Shaping the Scriptural Imagination: Truth, Meaning, and the Theological Interpretation of the Bible

8. Interpreting Mark’s Gospel

121 Interpreting Mark’s Gospel 8 This material first appeared as the opening chapter in an introductory textbook on the Gospel according to Mark. It offers a basic orientation to Mark and to Juel’s embrace of a “rhetorical approach” to the Gospel, an approach that focuses on the narrative’s effects on its readers. To understand Mark is to engage the story and see how our reading opens up an understanding of God. ——— Getting Oriented Crucial to interpretation is knowing where to begin. Bible reading, of course, has no prerequisites. Anyone can pick up a Bible and start reading. It may be argued, in fact, that anxiety about being fully prepared to interpret the Bible can actually inhibit reading and enjoyment. This volume is written with confidence that there is nevertheless much to learn that can enhance our understanding and appreciation of the Bible. An important stage in the development of educated readers is learning how much has been written about the Bible. With an almost limitless amount of information available on the text of the New Testament, the history of its translation and interpretation, the historical and cultural context out of which it emerged, and the ways it is currently read by experts of all sorts, a student needs to recognize what is important to know. It is impossible to read everything, even for those who study full time. Further, gathering information does not necessarily result in enlightenment. Information may contribute little to making sense of the 122 Shaping the Scriptural Imagination Gospel, or it may result in making sense of something uninteresting and unimportant. As important as knowing where to begin is knowing how to begin. It has been customary within academic circles to begin engagement with the Gospels in silent, solitary reading. In classes where students can work in original languages, the initial assignment may be to translate the first chapter. This will take a good bit of time for most students and will offer an experience of a particular sort. The exercise will offer a glimpse of only a small portion of the Gospel and is thus more likely to focus on details. Those who know the language at all will immediately recognize Mark’s limited vocabulary and rather elementary constructions. They may notice the repetition of simple connecting links (“and immediately”) and the episodic character of the narrative. They may be taken by the strangeness of a story told in a language other than their own, captivated perhaps by individual details (“Why this word?”). And they are easily impressed by scholarly arguments that point up the aesthetic shortcomings of the Gospel. Another initial assignment is to work with a synopsis of the Gospels— an arrangement of Matthew, Mark, and Luke in parallel columns—and to read the opening sections of Mark in comparison to the sections in Matthew or Luke. Such reading calls attention to the very different ways of beginning a story, as well as differences in detail and vocabulary. Some commentaries proceed this way, noting regularly that “while Mark says this, Matthew or Luke say something different.” The approach makes clear how differently the same story can be told and how dramatically the differences shape the reader’s expectations and experience of the narrative. More recently I have sent students off from their first class to read Mark from beginning to end in translation (in their own language; the presence of students who do not speak English and whose Bible is in another tongue makes for interesting comparisons from the outset). Their observations and questions are different. They are less likely to be taken by particular words than by scenes or themes or the whole story. Often someone will ask why Jesus silences people he heals; someone else, a more careful reader, will ask also about the exception, where a former demoniac is instructed to go and tell. A retired schoolteacher commented, “I was impressed with the number of imperatives. Jesus is always commanding someone or something.” Some will note parallels or duplicate forms of a story, like the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand. They are less likely to be impressed by arguments that point out the aesthetic shortcomings of the narrative. Interpreting Mark’s Gospel 123 When students begin by watching a “performance” of the Gospel by one of several accomplished readers, sometimes live but usually videotaped , they react very differently. Few, if any, are...