Mon - 14.1-11; Tues - 14.12-26; Wed - 14.27-52; Thurs - 14.53-72; Fri - 15.1-41; Sat - 15.42-47; Sun - 16
Throughout this series on the Gospel of Mark, I have tried to articulate the beauty and depth in which Mark writes the Gospel story in order to encourage Roman Christians, persecuted under Nero. It was common in the ancient world for writers of biographies to adapt the story to make larger Truth claims about the person being written about. This isn’t to say the stories are fabricated but that when there are differing details between Gospel accounts, we should look for what point the authors are trying to make rather than finding ways to harmonize the differences. One major example is that John has Jesus clearing the Temple at the beginning of his ministry rather than right before the crucifixion so that the reader sees everything he does through the proclamation that his body is now the temple that will be raised in three days. A smaller difference in the Gospel accounts is the wine that Jesus is offered. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh (15:23) before going to the cross and then offered wine vinegar while on the cross (15:36). The other Gospel accounts only have Jesus being offered wine vinegar while on the cross. Matthew’s account does have Jesus being offered wine before his crucifixion but it is mixed with gall rather than myrrh (27:34). These may seem like little details but there are major differences. Wine mixed with vinegar was a cheap wine, called Posca, mostly consumed by soldiers and the lower class. Wine mixed with myrrh was an expensive wine consumed by elites, especially rulers. Keep this in mind for when we get to chapter 15.
The final third of Mark’s Gospel, starting in chapter 11, all takes place in the last week of Jesus’s life. Jesus arrived in Jerusalem as King and prepared the Temple for his coronation. Now, it is time to prepare Jesus to be glorified and take his throne. When looking at all that will happen to him, it is hard to imagine this as a coronation and glorification. But that’s the point. Jesus’s Kingdom is upside-down in comparison to the world. Or, you might say, Jesus’s Kingdom is right side up in an upside-down world. Mark sets the stage for Jesus’s coronation with the context of the Passover where the Jews celebrate their liberation from slavery in Egypt and look forward to their coming liberation when God returns to them as King. He is anointed by a woman, who seems to be the only person in the room who has paid attention to Jesus speaking plainly about what it looks like for him to take the throne. She is the exemplar of true discipleship and praised by Jesus while rebuked by others.
Jesus then offers his body and blood as symbols of the covenant and invites them to join him in the Kingdom where this meal will take on new meanings of liberation and freedom. This meal points to the coming of the Kingdom in the resurrection, celebrated at Easter. This is the day we look forward to and celebrate weekly. The resurrection is the Kingdom come now and an anticipation of the Kingdom coming fully. Biblical scholar, N. T. Wright articulates this well, “The resurrection completes the inauguration of God's kingdom. . . . It is the decisive event demonstrating that God's kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven...The message of Easter is that God's new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you're now invited to belong to it.”
There’s always a lot more to say and I am already going longer than I intended so I’m going to skip to something new to me in my studies that I think is pretty cool. A scholar from Oxford named Thomas E. Schmidt did some incredible work detailing the parallels between Jesus’s crucifixion in Mark’s Gospel with the coronation of Nero. We cannot say with 100% certainty that this was Mark’s intent but it fits within the themes I see in Mark’s Gospel where he seems to draw parallels between Jesus and Nero to show who the true Son of God is. Here’s a link to Schmidt’s work if you want to dig deeper.
For our purposes, here is a quick rundown of what took place at Nero’s coronation. I’ve placed the corresponding verses of each so you can follow what Mark might be doing with how he writes the events of Jesus’s crucifixion:
1. The Imperial Guard gathers to hail Caesar as lord and god. (15:16)
2. On Caesar they place: Royal robes, a wreath crown, and a scepter. (15:17-18)
3. He is then lead through a procession (lined with incense alters). (15:20)
4. Following Caesar was the sacrifice (in Nero’s case, a bull), and he carries the instrument of death. (15:21)
5. They arrive at Capitoline Hill (Named “head hill” where a human head was found buried when Rome was founded); Caesar is offered an expensive wine mixed with myrrh, but he refuses it, pouring it out. (15:22-23)
6. The bull is sacrificed, and Caesar demonstrates he has the power of life and death by pronouncing death or life on a host of prisoners. (15:24)
7. The emperor ascends the steps of the temple with the High Priest on his right and his commander on his left. (15:27)
8. The people sing the praises of Caesar, acclaiming him as “lord and god.” (15:29-32)
9. The people then wait for a sign from heaven (According to history, there was an eclipse in Nero’s coronation). (15:33)
Mark’s gospel ends abruptly in 16:8, or at least seemingly. You likely have a footnote saying that verses 9-20 were not in the original texts. These seem to be added later to clean up the ending of Mark’s Gospel. It is possible that Mark intended for his Gospel account to end abruptly. We see Luke do this with the end of the book of Acts and many of the parables end abruptly forcing the hearers to wrestle with how they would respond. I want to invite you into struggle with what Mark might be trying to get you to wrestle with. Jesus has announced the Kingdom come near and that he is going to take his rightful place on the throne. How he will accomplish this seems upside-down to the ways of the world. He allows the dark forces of the world to do their worst to him and in an act of non-violent subversion he is crucified. This is the end unless everything he says about being raised on the third day is true. If he really was raised from the dead like he said he would be, you have to accept him as the one true King and let go of all other national identities you hold. This means persecution will come, but you are part of a greater Kingdom. The tomb is empty. How will you respond?