In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

61 3 Mark in Detail “There You Will See Him” But let us turn explicitly to Mark, to the book that is the First Gospel, at least as far as we know. We have already begun to reflect here on the relationship between Mark and paleo-Christian meetings. I have argued that especially this First Gospel demonstrates the mutual coherence between Gospel book and Christian assembly. Thus, the “houses” of the narrative were intended by the author to evoke the house churches and small gatherings where the book would be primarily read; Mark meant to call those assemblies away from the “yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod” in their meal practice; and by means of this book those gatherings were brought to be “in on the secret” of Jesus’ identity and of his continued presence. The stories were told so that the community might know that “Jesus-then” was indeed “Jesus-now.” More: I have said that I believe that the ancient title of the book is found in its first verse, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,”1 and that this title intentionally subverted imperial religious meanings. The book itself, the account of the revelation of the identity of Jesus in his preaching and healing as also in his suffering and death, was to be the grounds for the preached and enacted gospel in the assembly. This gospel, like the imperial “gospels,” those imperial announcements of accessions and births and military victories, invited its hearers to a communal celebration. However, here the celebration was not to be marked by sacrifice, social hierarchy, and negotiations of power, but by faith and mutual service, by 1. The argument remains the same if the title reads only “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” The textual evidence is strong for the omission of the phrase “the Son of God,” but it is equally strong for its inclusion. Major manuscripts disagree: Codex Sinaiticus contains the omission and Codex Vaticanus the inclusion. Irenaeus can be quoted to support both. The NRSV follows the evidence for the inclusion. However, even without the phrase “Son of God,” the title stills reveals that Jesus is the Messiah and still presents this remarkable ajrchv. 62 The Four Gospels on Sunday the presence of the crucified risen one and by the wholeness and healing that he brings.2 The gospel of which this book is “the beginning” criticizes religion in its malformations, the religion of the imperium as well as any religion that works in a similar way. This “beginning of the gospel,” this Gospel book, was meant to ground and continually reform Christian meetings. Still, we need to test several of these assertions. The idea of the “secret” of Jesus’ identity is an obvious trait of Mark. But can it be shown more clearly what this secret had to do with the assemblies that may have read the book? Can both the secret and the image of the house be further explored? Another obvious trait, seen by even a casual reader, occurs in the repeated use of frames in telling a story—the fig tree both before and after the cleansing of the Temple (Mark 11:12-25), for example, or Jairus both before and after the woman with the flow of blood (5:21-43). These frames may also be called chiasms or circular compositions , and they are a trait of some classical writings of great weight and communal significance.3 Are they also of significance to the Christian communities? Finally, I have argued that the book of Mark itself was meant to be the means of the community encountering the presence of Jesus in the assembly, to be the resurrection appearance promised by the end of the story. Is this true? How so? As a way of further exploring the relationship of Mark to Christian meetings , we turn to secrets, houses, circles, and the resurrection appearance. Secrets Revealed Many first-time readers of Mark are puzzled by the fact that Jesus, as presented in the story, repeatedly urges silence on anyone who begins to know who he is. First-time readers are not alone. For long-time readers and biblical scholars as well, the question of the “messianic secret” is unavoidable. What is it about? Look at the texts again. In the first miracle story of the book, the healing of a man “with an unclean spirit” in the synagogue at Capernaum (1:21-28), the...

Share