MARKS PORTRAYAL OF JESUS AS A SECRET MESSIAH

In biblical criticism, the Messianic Secret refers to a motif primarily in the Gospel of Mark in
which Jesus is portrayed as commanding his followers to maintain silence about his Messianic
mission. Attention was first drawn to this motif in 1901 by William Wrede. For this week’s
Readers’ Mailbag, I address a question of central importance for understanding the Gospel of
Mark, our earliest Gospel and often thought to be the one that best represents what actually
happened in the life of Jesus. I’ll have to explain the question before answering it. Then most
of this post will be setting up the answer with the crucial background information, which, as it
turns out, the vast majority of casual Bible readers have never even thought of or heard.

The “messianic secret” is a term that over a century ago came to be applied to the Gospel of
Mark to explain one of its most distinctive and puzzling features. Mark portrays Jesus clearly as
the messiah. Note the very first verse! “The Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah.”
Many scholars think, in fact, that Mark meant this opening line to be the actual title of the book.
It’s all about Jesus as the Messiah.

But there’s a strange feature in mark’s portrayal of the messiahship of Jesus. Mark is unique
among the Gospels in having Jesus tell his disciples and everyone else who starts to recognize
who he is NOT to tell anyone. He tries to keep it hushed up. The most common explanation
among most readers is that Jesus does this so he doesn’t get arrested too soon and crucified
before his time. But it’s not the view held by many scholars who have studied Mark’s
“messianic secret.” (it is interesting, by the way – even vital – to note that the you don’t find the
“secret” pronounced in the other Gospels, such as Matthew and especially John, where Jesus’
identity is no secret at all! If Jesus really did try to hush it up, why don’t the other Gospels say
so?)

To explain further how Mark employs his understanding of the messianic secret, it is first
important to realize that if he, or any other Christian, wanted to show Jesus as the messiah, he
had a terrifically difficult task. This is simply unrecognized by virtually all Christian readers
today, who think that of course Jesus was the messiah. He did everything the messiah was
supposed to do, as predicted in the Scriptures by the Hebrew prophets of old. He was born in
Bethlehem, of a virgin, he did great miracles, one after the other, he taught the true
understanding of God, and at the end of his life he was crucified and then raised from the dead.
Who else has done all these things? So he’s the messiah, all according to God’s plan, right?
How could it be wrong?

“The Gospel According to Mark” is a short story written by Jorge Luis Borges. The author grew
up in Latin America, specifically Buenos Aires, which is mentioned throughout the length of this
story. The short story introduces the reader to a character named, Balthasar Espinosa, who is a
medical student attending school in Buenos Aires. Espinosa would end up in Los Alamos and
read the gospel to a family during a treacherous rain storm, but in the end it would result in
tragedy for our protagonist. The setting of the story is primarily set in Los Alamos, a country
land, and during Espinosa’s stay a heavy rainstorm would force him to form a bond with the
Gutres family. The setting in the country where it is more secluded, would allow unfathomable
actions to occur that normally would not develop in a metropolitan city such as Buenos Aires.
The inclusion of a heavy rainstorm and isolation from a large population ultimately led to our
protagonist’s demise. There are few characters mentioned by the author are this story, but the
most significant characters would be Balthasar Espinosa…show more content…

Espinosa failed to assimilate into his new setting and adapt to his new found conditions.
Espinosa failed to learn that the Gutres family would take everything so literally and end up
sacrificing him. The author uses the setting to imply the intelligence of this family and Espinosa
failed to realize their inability to identify him as just a reader but Jesus Christ in the flesh. I can
say that in my life I have failed to assimilate to other cultures, specifically when I went to China.
Their way of living was different from what I was accustomed to in the United States. An
example would be table manners, burping at the table is acceptable there while it’s frowned upon
in the United States. I use this example because this shows that the setting of the area will build
the culture in the Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the New Testament gospels, but it contains
many important and prominent themes. These themes include: titles used for Jesus, the messianic
secret, Jesus' mighty actions, healing of the sick, and the human actions of Jesus. There are many
titles used for Jesus throughout the Gospel of Mark. The gospel begins by giving Jesus Christ the
title, "the Son of God" (1:1). This assertion in the very first line of the gospel is a strong
acknowledgement.

Philip Levine A certain point of view: the gospel according to mark by Goerge Burges The
gospel according to mark is a prolific story which takes look at people's view of Jesus, and
critiques of several aspects of religion, and a further critiques humanity and human nature. The
story does this by making Espinosa imitate the role of Jesus Christ, as well as by making the
Gutres his followers and making them a symbol of human nature as well finally paints a view of
how humanity ought to be. The opening verse of The Gospel According to Mark states, “The
beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1, NRSV) From the outset
of Mark’s Gospel Jesus is portrayed as the Messiah who has come to the world in God’s favor
(Mark 1:1-11). Mark’s Gospel proclaims the good news of Jesus which would have helped to
reaffirm the faith of Christian

Mark 9:2-8 presents the amazing and terrifying experience of Jesus’ transfiguration on Mount
Tabor before Peter, James, and John. This remarkable pericope belongs to what biblical scholars
call the triple tradition, which means that this text can be found in all three synoptic gospels (i.e.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke). This passage is also attested to in Peter’s second epistle (1:16-18)
and indirectly in John’s prologue (1:14). All of these multiple attestations clearly indicate that
this event after this event the disciples are told not to tell anyone of that event, he wanted to keep
it a secret until an appointed time.

Mark is said to be the oldest written gospel but the literature never mentioned the author’s name.
Mark was a rather powerful story of Jesus, which includes Jesus’ development through his path
of becoming the anointed one (Millar, 2010, p. 19). However Matthew is very similar yet
contrasting to marks gospel; the gospel was a very influential gospel until the modern times. The
Gospel became powerful because Matthew claimed to be the first follower of Jesus and the
gospel was part of the New Testament. There are many different gospels that tell a similar story.
Matthew and Mark are two Gospels written in a similar way but have different audiences. The
story is the Last Supper and is about the last meal that Jesus experienced with his Apostles
before his Sacrifice. There are many similarities, but not very many differences. Overall, the
same story is told, but from two different perspectives. The Gospel according to Matthew is the
first book of the New Testament.

Wrede explained that Mark was giving not a historical account but a theological interpretation. It
was impossible for Jesus messiahship to have been accepted until after belief in the resurrection.
Mark's View was that they were deliberately couched in language which concealed the truth
from the listening crowd (mark 4 :12). Jesus had sworn people to secrecy though demons as
supernatural beings recognised the truth
BIBLIOGRAPHY

William Wrede in 1901.

Peter Feldmer.

R Telford .

Codex Boreelianus .

James DG.