I have been reflecting
on Mark this afternoon with the help of Rowan Williams’ “Meeting God in Mark”, a
great, and enjoyable, introduction to Mark’s Gospel.
Williams point out that
Mark’s concern is not to give a carefully constructed diary, but rather to
introduce the reader to a person – “He
doesn’t give you anything much like a connected story …. here is the anointed Jesus doing this, doing
that …. and as you work through this collection of apparently disconnected
anecdotes, you begin to see what sort of person he is.” Mark’s concern is
to help us to meet Jesus.
Williams goes on to
emphasise the message as the important element. Jesus does perform some
miracles, and Mark reports these, but they are always there to make things
right for someone, and never as a demonstration of power on the part of Jesus. “It’s being taken for granted that Jesus is
indeed a healer and an exorcist and that the miracles he performs are real. But
what Jesus himself refuses to do is to base his authority on ‘signs and wonders’.”
The task of Mark is to
point people towards Jesus and, in so doing, to recognise the depths of God’s
love.
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