Compared to Matthew and Luke, Mark has little to say
about Jesus’ natural family. Indeed, perhaps one of the most glaring omissions
from Mark, or, depending on how you see it, additions by the other two, is any
reference to Jesus’ birth or childhood. Mark seems unconcerned about Jesus’
natural family, and instead, defines Jesus family quite differently.
There is one reference to Jesus’ natural family in
Mark 3:31-35, which can be viewed as negative remarks against his family.
Certainly, one cannot perceive a very positive view from Jesus’ words about his
family, but we might take Jesus’ statement as implicating more about who he sees
as his true family than about his mother and brothers, although there is definitely
criticism of the latter. In other words, while Jesus’ words offer a negative
portrayal of his family, Mark uses this as a transition to define the true
family of Jesus.
By defining his true family as “whoever does the will of God” Jesus designates
his disciples, who he just called in 3:13-19, as those who are a part of the
family of God. The Markan audience by this point in the narrative understands
that Jesus’ relationship to God is one of son (u(io/j) and father (path/r). By
declaring that those who do the will of God are his brothers, sisters, and
mother, Jesus implies that those who are faithful to God are part of the family
of God.
It is indeed peculiar that father (path/r) is absent from
the list of family members that Jesus gives in 3:35. Might this be a way to
imply reference to God as the one who is the father of Jesus? If so, then those
who do the will of God find a father in Jesus’ own relationship to God as
father. But this relationship is only possible through the relationship that
followers have with Jesus as the Son. Thus, the relationship between those who
do the will of God with the God who is father of Jesus is a derivative
relationship; one which comes through both parties being in relation to Jesus
(Cf. Jesus’ statement in 9:37).
Moreover, when we understand this saying within the narrative span
of Mark, we understand that “doing the will of God” in Mark may cause one to be
rejected by family (6:1-6; 13:12-13), thus producing an absence of familial
relationships and community. The God of Jesus who extends relations to those
who do the will of God, however, fills this void, by stepping in as the father.
Thus Jesus’ saying is not primarily a polemical statement against his own
family, but more an extension of who comprises his family.
Of significance at this point are the words of the Markan Jesus,
“whoever does the will of God” (3:35). By moving from a reference to those seated
around him as the ones who constitute his family, to including “whoever” does
the will of God, the Markan Jesus addresses the audience of Mark through the
text and includes them in the family of God. This “whoever” reference, while
setting limits around those who are in relationship to God, reaches beyond
other limits of exclusion and opens the path of relationship to anyone who
chooses to do the will of God.
This idea is further expressed in Mark by way of Jesus’ words to the
disciples regarding leaving family or being abandoned by family. In 10:28-31,
Jesus responds to the concern Peter expresses regarding the disciples having
left all to follow him. Jesus’ response, again, deals with the issue of family,
as he assures Peter that those who have left family and possessions for his
sake and the sake of the gospel will be rewarded for their faithfulness. Again,
Jesus extends this to more than the disciples via his use of “no one” (o)udei/j). There
is “no one,” then, who leaves all for his sake and the sake of the gospel he
preaches who will not receive just reward.
The giver of this eschatological reward of eternal life is God. That
which disciples will receive in this age, “households and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and fields,” suggests a replacement of the natural
kinship with a fictive kinship over which God takes the role as father. Again,
the absence of father (path/r) in v30, when it is present in v29, intimates to the audience that
the God of Jesus stands as the true father of Jesus’ family.
In 13:9-13, Mark’s audience once again hears Jesus speak of family
relations. There is no subject linked to the passive verb translated as “handed
over” in v9, and thus Mark may intend a general “they will hand you over.”
However, within the context, when brother, father, and children are mentioned
as betraying their family members, Mark may be more directly connecting those
who will hand over the followers of Jesus with their family members.
The participatory nature of discipleship communicated in Mark is
here brought to the fore of the minds of those who would seek to live as Jesus
lives, for it implies that their fates are similar. As Jesus will be handed
over (9:31; 10:33; and John in 1:14), so also those who identify with him will
be handed over. What is tragic is the fact that this handing over will be
carried out by the families of those disciples. But Jesus’ words of prophecy do
not end in doom, as he also gives hope to those who live faithfully by
remaining true to the good news.
Those who do will be “saved” (swqh/setai), a passive verb
indicating God’s actions in saving those who remain faithful. Again, the
proximity of Jesus’ words about the natural family of the disciples, to the
words of eschatological salvation given by God to those who remain faithful,
indicate to the hearers, including the Markan audience, that as the father of Jesus will be
faithful to vindicate him, so also the father of the disciples will be
faithful to save them.
For Mark, then, blood kinship is replaced by a new family consisting
of those who do the will of God, and over which God is paterfamilias.
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