Another resurrection (and commission) in Mark’s Gospel

John Barah posts a fantastic observation on the resurrection theme which Mark laces throughout his Gospel. John shows that when Jesus rose up early in the morning on the first day of the week and his disciples had to hunt for him, that the event is described in ways that foreshadow the resurrection scene in Matthew 16. Jesus wants his disciples to leave and go out elsewhere.

It is an great point and is certainly backed up by the way Mark writes about other events. I argue, for example (following Austin Farrar, of course!) that Herod’s murder of John the baptizer is done in a way that is heavily reminiscent to what happens to Jesus at the hands of Pilate in Jerusalem. And this is all presented as the background for a “Great Commission” in Mark 6.7-13, following immediately on a story about how Jesus was rejected by his own countrymen (Mark 6.1-6).

The relationship is even more comprehensive because that we are explicitly told that when Herod hears the stories of the powers at work in Jesus’ disciples, he believes it is because murdered John is alive again. So even though Mark contains no explicit story of Pentecost, we see that the idea is quite evident in his Gospel that the Righteous One gets forcefully sentenced, as a favor on a feast day, and is killed and rises again to send out followers in the power of the Spirit….

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *