Jesus Interrupted, by Bart D. Ehrman, NYC 2010
... Since the nineteenth century, scholars have recognized that Mark was the first Gospel to be written, around 65-70 CE. Both Matthew and Luke, writing fifteen or twenty years later, used Mark as one of their sources for much of their own accounts. That is why almost all of Mark's stories can be found in Matthew or Luke, and it is also why they tell the stories. Sometimes just two agree and the third doesn't, because occasionally only one of the later Gospels changed Mark. This means that if we have the same story in Mark and Luke, say, and there are differences, these differences exist precisely because Luke has actually modified the words of his source, sometimes deleting words and phrases, sometimes adding material, even entire episodes, and sometimes altering the way a sentence is worded. It is probably safe to assume that if Luke modified what Mark had to say, it was because he wanted to say it differently. Sometimes these differences are just minor changes in wording, but sometimes they affect in highly significant ways the way the entire story is told. This appears to be true for the portrayal of Jesus going to his death.
Jesus' Death in Mark
In Mark's version of the story (Mark 15:16-39), Jesus is condemned to death by Pontius Pilate, mocked and beaten by the Roman soldiers, and taken off to be crucified. Simon of Cyrene carries his cross, Jesus says nothing the entire time. The soldiers crucify Jesus, and he still says nothing. Both of the robbers being crucified with him mock him. Those passing by mock him. The Jewish leaders mock him. Those passing by mock him. Jesus is silent until the very end, when he utters the wretched cry, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani," which Mark translates from the Aramaic for his readers as, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Someone gives Jesus a sponge with sour wine to drink. He breathes his last and dies. Immediately two things happen: the curtain in the Temple is ripped in half, and the centurion looking on acknowledges, "Truly this man was the Son of God."
This is a powerful and moving scene, filled with emotion and pathos. Jesus is silent the entire time, as if in shock, until his cry at the end, echoing Psalm 22. I take his question to God to be a genuine one. He genuinely wants to know why God has left him like this. A very popular interpretation of the passage is that since Jesus quotes Psalm 22:1, he is actually thinking of the ending of the Psalm, where God intervenes and vindicates the suffering psalmist. I think this is reading way too much into the passage and robs the "cry of dereliction," as it is called, of all its power. The point is that Jesus has been rejected by everyone: betrayed by one of his own, denied three times by his closest follower, abandoned by all his disciples, rejected by the priests, the passersby, and even by the two others being crucified with him. At the end he even feels forsaken by God himself. Jesus is absolutely in the depths of despair and heart-wrenching anguish, and that's how he dies. Mark is trying to say something by this portrayal. He doesn't want his readers to take solace in the fact that God was really there providing Jesus with physical comfort. He dies in agony, unsure of the reason he must die.
But the reader knows the reason. Right after jesus dies the curtain rips in half and the centurion makes his confession. The curtain ripping in half shows that with the death of Jesus, God is made available to his people directly and not through the Jewish priests' sacrifices in the Temple. Jesus' death has brought an atonement (see Mark 10:45). And someone realizes it right off the bat: not Jesus' closest followers or the Jewish onlookers but the pagan soldier who has just crucified him. Jesus' death brings salvation, and it is gentiles who are going to recognize it. This is not a disinterested account of what "really" happened wen Jesus died. It is theology put in the form of a narrative.
theology put in the form of a narrative
Historical scholars have long thought that Mark is not only explaining the significance of Jesus' death in this account but also quite possibly writing with a particular audience in mind, an audience of later followers of Jesus who also have experienced persecution and suffering at the hands of authorities who are opposed to God.authorities who are opposed to God
Like Jesus his followers may not know why they are experiencing such pain and misery. But Mark tells these Christians they can rest assured: even though they may not see why they are suffering, God knows, and God is working behind the scenes to make suffering redemptive.God is working behind the scenes
to make suffering redemptive
God's purposes are worked precisely through suffering, not by avoiding it, even when those purposes are not obvious at the moment.to make suffering redemptive
God's purposes are worked precisely
through suffering, not by avoiding it.
Mark's version of the death of Jesus thus provides a model for understanding the persecution of the Christians.through suffering, not by avoiding it.
provides a model for understanding
My King James' printed Jesus' sayings in red. Knatz.com highlighted special pk quotes in blue. Other sacred quotes, Gregory Bateson quotes, Illich; Prigogine, I left in the default setting: plain black on white. But now, at least for this post, I think I'll highlight Ehrman quotes in purple: the color of royalty.
I transcribed the above passage manually, proofed it the best I could, posted it, and then I emailed the author to ask permission to quote his current book at length!
Backwards perhaps, but then that's me.
Ehrman responded within hours: he doesn't own the rights. Ah! So let his publisher come after me. I take it that I have the author's permission: and that matters to me one hundred times more than any technical legal "owner"!
Meantime my son offered me the e-text, so I wouldn't have to copy. Anything I add can but copied and pasted. But actually I may pause there (here) anyway. What I repeat above in purple was the point of my getting started.
authorities who are opposed to God
God's purposes are worked precisely
through suffering.
Let it suffice: for now.
through suffering.
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