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Saint Mark: Difference between revisions
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<blockquote>Mark, who became Peter’s interpreter, wrote accurately, though not in order, all that he remembered of the things said and done by the Lord. For he had neither heard the Lord nor been one of his followers, but afterward, as I said, he had followed Peter, who used to compose his discourses with a view to the needs [of his hearers], but not as if he were composing a systematic account of the Lord’s sayings. So Mark did nothing blameworthy in thus writing some things just as he remembered them; for he was careful of this one thing, to omit none of the things he had heard and to state no untruth therein.<ref>''Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible'', s.v. “Mark, Gospel of,” 3:267.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>Mark, who became Peter’s interpreter, wrote accurately, though not in order, all that he remembered of the things said and done by the Lord. For he had neither heard the Lord nor been one of his followers, but afterward, as I said, he had followed Peter, who used to compose his discourses with a view to the needs [of his hearers], but not as if he were composing a systematic account of the Lord’s sayings. So Mark did nothing blameworthy in thus writing some things just as he remembered them; for he was careful of this one thing, to omit none of the things he had heard and to state no untruth therein.<ref>''Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible'', s.v. “Mark, Gospel of,” 3:267.</ref></blockquote> | ||
The Gospel according to Saint Mark was, for many centuries, thought to be merely an abridgment of Matthew—and so tended to be the least valued and least read. It is now widely recognized as the earliest of the Synoptic Gospels. The arguments | The Gospel according to Saint Mark was, for many centuries, thought to be merely an abridgment of Matthew—and so tended to be the least valued and least read. It is now widely recognized as the earliest of the Synoptic Gospels. ''The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible'' gives the following arguments in support of this position: | ||
<blockquote> | |||
(a) The substance of over ninety per cent of Mark’s verses is contained in Matthew, the substance of over fifty per cent in Luke. | |||
If Mark, then, is the earliest of the | (b) Where the same matter is contained in all three Synoptic gospels, usually more than half Mark’s actual words are to be found either in both Matthew and Luke or in one of them... | ||
(c) The order in which the material is arranged in Mark is usually followed by both Matthew and Luke.... | |||
(d) Often where Matthew and/or Luke and Mark differ in language, the language of [the other evangelists] is either grammatically or stylistically smoother and more correct than that of Mark. | |||
(e) On other occasions something in Mark which could perplex or offend is either absent from, or appears in a less sharp form in, Matthew or Luke.... | |||
The statement that Jesus “began to be greatly distressed and troubled” (Mark 14:33) is softer in Matthew 26:37 ... and omitted altogether in Luke; the picture of the three disciples’ failure to watch with Jesus in Gethsemane is considerably softened by the addition of the words “for sorrow” in Luke 22:45; in Mark 14:71 ... Peter is said to have begun “to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, ‘I do not know this man...,’” but Luke has the much less offensive “Man, I do not know what you are saying” (Luke 22:60).... | |||
(f) In Mark the disciples’ pre-Resurrection mode of addressing Jesus (as “Teacher,” “Rabbi”) is faithfully reflected, whereas Matthew and Luke often represent him as addressed by the title “Lord,” thus reflecting the post-Resurrection usage of the church.... | |||
If Mark, then, is the earliest of the gospels, its special importance as our primary source of information about the ministry of Jesus is obvious.<ref>''Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible'', s.v. “Mark, Gospel of,” 3:269, 271.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
[[File:Letter of Clement to Theodore.jpg|thumb|Letter of Clement of Alexandria to Theodore, where he quotes from the Secret Gospel of Mark]] | [[File:Letter of Clement to Theodore.jpg|thumb|Letter of Clement of Alexandria to Theodore, where he quotes from the Secret Gospel of Mark]] | ||
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At the point of Jesus’ arrest on the Mount of Olives, Mark gives the following verses: | 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> | <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. | 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.<ref>Smith, ''The Secret Gospel'', p. 15.</ref> 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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{{MTR}}, s.v. “Lanello.” | {{MTR}}, s.v. “Lanello.” | ||
{{LTJ}}. | {{LTJ}}, pp. xlvii–xlix. | ||
{{LTK}}. | {{LTK}}, pp. 19–21. | ||
<references /> | <references /> | ||