Inter-Varsity Press

CONTENTS
Introduction
Why address the topic?
Approach and method
The cross at a distance: God up close

1 The cross and the abolition of religion

The bridegroom in Mark ’s story of the cross
The bridegroom present and taken away
Jesus and the abolition of religion
Jesus and the establishment of faith
Jesus, faith and the reader

2 The necessity of the cross

The cross in Mark ’s central section
Prediction 1
Prediction 2
Prediction 3
The promise of resurrection
The impossible possibility
The necessity of the cross in Mark ’s world

3 The cross as ‘the end of the world ’

Mark 13:apocalyptic preparation for the passion
The arrival of the last days
Mark 13 in the context of the Gospel
The cross as the great distress
Mark 14:preparations for Jesus ’death
The cross as the end of the world

4 The cross: where God comes close

The climax of Mark’s Gospel
The world officially rejects the Messiah
The mockery of the Messiah
The death of Jesus
God with us
The gods and the crucified God

5 The cross, resurrection and the hope of humanity

Mark ’s denouement: the crucified one is risen
The Son of Man is risen!
The empty tomb: what happened to the body?
The apotheosis of Roman emperors
Apotheosis and resurrection in Mark ’s story
Crucifixion, resurrection and human hope

Bibliography
Index of modern authors
Index of Scripture references
Index of ancient sources

Extracts:

Introduction

At nine o’clock in the morning on 3 April in the year now known as ad 33, a Jew, Jesus of Nazareth, was put to death on a Roman cross. That event changed the world. Why?

There were many who proclaimed Jesus’ death to the world. Mark was one of them. This series of lectures will explore what Mark has to say about the cross of Jesus Christ.

Why address the topic?

There are several reasons why this is an important topic to address.

The exegetical reason

First, there is simply the exegetical issue. The importance of the cross of Christ to the Gospels, and especially to Mark’s Gospel, has often been noticed. Because they devote so much narrative space to the cross, they have been called ‘passion narratives with extended introductions’. This is certainly true of Mark. Of sixteen chapters, three are dedicated to the passion narrative (18%), but six more deal with Jesus’ journey to the cross (which takes it up to 56%). Even before we get to that journey, the cross of Christ casts its shadow over the early stages of Mark’s story. If the cross has such prominence in Mark, it is worth asking why it is so important. What is the significance of Jesus’ death to this Gospel that Mark released upon the world so long ago?

The polemical reason

Secondly, there is the polemical issue. In the past, one of the marks of Protestantism in general, and of evangelical Protestantism in particular, has been a focus on the cross of Christ. In this tradition, Jesus’ death has been understood in a forensic context, as the great event in which the Son of God gave his life as a substitute for us, so that he bore the wrath of God, the due penalty for our sin, instead of us. This view of Christ’s work on the cross, often described as the penal substitutionary view of the atonement, has long been criticized by those outside the evangelical tradition. More recently, it has also begun to be criticized by some within evangelicalism. Even though I shall not often explicitly address the details of this debate, it should be kept in mind as we examine Mark’s teaching on the atonement. What contribution can Mark make to this important discussion? The question should not be Can we squeeze Mark’s view of the atonement into a predetermined theory derived from our dogmatics? but rather: Does the theory find any support from Mark? We also need to be open to the fact that our study of Mark may force us to improve our dogmatic formulations. We may, in the end, agree that penal substitutionary atonement is supported by Mark, and at the same time agree that this dogmatic formulation needs to be constantly enriched with the complexity of the biblical data.

The practical reason

Then there is the practical reason. When we seek to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others, what should we say?

Evangelicalism has had a high commitment to evangelism. In the context of evangelistic ministry, it is easy for ministers of the gospel to develop their own favourite ways of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. These can tend towards stereotypical phraseology, and the explanation of Jesus’ death can be given in a fairly abstract fashion. Some of the images and illustrations that have been developed within evangelicalism have rightly been criticized for their serious inadequacies - if not heresies! - even though they have had a pride of place in gospel presentations for many years. Once gospel ministers have developed their own favourite way of presenting the good news,these methods can become like a straight-jacket to gospel preaching.

As a friend once said to me, ‘I find it hard to say what I want to say from the Gospels’. Should it not be the other way around? If the Gospels are our foundational documents, themselves written to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we need to hear what they have to say, and to modify our own presentation of the gospel in line with these original sources. Our presentation of the gospel can only be the richer for the experience. How can Mark’s teaching on the cross correct and inform our own preaching of the gospel to the contemporary world?