My first essay for my theology and ministry course.
What does Mark's gospel tell us about the disciples? What does that tell us about discipleship?
Often, readers
of the bible garner their picture of the disciples from accounts across all four
gospels, giving an even-handed view of their positive and negative attributes. I
will show that in viewing Mark in isolation, that sole viewpoint (based largely
on that of a single disciple, Peter) could give rise to a negative impression
of them, but a deeper examination of the picture both explicit in the narrative
itself and implicit in the situation in which the gospel was read, shows a
parallel positive view. Focusing on Mark alone shows the reality and cost of
following Jesus Christ though the lives, successes and failures of his
disciples, and ultimately, the inevitable redemption when we dedicate our lives
to him. Mark’s message on what it means to follow Jesus is that it is very costly
and yet very rewarding, a path of failure, grace and success. All this, of
course, is a pre-Pentecostal portrait of discipleship, written and read by a
post-Pentecostal audience, which has profound implications for the message of
Mark.
Mark
is a clearly Peter-centric gospel. On a first reading of Mark, one could very
easily walk away with a rather negative view of the disciples, and especially
Peter, as I will show. The first disciple Jesus called was Simon Peter, and he
plays an understandably prominent role in Mark’s gospel. Richard Bauckham,
amongst other modern New Testament scholars, subscribes to the view that Mark
was with Peter in Rome and based his gospel “extensively on Peter’s eyewitness
testimony.” (Bauckham, 2008, 14). Mark’s probable close relationship with Peter
has given him opportunity to see the events of Jesus’ ministry through Peter’s
eyes. In Mark, with Peter playing a prominent part in so many stories, he is a
character with whom it is very easy to identify. When we talk of the portrait
of the disciples we get from Mark, it is in many ways the portrait of Peter.
Peter’s
reputation is especially tarnished in Mark 14 to 16. At the last supper, Jesus
tells his disciples that they will “all fall away, for it is written, ‘I
will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am
raised up, I will go before you to Galilee” (Mk 14. 28). This is more than
just a warning of their betrayal, it is a picture of redeeming love and future forgiveness,
but just as Jesus is telling them that everything will be fine after their betrayal,
Peter jumps in and all but calls Jesus a liar. His proud boast that he will
never betray Jesus and subsequent shame at Jesus’ prophecy coming true just
hours later is the crowning moment in Mark’s picture of the disciples’ failure.
It must have had an alarming impact when it was first read, for the audience
would surely have known that this was the same Peter who went on to be Bishop
of Rome, the rock on which Jesus built his church.
It
wasn’t just this final betrayal that casts the disciples in a grubby light.
They are often not portrayed as the most insightful men. In fact this has the
added bonus for us, inasmuch as they sometimes function like the ‘idiot’
character in modern TV and movies to whom the detective explains the plot,
allowing the rest of us mortals an insight. Consider the explanation of the
parable of the sower (Mk 4. 1-9) that
Jesus explains to his hard-of-thinking disciples (Mk 4. 13-20); without Jesus’
patient explanation to his followers, we may never have known the thrust of the
parable.
There
are many other incidences of the disciples letting Jesus down or getting it wrong.
They are depicted as fearful, not just of circumstances such as Jesus’ arrest,
when the all flee (Mk 14. 50) but also of Jesus himself when his holy power and
authority is revealed. Peter is called Satan himself when he rebukes Jesus for
speaking of his coming execution, and told he has his mind ‘on the things of
man’ and not on ‘the things of God’ (Mk 8. 31-34). They seem stunned when Jesus
calms the Storm (Mk 4. 35-41) and understandably completely terrified by the
sudden presence of Elijah and Moses and Jesus’ radiant magnificence at the Transfiguration
(Mk 9. 2-13). Their lack of faith is evident when they are unable to drive out
a demon from a suffering boy (Mk 9. 14-29), perhaps an entirely understandable
situation, but a similar lack of faith is harder to empathise with when they
cannot fathom how Jesus will feed 4000 people with some loaves and fishes,
despite having already seen him feed 5000 in the same manner (Mk 8. 1-9). Then again, there is the self-serving and
rather childish request of James and John to sit at Jesus’ side in Heaven, as
if they could guarantee special favour by sneakily getting their request in
first (Mk 10. 35-37).
The
last few chapters of Mark can only be described as the disciples’ nadir,
demonstrating a litany of grievous failures. There’s Peter’s aforementioned
denial, Judas’ selling of Jesus to the Pharisees (Mk 14. 10-11), their
collective failure to stay awake, the violent action of one of them who strikes
out with a sword when Jesus is arrested (identified as Peter in John’s gospel:
Jn18. 10) and finally the abandonment by all twelve disciples (Mk 14. 50), “And
they all left him and fled.” They receive no further mention; Mark does not
even place them at the crucifixion; in his final hours, Jesus is attended only
by “Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Salome” (Mk 15. 40).
All
that being said, Mark does give us a much more rounded view of the disciples
than simply this litany of their failures, with explicit stories of their
successes as well as an implicit message through the context. Right at the
start of the gospel, Jesus calls them away from their nets, to follow him and
become fishers of men (Mk 1. 16-20), which they do. They follow him, despite
all his dire warnings about what that will mean. They might come across as a
little dim-witted at times, but surely some of the picture Jesus paints sinks
in. He regularly speaks of his own death, and even tells them that the cup he
drinks, they will drink, and that the baptism with which he is baptised, they
will be baptised (Mk 10. 39). He often points out that their greatness will be
measured in the depths of their suffering and lengths of their service to
others, that they must ‘deny themselves and pick up their cross’ if they are to
follow him, that they are to ‘lose their lives’ (Mk8. 34-37) and yet they stick
with him. We know that they were aware of the cost of following him, Peter
speaks of them leaving everything to follow him (Mk 10. 28), but it seems more
like an acknowledgement than a complaint. They seem content to be itinerant students,
cut off from the world and even from their families to be with Jesus and each
other.
They
also embrace Jesus’ counter-cultural positions, even at risk to themselves.
They are happy to consort with ‘sinners’ alongside him, even welcoming Levi the
tax collector to their midst (Mk 2. 13-17); they move regularly among the
gentiles and they follow his flexible approach to the Sabbath laws (Mk 2. 23-28).
Not
only are they tenacious, they are successful: Jesus sends them out on what
seems to be the least well-equipped mission ever, but they go out, preaching
the gospel, healing many and casting out demons (Mk 6. 7-13). They might not be
the most insightful of men, but it is Peter who first recognises Jesus as
Messiah shortly before the Transfiguration (Mk 8. 27-30).
To
conclude, Mark conveys a rich message about what it means to follow Jesus,
clearly signalling pros and cons. There will be suffering, service and costly
love. We are left in no doubt that our lives will not follow an easy path if we
follow Jesus, for we will tread the path he trod, but for all the pain that may
come our way, we should not be dismayed. The disciples, despite the
difficulties and failures, are close to Jesus. They are cut off from the world,
but gain access to a wonderful new family in the Kingdom of God, not to mention
eternal life (Mk 10. 29-31). They are together constantly in a close-knit
fraternity, a picture of what life in Christ can be; one lived alongside
‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ (Mk3. 31-35).
Mark
also makes clear that there will be failure; that even true disciples of Jesus
will let him down with lack of insight, lack of faith, lack of courage and lack
of humility. That we may, temporarily, even turn away from him for our own
sakes, but in coming back to him we will find redemption and forgiveness. Jesus
tells them that he will ‘go before them to Galilee’ before their betrayal (Mk
14. 28), and he has this same message for them after his resurrection (Mk 16.
7). Unlike the other three gospels, Mark gives us no account of the disciples’
reunion with Jesus after the resurrection, there is none of John’s tender
depiction of Jesus’ rehabilitation of his relationship with Peter, just this
simple statement: I told you I would meet you, and I will. Nonetheless, it can
surely be assumed that the post-resurrection reputation of these men as
powerful leaders of the early church was secure and widespread, and it is that
reputation with which Mark contrasts their failures.
Finally, the
fundamental message of discipleship implicit in Mark’s gospel is of the
futility of trying to live Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit.
These men, the bedrock of the early church, went on to create and lead an
organisation that persevered and flourished in the face of every imaginable
adversity. These self-same men, heroes of the faith, proved to be fearful,
selfish, proud, ignorant, faithless and untrustworthy time and again. If they
couldn’t do it without the Holy Spirit, walking literally side-by-side with
Jesus, what hope to we have? Conversely, to quote Mark himself out of context,
“With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with
God.” (Mk 10. 27)
