resultant picture is that of a writing that has been shaped by a specific audience, but without limiting itself to that audience.22 Mark certainly wrote for his immediate community but he also had in mind Christians all over the Empire who might find his writing beneficial and edifying.
Occasion and Purpose
To answer the questions of occasion and purpose we must depend substantially on our reconstruction of the origin of the writing, especially the dating, the provenance, and the audience. But the text itself may also play a part.
It has frequently been observed that Mark’s Gospel shows a heightened interest in discipleship, focusing especially on the suffering awaiting them, either in the form of repudiation or persecution. From this observation, it is often thought that Mark was written to an audience experiencing persecution from society or state. Thus Mark’s Gospel would have the purpose of reaffirming the importance of the gospel to a beleaguered community, and helping them fall in line with the way of the Lord, especially during times of persecution. The way of the cross is the way of Jesus, and this is the way that would lead ultimately to glory. History tells us Nero began an intense persecution of Christians in Rome in AD 64. This might have been the impetus for Mark’s Gospel to be written.23
The other possibility is that Mark intended to set in writing the oral apostolic tradition, especially Peter’s, as the band of apostles was passing away. This serves the purpose of preserving the tradition for future generations. The evidence from Papias lends support to such a theory, for he implies that Mark wrote before Peter’s death.
There is no need to choose between the two, as Mark could conceivably have had a few purposes in mind (including those not discussed earlier). Here it may be instructive to note the subtle difference, and yet inter-dependability, between occasion and purpose. The occasion which led to the writing may arguably have been the onset of persecution or the aging of the apostles. This might have triggered an intention to write a document to achieve not just one but a set of objectives.24 Such objectives may have been pastoral in nature, didactic or polemical (i.e., Mark might be countering some false teaching),25 or all of the above. So we need not come down firmly on a particular purpose.
Literary Characteristics
What sort of writing is the Gospel of Mark? Comparing it with the whole range of ancient literature, what comes closest to it is known as the bios or “Life.”26 This is an ancient form of biography, often written to encourage the audience to follow the example of the featured life. To be sure, Mark’s writing would appear rather different from such bioi in that the focus is on the passion and death of his “hero.” But what makes it different is the character not the genre. Mark wants his audience to know that his central character, Jesus of Nazareth, is unlike any other in the ancient world, indeed in the whole of human history. This character’s significance is intimately connected to his passion and death, and hence the nature of the focus. In this regard Mark is not inventing a new genre. Later on, others emulated his writing, and such writings became known as “Gospels” or churchly writings. It is only after this that one can speak of a new genre, or better, a sub-genre.
It may be claimed that Mark intended his writing to be read in the setting of worship (cf. Acts 2:42; 5:42; Col 4:15). Moreover, literacy rates were rather low in the ancient world.27 Hence Mark would have designed his work not for self-study but to be read aloud to Christian communities gathered at worship. Certain features of Mark’s text demonstrate this. His style is vivid (e.g., Mark 14:32–52; compare this with the parallel accounts in Matthew and Luke), and is often replete with dual expressions—a feature of oral communication and not formal writing. An example of this dual expression is found in Mark 1:32, where the time of the event is described as “evening, when the sun has set.” This may appear tautologous to the trained eye of a good writer. But for oral communication, such dual expressions make the message memorable. Furthermore, repetitiveness is a feature (e.g., the threefold passion prediction: 8:31; 9:31; 10:33), which helps especially a listening audience, who would not have the document to refer to. All these stylistic devices are in keeping with a text written for oral presentation.28
Certain corollaries follow. First of all, it calls into question the many complicated and convoluted chiastic structures proposed by scholars.29 How could a listener perceive such grand schemes and structures which are transparent only after sustained analysis? That said, this criticism must not be taken as rendering void all rhetorical studies of Mark’s text. Rather, it is to say, secondly, that we should expect Mark to employ small-scale techniques, utilizing small chunks of text so that the listener might not be lost in a wealth of details. Indeed, Mark makes use of flashbacks, small-scale chiastic structures, the sandwich technique for relating one story to the other, suspense, paradox, and topical arrangements. Such techniques hold the listeners’ interest, and help them to connect episodes or passages so that a profounder message may be perceived. Finally, it suggests that the structure of the book is straightforwardly simple and predominantly linear. Our proposed structure will take this into account. But before this is offered, we must consider an important datum often missed by scholars emphasizing that Mark’s Gospel is written for oral presentation.
In Mark 13:14, Mark inserts his editorial remark “let the reader understand.” This directive to the reader is important for our consideration of the kind of text Mark’s Gospel is. If Mark were written merely for oral presentation, we should expect the remark to be “let the listener understand.” The fact that the reader is alerted, without giving him explicit clues as to the meaning of the abomination of desolation, implies that this reader is no ordinary reader but someone who has been trained. He could then be expected to explain to the audience the meaning of v. 14. This certainly means he is also expected to explain or clarify Mark’s teaching to the audience.
Moreover, Mark’s text is too long for a one-sitting reading. A reader must know the appropriate points to stop his reading. He must be guided by the contents, rather than by length. Thus we should expect a clear structure to be found and clear indications of breaks in the text.
If the above conjectures are correct, an important rider must be added to the valid concept of the Gospel of Mark being written for oral presentation. It is a bios, written for oral presentation by an informed or trained reader, who has the duty to study his text so he knows where to stop the reading for the day, and so he can prepare himself to explain certain aspects of it to his audience. Therefore, we must allow for some sophistication to Mark’s Gospel, even if the structure is straightforwardly simple.
We can now present a proposed structure for it. We argued earlier for a structure that is clear and simple. Two cues are provided at the beginning and at the end respectively. First, Mark has announced his primary subject matter right at the start—the gospel of Messiah Jesus—and this must guide us in our construal of the structure. The second is obtained by considering the sort of denouement Mark has adopted for his narrative. Scanning through the text, one observes that the Passion narrative takes on a prominent role. Moreover, Mark narrates only one trip of Jesus to Jerusalem, which is a climactic and fateful one. Of course, Jesus would have made many trips to that city, historically speaking. So Mark’s narration of only one trip indicates to us where his narrative emphasis is, and what sort of structure he is adopting. It describes the progression of Jesus’ gospel ministry, using a geographical approach that is easily remembered: beginning with Galilee and ending with Jerusalem.
The Structure of Mark
I. The Beginning of the Gospel (1:1–13)
II. The Gospel in Galilee: The Mighty Acts of the Messiah
(1:14—8:21)
1:14–15 Jesus’ Inaugural Gospel Message
1:16–45 Typical Activities of Jesus’ Ministry
2:1—3:6 Conflict with Religious Authorities
3:7–12
