Gospel of Mark Chapter 10

Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark

Chapter 10

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Mark 10:1-12

1:And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again; and again, as his custom was, he taught them. 2: And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3: He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" 4: They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away." 5: But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6: But from the beginning of creation, `God made them

male and female.' 7: `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8: and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9: What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." 10: And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11: And he said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; 12: and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

NOTES

1: And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again; and again, as his custom was, he taught them.

	v1: Markan redaction. The text is unstable here as the Greek actually says "the region of Judea beyond the Jordan." But all of Judea lies west of the Jordan. Hence the RSV's translation, which eliminates this serious geographical error by translating it away.
	v1: Theissen and Merz (1998, p178), argue that Mark 10:1 has Jesus going to Jerusalem by way of Perea, to avoid setting foot in non-Jewish territory.

2: And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

v2: The Pharisees appear here, and then disappear from the pericope. In many manuscripts the reference to "Pharisees" is not present, and some exegetes argue the text has been assimilated to Matthew (Donahue and Harrington 2002, p292).

3: He answered them, "What did Moses command you?"

v3: Moses never left a command on divorce. In Deut 24:1-4 the right of divorce is already recognized; the text (the only one in the Torah referring to the topic) deals with the arcane problem of a man who wants to remarry a wife he previously divorced and who married another and then was divorced:

Deut 24:1 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, 2 and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, 3 and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, 4 then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD . Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. (NIV)

4: They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away." 5: But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.

v4-5: Progressive interpreters of Mark like Schussler Fiorenza and Myers have seen this as a criticism of patriarchical control of marriage, for Jewish marriage law permitted the man to put away his wife, but did not give equal power to the woman.

v4: refers to Deuteronomy 24 (v3). Such certificates of divorce are known from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

v5: Compare 10:5 with Paul's argument in Galatians 3:

10: 5: But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.(RSV)

Gal 3:19: What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. (NIV)

6: But from the beginning of creation, `God made them male and female.'

v6-8: refer to Genesis 1:27, 2:24:

1: 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (NIV)

2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (NIV)

Genesis 2:24 is cited by Paul in 1 Cor 2:24.

7: `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

v7: "and be joined to be his wife" is missing from many manuscripts. The argument could go either way. See review in Gundry (1993, p530-1).

9: What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

	v9: perhaps "man" is meant in the sense of "all mortals;" perhaps "a man" is meant because only men could initiate divorce.
	v9: Mack (1995, p315) identifies the chreia that forms the core of this pericope, in which Jesus is challenged: What does the Law say? and responds What does God say?

10: And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.

v10-12: gives us Jesus instructing the disciples in a house, a common redactional feature, as well as an explanation for the disciples, another redactional feature.

12: and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

v12: is widely seen as an anachronism in that a Jewish woman could not divorce her husband. Instead, the husband had to do the divorcing. This usually seen as a later insertion aimed at Gentile populations which had different divorce rules (Tomson 2001, p258-9). The same issue is brought up in 1 Cor 7. Against this two scrolls from Qumran, Damascus Document and the Temple Scroll, challenge the view that this was unknown in Judaism, for they appear to support this same rule. However, they also appear to apply it only to kings.

v12: Once again, Jesus's remarks appear to re-order Jewish understandings of Jewish law, but no one challenges him on this for the remainder of the gospel.

Historical Commentary

Dean-Otting and Robbins (1993) show how this passage is a product of rhetorical construction using citations of authoritative sources, including a citation of the Bible, to dismiss Mosaic Law and substitute a new formulation of divorce. The pericope pivots around a chreia organized as a simple ABBA chiasm:

A: But from the beginning of creation, `God made them male and female.' `
B: For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.'
B': So they are no longer two but one flesh.
A:' What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

The structure of the pericope itself is unusually and consists of two small chiasms:

A
and he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again;

B
and again, as his custom was, he taught them.

C
And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

D
He answered them, "What did Moses command you?"

D
They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away."

C
But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.

B
But from the beginning of creation, `God made them male and female.' `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

A
And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.

B
And he said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

A
And they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them.

The pericope shows the Pharisees testing Jesus, a common formulation in Mark. The writer cites the OT in v 4,6,7 and 8, while v5 gives us an attack on Jews that is widely seen as a post-Easter construction. A typical chreia informs the climax of the sequence v2-9, while the underlying chiastic structure focuses attention on Jesus' conflict with the Pharisees. v12 is a clear anachronism. There is no support for historicity in this pericope.

Mark 10:13-16

13: And they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them. 14: But when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them, "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

15: Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." 16: And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.

NOTES

13: And they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them.

v13: some translations have "threatened" for "rebuked."

Historical Commentary

A pericope about children following a pericope about marriage indicates a larger structural design. The pericope is a redactional construction of Mark around the saying in v15. Crossan sees it as a parallel to 9:35-6 (1991, p268). The pericope is actually a chreia form, in which the disciples function as challengers by rebuking the children for bothering Jesus, which triggers a retort that effectively states "Bothering me? They ARE the Kingdom!"

A chiasm structures this pericope.

A
And they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them;

B
and the disciples rebuked them.

C
But when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them, "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

C
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

B
And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.

A
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

In the usual fashion of the writer, the A brackets contain movement. The B brackets oppose the rebuking of the disciples with the blessings of Jesus. The C brackets contain the chreia structure.

The typical features of Markan construction indicate that there is no support for historicity from this pericope.

Mark 10:17-31

17: And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18: And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19: You know the commandments: `Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'" 20: And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth." 21: And Jesus looking upon him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." 22: At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. 23: And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!"

24: And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 26: And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, "Then who can be saved?" 27: Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." 28: Peter began to say to him, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you." 29: Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30: who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31: But many that are first will be last, and the last first."

NOTES

17: And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

	v17-21: is a creation of Mark whose purpose is to reach v21. Note that the man has no name and other than being rich, the writer shows no interest in him.
	v17: This occurs as Jesus is setting out on his journey. Jesus is now turning toward Jerusalem to die.

18: And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

	v18: this text Neyrey (1998) reads sociologically as Jesus deflecting a compliment, to prevent people from envying him (note that later Pilate comes to understand that it is out of envy that the chief priests and scribes seek Jesus' death). Other exegetes see a tension here: the man has handed out a rare compliment -- 'Good Teacher' -- and may expect similar flattery in return.
	v18: this verse endured much tinkering and rewriting in the manuscript tradition, for it appears to categorically deny that Jesus is God. Luke and Matt both made adjustments.

19: You know the commandments: `Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'"

v19: Jesus commits a famous error: "defraud" is not a commandment. This verse cannot be historical, for everyone standing there would have laughed themselves silly at such ignorance. The textual tradition is unstable at this point as well; many manuscripts omit "Do not defraud" as do Matthew and Luke, perhaps to eliminate the error. A number of manuscripts also place adultery before murder in the list. Myers (1988, p272) points out that the Greek for "defraud" refers to the practice of keeping back the wages of an employee in the Greek Bible, whereas in Classical Greek it refers to failure to return money left with another for safekeeping. The "error" may well relate to the apechei in Mark 14:40, where the bill is paid in full, pointing to Jesus own sacrifice of himself.

20: And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth."

v20: Yuri Kuchinsky (2003) points out:

"It is interesting that, if one reads only the Markan and the Lukan versions of this story, it is not at all clear that this man is really "young". In Luke, he's identified as a "ruler" (arcwn; pronounced as "arkhon"), which is not really consistent with him being so very young. Also, in both Mark and Luke, the man says that he had observed the commandments "from his youth". Again, this seems to imply that he's of an older age."

23: And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!"

v23-7: are Markan redaction. The function, explanation, is redactional, and they feature the usual Markan portrayal of clueless disciples (v24). However, Koester (1990, p276-7) argues that because v23-24 are not paralleled in either Matthew or Luke, they are probably later additions to the text. Note that v24 repeats v23, but without the reference to riches. Further, the verb for "amazement" is found only in Mark (1990, p284).

v23-7: in the ancient lampoon of marketplace philosophers, Philosophies for Sale, the author Lucian complains of wandering philosophers who talk incessantly about the unimportance of money, but are always asking for it.

26: And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, "Then who can be saved?"

	v26: The disciples are portrayed as worldly and clueless again. Even though Jesus has just pointed out who will be saved (children, those who act in Jesus' name, and those who are like children) the disciples still imagine that one must be rich and powerful to enter the kingdom.
	v26: In many places in the OT wealth and material goods are considered a sign of God's favor (Job 1:10; Psalm 128:1-2; Isaiah 3:10). That is why the disciples are so astonished that the weathy cannot enter the Kingdom.

27: Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."

v27: Taken from Zechariah 8:6 (LXX).

28: Peter began to say to him, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you." 29: Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30: who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

	v28-30: yet another Markan creation. The reference to persecutions is a clear anachronism. Some see them as later insertions. But v30 the doublet "now..in this time" is a classic Markan construction. Wilker (2004, p267-8) argues that the additional "houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children" in v30 is an early textual corruption.
	v30: Donahue and Harrington (2002, p40) argue that the word "houses" here refers to house churches of the kind common in primitive Christianity, with brothers, sisters, mothers, and children, but significantly, no "father," or centralized authority. They link this back to Paul's description of this structure in Romans 16:1-16 (although 16:1-7 is sometimes seen as an interpolation).

31: But many that are first will be last, and the last first."

v31: Some exegetes have seen this as an exhortation to service, or a prediction of who will be in the Kingdom (the least), or simply as an uncontextualized saying tacked onto the end of the pericope. Reading this against the writer's constant denigration on the disciples, I see this as a prediction of their future behavior. But many that are first on the list of the Twelve in Mark 3 will be last to fall away when the tribulation comes, culminating in Peter, the very first name on the list, and the last disciple to deny him, and the last, Judas, will be the first to betray me." Read that way, the final line is then in context with the previous several verses, especially as "the hundredfold" in v30 takes the reader back to the Parable of the Sower, and thence to the typology that identifies the role of the disciples in the Gospel of Mark.

Historical Commentary

The underlying literary structure is a typical sandwich structure, whose theme is the blindness of the disciples. Two episodes about receiving children, 9:36-7 and 10:13-16, open and close sequences involving marginal types who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples still do not get the message, and discourage the children from coming to see Jesus. Jesus then closes out the sequence with the pericope of 10:17-31, when he announces that the rich are far from the Kingdom, confounding the disciple's expectations (Tolbert 1989, p210). The entire sequence is literary construction that follows the typology erected in the Parable of the Sower back in Mark 4. The unit closes with a prediction about the disciples' future behavior.

Although the various sayings are often seen as going back to Jesus, a minority of scholars points out that they can be seen as attempts to set the boundaries of the early communities and may thus have been generated in them (Fun et al 1997, p92). In fact this looks like yet another version of the insider/outsider dichotomies that are a key theme of the writer of Mark.

The sequence with the rich man is a typical chreia in which the disciples function as challengers: Will the Rich enter the Kingdom? to which Jesus wittily replies: Sure, when a camel goes through the eye of a needle! The sequence that terminates the pericope may also offer the chreia structure, with Peter complaining We've given up everything! and Jesus responding with a wink: Some of you who think you are first will be last, Petey.

This pericope is a chiasm as follows:

A
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

B
And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.You know the commandments: `Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'"

C
And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth."

D
And Jesus looking upon him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

E
A
And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!"

B
And the disciples were amazed at his words.

E

A
But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

B
And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, "Then who can be saved?"

D
Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.

C
Peter began to say to him, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you."

B
Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30: who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first."

A'
32: And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, Jesus was walking ahead of them;

The many signals of literary contrivance indicate that historicity is not supported in this pericope.

Mark 10:32-34

32: And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33: saying, "Behold, we are going up to

Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; 34: and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise."

NOTES

v32: Extremely enigmatic. Who are 'they?" Locals? Other disciples? Who is amazed, and why?

34: and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise."

v34: It is here that the forger of Secret Mark placed his gospel event.

Historical Commentary
The pericope appears to be entirely a composition from the hand of the author of Mark. Historicity is not supported in this pericope, not the least because it is so enigmatic, but also because it contains a supernatural prediction of Jesus' own death. The chiastic structure is laid out in the next pericope. Here the gospel of Mark is clearly wrongly pericoped.

Mark 10:35-45

35: And James and John, the sons of Zeb'edee, came forward to him, and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." 36: And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?" 37: And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." 38: But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" 39: And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;

40: but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." 41: And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42: And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 43: But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44: and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.45: For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

NOTES

35: And James and John, the sons of Zeb'edee, came forward to him, and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." 36: And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?" 37: And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.

v35-37: may well reflect back to Paul's claim in 1 Cor 6:1-3 that believers shall judge the world, even judging angels.

If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! (NIV)

v35-37: Ched Myers (1988, p279) sees an allusion to Psalm 110 in the first two verses:

1 The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." 2 The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies.(NIV)

In Psalm 110:6 the Lord sits in judgment on his enemies, just as James and John ask for here. In Mk 12:35 this same passage becomes the basis for a discussion of Jesus' Davidic relationship.

v35-37: Myers (1988, p280-1) argues that against the request for power and authority of men, Mark opposes an ethic of servant and slavehood, one reserved for females.

38: But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"

v38: contains a probable later insertion into the text, "and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized" (Koester 1990, p 278).

v38: with its reference to the later martyrdom of James, is clearly unhistorical, for it is either an anachronism or supernatural prophecy.

v38: The OT offers at least one example of a cup of death, in Psalm 11:

5: The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates him that loves violence.
6: On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and brimstone; a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. 7: For the LORD is righteous, he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. (RSV)

42: And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

v42: C.F Stone (2002) notes that there is an allusion to Isaiah 11:10 (LXX) here, and argues that Isaiah 11 stands behind 10:42-45

45: For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

v45: the title "Son of Man" appears in all three passion predictions in Mark 8, 9 and 10. Thematically it probably connects to Mark 14:62.

v45: Related to the Septaugint Isaiah, according to Adella Yarbro Collins (1997):

"According to the Septuagint version of Isa 53:11, the servant of the Lord is a just man who serves many well."

In a footnote Collins adds:

"The antithetical structure of Mark 10:45 and its meaning are strikingly similar to a saying that Dio Cassius attributed to Otho: "I shall free myself [that is, take my own life], that all may learn from the deed that you chose for your emperor one who would not give you up to save himself, but rather himself to save you."

v45: Bultman (1958) identified this verse as "a Hellenistic variation of an older saying."

v45: "to give his life as a ransom for many." The Roman armies are said to have had a practice called devotio in which a single individual offered up their life to the gods during a battle. The sacrifice was made to both friendly and enemy gods, in the hope of impressing them and gaining their favor. Decius Mus was the most famous example. Examples of life-offerings as ransom from Jewish history are also known.

v45: "ransom" Fletcher-Louis (2003, p27) points out that the Greek word here always refers to an object, never a person, given as ransom.

v45: Seeley (1993) points out that the sequence of ruler, service, and sacrifice is not known in intertestamental Judaism. He identifies this as stemming from Cynic and Hellenistic concepts of how a good king should behave. According to Seeley, the writings of the philosopher Dio Chrysostom (40-112 CE) on Kingship say that a good king receives his position from Zeus, with the condition that he work for the welfare of his people. The good loves what is good, and cares for all. Seeley notes;

"In his third Discourse on kingship, Dio concludes that the best illustration of the office is the sun, for though the latter is a god, he "does not grow weary in ministering ... to us and doing everything to promote our welfare."...(3.73). one might even say that the sun "endures a servitude... most exacting...."(3.75)"(p236)

The idea that the true ruler is the servant of his subjects is also found in Plato and Xenophon. Seeley also gives other examples from Hellenistic thought of how the true philosopher, kingly in his ways, remains unmarried and serves the people. There are also Cynic examples of those who share kingship with the deity and engage in service. In Cynicism devotion of others can result in suffering and even death. Seeley concludes:

"In Epictetus' comments on the Cynic, we thus see a figure who is both ruler and servant, and whose service can include physical suffering and even death. This is the pattern we traced in Mark 10:41-5."(p245)

The key difference between the two is that in Cynicism the death of the philosopher functions as an example for other Cynics, whereas in Mark Jesus' death is substitutionary. Seeley reads that as a Markan development from Paul.

Historical Commentary

The larger structural features indicate literary creation. "Hardly has Jesus ended his third announcement of the passion and resurrection when there is again a misunderstanding in the circle of disciples" (Ludemann 2001, p71). Goodspeed notes that "Zebedee's sons are so oblivious of his mood that they actually ask for the leading places in his coming triumph" (1937, p143).

The writer offers another chreia here, delineated by Mack (1995, p316) as a challenge offered by the disciples: We want the power! and Jesus putting them in their place by replying Those who have the power first must serve. The writer interweaves different themes from the Gospel, including the sequence in which he compares Jesus to Simon Maccabaeus, his portrayal of the disciples as ignorant, self-aggrandizing clods, predictions of Jesus' Passion and death, allusions to the future of persecution of Jesus' followers, and the chreia format. Stein (1999) identifies the underlying structure of the sequence that runs from 8:27 on:

Passion Saying	Disciples Err	Theme of Discipleship
Mark 8:31-2	Mark 8:33 (Peter errs)	Mark 8:34-9:1 Discipleship means suffering like Christ.
Mark 9:30-2	Mark 9:34 (the Twelve Err)	Mark 9:33-7 Discipleship involves serving like Christ
Mark 10:32-34	Mark 10:35 (James and John err)	Mark 10:42-5 (Discipleship involves serving like Christ)
		(adapted from Stein 1999, p46)

The structure is a chiasm that extends back to the previous pericope, and contains an ABBA structure.

A	And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.
	B	And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise."
		C	And James and John, the sons of Zeb'edee, came forward to him, and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
			D	And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?"
				E	A	And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
					B	But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
				E	A	And they said to him, "We are able."
					B	And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."
			D	And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.
		C	And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.
	B	For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
A	And they came to Jericho;

The A brackets contain the usual geographic shifts. The B brackets oppose predictions of Jesus' death. The C brackets oppose the request of James and John "whatever we ask of you" to the ideal of service. The D brackets oppose Jesus' question to the disciples' indignation. The E brackets offer an ABBA chiasm whose structure should be obvious.

The vintage Markan themes, the literary structures, and the awareness of subsequent traditions of persecution signal that there is no support for historicity in this pericope.

Mark 10:46-52

46: And they came to Jericho; and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, Bartimae'us, a blind beggar, the son of Timae'us, was sitting by the roadside. 47: And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 48: And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

49: And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; rise, he is calling you." 50: And throwing off his mantle he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51: And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Master, let me receive my sight." 52: And Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

NOTES

46: And they came to Jericho; and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, Bartimae'us, a blind beggar, the son of Timae'us, was sitting by the roadside.

v46a: Although many exegetes have seen a deletion here. D. Brown (2003, p107) argued:

"It seems no less reasonable, then, to suppose that only the bare fact of Jesus' arrival in Jericho is mentioned in 10:46a because the road from Jericho is where Mark wished to locate the healing of Bartimaeus: Jesus had to enter Jericho before Mark could describe him leaving it."

However, the chiastic structure I have reconstructed shows that indeed material has been removed here.

v46b: "Bartimaeus" the name itself means "son of Timaeus." It is typical of the author of Mark to use this type of dual construction. "The two-step progression is one of the most pervasive patterns of repetition in Mark's Gospel. It occurs in phrases, clauses, pairs of sentences, and the structure of episodes" (Rhoads et al 1999, p49). This redactive pattern suggests that the name itself is probably invention. "Bar-teymah" means "son of poverty" in Aramaic (Price 2003, p148), or "son of the unclean" (Myers 1988, p282), another name that like "Jairus," echoes the meaning of the event.

47: And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

	v47: the Greek says Nazarene not Nazareth.
	v47: Donahue and Harrington (2002,317) observe that the Son of David "par excellence" is Solomon, who in the NT period had a widespread reputation in Jewish tradition as a healer. Meier (1994, p737n48) points out that one of the manuscripts of the Testament of Solomon has "King Solomon, Son of David, have mercy on me!" at 20:1. However, the Testament of Solomon has been heavily Christianized.

51: And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Master, let me receive my sight."

v51: The term rabbi probably had not yet become a technical term for "teacher" at the time Mark's gospel is ordinarily considered to have been written (Donahue and Harrington 2002, p318).

v51: Gundry notes the strong association of healing of the blind with the day of salvation in Isaiah (1993, p600).

Isaiah 29:18
In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. (NIV)

Isaiah 35:5-6
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. (NIV)

Isaiah 61:1 (LXX)
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the blind, (NIV)

52: And Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

v52: this pericope links back to the healing of the bleeding woman in Mk 5:21-43. First, the crowd hinders both suppliants. Second, they are commended for their faith which has healed them (the Greek of 5:34 and 10:52 is identical: hepistis sou sesoken se). Finally, in both cases there is the problem of impurity, bleeding by the woman, and the blind beggar's name, which may mean "son of the unclean."

v52: One is reminded of Paul's comment in 2 Cor 4:4

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God. (RSV)

v52: Stephen Smith (1996) describes the situation:

"The irony of the situation is rich indeed, for it involves a reversal of roles. Bartimaeus takes the stage as a blind outsider on the periphery of the crowd, but after his encounter with Jesus he not only sees physically, but metaphorically as well, and follows his master."(p527)

Historical Commentary

Timaeus is the name of a well-known dialog of Plato. In this dialog, Socrates -- who will be executed -- sits down with three of his friends, Critias, Timaeus, and Hermocrates. The dialog involves a discussion of why and how the universe was created:

"When the father creator saw the creature which he had made moving and living, the created image of the eternal gods, he rejoiced..."(Jowett translation)

Plato's Timaeus also contains a long discussion about the eye and vision:

"And of the organs they first contrived the eyes to give light, and the principle according to which they were inserted was as follows: So much of fire as would not burn, but gave a gentle light, they formed into a substance akin to the light of every-day life; and the pure fire which is within us and related thereto they made to flow through the eyes in a stream smooth and dense, compressing the whole eye, and especially the centre part, so that it kept out everything of a coarser nature, and allowed to pass only this pure element. When the light of day surrounds the stream of vision, then like falls upon like, and they coalesce, and one body is formed by natural affinity in the line of vision, wherever the light that falls from within meets with an external object. And the whole stream of vision, being similarly affected in virtue of similarity, diffuses the motions of what it touches or what touches it over the whole body, until they reach the soul, causing that perception which we call sight. But when night comes on and the external and kindred fire departs, then the stream of vision is cut off; for going forth to an unlike element it is changed and extinguished, being no longer of one nature with the surrounding atmosphere which is now deprived of fire: and so the eye no longer sees, and we feel disposed to sleep." (Jowett translation)

It is not difficult to see the parallel between Jesus -- about to be executed -- and Socrates, as well as Peter, James, and John, and Socrates' three friends. Socrates, like Jesus, is a tekton. Bar-Timaeus is blind, and Timaeus has a discussion of optics and the physics of the eye. Like Jesus, Socrates will enlighten his companions as to the truth. The parallel may be pushed further, but that would take us outside our task here. The name stinks of literary invention, and this would make it the only pericope in Mark with an origin in Plato or other Hellenistic literature. All in all, considering the odd structure (see below), this pericope is probably not from the hand of the original writer of Mark.

Bar-Timaeus also recalls the blind seer Tiresias, the famous Greek prophet, who sees truth though blind, just as Bar-Timaeus knows the truth that the King, the Son of David, is passing by, though he is blind. Although the text implies that Bartimaeus becomes a follower of Jesus, he disappears from the story after this incident.

Most exegetes relate this to the previous pericope, relating the blindness of Bar-Timaeus to the blindness of the disciples. Note how Jesus greets the beggar with the same words he met the disciples' request in Mk 10:36: "What do you want me to do for you?" But disciples' lack of understand is met with scorn, while the faith of the beggar, the fertile ground of Tolbert's analysis, is met with healing and a will to followership.

In Mary Tolbert's (1989) analysis of Mark, this pericope is the last of the first half.

The chiastic structure of this pericope is clear and quite beautiful, almost suspiciously so. The center of the chiasm seems somewhat unMarkan. Also unMarkan is the lack of saying that can be unplugged from its context. Note the double geographic reference to Jericho. The chiastic structure lends support to the idea that a pericope has been removed in v46.

A	And they came to Jericho; and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, Bartimae'us, a blind beggar, the son of Timae'us, was sitting by the roadside.
	B	And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
		C	And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent;
			D	but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
				E	And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."
					F	And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; rise, he is calling you."
					F	And throwing off his mantle he sprang up and came to Jesus.
				E	And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
			D	And the blind man said to him, "Master, let me receive my sight."
		C	And Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well."
	B	And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.
A	And when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Beth'phage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, and said to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat; untie it and bring it. If any one says to you, `Why are you doing this?' say, `The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.'"

The presence of Markan creation, OT construction and the supernatural indicate that there is no support for historicity in this pericope.

Excursus: Did the Gospel of Mark know the Pauline Corpus?

Echoes of Paul in Mark

A Pauline Chiasm in Mark

Paul as a Source for Mark

Conclusion

"...despite the near-total absence of synoptic Jesus tradition in Paul’s letters, his story-grounded preaching marks a point on a historical trajectory towards the composition of written narratives.” R.B. Hays.

Imagine if we went back to the OT to search for more sources of Mark's gospel, and we came across the following passage in Psalm 151:

Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into him were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as he was raised from the dead through the glory of YHWH, we too may live a new life.

What if, a few passages later in that same Psalm, we chanced upon this text:

because those who are led by the Spirit of the Lord are sons of YHWH. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are YHWH's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

We might begin to suspect that we had found the source of the baptism story in Mark 1:9-11. After all, the same themes appear there. For example, Psalm 151 uses "baptism" as a metaphor for death, just as Mark 10:38-39 does:

Psalm 151: Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into him were baptized into his death?

38: But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" 39: And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; (RSV)

In this passage the spirit of God descends on the baptized one, as we see in Mark 1:10:

Psalm 151: For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. (NIV)

1:10: And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; (RSV)

There too, in this passage, we find the idea that those baptized are the sons of God. Recall that the Christology of Mark is Adoptionist, that is, the writer presents Jesus as a person adopted as the Son of God. In that light, compare Psalm 151 and Mark 1:11:

because those who are led by the Spirit of the Lord are sons of YHWH.

1:11: and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased." (RSV)

In Psalm 151 "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit" that the believer is God's son.

There's another idea in Psalm 151 that we also see in Mark. One verse reminds us of the Garden of Gethsemane:

And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (NIV)

14:36: And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt." (RSV)

Clearly, given all the affinities between the OT and Mark that scholars have postulated, frequently on much slimmer grounds, we would be quite justified in seeing Psalm 151 as a potential source of the Baptism scene. The only problem with this thesis is that there is no Psalm 151. These passages are not from the Old Testament. They are from Paul's Letter to the Romans.

* * * * * * * *

Scholars have often been reluctant to see connections between the writer of Mark and Paul, although a tradition of Pauline influence on Mark remains among many conservatives and scholars on the conservative side of the mainstream, including most recently Donohue and Harrington's very fine commentary on Mark for the Sacra Pagina series. Against this, Aichele (2003, p14) points out:

"As a result, the scholarly arguments that Paul’s use of “gospel” have influenced the text of Mark may better suggest that Pauline thought has influenced the scholarly hermeneutic. If we read Mark as a Pauline text, perhaps it is because we are Pauline readers."

A dominant view is that concordances between the Pauline Corpus and Mark stem from commonalities in the traditions of early Christianity or perhaps were transmitted through oral routes. From time to time a scholar has put forth the thesis that Mark knew the Pauline letters somehow, most recently in Joel Marcus' in "Mark - Interpreter of Paul" (New Testament Studies 46/4 (2000): pp. 473-487). This issue refuses to die because, as Donahue and Harrington (2002, p40) put it, there are some "intriguing contacts between the Gospel of Mark and Paul or the Pauline tradition." Indeed, as I pointed out above, if we assume for a moment the direct use of Paul by the writer of Mark, we see the same patterns that characterize the writer's use of the Old Testament: direct citations, allusions, echoes, and conceptual parallels.

Let's explore this possible relationship by looking at verses in Mark that appear to echo Pauline thought.

* * * * * * * *

A Stir of Echoes

Here are just a few of the many concordances between Paul and Mark:

Mk 1:1: The phrase “the beginning of the gospel” (arch. tou euaggeliou), appears in Philippians 4:15, where it denotes the beginning of Paul's missionary activity. In both Paul and Mark arch. tou euaggeliou denotes a beginning.