Finally, the Gospels

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Finally, the Gospels

• Beginning our study of Mark and the Synoptic
  Gospels

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but first, a note on the Non-Canonical Gospels

• Remember that the Gospels weve previously
  readthe Infancy Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of
  Thomas, The Gospel of Peter etc.didnt make it
  for a reason
• Most were written 150 Years Plus after Jesus
• Had inconsistent, contradictory stories/doctrines
• Had appeal to only a select audience
• Most importantly, they did not resonate within
  our Sacred Tradition

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Sacred Tradition

• Sacred Tradition is the deposit of Truth
  (God)through teachings and sacrementshanded
  down throughout history
• Guided by the Holy Spirit, the meaning and
  theology of Jesus is handed down through the
  Gospels
• Remember, there was a Christian Church before
  there was a New Testament, the Church constructed
  the New Testament

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Like a double helix

• Therefore, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition
  articulates our faith in tandem
• Like a double helix, they are two combined
  strands that propel our faith throughout history
  toward our final end in God

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Like a Constitution

• Without Tradition, there would be no New
  Testament
• Without Scripture, Tradition would not have a
  foundation or wellspring
• Think of the US and the Constitution

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Now to the Gospels

• A Gospel is a separate genre of literature
• NOT a history, NOT a biography!!
• Gospel means the good news, and it is comprised
  of several genres
• It has elements of a history
• Tells a historical event that occurred, but is
  not concerned with accuracy
• It has elements of a biography
• Tells the story of Jesus, but is concerned with
  more than just the story of Jesusalso tells the
  story of the Christian Church through the story
  of Jesus, theology through biography

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Now to the Gospels

• Gospel as genre cont.
• It has elements of a Narrative
• It is a story with a beginning and an end, with
  the standard structure and arc
• It has elements of a theological treatise
• It portrays aspects of Jesus life to explain a
  theological point of view of a community, but at
  times does not explicitly state what that point
  is specifically

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Mark, the first Gospel

• Mark was the purportedly the first Gospel written
• No Gospel has been found before Mark, around
  65-70 CE
• Before and after Mark, an oral tradition exists,
  this oral tradition is thought to have been the
  source material for Mark
• Possible that small tractatesor pamphlet type
  writingsexisted for Mark and was a source for
  Matthew and Luke
• Interesting note Paul wrote his Letters before
  Mark wrote his Gospel! Again, look back to
  Tradition/Scripture

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Mark, the first Gospel

• Did Mark write the Gospel? Well, who knows?!?
• All we know is that he was a Greek speaking
  Christian
• For the sake of simplicity, we will call him
  Mark
• Was a source for Matthew and Luke, that is why
  they are called the synoptic Gospels (more on
  this later)
• Mark was of Jewish heritagewe know this
  because of the title Christ, only a Jew would
  grasp the meaning of the title

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A note on Oral Traditions

• The Gospel writers are telling stories that they
  have heard, not witnessed
• Implications
• Note the time between the Gospels and Jesus
• Honesty did not mattermore on that soon
• The reliability of those who did witness Jesus
• The inevitability of changes (remember the game
  telephone?)
• The intention of changes

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Oral Tradition and Mark

• What does this all mean?!? Should we disregard
  the Gospels?
• NOOOOOO!!!! Remember, Gospels are not histories
  or biographies! They are Gospels!
• Mark is advancing a theological point of view
  through the story of Jesus
• The story of Jesus is important, and Mark relates
  to us the SACRED TRADITION of the life of Jesus,
  but from his own theological perspective

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Next When were the Gospels written (Ehrman, pg
41)
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Biographies and Philosophies

• When someone writes a biography, they write if
  from a philosophical perspective
• Obama/Lincoln the study of Lincoln shows us
  this, histories and biographies are showing up
  that emphasize different aspects of Lincoln
• Lincoln as Conciliator in Chief
• Lincoln as Freer of the Slaves
• Lincoln as intellectual Team of Rivals
• Lincoln as flawed individual

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Go back to hermeneutics

• Remember, when people talk/write they have
  prejudices and biases, these show up in their
  speech/writing
• Everyone has an agenda/perspective, which can be
  either good or bad
• The Gospels are written from a particular
  theological perspective
• Mark is telling us what the Christ story means to
  him and, in turn, what this perspective of Christ
  means to our Tradition as a whole
• This is why we have 4 Gospels

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But, Mr. Sands, some of it may not be true!!

• So? The Gospel writers werent concerned with
  accuracy, they were concerned with theology,
  Tradition, and conveying (getting across) why
  Jesus matters
• Think of George Washington and the Cherry Tree
  story, it never happened, but it tells us
  everything we need to know about the nature of
  our first President!

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Theological Perspectives on Christ Christology

• Christology refers to the levels of divinity in
  Christ portrayed through the Gospels
• Basically, how God-like, or human-like, Jesus is
  within each Gospel
• Each Gospel has Jesus performing miracles and
  being divineThe Son of Manbut in varying
  degrees
• The divinity of Jesus is not questioned in any of
  the canonical Gospels but it is portrayed in
  varying levels for different reasons

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Christology

• In Mark, for example, Jesus is portrayed more
  human-like than in John
• Marks Jesus feels more pain, is more conflicted
  in the Garden of Gethsemane (the Agony in the
  Garden), Jesus gives seemingly contradictory
  instructions to his disciples, Jesus story has
  an incomplete resurrection narrative
• Johns Jesus comes with a divine preamble (In
  the beginning there was the Word, and the Word
  was made flesh), Jesus seems to know
  everything thats going to happen, Jesus appears
  to feel less pain/fear about his crucifixion
  (in the Garden, at his trial and on the Cross),
  Jesus has a complete resurrection narrative

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Why does Marks Jesus appear less divine?

• Several prevailing theories
• Temporal distance and Tradition Mark was written
  first, John last
• Within this time frame the theology of Jesus
  divinity developed. Mark believed that Jesus was
  divine, but Jesus divinity was not as emphasized
  or developed as a doctrine
• The Secrecy Motif
• Will be discussed later, but Jesus divinity kept
  a secret which is revealed throughout the story
  in Mark, this emphasizes several theological
  themes one being trusting in God and Jesus in a
  chaotic and sometimes ambiguous world
• Different Traditions within communities
• Jesus was portrayed differently because the
  people writing about him lived in different
  communities and had different perspectives, a lot
  like news from the BBC and NBC, or MSNBC and Fox
  News

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A note on the structure of Mark

• Mark is written in the style of a narrative
• There is a narrator who remains the consistent
  voice to the reader throughout the story
• When this was written, it would often be
  presented in a drama type format with one
  narrator reading the story and others reading the
  other characters, it would be read from beginning
  to end as a whole
• The Narrator (as she will be called for now on)
  is not a character within the story, she is NOT
  the author either, she stands between the story
  and the reader
• The Narrator is omniscient to all events within
  the Gospel, she will also be considered a trusted
  source but with an agenda/perspective

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The structure of Mark chiastic structures

• Mark writes in a concentric pattern called
  chiastic structures
• The story has a special architecture that
  highlights certain theological points
• A Chiastic structure looks like this
• A-Bianca enters a room
• B-Bianca sneezes
• C-Bianca says Mr. Sands, your
  room is dusty
• B-Bianca sneezes again
• A-Bianca leaves the room

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Chiastic Structures

• This structure is used to highlight one point or
  event within the story
• Could be a climax, often is the major point of
  the whole story
• Think about how we use writing formats today
• The Thesis paper
• MLA and other formats
• Plot arcs

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Chiastic structures

• The coolest part about this structure is that we
  discovered it when we found the copy books of
  young Greek students
• Imagine someone finding your copybooks and using
  them to decipher Presidential speeches or the
  Constitution!

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The Chiastic Structure in Mark

• A Beginning - John points to Jesus 14-8
• B Jesus' baptism - The splitting of the heavens,
  You are my son, 19-11
• C Jesus is tested in the wilderness 112-13
• D The parable of the sower 41-9
• E Raising of the young girl 521-43
• F The death of John the Baptist
  614-29
• G Stilling of the second storm (exorcism of
  the deep) 645-52
• H Peter's confession 827-30
• Mark has no resurrection story? I - Jesus
  first passion prediction 831-33
• H Transfiguration 92-10
• G Exorcism of possessed boy 914-29
• F Appearance of the rich (young)
  man 1017-22
• E Raising of the young man in Secret Mark
  (followed Mark 1034)
• D Parable of the vineyard 121-11
• C Jesus is tested in the temple 1213-27
• B Jesus dies, the temple veil is split Truly
  this was Gods son.1533-39
• A The "post-runner" the young man, points to
  Jesus 161-8

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Other Chiastics, beyond the overall architecture

• Example Conflicts with the Pharisees
• A- The healing of the paralytic
• B- Eating with toll and tax collectors
• C-Fasting
• B- Eating by picking grain on the Sabbath
• A- Healing of the Man w/ the withered Hand
• As have similar structure, content and theme
  both indoors (secretive), involve healing,
  similar/same characters both healings are
  delayed while Jesus is accused with serious legal
  penalties Jesus responds w/ rhetorical questions
• Bs are concerned w/ eating, uncleanness/The Law,
  both have actions w/ Pharisees objecting,
  similar/same characters, Jesus answers w/ a
  proverb
• C has Jesus talking about fasting, focuses on
  Jesus response instead of accusations the
  questioners are not hostile Jesus responds w/
  the Bridegroom parable, noting the specialness of
  Jesus

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Chiastic theme of the Way in Mark

• A The Wilderness (11-15)
• B Galilee (116--821)
• C The Way (822--1111)
• B' Jerusalem (1112--1452)
• A' The Tomb (1453--1620)
• Some Broad Observations on the Chiastic Structure
• The Wilderness and the Tomb are linked by
  continuity
• Galilee and Jerusalem are linked by contrast
• The Way is the center part and key to the entire
  Gospel
• Source Stock, Augustine "The Structure of Mark
  A Five-fold Concentric Framework," The Bible
  Today (September 1985) 291-296.

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Other literary devices

• The Sequence Threes
• Repeated often either through action (X does
  something three times) or dialogue (something is
  said three times) or events (This event happens 3
  times in a row)
• Examples
• The Narrator recounts the passion events
  happening in 3 hour intervals (9am-12pm-3pm)
• Pilate asks the crowd three leading questions
  about Jesus
• Peter renounces Jesus three times
• Women appear at Jesus grave three times
  successively

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Other literary devices

• The Secrecy Motif
• Jesus often tells his disciples not to tell
  anyone what just happened
• Jesus performs several miracles indoors
• Jesus true identity is revealed gradually, as
  people discover who he is
• Sometimes Jesus appears to not even know what he
  is doing or will do
• Stories are deliberately ambiguous, the
  characters are often confused, sometimes the Mark
  intentionally confuses the reader
• Questions
• Jesus and his disciples routinely use questions
  through dialogue to bring about events or ideas
• Works in tandem with the secrecy motif to reveal
  Jesus identity/meaning, or, Truth

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Why the secrecy?

• Mark wants to show that life is ambiguous and
  that the mysteries of God are hard to understand
• The meaning of life is hidden, because the rule
  of God is hidden except to those with ears to
  hear and eyes to see. It is not obvious to the
  world that those who follow Jesus are on Gods
  side. For the narrator, life is paradoxical,
  ambiguous, ironic, open, uncertainRhodes,
  Dewey, Michie, Mark as a Story
• Mark however, shows us that there is a pattern
  behind this uncertainty through literary
  structures
• There are chiasticsconcentric circlespatterns
  of threes, repetitions, etc.

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Why the secrecy?

• The story shows how through the uncertainty,
  prophecy is revealed and fulfilled, that there is
  a structure which we cannot see but makes sense
  when it is revealed to us (revealing and
  revelation play a large part)
• Like a puzzle, one can only put the pieces
  together through the eyes of faith (Rhodes, et
  al)
• Through the secrecy and uncertainty, the Narrator
  tries to recreate the otherworldly experience of
  being a disciple of Christ being led but not
  knowing where, being told but not understanding,
  experiencing but not seeing, andfinallyaccepting
  and trusting the things that we can and cannot
  comprehend through Jesus