Mark: The Mysterious Messiah

Sources: Graham Stanton, The Gospels and Jesus (Oxford, 1989); David Wenham and Steve Walton, Exploring the New Testament: A Guide to the Gospels and Acts (IVP, 2001); Paul J. Achtemeier et al., Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology (Eerdmans, 2001); Luke Timothy Johnson, The New Testament Writings: An Interpretation, rev. ed. (Fortress, 1999).

I. Out from the Other Gospels' Shadows
The early Church tended to ignore Mark since most of it was also in Matthew.
Historical critics preferred Mark as earlier and presumably historically superior.

Mark was thought an unimaginative arranger of oral traditions of Jesus, "the vanilla gospel."

Since William Wrede's 1901 Messianic Secret (since abandoned), narrative critics have since identified striking features in Mark's storytelling.
Mark's message comes through his narrative:

The powerful teacher is the rejected Messiah.
The cross is definitive of the Kingdom, Sonship, discipleship, opposition, and ransom.

II. Stages and Highlights of Mark's Story
Act One: The Secret Kingdom
First, read the Gospel of Mark!
A 'three act' model of Mark's structure is common.
Prologue: The gospel of the Son begins prophetically (1:1-13).

Chapter 1's overloaded beginning, like Kansas' "Carry On Wayward Son," can't wait to preview themes.

"Act I": The Kingdom of God approaches and Jesus goes viral, with only partial success (1:14-8:25).

1:13, 23: First spiritual opposition from Satan, the demons repeatedly, then 2:6 first human opposition, from scribes.
2:18-22 || Mt || Lk, new wine in old wineskins.
Intercalations (literary 'sandwiches') demonstrate the collision between past and future.
3:13: He hand-picks twelve, and they come.
3:26-27: Two possible interpretations of the same revolution.
4:1-33: The parable of the sower explains what's happening and why.
6: The twelve preach repentance and reap a harvest; Herod persecutor of John hears (6:14); Jesus says to beware (8:15).
6 and 7: Jesus, like Moses, feeds multitudes (in 100s and 50s, cf. Ex 18:25-26) with a little. (He does it again in Gentile territory, 8:1-10, ironically even while Pharisees seek a sign from heaven.
7:1-23 vs. 7:24-37: Feedings show Pharisees stuck on their own regulations; Jesus warns of their defiling hearts (8:15), while two Gentile outsiders win favor. The disciples are hardened (6:51, 8:17) and bewildered (8:21).
8:22-26: A summary and preview: The double half-healing of the blind man of Bethsaida.

Act Two: The Secret Shared
A shift in strategy: The twelve aren't just earlier beneficiaries/witnesses, but agents of ministry.

The way to the cross is revealed. The disciples confess him and the Son corrects them (8:26-10:52).
8:27-30: Peter's confession and Jesus' disclosure.
8:31-9:1, 9:30-32, 10:32-34: Crucifixion and resurrection thrice foretold, plainly.
9: Transfiguration: the disciples see the elect Lord Jesus.
9-10: increasing focus on discipleship, self-denial, and cross-bearing.
10:35-52: "What do you want me to do?" Two contrasting stories show the wrong way and the one way forward.

Act Three: The Kingdom Come
Confrontations at Jerusalem. Jesus gets dragged and canceled. Opposition mounts and the Son suffers (11:1-15:47).

11:11-25: The Temple and the fig tree.
12:1-12: The parable of the wicked tenants summarizes and interprets Mark's second half.
Ps 118:22-26 in Mark 11-12. Ps 113-118, "the [Egyptian] Hallel," are read at Passover as well as other Jewish seasons; perhaps as early as this era. The line sets up the builders’ rejection of the cornerstone.
11:27-12:37: A Bruce Lee-style succession of entrapment attempts by every major Jewish power in Jerusalem. Instead, the widow is exalted and crowds (for now) delighted.
13:1-36: The apocalyptic discourse. Following temple-clearing and ch 12, Mark's only big monologue foretells the old system's destruction.
13:27, 35; 14:17ff: As the passion narrative begins, Mark starts listing hours through chapter 16.
11, 14: Three more intercalations: fig tree/temple/fig tree, plot/anoint/plot, and warming Peter/witnessing Jesus/warming Peter.
The anointing at Bethany (anonymous woman, not John's Mary) is like the widow's offering. This compares Jesus and temple.
"The poor you have always with you" (cf. Deut 15:11). With Judas' betrayal, his opponents pierce his circle.
But 14:17-21 demonstrates Jesus’ foreknowledge and provision for it: "the Son of Man goes as it is written of him." Written where? Antecedent in Ps 118? (Ps 115-118 are read after the Passover meal.)
14:22-25: Lord's Supper as enacted parable of the kingdom. Zech 13: Jesus is the shepherd-king.
14:27-28 anticipate the passion and aftermath, after Zech 13. "Little ones" anticipating the crowds' turn against Jesus?
14:51's mysterious young man, cf. 16:5.
14:62: "I am," and Dan 7's Son of Man. Illuminating other Son of Man references.
15:1-39 Pilate's crucifixion of the "King of the Jews." All Mark's references, ironic, are in 15.
#346-349: On the cross, note the absence of the good thief, Mary and the beloved disciple, Jesus' eloquence. Mark's is stark, mysterious, ironic.
15:34: Ps 22 misheard. 15:38 recalls "torn" in 1:10.
A new tearing births a new testimony of God's Son, from a Gentile; cf. 1:1's thesis.

The final outcome: God restores Jesus and ransoms his disciples.

15:40-16:8: Burial and resurrection. The abrupt ending is well covered by others.
Who is the young man (14:51, 16:5 (neaniskos); 10:17?
Women witnesses (irony: who say nothing, whereas the young man does; cf. Matt/Luke/John where the women testify).
We shall see the risen Jesus (16:1-8). Go back to Galilee to see him; repeat the Gospel?

P.S.: Longer endings. Themes from the other gospels and especially Acts.

III. Now What?
Mark's Gospel strategy of showing not saying begs questions:

Why is it to hard to perceive Jesus? ('noetic effects of sin')
How do the cross and resurrection function as means of 'ransom' and 'covenent'? (atonement)
Why were Jesus' family, neighbors, and even disciples so incompetent? (sin, depravity)
Who exactly is Jesus as King, Messiah, Son of God, and Son of Man? (christology)
Intercalations: What is old and what is new? What's being set aside, renewed, and birthed? (eschatology)
What exactly are the status of his opponents: Satan, demons, religious, and political authorities? ('world,' culture, mission)
What are the Kingdom's ethics of service to all? They're obvious but undeveloped here (ethics).

An accessible treatment is Tim Keller's Jesus the King.