Kata Markon

["Ted Weeden" <weedent AT atw.earthreach.com>]

III. Mark’s Leitmotiv and Human Lack of Awareness

In my judgment, the major motif that drives the gospel drama from beginning to end is the identity motif, specifically the christological identity motif. It is the gospel’s leitmotiv, its raison d’etre. It is what produces the gospel genre and makes it, in both form and content, a christological drama, and not a "bio" as is more nearly the case of Matthew and Luke. This leitmotiv, which Mark ingeniously and deftly employs to drive his drama from the gospel’s opening proclamation (1:1) to its closing Easter proclamation in the empty tomb (16:6), to my knowledge has not been recognized as such before (Note: if someone is aware of a scholar who has identified this Markan leitmotiv and its dramatic function, please let me know). This christological identity motif is what shadows, animates, shapes and propels the course of the relationship between Jesus and his disciples through out the gospel drama, from the period when the disciples are totally unperceptive of Jesus’ christological identity (1:16-8:26) to the period when they clash with Jesus over his self-defined christology and finally reject both Jesus’ self-defined christology and Jesus himself (8:27-14:72).

Let me now articulate how Mark uses his christological identity motif, his gospel’s leitmotiv, to convince his hearers of the correctness of his own christological position and to persuade them of how wrongheaded is his opponents’ christology. With the issue of the Petrine denial in mind, I concentrate specifically on the hearers’ experience of how the Markan leitmotiv functions to unfold, drive and shape the outcome of the relationship between Jesus and his disciples, a relationship which finally ends in Peter’s denial.

Mark introduces his christological identity motif to his hearers in the very first line of his gospel: namely, thus: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus *Christ, the Son of God.*" My guess is that the first hearers– ninety-eight percent of whom were probably illiterate and thus needed to have the gospel read to them– were already familiar with that appellation, "Christ, the Son of God," as the christological identity by which Jesus was known, at least by some in the Markan community– likely Mark’s opponents. But what they do not know, at the outset of their first hearing of the gospel, is what specific meaning Mark will give those particular christological titles in the course of his drama. My guess also is that the first hearers of the gospel, not knowing at first hearing how the drama will unfold, are not prepared for how long it will take for humans in the narrative world of the gospel to become aware of Jesus’ christological identity. Nor do I believe the first hearers were prepared for the way Jesus responds to the disclosure of his christological identity in the course of the drama.

After introducing the motif to the hearers in the real world in 1:1, Mark proceeds to introduce the issue of Jesus’ unique identity to the narrative world. It is the followers of John the Baptist who are the first to be informed in that world that Jesus has a unique nature. John prepares them for Jesus’ appearance by announcing that "after me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose scandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie" (1:7). But the Baptizer does not reveal to the narrative world the name of the "mightier" one, nor does he give to him a title.

Following John’s announcement, Mark moves Jesus on stage to be baptized by John. It is then that the hearers hear a confirmation of a least one of the titles Mark ascribes to Jesus in the opening sentence of the gospel. In a heavenly epiphany at Jesus’ baptism, God proclaims that Jesus is in fact God’s Son (1:11). However, aside from Jesus, no other persons in the narrative world appear to be privy to this divine pronouncement.

A bit later in the drama an unclean spirit, when confronted by Jesus, declares (1:24): "I *know* who you are, the Holy One of God." But apparently only Jesus and the hearers of the drama pick up on this title which the unclean spirit confers on Jesus. No human in the narrative world acknowledges the information that the unclean spirit has just provided. The humans in the scene remain focused, as they were before the unclean’s spirit revelation, on Jesus’ teaching (1:21f., 27), and not on his identity. Then the hearers hear that on the evening of the same day Jesus conducts a mass exorcism but "would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him’’ (1:34). This silencing of the demons by Jesus must have come as a surprise to the first hearers because the point of the Christian gospel is to proclaim the good news about Jesus, not to silence it. Yet, strangely, Jesus does silence the "good news" of his identity.

It is at this point that Mark utilizes here and again at 3:11– where Jesus forbids the demons to reveal their awareness that Jesus is the Son of God– a dramatic device which has been inappropriately identified since Wrede as "the messianic secret." The purpose of the device is both for dramatic effect and for christological control (see below). As a dramatic effect, the silencing of the demonic christological confessions functions to pique the hearers’ interest and captivate their attention. It also serves as a foil set over against the dense incomprehension of the humans in the drama. As such it draws attention to the stark contrast between the demonic that knows who Jesus is but cannot divulge it and the humans in the drama who, even if they heard the demons’ revelation, appear, in their denseness, to be oblivious to such revelations (1:24; 5:7). (Note: my use of the word "foil" throughout this essay is unconventional in that I use it with its meaning being both to enhance "the greater" by comparison to the "lesser," which is the accepted meaning of the word, as well as use it with a meaning that underscores, even more so, the devaluation of "the lesser" by comparison with the "greater." If one of you knows a dramatic word that carries the latter meaning. Please let me know.)

This Markan dramatic device serves as effective narrative foil against which Mark introduces the next occurrence of the identity motif to the hearers. This time the identity motif is employed to set off in bas relief the contrast between the fact that the disciples’ are suppose to be the beneficiaries of secret information and interpretation no one else can be privy to (4:11-12, 33-34) and their actual performance vis-a-vis their insiders’ gift of discernment. Following the stilling of the storm at sea and after accompanying Jesus during his amazing feats of healing and exorcisms, the disciples ask themselves, "Who is this that wind and sea obey him?" (4:41). Ironically, with all their insiders’ privileged information, the disciples are no closer to figuring out who Jesus is than are any other humans in the narrative world The hearers, I submit, must be wondering at this point, "why can’t these specially chosen and closest companions of Jesus recognize who he is?"

Mark follows Jesus’ stilling of the storm with yet one more clear identity clue for the benefit of the narrative world. Arriving in the territory of the Gerasenes after a boat trip over the sea which he has just calmed, Jesus is greeted by an unclean spirit who, when he spots Jesus in the distance, runs to worship him and cries out (5:7), "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" Once again no human in the narrative world, disciples or otherwise, pick up on this identity proclamation, even though the demoniac’s acclamation is the correct answer to the question the disciples raised following Jesus’ stilling of the storm.

Mark scripts the dramatic emergence of the identity motif to occur next during Jesus’ visit to his hometown. After Jesus teaches in the synagogue, those who hear Jesus are astonished and question among themselves (6:2f.), "Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands! Is not this the carpenter....?" The hearers of the Markan drama now discover that Jesus’ hometown people are just as dense and imperceptive as the disciples and all other humans in the drama. By now the hearers, I suspect, are asking themselves when is someone going to recognize the true nature of Jesus?