Jesus, the Kingdom, and You: Six Interwoven Stories in Mark’s Gospel

Anyone who’s ever read a commentary knows that endless ink has been spilled debating the structure of biblical books. The gospel of Mark is no different. Most exegetes will begin their work by attempting to discern some underlying structure Mark’s text so that each section can be analysed and dissected. This practice is not without its merits—identifying a book’s structure is often key to understanding its main point and the argument being conveyed by its author. Nonetheless, a preoccupation with structure can mislead us into thinking of the biblical books as specimens awaiting dissection, rather than as living stories that draw us in. This is particularly dangerous in narrative books like the gospels, and in our case, the Gospel of Mark. In all our zeal to understand Mark’s argument, we must not sterilize his narrative. We must let our imaginations, and even our very lives, become captive to his story—because his story is the story of Jesus.

Yet Mark is doing more than simply telling a story. It is not enough to simply exchange our structure dissection-tools for the tools of narrative criticism. As a Spirit-inspired literary genius, Mark crafts a narrative flow that engages and moves the readers. Since Mark’s narrative constantly has the reader in view, we must engage in narrative-reader criticism. We must study not only his text, but ourselves in relation to his text. That is, we not only need to ask, “What does the narrative say?” and “ How does it say it?” We must also ask “How does Mark use what he says to make an impact on his world by moving his readers?”

As we approach Mark asking these questions, we will find that Mark communicates his message to his readers by way of a narrative made up of six interrelated stories.^[1]

1. See P.G. Bolt, ‘What is the Gospel for Today’s Church?’, in B.G. Webb (ed.), Explorations 7: Exploring the Missionary Church (Homebush West, NSW: Lancer, 1993), 27–61. A similar model can be derived from D. Rhoads & D. Michie, Mark as Story. An Introduction to the Narrative of a Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), now updated as D. Rhoads, J. Dewey, D. Michie, Mark as Story. An Introduction to the Narrative of a Gospel. Third Edition (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012).

The Main Story: Jesus

From the opening verse (Mark 1:1), it is clear that Mark’s main story concerns Jesus. The opening prologue (Mark 1:2–13) informs the reader of his true identity. He is immediately linked with OT promises that give him a most exalted status, since, according to those promises, the one who would come after the messenger (John the Baptist) was the Lord himself. After his baptism the Spirit comes upon him, designating him the long-awaited Servant-Messiah (Mark 1:11, cf. Isa 42:1; Ps 2:7).^[2] He clashes with Satan (Mark 1:13) before launching out on his mission (Mark 1:14–15). His authority is immediately apparent (Mark 1:21–28), and eventually explained as the authority of the Son of Man who is able to forgive sins (Mark 2:10). John the Baptist had promised the people of Israel that the stronger one was coming, bringing the forgiveness they were after. Jesus now reveals that he is authorized to bring that forgiveness as the Son of Man. They need to recognize his authority, or they will miss out on forgiveness altogether, and be liable for eternal sin (Mark 3:22–30). Thus, the opening chapters of Mark take up where the Old Testament left off: Israel is already under judgment and awaiting forgiveness (cf. Isa. 40:1ff.). What’s new is the revelation that Jesus as Son of Man (cf. Dan. 7:13–14) is authorized to bring that forgiveness to the land of Israel.^[3] Through a series of parables (Mark 4:1–34) Jesus calls upon ‘anyone with ears to hear’ within Israel to recognize that Jesus is the lamp on the lampstand, and to listen to the word, in the light of the coming kingdom.

The next section (Mark 4:35–8:26) is structured around three sea crossings. The opening scene, ‘the storm at sea’ (Mark 4:35–41), raises three significant questions that the subsequent narrative will guide Mark’s readers to answer properly:

1. Don’t you care that we are perishing? (Mark 4:38)

2. Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith? (Mark 4:40)

3. Who then is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him? (Mark 4:41)

To put these questions together: if the disciples (and Mark’s readers) understand who Jesus is properly, and put their faith in him, then they won’t be afraid, even in the face of death. This is the position towards which Jesus is moving his disciples, and it is the position towards which Mark is moving his readers.

The rest of this section (Mark 5:1–8:26) shows Jesus demonstrating that he has come to restore those suffering under the shadow of death and to bring in the kingdom, as he continues to urge Israel to respond to him. Nevertheless, on the whole, Israel is hard-hearted to what is going on in their midst. Even the disciples do not understand who Jesus is, despite being present at several miracles which display Jesus’s Servanthood, Messiahship, and even divinity. If they are to be changed, Jesus will have to open their blind eyes.

The middle chapters (Mark 8:27–10:52) open with a glimmer of recognition about Jesus’s identity from the disciples, and further teaching from Jesus regarding his future suffering. The suffering of the Son of Man is the only thing that must still occur before the imminent arrival of the kingdom (Mark 9:1, 9–13). He stresses not only that the need to enter the kingdom is urgent, and necessary for salvation, but that entry is a difficult thing that only God can make possible (Mark 10:27). He also promises that God will do the impossible for all those who have radically committed themselves to following him. The climax of this section comes when he reveals that the suffering of the Son of Man must happen (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:32–33), because this is how God will do the impossible. Entry to the kingdom will come about through the Son of Man dying as the Servant of the Lord, a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

In the next section (Mark 11–13), Jesus arrives in Jerusalem and clashes with the religious leaders. As he prepares for his own end on the cross, he prepares his disciples for the End, the arrival of the kingdom of God.^[4]

4. See further P.G. Bolt, ‘Mark 13: An Apocalyptic Precursor to the Passion Narrative’, RefThR 54.1 (1995), 10–32; The Cross from a Distance, Ch. 3; and, completed in 1991 but now recently published, The Narrative Integrity of Mark 13:24–27 (ACT Monograph Series; Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2021).

In the passion narrative, Jesus once again explains his death theologically, this time as the Passover sacrifice that brings in the New Covenant, the last Passover before the kingdom of God arrives (Mark 14:12–25). He is arrested in a great time of distress for himself and his disciples. At his trial, he reveals that he is Israel’s Messiah, and that he will soon be installed as the Lord of Psalm 110, and the Son of Man of Dan 7:13 (Mark 14:61–62). In the midst of great tragedy, he dies, ironically recognized as king, and even by a Gentile as ‘the Son of God’ (Mark 15:39). In his death, the structures of national Israel are judged and theologically come to an end. Jesus is buried, but on the third day, in fulfillment of his own predictions, his grave is found empty, because he has risen from the dead (Mark 16:1–8). This appears to be the moment he receives the kingdom of God in power, before launching the mission to the nations.

In a nutshell, the main story of the Gospel of Mark is about Jesus. He was the Messiah of Israel, the Servant of the Lord, the Son of Man, who did things only God could do. It is about how he achieved what is impossible for any human being, through his own sacrificial death. For it is the story about how Jesus not only inaugurated the kingdom of God through his resurrection, but through his death enabled people to enter it. Such a story asks for repentance and faith, and radical loyalty to this Jesus and his cause.

The Big Story: The Kingdom of God

Mark’s Gospel sets Jesus’s story against an even bigger story. Since his story cannot be understood without the Old Testament, it is rooted into the real events of Israel’s history, into their pains and turmoil, into the judgment of God they had experienced since the exile, and into their hopes and expectations for forgiveness and salvation in the future. When Jesus announces that “the times are fulfilled” (Mark 1:15) he announces that world history has come to a decisive turning point. Jesus brings the kingdom of God near and urges people to enter it to avoid destruction and to find life and salvation. He dies to make entry into the kingdom possible and then inaugurates that kingdom in his resurrection. Thus, Jesus’s story is set within a bigger story about the kingdom of God. This story of the kingdom encompasses the ultimate issues in human life, including each person’s future and the future of the world. In other words, Jesus’s story says something real about the real world, and it says that this real world of human history has changed as a result of his arrival—and changed in a way that has implications for everyone. His cause is a big cause—it concerns the kingdom of God. This phrase sums up the expectations of the Old Testament for not only the end of all ungodly human power and sinfulness, but also, through the judgment of ungodliness, the removal of God’s judgment. In Mark, Jesus brings not only this removal of God’s judgment, but ultimate salvation and eternal life in the age to come.

In other words, the kingdom of God that comes in Jesus brings the renovation of the world on the grandest scale, the restoration of all things.

The Counter Story: The Opponents

Not everyone recognizes Jesus’s significance. From the beginning he meets with opposition from the Jewish religious and political leaders of the day. These leaders oppose Jesus and thereby seek to prevent the kingdom of God from breaking into the world. Mark clearly links this human opposition, with that of the demonic forces, thereby setting the story of Jesus’s human opponents on a cosmic stage (cf. Mark 3:22–30). Their opposition comes from a hard-hearted refusal to listen to the word, and it results in the horrifying spectacle of the killing of the Son of God.

The Vacillating Story: the Disciples

Another story that is played out alongside Jesus’s story is that of his disciples. It appears that the disciples vacillate between two leaders. They are firmly on Jesus’s side, and yet they fail to understand what he is on about. Most of the time they appear to share in the hard-heartedness of Jesus’s opponents (cf. Jesus’s question to them in Mark 7:18, “are you also so dull?”). They ultimately desert Jesus, but even as they do so, there is hope that he will restore them (Mark 14:28, 16:7), according to the promise that he gave them at the beginning that he would turn them into ‘fishers of people’ (Mark 1:16–20).

The Short Stories: The Suppliants

These first four narratives are made up of many smaller stories that are episodic. Whereas the major characters (Jesus; his disciples; his opponents) are present from the beginning to the end of the narrative, providing continuity, there are also a number of ‘minor characters’ who appear once, only to disappear almost immediately, never to return.

Some minor characters receive very little attention in the narrative, but there are thirteen characters, each involved in an extended scene, and as a group these minor actors play a significant role in the communication of Mark’s message. These thirteen characters can be called ‘the suppliants,’ because they all enter the narrative in some desperate situation and come to Jesus wanting something from him. He deals graciously with them all. Then, after Jesus has turned their life turned right-side up, they disappear just as suddenly as they appeared.

Table 1: Mark’s Thirteen Suppliants

Mark portrays each of these suppliants as sympathetic characters, complete with emotions and explanations of their behavior and circumstances. They often show more insight into Jesus than the disciples and the opponents, and they can even show characteristics of true discipleship, while the Twelve do not. If the Twelve provide continuity for the story of Jesus from beginning to end, the suppliants are the means by which the reader is drawn in to that story. By arousing the sympathy of the readers, the suppliants draw the readers into the story, so that they have their own encounter with Jesus and his grace.^[5]

5. For my close analysis of the suppliants and their role in Mark’s narrative dynamics, see Bolt, Jesus’ Defeat of Death.

Our Story: The Reader’s Story

Through these five multi-faceted stories, Mark’s Gospel seeks to impact a sixth story—the story of the reader. Of course, the impact of Scripture on an individual occurs in a far more profound manner than can be described in the space of this essay, but nevertheless I can make a few general comments about how the intra-narrative dynamics seem to be working.

Mark creates a close relationship between the reader and Jesus. From the beginning we are told who Jesus really is, and from that moment we share a privileged relationship with him, one that even the characters within the story do not share. He is always attractive, always appealing, and, although there are times when he is at some distance from the reader, even at those times we would prefer to be close!^[6] Such dynamics draw the reader towards Jesus.

6. For a description of the particularly poignant readerly dynamics in the passion narrative, see P.G. Bolt, ‘Feeling the Cross: Mark’s Message of Atonement’, RefThR 60.1 (2001), 1–17.

On the other hand, Jesus’s opponents are made repugnant to the reader in many ways. They are characterized negatively, they are stubborn, politically conniving, self-motivated, they have so little concern for justice that they will kill an innocent man, and they even gloat over his death. Even more horrendous, they are prepared to kill their own king who came to provide them with the way into the kingdom of God! In the reader’s mind, they deserve to be set on the side of Satan himself! The opponents drive the reader away from such hard-hearted rejection of Jesus.

The relationship between the disciples and the reader is fairly complex and changes as the story proceeds. In the early sections there is a distance between them, and the reader sees them as fairly dull and stupid for missing what is plainly before their eyes. However, later on, the reader is drawn towards them more positively, and even begins to understand them and feel for them. In this way Mark’s story subtly draws the reader into the experience of the disciples and makes the reader see that their vacillation can be found in the experience of us all. Through this strange love-hate relationship, Mark shows his reader that he too needs to learn their lessons: to hear the call to follow, to recognize the hard-heart within, to feel the impossibility of entry to the kingdom, to turn to Jesus as the only way into the kingdom, to keep on giving him that radical loyalty that he requires, even beyond our own failures.

The minor characters as a whole usually act as a foil in this enterprise, and the suppliants especially so. The reader quickly relates to these people, for the reader is drawn towards them with their very human needs, distresses, and feelings. These slices of their life also provide concrete life illustrations of what Jesus is willing and able to do in the real world. In this way they are like entry points into the story of the disciples, and then into the story of Jesus, and then into the big kingdom story.

This appears to be the rhetorical intent of Mark’s Gospel. The reader comes to the text very much a part of this real world that is filled with human misery, and which lies firmly under God’s judgment and so under the shadow of death. But with these confused, suffering characters, we are drawn to the one they found, who met them in all their need and was willing and able to do something for that need. As we are drawn in, we find that this great one is offering ultimate solutions, for through dying and leaving his tomb empty, he is able to take us into the kingdom of God, the ultimate renovation of all things. As Mark draws us to Jesus, we see who he really is, and what he really did. And thus Mark confronts us with the only one who can bring them from the midst of all their human need, into the kingdom of God.

Mark’s strange, and in many ways unsatisfying, ending (Mark 16:8) throws the story to the reader to finish off in our own experience. In this way he cleverly challenges us to repent of previous failures and to become involved in the cause of the risen Christ, while we await the arrival of his kingdom.