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Saint Mark: Difference between revisions
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When we first meet John Mark, he is living at Jerusalem, apparently in the home of his mother, Mary.<ref>Acts 12:12, 25.</ref> She appears to have been a widow of some means, inasmuch as she is described in Acts as the owner of a house spacious enough to accommodate a large Christian gathering and as having the services of a maid. It has been suggested that the Last Supper was held in her home and that John as a boy may have witnessed some of the final events of [[Jesus]]’ life. | When we first meet John Mark, he is living at Jerusalem, apparently in the home of his mother, Mary.<ref>Acts 12:12, 25.</ref> She appears to have been a widow of some means, inasmuch as she is described in Acts as the owner of a house spacious enough to accommodate a large Christian gathering and as having the services of a maid. It has been suggested that the Last Supper was held in her home and that John as a boy may have witnessed some of the final events of [[Jesus]]’ life. | ||
It is further conjectured that the young man who fled away naked in the Garden of Gethsemane<ref>Mark 14:51–52.</ref> was John Mark | It is further conjectured that the young man who fled away naked in the Garden of Gethsemane<ref>Mark 14:51–52.</ref> was John Mark.<ref>''The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible'' (Nashville, New York: Abingdon Press, 1962), s.v. “Mark, John,” 3:277.</ref> | ||
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Smith and other scholars analyzed the fragment of Clement’s letter and the majority agreed it had in fact been written by the Church Father. Smith then concluded from stylistic study that secret Mark did not belong to the family of New Testament apocrypha composed during and after the late second century, but that it had been written at least as early as <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. 100–120.<ref>Ibid., p. 40.</ref> Furthermore, from other clues Smith makes a good case for it having been written even earlier—around the same time as the Gospel of Mark.<ref>Ibid., p. 61.</ref> | Smith and other scholars analyzed the fragment of Clement’s letter and the majority agreed it had in fact been written by the Church Father. Smith then concluded from stylistic study that secret Mark did not belong to the family of New Testament apocrypha composed during and after the late second century, but that it had been written at least as early as <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. 100–120.<ref>Ibid., p. 40.</ref> Furthermore, from other clues Smith makes a good case for it having been written even earlier—around the same time as the Gospel of Mark.<ref>Ibid., p. 61.</ref> | ||
=== The significance of Secret Mark === | |||
Most significantly, the fragment reveals more about Jesus’ secret practices. It contains a variant of the Lazarus story, which theretofore was found only in the Book of John.<ref>John 11:1–44.</ref> Secret Mark says that after the resurrection of the Lazarus figure (Clement’s fragment leaves him nameless), the youth, | Most significantly, the fragment reveals more about Jesus’ secret practices. It contains a variant of the Lazarus story, which theretofore was found only in the Book of John.<ref>John 11:1–44.</ref> Secret Mark says that after the resurrection of the Lazarus figure (Clement’s fragment leaves him nameless), the youth, | ||
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Secret Mark casts the official canon in another light. Could the Gospels themselves be the “exoteric” teachings, for those who were “without,” so intended by their authors from the start? Clement tells us that Mark’s secret Gospel was for those “who were being perfected,” i.e., in the language of Paul—“we speak wisdom among them that are perfect”—initiated. | Secret Mark casts the official canon in another light. Could the Gospels themselves be the “exoteric” teachings, for those who were “without,” so intended by their authors from the start? Clement tells us that Mark’s secret Gospel was for those “who were being perfected,” i.e., in the language of Paul—“we speak wisdom among them that are perfect”—initiated. | ||
=== Jesus’ secret teachings === | |||
The Lazarus story appears in the New Testament only in the Book of John. It had always seemed strange that only one of the Gospels should record this most important miracle by Jesus—the raising of the dead. This fragment from Secret Mark not only provides reinforcement for the Lazarus miracle but also explains a portion of the Gospel of Mark which has baffled scholars for centuries. | |||
At the point of Jesus’ arrest on the Mount of Olives, Mark gives the following verses: | |||
<blockquote>And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him: And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.<ref>Mark 14:51–52.</ref></blockquote> | |||
Smith reasons that Jesus was baptizing the young man in a rite similar to that which he administered to the Lazarus figure in the secret gospel after he had raised him from the dead. The circumstances are the same, he says—similar attire, nocturnal meeting—and the stream at the foot of the Mount of Olives could have provided the water.*32 This seems the best explanation yet for the presence of the peculiarly attired young man at Jesus’ arrest. | |||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
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{{LTJ}}. | {{LTJ}}. | ||
{{LTK}}. | |||
<references /> | <references /> | ||