Sárospataki Füzetek 20. (2016)
2016 / 2. szám - ARTICLES / STUDIEN - Jaap Doedens: Lierary Wormholes: Wild Animals and Angels in Mark 1:13
Jaap Doedens monition refers to the quotation from Daniel 12:11 about the “desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be,” but it might be a motto for the whole of Mark’s gospel. This observation may also lead to a literary reassessment of his gospel, by highlighting some of Mark’s rhetoric skills in giving his readers a similar experience as the disciples had during their interaction with Jesus. Similarly to how the disciples gradually discovered Jesus’ identity, so Mark’s readers are confronted with enigmas and veils, intended to provoke them to think through what they have just read. The Gospel of Mark can thus be used as an exercise for those who have “ears to hear”; to discover that there is more to it than what is written and to practise a kind of “spiritual reading between the lines”. In this sense, according to Caneday, Mark’s story-telling “imitates the method of Jesus.”15 Mark rarely explicitly says, like Matthew, that “this was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet...” — he rather leaves these discoveries of fulfilment to his readers.16 Charles Gieschen mentions a fascinating example of this allusive style in Mark 6:48, where it is told in a nightly scene how Jesus comes to his disciples who are with difficulty making headway on the Sea of Galilee “while walking on the sea, and he intended to pass by them”.17 The enigmatic remark about Jesus wanting to overtake his disciples is only found in Mark’s narrative. But when put next to two verses from Job 9, it turns out that Mark probably intended to give his readers some homework in thinking through who Jesus is: [Jesus] came to them walking upon the sea and he intended to pass by them (épxETai TTpöq aÚTOüc; nEpmanliv éni Tffé BaAáaan^ Kai qGeAev napsAGelv aÚToú^).18 Who alone has stretched out the heavens and walks upon the sea as upon firm ground (Ó Taviioa^ TÖv oúpavöv móvo£, Kai nEpmanliv étt’ éöácpoin; éni GaAáaar)?).19 If he [Yhwh] should go beyond me, I shall surely not see him; if he should pass by me, it will not be in a way that I perceive him (éÖV unEpßfj p£, 0Ú pij ÍŐOJ• éÖV napéAOn p£, oúö’ iLq eyvojv).20 Similarly, Mark’s reference to wild animals and angels in his extremely short temptation-narrative may function as a “literary wormhole”, pulling its readers straight into the symbolic universe of the Old Testament and the Judaism of the Second 15 Caneday: Mark's Provocative Use of Scripture in Narration, 21. 16 Caneday, Mark's Provocative Use of Scripture in Narration, 22-23. 17 Gieschen, Charles A.: Why Was Jesus with the Wild Beasts (Mark 1:13)? CTQ 73, 2009, 80. 18 Mark 6:48. 19 LXX Job 9:8. 20 LXX Job 9:11. 56 Sárospataki Füzetek 20. évfolyam 2016-2
