Distinctiveness of Mark's Gospel and Mark's Portrait of Jesus

Significant characteristic of Mark’s Gospel

Mark’s Gospel is written with the lowest kind of linguistic quality compared to the other Gospels. He assumes that his audience knows the meaning of Latin words such as centurion, denarius, and praetorium. While he exhibits poor grammar and low linguistic quality, Mark is a gifted story teller. As good story teller, Mark uses effective rhetorical devices such as threefold patterns and intercalation (sandwich style story telling). As a story teller he appreciates mystery and ambiguity. One example is that in 8:14-21 when Jesus calls the disciples’ to be attentive to the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod, he does not explain what he means when he notices the disciples’ lack of comprehension. The Gospel exhibits an unusual urgency marked by repeated use of “and,” by presenting the story in the context of one year, and not telling us of the change of days. Lastly, Mark is very concerned with the suffering and death of Jesus. Although Mark’s Gospel is about half as long as Luke’s and Matthew’s, his account of the passion and death is about the same length. Thus, Mark spends a greater percentage on the cross.

Mark’s Portrait of Jesus

Mark’s portrait of Jesus is very human. He exhibits a wide range of emotions: pity (1:41), anger (3:5), sadness (3:5), wonder (6:6), compassion (6:34), indignation (10:14), and anguish (14:34).

Mark presents Jesus as involved in secrecy: his parables seem to function as a sort of code language for insiders, he tells people not to make known miracles and healings, and silences demons who announced that he is the Son of God. There are several theories trying to explain this secrecy. Most scholars today understand the secrecy theme in the context of Mark’s centrality of the cross in his Gospel. Jesus did not want anything he did or said understood apart from the context of the cross.

Carlos J. Medina, OSA