Week Five: Mark as A Story

I found this reading to be particularly interesting because of the perspective Rhoads spins on Mark. Previously, while reading the Bible or passages, the stories appeared as more of a direct lesson and not so much as a story. It was a bit shocking to me to read about characterization in Mark as if he were an author with a story instead of some boring textbook writer that derived joy from writing boring school stories. Rhoads article talks about how characterization is really approached in two different ways: telling and showing. It said that authors sometimes decide, through accurate detailed description, to tell the reader what they want them to know about the character. However, the second, which I thought was exponentially more interesting, was that the author show the reader. This is done through actions or situations where the character is tested in a way and the reader can infer, through judgement of the actions, what type of person the character is. I did not realize this is how Mark is written. Through this technique Mark develops consistent characters, not to be compared or confused with modern day literature, however the consistency is similar.

Another interesting thing Rhoads points out is something we all engage in when we are unsure of someone. We compare their character or decisions to societal norms to see where exactly they measure up. While we are not always aware of this level of judgement it proves prevalent and useful. Rhoads argues this is also how we decipher the characters in Marks Gospel. That being said, I would have guessed that Mark would tailor her characters to fit a certain standard, however that is not even close to the case in this gospel. "Often some of the minor characters meet some standards but not others," Rhoads concludes. Simple as that!

The last thing that really forced me to stop and think was at the beginning of the section on Jesus. Rhoads establishes that Jesus was bluntly stated as the central character in the gospel because in the first line of Mark it states that Jesus is the anointed one, the son of God. What really shocked me was what followed this, "However these epithets do not tell what task Jesus is anointed for or what it means to be the son of God." The following lines of the gospel further validate the readers urge to claim Jesus as important. It was the simple fact that no one really knows what it means to be the son of God, or the anointed one.

What does it mean? This claim made me think about my past 12 years in Catholic school and made me wonder if I know, really, what those things mean. Or do I just have a sense of it? Is it innate? I was flooded by questions within myself and a sneaking suspicion that I needed to do further reflection on this and take into consideration what I felt versus what I have been taught, and retaught.