Christology in the Gospel of Mark

Introduction

The Gospel of Mark is a “passion narrative” with all the works and words of Jesus building to the climactic scene of the crucifixion.[1] The Gospel of Mark is “not unlike an adventure movie.”[2] It is a fast-paced narrative showing the story of Jesus rather than just explaining, as can be seen by Mark’s favorite word, “immediately.”

One cannot merely skim through the miracle accounts in Mark that focus on the accuracy in detailing who Jesus was and His impact. These miracles play a significant and primary role in Mark’s portrayal of Jesus.[3] Mark seems to emphasize the supernatural nature of Jesus by documenting His miracles, signs, and wonders during His earthly ministry leading up to His crucifixion. The miracles are “to press upon the reader the question of Jesus’s identity.”[4] The apostle Peter said that Jesus was “a Man attested by God… by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him” (Acts 2:22).[5] The Gospel of Mark portrays the Christology of Jesus as the Miracle Worker.

The Miracle Worker and His Miracles

The Holy Spirit filled Jesus immediately after His baptism in the Jordan River (Mark 1:10). This event was the turning point where God gave Him the power to perform all the miracles recorded in the Gospels. It is essential to mention that the Holy Spirit was the power behind the Miracle Worker. In the book of Acts, the apostle Peter said, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). According to Mark, Jesus demonstrated His supernatural authority through the Holy Spirit by performing various miracles during His ministry.

Jesus declared, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The miracles He performed were to prove that the kingdom of God had come to dwell with His people. “Miracles are dramatic displays of divine power that break the laws of nature and physics in order to validate something or someone that might otherwise be doubted.”[6] Jesus embodied the kingdom of God in everything He did and taught.[7] Throughout His ministry, Jesus demonstrated four different types of miracles: healings, deliverances, wonders, and resurrections.

Healings

“A genuine healing miracle leaves no room to suggest natural explanation – they are never subtle or left incomplete.”[8] Healings are one of the ways that God validates His representative on earth. While Jesus healed many people in a general sense (Mark 1:32-34, 3:10, 6:53-56), there are eight specific healings in Mark’s Gospel.

In Jesus’s first healing, Peter’s mother-in-law was not struggling with a minor cold but with a life-threatening fever (Mark 1:29-31). Jesus took her by the hand, lifted her up, and the fever left her. Jesus restored both her health and strength so she could immediately serve. The Gospel of Luke records that Jesus “rebuked the fever” (Luke 4:39). However, Mark emphasizes that it was the act of Jesus raising her that accomplished the miracle instead of His words to rebuke the fever.[9]

The second healing recorded in Mark is that of the leper (Mark 1:40-45). According to Luke, the leper mentioned in this healing was “full of leprosy” (Luke 5:12). Healing a leper was regarded as difficult as raising the dead.[10] Only Mark records Jesus’s emotional reaction to the leper’s plea for mercy. He did not ask for healing; he declared Jesus’s authority in saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean” (Mark 1:40). The Gospel of Luke adds that the leper recognized Jesus as “Lord” (Luke 5:12). The leper’s recognition of Jesus as supreme authority led to his healing, cleansing, and restoration.

In the healing of the paralytic (Mark 2:1-12), Jesus demonstrated His “identity and the origin of the power He possesses.”[11] Jesus took into consideration the persistent faith of the paralytic’s friends. He asked the Pharisees what was easier, to say that the man’s sins were forgiven or to rise and walk (Mark 2:9). The answer to the question “reveals whether one believes in His deity.”[12] Jews believed that disease and affliction result from sin; thus, the paralytic would have gladly welcomed forgiveness of his sins. Both healing and forgiveness require God-given authority. The crowd could have reasoned that the man’s healing was proof that forgiveness had occurred. The Gospel of Matthew notes that the crowds “glorified God, who had given such power to men.” (Matthew 9:8).

The fourth healing detailed in Mark is of the man with the withered hand in the synagogue (Mark 3:1-6). The Pharisees stood by to see if they could accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath by healing the man (Mark 3:2). However, Jesus challenged the rigid Sabbath regulations of His day by asking the Pharisees if it was lawful to “do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill” on the Sabbath (Mark 3:4). He was making a reference to the Law, stating that not doing good or not saving a life is wrong and against God’s original intention of the Sabbath. While the Pharisees remained silent, Jesus healed the man with the withered hand, indicating His triumph in the challenge.[13] This miracle also made the people question the Pharisees' doctrine and believe in Jesus’s teachings and authority.

The healing of the woman with the issue of blood is the next recorded healing (Mark 5:25-34). Luke mentions that none of the doctors she consulted could heal her (Luke 8:43). Mark adds that she had spent all her money seeking doctors and cures but the condition only worsened, a detail not found in the other Gospels. This woman recognized her uncleanness according to the Law, so she crawled through the crowd to remain unseen. However, this woman had faith that she would receive her healing if she touched the hem of His garment. Jesus realized that divine power flowed from His body and knew that someone had touched him with faith, not just with a hand because many people were touching Him (Mark 5:31). In addition to making the woman well, both Mark and Matthew state that Jesus welcomed her back into the covenant by calling her “daughter” (Mark 5:34; Matt. 9:22). This term indicates that Jesus welcomed her into “the new family He has established.”[14]

The next healing is that of a deaf-mute man (Mark 7:31-37). There are cases in the Gospels where muteness is representative of a demonic spirit. However, this is not the case with this man. Jesus took the deaf-mute aside for a private and personal interaction. Jesus used a type of sign language to communicate to the man that He would restore his hearing and speech. Mark gives the Aramaic phrase, “Ephphatha,” which means “Be completely opened” (Mark 7:34).[15] After his complete healing, the man spoke clearly without any defect.

The healing of the blind man of Bethsaida is recorded only in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 8:22-26). It is also the only healing that occurs in two steps with the “broader narrative dynamics” of the Gospel of Mark.[16] Jesus restored the man’s vision after He prayed for him a second time. At first glance, it appears to be “a failed healing that Jesus has to rectify.”[17] However, this healing seems to be a metaphor for the disciples’ need for repetition to understand Jesus’s work here on earth.[18] It is also an example to follow for believers who pray and do not receive a full answer, to pray again until there are results.

The last recorded healing in Mark’s Gospel is blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52). Bartimaeus understood Jesus’s authority when he called Him “Son of David” twice (Mark 10:47-48). Bartimaeus first showed his faith by casting away his beggar’s garment. He had his faith tested when Jesus asked him what he wanted. Bartimaeus responded by asking for his sight instead of a few more coins to ease his suffering. This same faith is what made Bartimaeus well. In both Luke and Matthew’s versions of the story, the men recognize him as Lord (Luke 18:35-43; Matt. 20:29-34). Jesus instructs Bartimaeus to go his way after his healing; however, his faith makes him follow Jesus as a disciple.[19]

Deliverances

Jesus demonstrated His authority over Satan and his kingdom. He defeated Satan during His trials in the wilderness (Mark 1:12-13) and emerged to “announce and inaugurate the advent of a new King.”[20] Deliverance is the miracle that causes the people to marvel and recognize the God-given authority of Jesus. He further showed His sovereignty over the demonic powers by telling the demons to be silent about His identity.[21] The first depiction of the Miracle Worker in the Gospel of Mark is that of an exorcist. There are four deliverances, also called exorcisms, performed by Jesus in the Gospel of Mark.

The first deliverance that Jesus performed was in a synagogue in Capernaum (Mark 1:23-26). The demons instantly recognized Jesus’s holiness and deity by saying He was the “Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). Jesus gave two commands: the first was to be quiet, the second was to come out. Jesus commanded demons to be silent because He knew that there would be future charges of association with the prince of devils. He understood that these charges would fuel the Pharisees' theories of His power not coming from God but from the demonic realm. Luke parallels Mark’s account but with a further emphasis on Jesus’s power in His confrontation of evil (Luke 4:31-37).[22] The crowd’s response revealed the significance of Jesus’s authority and power when they said, “For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him” (Mark 1:27).[23]

The demoniac of the Gadarenes is a deliverance of seismic impact. Mark and Luke both focus on one man (Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39), while Matthew mentions two (Matt. 8:28-34). A man who possessed supernatural strength, acted like a wild animal, and lived in a cemetery seems like a work of fiction rather than reality. When Jesus arrived on the shore, the demons recognized Him immediately, worshipped Him, and begged for mercy (Mark 5:6-7, 10). The name Legion denotes the overpowering control the demons had over the man since it is a term defining a Roman military unit of at least 3,000.[24] When Jesus gave the command to depart, the demons requested not to return to the abyss but to enter a herd of swine (Luke 8:31; Mark 5:12). It is a scene of a “single mass drowning as unclean spirits drove the unclean animals to suicidal madness.”[25] After his deliverance, the man sat there cleansed, rational, and in his right mind. This man was one of the few that Jesus commanded to tell everyone what the Lord had done for him, also alluding to His deity since the man declared that it was Jesus who had made him whole. His testimony would lead to the salvation of others in that region (Matt. 14:34-36).

Jesus demonstrated His authority over the demonic realm in another way: distance (Mark 7:24-30). In the case of the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter, Jesus did not have to be near the girl to cast the demon out. Mark focuses on the woman’s ethnicity, a Syro-Phoenician, (Mark 7:26), while Matthew focuses on the woman’s religious and cultural implication, a Canaanite (Matt. 15:22). In Jesus’s testing of her faith, He refers to the Gentile woman as a dog, a challenge to her honor and reputation.[26] Devout Jews did not have any dealings with Gentiles since they believed that the covenant blessings of Abraham were for the Jews only, which included deliverance. However, Jesus welcomed this woman because of her great faith, persistence, and recognition of Him as Lord (Mark 7:24). She was entirely reliant upon His grace and received her daughter’s deliverance as a result. Mark mentions that she returned to her home to find her daughter delivered.

The last deliverance documented in Mark is that of a young boy (Mark 9:14-29). The boy’s father begs Jesus for his only child’s deliverance, recounting the multiple examples of the torments. Though these symptoms are commonly associated with epilepsy, both Mark and Matthew detail the underlying spiritual factor (Mark 9:25-26, 28; Matt. 17:15, 18-19).[27] The King James Version even describes the boy as a lunatic. Jesus chose to emphasize the power of faith with this deliverance. There is a suggested “synergy” between His power to cast out demons and the recipient’s faith.[28]

Wonders

The apostle Peter said that Jesus was “a Man attested by God… by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him” (Acts 2:22). God was at work through Jesus in the signs and wonders He performed.[29] Jesus showed many wonders during His earthly ministry, five of which are in the Gospel of Mark.

The first wonder recorded in Mark’s Gospel is when Jesus calmed the storm (Mark 4:35-41). Due to where the Sea of Galilee is on the map, storms can come unexpectedly and violently. Therefore, the disciples did not have an overreaction to the storm; they understood the dire situation they were in. However, their reaction also revealed their spiritual immaturity.[30] Earlier, Jesus said the word that they would cross over to the other side. He was so sure that this saying would come to pass that He was asleep in the stern. His peaceful sleep during the storm is an example of faith compared to the disciples’ lack of faith.[31] Jesus translated His state of being to the wind and waves by calming the storm, saying, “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39). Mark invites the reader to reflect on the identity of Jesus when he writes the disciples’ response, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him” (Mark 4:41).[32]

The feeding of the 5,000 was the second wonder recorded in Mark (Mark 6:30-44). This wonder demonstrates Jesus’s ability to provide for His followers in abundance.[33] Jesus had told His disciples to rest in a deserted place until the multitudes knew where to find them. At this time, Jesus recognized their spiritual need as well as their physical need. This wonder gives the image of Jesus as “a good shepherd who responds to the people’s need by teaching and feeding them.”[34] From a human perspective, feeding this massive crowd was expensive, if not impossible, as mentioned by the apostles (Mark 6:37). The number of people mentioned by Mark included only men, not women and children, which could have easily caused the total to increase to at least 20,000. The Gospel of John mentions that this was a testing point for Jesus’s disciples since He already knew what He would do (John 6:6). The small amount of food was enough in the hands of Jesus, who multiplied the provision into abundance. The disciples were in charge of the addition; Jesus was in charge of the multiplication.[35]

Jesus again showed another great wonder by walking on water (Mark 6:45-52). The disciples were caught in another storm on the Sea of Galilee, this time without Jesus. He was on the land praying. After supernaturally seeing His disciples’ struggling, He walked on water to where they were, unhindered by the storm. When Jesus walked on water, His intention to pass by His disciples suggests the idea of how God passed by in the Old Testament, alluding to His deity.[36] According to the original Greek, Jesus reassures His disciples that it was He by saying, “I am,” fully stating His designation of deity and authority.[37] The reader would recognize Jesus’s walking on water as a claim to His divine nature.[38] Mark is depicting an act that only God can do according to the Jewish Scriptures, “Who alone has stretched out the heavens, and walks on the seas as on firm ground” (Job 9:8, LXX).[39] John also adds that “immediately the boat was at the land where they were going,” denoting supernatural transportation from the storm to the shore (John 6:21).

Mark then records the wonder of feeding the 4,000 (Mark 8:1-9), also recorded in Matthew (Matt. 15:32-38). This wonder was another impossible supply situation, with at least 16,000 hungry people, including women and children. The crowd that gathered to hear Jesus was from a Gentile region, suggesting His compassion beyond the conventional Jewish cultural boundaries.[40] Even though the disciples still did not understand, Jesus did not rebuke them for their hardness of heart. He only asked how much food they had: seven loaves and a few fish (Mark 8:5, 7). Jesus used their inadequate resources to provide abundantly for the people.[41] He proved Himself to be Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides (Gen. 22:14).

The last wonder recorded in the Gospel of Mark is the withering of the fig tree (Mark 11:12-14, 20-26). Jesus demonstrated His authority as God’s representative over creation and strengthened His authority in the temple.[42] This particular wonder is a type of sandwich with Jesus cursing the fruitless fig tree, rebuking the faithless priests and scribes, and then explaining the withered fig tree.[43] Jesus used this wonder to teach about faith and prayer, also recounted in Matthew’s more condensed version (Matt. 21:18-22). It was to build the disciples’ faith and show them that there is an authority to change situations through prayer. The withered fig tree is related to the fruitless temple, the nation of Israel, and Jesus’s crucifixion, which is appropriate since this is the last recorded miracle of Jesus until His resurrection (Mark 16:1).

Resurrections

“Death is Satan’s ultimate affront to God’s original creative act.”[44] As stated previously, Jesus came to demonstrate the kingdom of God here on earth. There are two resurrection accounts in the Gospel of Mark.

The first resurrection that Jesus performed was raising the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:22-24, 35-43). This miracle begins as a healing story and turns into a marvelous demonstration of Jesus’s authority over death.[45] Jairus was seeking his daughter’s healing, not resurrection. It was while they were on the way to the house that the girl died. Jesus’s statement to the family and mourners that she was only sleeping implied that her death was temporal and reversible. Luke adds that “her spirit returned,” indicating that she had indeed died (Luke 8:55). Jesus even addressed the little girl as if she were still alive in the physical realm by saying, “Talitha, cumi” (Mark 5:41). Mark uses this phrase to attribute the miracle to the powerful words of Jesus alone, demonstrating that Jesus shares God’s power to raise the dead.[46]

The second, last, and most powerful miracle recorded was Jesus’s own resurrection from the dead (Mark 16:1-8). This miracle is the climax of all Jesus’s miracles, solidifying His authority and deity. He who became “last, least, and servant of all” through death became “first, greatest, and Lord of all” through resurrection.[47] The women who went to the tomb were not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead since they were bringing spices to anoint the dead body of Jesus and were surprised to see the stone rolled away from the tomb. The angel reassured the women that Jesus’s body had not been taken but resurrected. The saying, “He is risen,” is the central truth of the Christian faith and the only explanation for an empty tomb (Mark 16:6). Jesus’s resurrection establishes His faithfulness and triumph.[48]

Conclusion

Throughout the action-packed passion narrative, the Gospel of Mark focuses on the acts of Jesus that emphasize His supernatural nature. Jesus used these miracles to gather disciples, establish the kingdom of God on earth, and demonstrate His authority as God’s representative. He healed the sick, trampled the satanic realm, performed wonders beyond comprehension, and raised the dead back to life. Peter was correct when he called Jesus “a Man attested by God…by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him” (Acts 2:22). With all the miracles recorded, it is clear that the Gospel of Mark portrays Jesus as the Miracle Worker.

Bibliography

Elwell, Walter A., and Robert W. Yarbrough. Encountering the New Testament: a Historical and Theological Survey. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.

Johansson, Daniel Lars Magnus. “Jesus and God in the Gospel of Mark: Unity and Distinction.” PhD diss., The University of Edinburgh, 2012. ProQuest.

Kirk, J. R. Daniel. A Man Attested by God: The Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Mills, Kathleen Elizabeth. “The Kinship of Jesus: Christology and Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark.” PhD diss., Texas Christian University, 2013. ProQuest.

Stacy, Dr. Robert Wayne. “Matthew and Mark.” (lecture in NBST 515, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA). 

Swindoll, Charles R. Insights on Mark. Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, 2016. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Winn, Adam. Reading Mark’s Christology under Caesar: Jesus the Messiah and Roman Imperial Ideology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2018.

[1] Robert Wayne Stacy, “Matthew and Mark,” (lecture in NBST 515, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA), 7:30. [2]Charles R. Swindoll, Insights on Mark (Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, 2016), 15. [3] Adam Winn, Reading Mark's Christology under Caesar: Jesus the Messiah and Roman Imperial Ideology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2018), 93. [4] J. R. Daniel Kirk, A Man Attested by God : The Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016), 332. [5] Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passage references are in the New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982). [6] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 64. [7] Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: a Historical and Theological Survey (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 81. [8] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 54. [9] Daniel Lars Magnus Johansson, “Jesus and God in the Gospel of Mark: Unity and Distinction” (PhD diss., The University of Edinburgh, 2012), 96. [10] Ibid. [11] Winn, Reading Mark's Christology under Caesar, 75. [12] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 67. [13] Kathleen Elizabeth Mills, “The Kinship of Jesus: Christology and Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark” (PhD diss., Texas Christian University, 2013), 154. [14] Ibid., 177. [15] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 205. [16] Kirk, A Man Attested by God, 373. [17] Ibid., 372. [18] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 219. [19] Mills, “The Kinship of Jesus,” 258. [20] Stacy, “Matthew and Mark.” [21] Elwell and Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament, 80. [22] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 50. [23] Winn, Reading Mark's Christology under Caesar, 75. [24] Mills, “The Kinship of Jesus,” 173. [25] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 133. [26] Mills, “The Kinship of Jesus,” 203. [27] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 244. [28] Kirk, A Man Attested by God, 342. [29] Ibid., 227. [30] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 126. [31] Johansson, “Jesus and God in the Gospel of Mark,” 81. [32] Kirk, A Man Attested by God, 347. [33] Mills, “The Kinship of Jesus,” 192. [34] Johansson, “Jesus and God in the Gospel of Mark,” 189. [35] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 174. [36] Ibid., 178. [37] Ibid., 178. [38] Kirk, A Man Attested by God, 355. [39] Winn, Reading Mark's Christology under Caesar, 167. [40] Mills, “The Kinship of Jesus,” 208. [41] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 214. [42] Mills, “The Kinship of Jesus,” 263. [43] Swindoll, Insights on Mark, 296. [44] Ibid., 138. [45] Johansson, “Jesus and God in the Gospel of Mark,” 92. [46] Ibid., 93-94. [47] Kirk, A Man Attested by God, 246. [48] Mills, “The Kinship of Jesus,” 322.

* This post was originally submitted as an assignment for NBST 515 at Liberty University on March 29, 2021.