Mark’s Gospel, The Dangerous, Political Beginning: ‘News of Victory’

Last updated on: February 22, 2020 at 1:00 pm by Jack Hartjes

Mark’s Gospel, The Dangerous, Political Beginning: ‘News of Victory’ 2020-02-22T13:00:51-06:00 Jack Hartjes

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Gospel, in bold letters on the red horizontal beam of a cross.

Gospel: A dangerous word for a dangerous story.

Mark commandeers the Propaganda Roman term “Gospel” for his own purposes. Mark writes at a dangerous time for Christians, and he intends to be controversial. Second in a series on “The Worldly Spirituality of Mark’s Gospel” with help from Ched Myers’ Binding the Strongman: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus. The Introduction and, looking ahead, a Table of Contents are HERE.

Mark begins his literary work with what could be a title, containing several key words:

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, [the Son of God].

Beginning. If you’re not lulled by hearing this language too much, you might wonder why Mark has to tell us that this is the beginning of his story. We knew it was the beginning when we opened the book. But let’s look at Mark’s word for beginning. In Greek it’s “arché,” the same word with which the Scriptures of the Jews begins:

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth….

Mark seems to be saying more than that his story is beginning. It’s about a beginning like that earlier one and just as important. There will be a new heaven and a new earth in the midst of the old.

Messiah. Jesus Messiah (or Christ) is the foundation of the early Church’s proclamation. At that time, unlike now, everyone would have known that “messiah” has a political meaning and more than a hint of danger to it. In fact there are two dangers—from Romans and Jews. Romans maintain exclusive political (if not also economic and cultural) control, violently if they think that’s needed. Jews engage heavily, often dangerously, in politics. Conservatives want to keep a tolerable system going. Liberals would eventually rebel disastrously around the time that Mark is writing. Mark and his community are in the middle between the two factions of Jews and between the Jews and the Romans.

Gospel. Mark wrote intending to be controversial. His first readers could see that in his choice of the word “gospel” to name what he was writing. His is the first Gospel, and he is the first, as far as we know, to use that word in a Christian context. “Gospel,” or “good news,” originally was a Roman or Greek term for “news of victory.” Its meaning expanded to any kind of political propaganda. Romans tried to promote good feelings about their rule throughout the Roman Empire, deifying the emperor, the “divine man.” (Myers, 123) By co-opting this word for Jesus’ story, Mark is denying it of Caesar’s story. Many Christians these days imagine an other-worldly Kingdom belonging to Jesus and a worldly kingdom belonging to “Caesar” or Satan. Mark’s story of Jesus is more politically relevant than that. Jesus’ Kingdom is for this world.

Our Bibles include the title “Son of God,” but that title is not in some manuscripts, and Myers doesn’t deal with it. If the phrase was original with Mark, it doesn’t make the story less political. Roman and even Jewish kings were called sons of God.

The title of Mark’s story, “The Gospel of Jesus Messiah,” tells his subversive intention. Mark will engage empire in battle, or rather, proclaim that battle has already been waged and, paradoxically, won by Jesus.

Gospel of Mark

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