Sermon Tone Analysis

PRELIMINARY NOTES

Mark features three main groups of people: the disciples, the crowds, and the religious leaders, none of whom understood Jesus

he categorizes his main audience as either followers or opponents of Jesus

Fellowship with Jesus marks the heart of the disciple’s life, and this fellowship includes trusting him, confessing him, taking note of his conduct, following his teaching, and being shaped by a relationship to him.

Discipleship also means being prepared to face the kind of rejection that Jesus faced

Mark’s Gospel is made up of the usual array of subgenres found in the NT Gospels, including calling stories, recognition stories, witness/testimony stories, encounter stories, conflict or controversy stories, pronouncement stories, miracle stories, parables, discourses and sermons, proverbs or sayings, passion stories, and resurrection stories

readers find in Mark’s treatment of the disciples, for example, an allegorical attack on some specific group of heretics or ecclesiastical leaders in the Markan community

So far as we can tell, however, Mark was the first to connect the notion of “good news” (Euangelion)—first understood as what God had accomplished in the death and resurrection of the Messiah—to a narrative of what Jesus himself had said and done, calling it too, “good news” (1:1*)

He preached the gospel of the suffering, self-giving Messiah, and demanded that all the traditions about Jesus as a wonder-worker be read in that light

One can scarcely miss the associations it suggests with the mysterium tremendum ac fascinosum.

Jesus himself is the singular “mystery of the kingdom,” and he is so as the Holy One.

He is recognized fully only by God and other spiritual forces.

He radiates an intense and fearful power.

It is a power, furthermore, that at once attracts and repels, so that some are drawn to him and some reject him.

Most of all, the mystērion resists understanding.

It cannot be deciphered, controlled, or reduced to a formula.

The mystery of the holy, even when revealed, remains beyond reach.

A better explanation for Jesus’ reluctance to have reports of his miracles and identity spread is found in Mark’s conviction that Jesus’ messiahship cannot be understood apart from his passion, and thus discipleship itself cannot be properly lived until the confession “Jesus is the Christ” is stripped of its misunderstandings and seen in light of the passion

Premature confessions that Jesus was the Messiah would be meaningless, for the term messiah would be filled with a content and set of expectations not corresponding to his mission

In a modern context Mark might have to use this technique to show Christians that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not about having God’s help in achieving materialistic goals or a trouble-free, pain-free life

Jesus Heals the Paralytic.

Outsides did not expect the forgiveness of sins.

Only understood in the light of his passion.

Jesus Calls Levi.

Outsides did not expect Jesus fellowshipping with outcasts.

Only understood in the light of his passion

Jesus calms the storm.

They did not expect Jesus to calm the storm.

A mayor surprise in the light of his passion

The parable of the seed growing.

The seed goes to the ground, dies and produces fruit.

Jesus died and fruit is expected.

The leaven of the Pharisees.

Even his disciples are blind.

The could only see through the lens of passion

The world has it all wrong, and the disciples must unlearn what they have been taught by the world before they can become true disciples.

Honor and greatness cannot be found in achieving power over or greater prestige than others, but only in serving, in extending God’s favor freely to others.

It is found not in protecting one’s status and power but in voluntarily giving up all such claims in order freely to serve the other.