Kata Markon

["Rikki E. Watts" <rwatts AT interchange.ubc.ca>]

Steve,

More has been written on this than one would want to recapitulate.  IMHO,
unlike most, there's no real problem.  I think however that the key is not
to treat every seam as a sign of redactional incompetence but to ask why
Mark has stitched his narrative together as he has.  In my view Mark's
overall point is that Jesus speaks to the crowd in parables because they
reveal both Yahweh's saving intention and the secrets of their hearers'
hearts.  The crowds are urged to listen carefully because how they hear will
determine whether they receive more (i.e. are given the mystery of the
kingdom and have everything explained as they gather around Jesus and thus
are on the inside) or whether what little they have will be taken away (in
rejecting Jesus finding themselves on the outside).  In other words this is
not predestinarian as some have understood it, but reflects a prophetic
pattern as found in Isaiah (to which Mark's Jesus' appeals).

I would also suggest that there are three--not two--categories of people in
Mark 4--insiders, outsiders, and the larger undecided crowds--and that the
first two at least are defined in the preceding Beelzebul controversy which
provides the setting for Mark's parables chapter.

In the Beelzebul controversy (3.20-35), Jesus is teaching his true family
who are gathered around him inside (!) a house.  Leaders from Jerusalem (on
the scene for the first time) offer official Israel's assessment: they
reject him.  In introducing Jesus' response Mark tells us that Jesus
responds with a parable (here for this first time, v.23) which I think also
prepares us for ch.4.  Jesus implies that his casting out of demons
signifies the inauguration of Israel's long-awaited deliverance (Isa 49.24
in v.27) and warns that rejecting the Spirit's work through him (see Mk
1.10ff and the exodus imagery of water, desert, sonship; on the latter Ex
4.22) amounts to a repetition of Israel's Spirit-grieving rebellion/idolatry
during the first exodus (v.29; Barrett sees here an appeal to Isa 63.10's
recollection of that judgment).  From Mark's perspective this is a fateful
moment for Israel: she is now a house divided--inside/outside--and only
those who side with Jesus will enjoy Yahweh's deliverance.

It is on this basis that Mark then offers Jesus' rationale for speaking in
parables (Mk 4.1-34) and that built around Isa 6.9f.  In Isa 6.9f idolatrous
Israel, already having declared herself guilty by means of a juridical
parable (!, Isa 5.1ff; cf. Mk 12.1ff), has her judgment effected through
Isaiah's word which confirms her in the image of the blind and deaf idols
she worships (cf. Beale, Ps 115, 135).  This is then carried out in Isa 7f
where Isaiah, using parable(!)-names, announces Yahweh's salvation.  The
offer is real, but Ahaz' idolatrous heart means he is blind and deaf to the
offer and, in rejecting it, leads the nation to disaster.  The same pattern
applies in Mark.  In Jesus, Yahweh is offering salvation (Mk 1), but is met
with continued opposition (Mk 2-3).  In the Beelzebul controversy this
resistance comes to a head when Israel's leadership repudiates Jesus and
thereby puts itself firmly on the outside.  For Mark this rebellion is of
course a form of idolatry and, just like those of Isaiah, Jesus' parables
confirm the idolatrous blindness and deafness, and thus judgment, of those
who refuse to accept what Yahweh is doing through him.

But although the leadership has taken this position, Israel at large,
represented by the undecided crowds, has not.  They too must make a decision
about Jesus and his announcement of the kingdom and hence the repeated
warnings to be careful how they hear.  If they hear well they will join the
disciples around Jesus (a newly reconstituted Israel) and have the mystery
of the kingdom given to them in further explanation; but if they reject,
even what little they have will be taken away (vv.24f).  This at the very
least is the (a) point of the parable of the soils.

Ultimately, the leadership's rejection of Jesus means that Jerusalem and her
temple will suffer the same fate as predicted by the prophets of old (cf.
again Isa 5.1ff in Mk 12.1ff).

Hope this helps.  It's written up in more detail in my ISAIAH'S NEW EXODUS
IN MARK, 144-56, 182-210.

Rikk

PS Ted, as one who was impressed by Bailey's presentation, I'm looking
forward to your installment.