Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
32
As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross.
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And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull),
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they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.
35
And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots;
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36
then they sat down there and kept watch over him.
37
Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
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Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
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Those who passed by derided
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him, shaking their heads
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and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
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In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying,
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“He saved others; he cannot save himself.
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He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.
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He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’”
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The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way.
45
From noon on, darkness came over the whole land
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until three in the afternoon.
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And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
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When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.”
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At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink.
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But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”
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50
Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.
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51
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.
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The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
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After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.
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Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”
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55
Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him.
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Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
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When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus.
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He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
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So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth
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and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away.
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Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
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The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate
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and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’
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Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.”
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Pilate said to them, “You have a guard
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of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.”
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So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
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After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
2
And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
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His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
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For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.
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But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.
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He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he
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lay.
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Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead,
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and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.”
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So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
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Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
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Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
11
While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened.
12
After the priests
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had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers,
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telling them, “You must say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’
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If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
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So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.
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Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
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When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
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And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
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Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
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and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
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THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK
This Gospel was titled “According to Mark” in the earliest manuscripts, but the names of the Gospels were likely added later to establish their authority. Still, it is possible that the author is the same as the John Mark of Acts 12.12; 15.37, and the Mark mentioned in Col 4.10; 2 Tim 4.11; Philem 24; and 1 Pet 5.13. Papias, a Christian bishop in Asia Minor in the early second century (Eusebius,
Hist. eccl
. 3.39.15–16), believed that Mark had accompanied Peter to Rome and recorded what Peter had said, but he considered Mark less dependable as a Gospel author than Matthew, since Matthew was presumed (based on Mt 9.9) to be one of Jesus’ original followers. This traditional view of the relative authority of the first two Gospels continued throughout Christian history until the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when the lack of literary artifice of the Gospel came to be viewed as a virtue: scholars theorized that Mark was the earliest of the Gospels and therefore preserved more faithfully the words and deeds of Jesus. This view of Mark as prior to Matthew, however, also made it easier to downplay the Jewish practices of Jesus, which are more prominently discussed in Matthew.
AUTHORSHIP AND DATE
Jesus was crucified in about 30 CE, but the Gospel of Mark was likely written between 64 and 72 CE, during the events of the horrific Jewish War, when Jerusalem and the entire region were re-pacified by the Romans, and the Jewish Temple was destroyed. The reference to the Temple’s destruction in 13.2 and to wars in 13.7, as well as the depiction of refugees in 13.14–17, could apply to the events of that period, although the descriptions are vague and so not necessarily derived from the uprising and the Roman response.
Mark probably utilized a number of sources for the Gospel: a passion tradition (that is, the account of the days leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus), stories of healing and conflict, parables, and other teachings. The shortest of the Gospels, Mark was likely one of the sources for Matthew and Luke; the Gospel of John may reflect an indirect knowledge of Mark, but it is also possibly independent. Mark reflects a rich use of scripture (the Bible was that used by Jews, in Greek translation, and given the traditional abbreviation LXX [Septuagint] in the annotations that follow), but a few texts—Daniel, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, Zechariah, and some of the Psalms—are quoted often and may have been known from collections of favorite passages (“testimonia”) or from oral tradition. These texts were also among the most popular with various Jewish groups of the time, as shown for instance by their presence (sometimes in multiple copies) among the Dead Sea Scrolls and in later rabbinic citations.
As to the location of its writing, cogent arguments have been made for Rome, where early tradition (see Papias, above) placed Mark as the assistant to Peter, but also for southern Galilee, northern Galilee, or Antioch in southern Syria (see map, p.
60
). It is also possible that Mark spent much of his life in Jerusalem, even if he did not write from there. Of these possibilities, a composition in the region of Antioch in Syria is perhaps the most likely.
STYLE AND CONTENT
While Mark quotes Jewish Scriptures often and generally places Jesus’ and John the Baptist’s preaching within the range of Jewish religious concepts (on possible exceptions see annotations), like some groups within Judaism, Mark expresses ambivalence or even antagonism to Jewish religion centered upon the Temple in Jerusalem (see annotations to 11.12–25). Mark follows in a Jewish tradition, heightened in apocalyptic texts, in which election and forgiveness pass from “this generation” to the new community (9.19n.). Mark also follows in the tradition of Amos, Isaiah 1, Micah 6, and some other prophets in presenting a stronger critique of economic inequality than do the other Gospels.
Although Mark presents an earthly Jesus and not the heavenly mediator emphasized in Paul’s letters, Mark and Paul share several important themes: the centrality of faith, the emphasis on Jesus’ death rather than his resurrection, reservations about Peter’s importance and role, and an emphasis on the present community’s needs over apocalyptic hopes. They both contain passages that assert that all foods are clean (Mk 7.19; Rom 14.20). Yet the “Gentile focus” of Mark is not as certain as it was once held to be. In this Gospel Jesus goes to Gentile areas (i.e., the region of Tyre) where he engages individual Gentiles such as the Syrophoenician woman (7.24–30), “cleanses” all foods, and says that the good news must be announced to all nations. However all of these things, even the apocalyptic cleansing of formerly impure items, are found in Jewish tradition, and some have roots in Jewish Scriptures (cleansing of a man with leprosy, 2 Kings 5.1–14; cleansing of formerly impure items, Zech 14.20–21). Further, the evidence that is often adduced that Mark was a Gentile or advocated a mission without the law is ambiguous. Mark’s apparent inaccuracy on Jewish practices and his statement that Jesus “cleansed all foods” (7.3–4,19) does not appear in the parallel story in Matthew, and v. 19 does not relate precisely to the question being debated. The passages may have been inserted into the text after Mark’s writing (see “Impurity and Healing,” p.
63
). In addition, Mark’s counting of days from sunrise instead of sundown (14.1,12) is unusual, but not unknown in ancient Judaism (see annotation at 14.1–2). Just as it is not clear where Mark was written, it is also not clear whether Mark was Jewish or Gentile, whether the first audience of the Gospel was predominantly Jewish or Gentile, or whether Mark advocated the abrogation of the laws of Torah to facilitate a mission to the Gentiles without the law as Paul had done. What we do know is that at some point the Gospel became associated with Rome and with Pauline views of a Gentile mission and the abrogation of Jewish law.