Kata Markon

["L. J. Swain" <larry.swain AT wmich.edu>]

The problem with MacDonald's approach here is not only does it assume a
lot on the part of the audience, but from what evidence we do have of
Greek readers making something of Mark, this is exactly what they did
NOT make of the text.

Ray Pickett wrote:


>
>
>      ----- Original Message -----
>      From: JFAlward AT aol.com
>      To: Kata Markon
>      Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 12:19 PM
>      Subject: [gmark] Mark's Young Man is Homer's Elpenor
>
>      MacDonald believes Mark uses the young man to foreshadow
>      Jesus' death.   The
>      Greek-speaking readers of his time would know the
>      traditional story of the
>      naked Elpenor's going off to Hades, so they would connect
>      the presence of the
>      naked young man with death--or the foreshadowing of a
>      death.  At Jesus'
>      capture, Mark has this young man appear out of nowhere, lose
>      his clothes (his
>      soul sheds his body), and run away. The young man symbolizes
>      Jesus, and the
>      loss of his clothes represents Jesus' death.   After the
>      foreshadowing of
>      Jesus' death by the flight of the naked young man, Jesus is
>      taken away and
>      killed, but MacDonald says that Mark is not yet done with
>      that young man; he
>      will bring him back to his readers later, when he puts him
>      in Jesus' empty
>      tomb.  (Excerpted from "Odysseus and Jesus" at
>
>      
> ttp://sol.sci.uop.edu/~jfalward/Odysseus_and_Jesus_Visit_Hades.html)______________________________________________________________________________________________________Pickett
>      response: Well, I guess that's a possibility, but it sure
>      seems to assume a lot on the part of the audience. My
>      interpretation is based more on internal evidence regarding
>      what appears to me to be a baptismal motif in Mark. I
>      addition to Mark's account of Jesus' baptism evoking
>      associations with their own baptism, the passion predictions
>      in 8-10, which I take to be a catechetical section  (similar
>      to Via, though he doesn't acknowledge the baptismal theme),
>      expound the values and conduct befitting those who would
>      identify with Jesus in death. The third passion prediction
>      is followed by an explicit reference to baptism (10:35-45)
>      and the alternative notions of honor/power which are
>      presented as normative for the community. As a number of
>      responses have indicated, this enigmatic figure or symbol
>      can lead to endless speculation. But Mark's narrative is so
>      tight, that in order for an interpretation of any
>      particulary pericope to be persuasive it needs to relate
>      somehow to how the narrative works as a whole. In that
>      respect I guess it is ultimately a matter of what we think
>      about the rhetorical strategy or use of this Gospel in its
>      original setting. Regards, Ray Pickett
>
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