Resurrection, “And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and
astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were
afraid.” (Mk 16: 8)
Mark
does not leave his Community to sink into a lake of despondency and despair with
this story of the failed faith, cowardice and betrayal of Jesus’ closest
followers. Always against the backdrop of mass disloyalty, Mark paints a vivid
picture of Jesus, ever loyal, inviting his disciples back to Galilee where they
would see him and be with him again. He also offers as consolation and
encouragement the example of authentic faith expressed by the most unlikely of
minor players in the narrative.
The
adequate faith of the outsiders
One
of the great dramatic narrative twists of Mark’s story is the weight he gives
to the faith of outsiders to the Jesus
Movement. Their positive faith response to Jesus stands in stark contrast to the
blindness and incomprehension of Jesus’ closest followers:
The
leper, ostracised from his place of belonging is cured by Jesus and becomes a
messenger, spreading the news (Mk 1: 40-45). The demoniac from the non-Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee comes to faith and begs to
join the band of disciples. Instead, Jesus directed, “go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord had done for
you, and how he has had mercy on you. And he went away and began proclaiming
in the Decapolis (the league of Greek trading cities through greater Syria) how
much Jesus had done for him. And all marvelled.” (Mk 5: 1-20)
The
haemorrhagic, permanently unclean according to Jewish ritual law, comes to faith
in Jesus, is healed by him and restored to her community (Mk 5: 24-34).
Likewise,
Jesus performs a healing on behalf of a non-Jewish
woman, a Syrophoenician, one who is completely and utterly beyond the pale
of the faith of Israel. Why should he bother? She is the ultimate outsider
– a foreigner, a woman and clearly without male protection.
The
final and quite paradoxical confession of adequate faith from an outsider came from the Centurion at the foot of the cross, “And
when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw the way he died, said, Truly
this man was the Son of God.” (Mk 15: 39)
The
powerless and vulnerable characters in Mark’s Gospel are in fact among the
minor players, the ones who had been endowed, through their loyalty to and faith
in Christ, with real power and authority. They were the ones who, when adversity
and the ultimate challenge came, remained with Jesus. Their moral authority lay
not in their particular rung in the social ladder but in the congruity and
authenticity of their faith, those who
heard the word of God and keep it, they are my mother and sisters and brothers.
It
is quite possible that one of Mark’s greatest heroes and role models was Paul
of Tarsus, the least of the Apostles. His narrative certainly reflects the final
testimony of a weary Paul at the end of his days,
“I
have suffered the loss of everything and count it as mere dung (skybala)
in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him ....that I may know him and
the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians
3: 8-11
For
a summary of mainline commentaries on the Disciples and the minor characters in
Mark’s Gospel, see, Joel F. Williams, [Here]
David
Timbs writes from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.