The Gospel stories are written by those in dominant, and literate, power
over the sort of illiterate people that the stories are written about.
They can easily be misunderstood, when given a religious coating.

CHAPTER 1 -TAKING THE GOSPEL AS A WHOLE. CHAPTER 1 -TAKING THE GOSPEL AS A WHOLE.

Mark is commonly taken as a series of statements or anecdotes
loosely connected by a common set of main characters.
However it can, maybe should, be read as a story,
or presented as an oral performance.

The way that Mark and the other Gospels are presented to us
depends on the doctrine of the "interpretitive community",
who have taken the, often fragmented, original and translated it,
into the words and structures that we have today.

Thinking of Mark as a set of scriptural truths or lessons
blocks the recognition of Mark as a tale of intense drama.

Marks' story is set in the remote district of Galilee and then in Jerusalem,
In Galilee meetings take place at village centres on the hillsides.
In Jerusalem meetings are hidden away when not involved in acute disputes
with the city and temple authorities.

CHAPTER 2 -A SUBMERGED PEOPLE'S HISTORY. CHAPTER 2 -A SUBMERGED PEOPLE'S HISTORY.

Mark is a story about a renewal movement among a people subjected to dominant empire.
That story has largely been lost by treating it as "Holy Scripture"
but the theological reading is often at odds with the historical.

Removing the religious veil may allow us to see that:
Statements about the Kingdom of God could be more earthly and immediate
The Commandments at Mark 10:17 on could be more about economic relations.
As with other situations the view of the subject people has been subsumed by that of the dominant power.
Similarly
Christianity rather than political change is what has been presented as important in the Gospel accounts.
The whole story of Israel is one of struggle against dominant power. At the time of Jesus, that was Roman power.
It had already resulted in numerous rebellions and the consequent reprisals. More were to come!
Such rebellions built on the legends of the Escape from Egypt and the acient prophecies.
These included the story of the Messiah, who would redeem the nation.

Jews believed that they lived under the direct rule of God, without oppressive human rulers.
To render tribute, in service or tribute, to a human ruler was to deny that relationship.
Yet imposed taxes were impoverishing the people, particularly in Galilee.

Mark tells a story of Jesus spearheading a movement in the Galilean area.
His story has become deeply embedded under religius interpretations.
Two reasons can be seen for toour failure to appreciated the historical nature of the story:
1. The book, like all such literature, is produced by, and for, the elite educated classes.
2. We tend to lump all Jews as one, rather than realise their class and cultural divisions.

Two modern Weestern assumptions help to block our recognition of what Jesus is doing:
1. The modern individualism brought about by loss of rural community life.
2. The assumption of separate existence of religious institutions.
So we fail to see that when Jesus is said to be "entering a synagogue"
he was not attending a religious service, but a village assembly.

Mark's Jesus is a leader of a revolutionary movement
spreading his message throughout the villages of Galilee
by attending the village assemblies and avoiding the big cities.
He attempts to unite them in solidarity against their rulers.
Mark claims that this is the fulfillment of Israel's history.

The story would also have resonated with the rural poor of surrounding areas,
and thence perhaps into the poverty stricken slums of the cities,
though the reading of such tracts as Mark's Gospel.

CHAPTER 3 -AN ORAL PERFORMANCE. CHAPTER 3 AN ORAL PERFORMANCE.

The original recipients of Mark probably could not read.
The Gospel would have been read to them by a storyteller.
In Judea, at the time of Jesus, literacy was under ten percent.
The reading would have taken the form of a performance
with the text only written later, if at all.

Mark's seeming quotations from scripture
commonly seem to be astray because they refer to local tradition
rather than to any written text.

The purpose of Mark's stories is to evoke meaning to an audience,
using ideas and traditions already familiar to that audience.
Today we start from a different perspective.

(However the spread of the message to groups outside Judaism
must imply that that message was not wholly dependent
on a scriptural-aware background.)

Mark's overall story is developed in five major acts:
1. A campaign of healing leading to a teaching in 4:1-34
2. A second campaign in Galilee and the Decapolis, to 8:26
3. The prophecy of death and the journey to Jerusalem, to 10:52
4. Confrontation and teaching in Jerusalem, to 13:37
5. The Last Supper, betrayal and death.
The acts are repetitive and closely linked to aid remembrance.
The Kingdom of God forms an overall theme of the message,
as does the conflict between Jesus and authority.

Mark's stories contains repetitive patterns
to assist remembrance and appreciation by the hearer.
They are able to anticipate the outcome within each "act".

Mark has become seen as a narrative of suffering, but is more than this.
The final suffering of Jesus is predicted, and thus becomes predictable.
The embedded story is that of the coming of God's Kingdom
and thus the conquest of good over evil.
To appreciate Mark as an oral performance, we need to understand the context;
the world in which the performance was performed.
The main struggle in the Gospel is not between Jews and Gentiles
but between Peasants and Overlords, both Roman and Jewish.
Jesus affirms the Jewish traditions practiced in the villages
against the formal legalism imposed by the authorities.

CHAPTER 4 DISCIPLES BECOME DESERTERS. CHAPTER 4 DISCIPLES BECOME DESERTERS.

The disciples frustrate Jesus, as they fail to understand his message.
It is the same for us, as we assume supernatural intervention
rather than a parabolic portrayal of a a practical reality.
Even this author is constrained by his preconceptions.
The disciples are called to "fish" people from the start,
yet they consistently fail to understand the message.
By the time that he leaves them, they are still not ready to take a leadership role
and they take no active roles in the confrontations preceding his death.

Most modern theologians believe that Mark's Gospel is about discipleship.
From this perspective, we are asked to see ourselves in the story and adjust our behaviour.
We may be shown how the disciples went astray and then encouraged to amend our ways!
It creates a specific form of ultra, and not very attractive, Christian piety
but may resonate with people living under oppressive regimes.
It is also embedded in much traditional doctrine,
where the disciples are treated with a reverence
which is noteably missing in Mark's account.

Mark's Gospel is a story for and about the people of an ancient empire,
which dominates their lives into a drives them into poverty.
The twelve disciples are representatives in this story
of the twelve tribes to whom the message is directed,
The disciples are sent out to speak and heal in the rural villages.
(This took place in village squares and meeting places,
rather than in any building set apart for the purpose.)
However their role is representative, throughout, of the twelve tribes,
which fail to understand the words of Jesus, reject him,
and finally have him killed.

Even when Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah
he is forbidden to speak about it,
because his understanding of the role is wrong.
It is not a secret, but an incorrect interpretation.
Mark 8:28-23 is thus a confrontation, not a confession of faith.

The rest of the section is then virtually devoted to shpowing that
the agenda of the disciples is virtually the opposite of Jesus's agenda.
We get the appearance of Elijah and Moses
He continued to teach them, "but they did not understand and were afraid to ask".
In the story of the time in Jerusalem, the negative portrayl of the disciples continues.
Finally they abandon him to his fate, leaving the women to carry the can.
Even Peter, after his final betrayal at the High Priest's, remains in Jerusalem,
rather than following Jesus to Galilee, as the women were told to tell him.

It would appear that the disciples were broken reeds.
However they were 'reeds' on which the embryo movement was based
and it was their creed on which its doctrine was formed.
Peter and the twelve became authoritive in the early church.

However, Marks' story would seem to contradict that early creed,
quoted by St Paul as "according to the scriptures" (1 Co 15:4-5).
Marks' story ends with the instruction to continue the movement back in Galilee.

By the time that Mark was writing, James and Peter were the established leaders, in Jerusalem.
it may be that Mark's account is a deliberate attempt to undermine that role
and establish a more egalitarian regime, contray to the concepts of Paul
and those already established as authorities in the early church.
However such an interpretatation would not be welcomed
by our monarchical clerical establishment!

CHAPTER 5 GETTING THE WHOLE STORY. CHAPTER 5 GETTING THE WHOLE STORY.

Mark's Gospel is often portrayal as a new religion, Christianity,
and its break from the religion of Judaism;
nor is it a lesson in individual discipleship.

That Jesus was crucified, implies that he was viewed
as a leader of popular insurrection, by the Romans,
even if the priests saw him as a challenge to their authority.
This challenge, to authority and good order, can be seen throughout the story.
It is the dominant focus of the plot of Mark's Gospel.
We then need to examine the various sub-stories in the light of that plot.
The "miracles" become actions that are leading towards revolution.
The Kingdom of God becomes a place where Roman rule is overthrown.
The teaching and parables are routes towards that result.
However the model for change is non-violent subversive Love.

From the response to Jesus in the villages of Galilee, and elsewhere,
it is plain that Jesus is building a sizable following.
It starts with John's ministry in the wilderness
to prepare the way for the coming Messiah,
who will lead the people in a new exodus,
as Moses led his people from Egypt.
The Kingdom of God refers to the renewal of God's direct rule.
The sending out of the twelve refers to the renewal of the tribes of Israel.

Any sickness was, in those days, attributed to a person's sin.
So healing of a sickness equated to forgiveness of that sin
and thus a return to the covental relationship with God,
and joining with the new renewal movement.

The healing stories contain hidden depths.
The "woman with the issue of blood" had been suffering for twelve years,
and the, healed, daughter of the lcoal synagogue is twelve years old.
Both represent Israel - hemorrhaging due to exploitation by foreign powers
and nearly dying just as she comes to child-bearing age.
Jesus is seen as the solution to both situations.

Mark presents Jesus as involved in a systematic programme of renewal
following the pattern and the legends of the prophets, Moses and Elijah,
promoting the renewal of village communal life according to the Mosaic covenant.
This is endorsed by a mountain-top meeting where Jesus is shown as their equal,
rather than as being the prime focus of that encounter.

His movement expands beyond the boundaeries of Israel,
and challenges the ruling institutions and their rulers.
His actions undermine the functions of the Temple authorities
and thus the foundations of their income and their power.
He escalates this by his pronouncements in Jerusalem,
such parables as that of the Violent Tenants (Mk 12:1-12)
and the Messianic claim implicit in his mode of entry.

In the Last Supper, celebrating the exodus liberation,
Jesus calls up the orignal covenant ceremony (Ex 24:3-8)

In the Roman world there was an expanding gulf between the haves and the have-nots.
The overarching dominant power was Roman, but this was filtered through lesser levels of authority.
The function of lower levels was to pass funds and information upward,
whilst the upper levels provided support and security for the lower.
The lowest level was bled white so as to feed those above them.
In Galilee, Herod Antipas was the peak of the structure,
In Judea it was the High Priest and Roman Governor.
The Temple remained an instrument of the Empire.

In the revolt that was to follow in 66AD
the main protagonists were, in the first place,
the peasants and the priests, rather than Jews and Romans.
The actions of Jesus could be seen as forerunning that confrontation
and was mirrored by other popular, peasant, leaders of the time.
Marks' story assumes the existence of that confrontation,
including the possibility of a violent end,
in "taking up the Cross".

Mark's story deals with the situation in vilage communitities
and Jesus speaks to village meetings, not religious buildings.
These communities had ways and traditions at variance with
those of the priestly aristocracy, based on Jerusalem.
Is it not the same today,
in the difference between the "woke" generation , based in London,
and the earthy, more practical, ways of the industrial Midlands.

CHAPTER 6 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST ROMAN RULE . CHAPTER 6 THE STRUGGLE AGAINST ROMAN RULE .

Throughout the period there were revolts amongst the peasantry
followed by brutal, if local, Roman reprisals.
These are referred to in the imagery of Mark 13
(These events led, eventually, to the Great Revolt of the 60s.)
Mark's Jesus warns that persecution is to be expected,
but assures that delivery is both certain and imminent.
The "desolating sacrilege", Mark 13:14, refers to Roman action
and the chapter focuses on opposition to Roman rule.

Exorcism features heavily in the first part of the story of Jesus.
Thereafter "Satan" appears to be replaced by "the Son of Man".
This spiritualised battle represents the conflict with the Satanic power of Rome
and the struggle against the unclean and demonic spirits of imperialism.
Giving this a immaterial reality allows the situation, of hopeless domination
to be accepted, lived with, without resorting to violence or despair.
Thus ancient Galileans could see their lives as caught up in the struggle,
of supernatural forces, between their God and Imperial Rome.
The belief that God was ultimately in control
allowed them to persist in their traditional ways of life
and avoid suicidal confrontation with Roman authority.

The story of the Gadarene Swine is fairly explicit in its exposure of the imagery,
for it is the Roman forces which are cast into the sea.
At this point in the Gospel story exorcisms end
and the real battle takes their place.

CHAPTER 7 JESUS V THE PHARISEES. CHAPTER 7 JESUS V THE PHARISEES.

The pharisees are typified as hypocrites; the bad guys, who harass Jesus.
The scribes and pharisees survey every move fo Jesus, critically.
Jesus carries out his mission is contrast and opposition to them
and they oppose him at evry point.

The Scribes and Pharisees are those sent from higher authority in Jerusalem
to convert the rural communities to the modern understanding of The Law,
from the more primitive, and perhaps practical, oral interpretation
which had grown up over the centuries that Israel and Judea were apart
and had survuved, along with its rejection of Temple authority,
the time since they have been brought closer together.

Jesus was a proclaimer of the local oral version of the Torah;
the Pharisees proclaimed that of the literate elite in Jerusalem.

We might think, like the Essene community in Qumran, that the Torah
had been considerably "watered down" in the Jerusalem version,
or perhaps adjusted to fit the needs of a wealthy clientele.
Many might see the popular version as a criticism of elite beliefs
and thus of the authority that those supporting them proclaimed.

CHAPTER 8 RENEWING COVENANTAL COMMUNITY. CHAPTER 8 RENEWING COVENANTAL COMMUNITY.

It is informative that the word "new" does not appear in the more ancient manuscripts of:
"This is my blod of the new covenant, which is poured out for many (Mk 14:24)
Jesus was not instituting a new covenant but confirming an old one.(page178)
Papyrus Fragment Versions
340-350 "the covenant" (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, )
250 AD "that of the covenant" (Bezae Cantabrigiensis)
400 AD "that of the new covenant" (Alexandrinus)
Mark is not so much concerned with individuals as with community.
But this is not the formation of new communities by individuals moving from the old,
Mark's story emphasises the continuity between Judaism and the teaching of Jesus.
The portrayal of Christianity as an urban religion derives from the writings of Pasul,
but the work of Jesus was in the rural villages, where the bulk of the people lived.
The vast slums of the Empire were a later phenomenon>

Older Christian ideas understood Jesus as breaking free of the minutae of Jewish Law,
as represented by the Scribes and Pharisees,so that new communities could be formed,
which would then attract Gentiles who might be put off by soem Jewishrituals.
However a truer reading sees Jesus as reaffirming the most fundamental Jewish traditions.
His audience are thus identifyingwith with basic Israelite Law,
derived from the popular tradition of the Nothern kingdom,
and contrasting with the written Law of Jerusalem.

The teaching of Jesus on covenant renewal appears in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke
as the Sermons on the Mount and on the Plain, and related aspects.
Since they do not appear in Mark, they must have come from "Q"
the common source of non-Markan material.

In Mark Chapeter 10, Jesus delivers a series of general principles
on the issues of marriage, membership,economic relations and political relations.
It has the same function as the more structured statements of Jesus in Matthew or Luke.
It covers a range of community issues derived from the Mosaic covenant.

The ownership of the Kingdom of God by children and the need to receive it as a little child,
emphasises that the Kingdom belongs to those without status, the common people,
but it is not a thing of riches, power and influence.

Concern over eternal life, and similar subjects, is a thing for rich intellectuals.
Peasants are concerned with the everyday things opf life that Jesus addresses
in the egalitarian economics covered by Mark 10: 17-19.

The final verses of the chapter point to the need for a radical leadership model
in which the first will be last and will serve, not be served,
giving his life for others.

Marks' Gospel tells the story of a renewal of the Mosaic covenant,
preserved in the verbal, rural, tradition of the countryside
in contrast to the higher, written, tradition of the Temple.
Jesus summarises that message in the Last Supper with
"This is by blood of the Covenant"
poured out for many."

CHAPTER 9 WOMEN AS REPRESENTSATIVE AND EXEMPLARY. CHAPTER 9 WOMEN AS REPRESENTSATIVE AND EXEMPLARY.

Just as Mark portrays the disciples as negative examples of "following"
so he portrays women as representatives of renewal and faithful following.
The disciples are primarily called by Jesus, then misunderstand, then abandon him.
The women are largely absent to start with, but take increasingly prominent roles.

To start with Mark has women in the subordinate roles common to male literature.
Most studies of women in the Gospel focus on individual stories and miss the overall pattern.

In the time of Jesus, fighting and reprisals would have left a shortage of young men.
The role of the male as head of the family had become disrupted.
However the marriage covenant is reinforced in Mark's story
as opposed to the attitude of the Jerusalem priests.

In the Gospel, the hemorrhaging women/ twelve year old girl story represents the renewal of Israel.
The number twelve points to the tribes of Israel, the situation of the women to the state's condition
and the healings to the options available for the restoration of the nation
(to take action themslves or to rely on Jesus to do everything, perhaps).

The Syophoenician women then causes Jesus to expand his ministry to the gentile world.
However women do not feature in the central part of the story covering Jesus's teaching.
The next significant female appearance is the poor widow who gives her all to the Temple,
as an example of how the Temple authorities are bleeding the common people white.
It fits into the condemnation of the Temple in the previous verses (Mk 12:41-44)
and with our experience of clerical domination of widows in our own time
and the diversion of family inheritance into the church's coffers.

This is followed by a woman annointing Jesus with oil as a prophetic act,
which initiates the climatic events in Jerusalem.

Women form a key and often ignored part of the Gospel story.
In contrast to the disciples, they remain faithful and prophetic.
In contrast to the disciples they do not seek power over others,
but lead from the position of a servant, as Jesus instructed.
Mark calls on the leaders of the Christian community
not to emulate the power-mongers of the Roman world,
which the church has indeed followed.

In his portrayal of the women Mark presents a different model of leadership
in which the leaders are the servants of the people
in contrast to that of a male dominated society
based on those hungry for positions of power
'seated on the right the left hand of Jesus'.

At the end of the story, the disciples deny and abandon Jesus,
whilst it is the women who are at the crucifixion and then find the empty tomb.
They are the only ones who remain faithful to the end.
Yet their message and example is subordinated
to that of the dominant males.

CHAPTER 10 PROPHETIC AND MESSIANIC SCRIPTS. CHAPTER 10 PROPHETIC AND MESSIANIC SCRIPTS.

We can see the actions and message and movement of Jesus as the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy and hopes.
Like a new Moses, Jesus restates covenant teaching, as the basis for renewal of community life.

Modern interpreters of Mark seem to assume that he had the tools and references available to them.
This can miss the message. intended for a society in which oral communication predominated.

Two overall patterns emerge from the story
* that of a popular prophet leading his people against dominant rulers.
* that of a martyred Messiah, sacrificed for the Kingdom of God.

In the past the great prophets, particularly Moses and Elijah
led the people in popular protests against their local or foreign rulers.
In the first century the conditions were ripe for a similar revolt
and Josephus records that prophetic movements "led people into the wilderness"
in acts of rebelllion and protest against the Herodian and Roman rule.

In each case, seemingly every 5 years or so, the movements follow a similar pattern:
* a leader assembled a large number of protestors from the villages.
* the assembly was peaceful, expecting divine deliverance,
rather than armed and ready for military action.
* the authorities got wind of it and sent cavalry to disperse it.
* the protestors were slaughtered in great numbers.
* the leader was captured and executed.

So why was the Jesus movement any different?
What made it contiinue to exist after its leader died?
Maybe it was the female element - the Marthas and Marys of the group.

In contrast to many of the movements which led people away from their homes
Elijah, Elisha and Jesus called on people to change where they were.
They were still in opposition to their rulers, but at home.
This Old Testament model is emphasised by the way that many of the stories of Jesus
mirror the activities of those ancient leaders in the Old Testament.
It is confirmed by the story called "The Transfiguration".

In previous generations a King was anointed for a purpose.
He was appointed as "Messiah", to save his people.
When that purpose expired, or he failed to achieve it,
he could be, and often was, deposed, usually by prophetic announcement.
However the Messianic role of Jesus is only weakly supported in Mark.
Mark sees Jesus, primarily, as a prophet promoting the Mosaic covenant.
When the role of Messiah is promoted or implied for him by others,
Jesus is quick to refute the title and the aspirations to power involved.

Jesus is shown as a leader in the prophetic mode, renewing the Mosaic covenant,
rather than following the, more dynamic, Davidic and Messianic model,
which is often assumed by the Christian doctrines of today.