The Gospel of Mark: A Hard Saying [1]

PALM/PASSION SUNDAY AND THE GOSPELS OF THE PASSION
 
On March 23-24 the Church will celebrate the Saturday/Sunday observance of “Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion,” as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ cite refers to this multiple observance. The custom of cutting and carrying palms dates back as early as the third century, based upon Christ’s solemn entry shortly before his death. But the focus of the weekend’s observance is the proclamation of the Lord’s Passion. Since 1970—with the reformed rite of the Mass and Lectionary—the Church alternates the Passion narratives on a three-year cycle; this year, Year B in the rotation, features the Passion according to Mark.
 
Prior to 1970, the Palm Sunday Gospel was always the Passion of St. Matthew. As the Paulist Biblical Commentary ​ observes, “From the earliest times it has been the preferred Gospel of the Christian Church, the most quoted by the fathers, the document that comes closest to providing the Church with a “constitution” for its life, structure, and mission.” [p. 900] But later modern scholarship discovered that [A] St. Matthew’s Gospel was not the first Gospel written; that honor goes to St. Mark. [B]. St. Matthew draws 80 percent of his material from St. Mark. [C] All four evangelists provide distinct and insightful “constitutions” for the life, structure, and mission of the Church, and thus each of the four must be solemnly proclaimed for the faithful in the Church’s worship. Consequently, we now have the three-year Palm Sunday rotation of Matthew, Mark, and Luke in successive years. [Again, 2024 is a year of St. Mark.] The Passion according to St. John is always proclaimed at the Liturgy of Good Friday.
 
FOUR TAKES
 
Naturally, all four evangelists are in unison with the Holy Spirit on the central truths of the Incarnation, Message, and Redemption manifested in Jesus of Nazareth. But each of the four evangelists was an independent theologian, stylist, and preacher—much like our later doctors of the Church—and creates  narratives which emphasize, as much as any four humans can do, a narrative of Jesus of Nazareth that open doors for us to marvel at new visions of divine mystery, much like turning a precious jewel to the light.
 
The art of Bible study includes the ability to analyze the differences between the four Gospels and to isolate the key ideas and themes. In some cases, this is obvious: St. Luke sees the Holy Spirit as Christ’s life in the Church till the end of time. St. Matthew sees Jesus as the ‘new Moses” come to fulfill Jewish messianic expectations. St. John, the last of the writers, is more mystical in addressing the Church about 100 A.D. of the reality of the humanity and divinity of Jesus. It does not seem to me that in catechetics or in preaching we study the Gospels helpfully, as individual works of literature. Instead, we toss the four Gospels in a blender and end up with a generic narrative that obscures much of the mystery of Jesus on earth. It is very noticeable at Christmas, where only St. Luke portrays the Bethlehem infancy, and two evangelists have no Christmas stories at all! It is also true with the Passion and Resurrection narratives.
 
WHO IS ST. MARK?
 
Strangely, the oldest copies of this Gospel circulating around church communities had no name attached to them. The earliest theological doctors of the Church, notably St. Irenaeus, record around 200 A.D. that this Gospel was written by a disciple of Peter whose name was Mark. In one of his own New Testament letters, St. Peter speaks of one Mark as a companion, a son, and dear disciple. [1 Peter 5:13] and a John Mark is mentioned in St. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. There is historical confidence that Mark was a bona fide Christian who lived at Rome. Did his material come from Peter? It is possible that Peter and other Christians shared their memories, but not in a literal sense, as Mark’s arrangement of his Gospel is clearly his own as he develops a theological understanding of Jesus.
 
When I was growing up, Mark was still something of the ugly duckling Gospel. It was the shortest, at [barely] sixteen chapters. [Matthew has 27, Luke 24, John 21]. Liturgically, before the 1970 reforms, his Passion narrative was read on the Tuesday of Holy Week when few people attended Mass. People used to say that Mark’s Gospel was basically a Passion narrative with a long introduction. But in the twentieth century scholars came to agreement that Mark was the first to attempt a form of faith biography that was entirely new to Christianity. He “invented” the Gospel format. His Gospel was shortest because it was the first!
 
HOW IS MARK’S GOSPEL DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS?
 
It is generally believed that Mark’s is the only Gospel written before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Both Rome and Jerusalem were going through hard times: Nero [37-68 A.D.] persecuted Christians mercilessly in Rome and is believed to have executed St. Peter. Jerusalem, meanwhile, had revolted against Rome in a four-year siege [66-70 A.D.] and ultimately destroyed by the Roman general Titus. The later Gospels, in describing the end of the world, borrow heavily from details of the last days of Jerusalem; Mark does not. The Paulist Commentary [p. 972] states that Mark may have been written in Rome for a Christian community deeply committed to St. Peter’s preaching and leadership—who were living in terror under Nero’s reign and missing their executed leader, Peter. [The Book of Revelation, written some years later, seems written for persecuted community as well.]
 
All the same, Mark’s Gospel is not just a rally to one community. The tenor of this Gospel is universal, intended for all who had been attracted to the words and deeds of Jesus. In a sense Mark teaches that there will always be a Nero and the Church. In fact, if this were the only Gospel to survive, the Church would identify itself as a community of intense believers who took Jesus’ invitation to literally take up the cross and follow him to death. Writing two decades later, St. Luke rephrased Jesus’ words to “take up your cross daily,” to soften the stark austerity. [Luke 9:23; Matthew also]  
 
Mark’s chief interest in writing this Gospel is to contrast the pains and terrors of the present time with the unspeakable glory that is to come. In St. Mark’s day, there were still many Christians who believed that the Second Coming was around the corner [as in St. Paul’s 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18, written in the 50’s A.D.] St. Luke was the first evangelist to fully understand that the Church may have a long future.
 
Something for us to contemplate on this year’s Palm Sunday is Mark’s effort to describe our challenges to be faithful disciples. The PC describes this Gospel as “a story about the disciples, who struggle to understand who Jesus is,” [p. 975] a story of growth, recognition, failure, and rebirth. In his excellent commentary The Gospel of Mark, Francis J. Moloney caries out the theme that as Christ’s death came to its final moment, everyone—crowds, intimates, disciples, The Twelve—had peeled away. I explain this further in my review of Moloney's work from 2008 linked here. This is the only Gospel without a formal recognition—and the last followers, the women who anointed him on Good Friday, flee from the empty tomb and even from the divine command to meet Jesus in Galilee. [The original text of Mark’s Gospel ends at 16:8. Two [possibly three] endings were added later and are considered inspired, but not from Mark’s hand.]
 
The next time we meet, we will walk through the Passion as it will be read on Palm Sunday this year. In the meantime, separate yourself from the other Gospels and imagine that all we know about Jesus, particularly his passion, comes from the pen of the inspired St. Mark.
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