The Gospel of Mark
There are aspects of formation and nurture of religious community in Mark. The presence of the women standing together as a group at a distance implies a common bond among them. Together they buy spices and go to the tomb to anoint his body. This kind of action together is the essence of religious community. In fact, people in Christian communities today repeat this action of going to Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem as a religious ritual that shows commitment to Jesus and to others who identify themselves with the death and resurrection of Jesus. We do not see anything that explicitly shows that the women accept responsiblity for each others needs. We also do not see anything that suggests that they do not do this. Again, by implication one might think they would respond to each other's needs in a mode similar to their response to Jesus' needs. But this is another implicit rather than explicit aspect of the sacred texture of Mark.
The statement that Jesus is going before his disciples and Peter to Galilee and that they will see him there (16:7) also implies religious community. The implication is that the disciples represent religious community that has formed around Jesus, and if the disciples would be told what the young man said and would respond to it, they would act together in a mode that further nurtures religious community. The narrative says, of course, that the women did not tell them, because they were afraid. At the end of the account, then, religious community stands as a possiblity that the reader does not see fulfilled.
Earlier in the story, Jesus makes the explicit statement that those who do the will of God are his brother, sister, and mother (3:35). Therefore, Jesus uses language of kinship, family relationships, to describe religious community. One of the questions is what the will of God may be at any particular time. The narrative shows the will of God for Jesus. It was necessary that Jesus accept suffering, death, and resurrection as the way of being God's beloved son. What is the will of God for those who participate in religious community associated with Jesus? As mentioned above, Jesus says that his followers must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him (8:34). Later in the story, Peter says that he and his fellow disciples have left everything and followed Jesus (10:28). Jesus enumerates the things they have left: house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, and lands (10:29). Does this mean that all people must leave these things to be people who do the will of God? Again these things are implicit rather than explicit in Mark. One might think this is a special requirement for people who dedicate their life to a special form of service that members of the religious community support. In other words, the other side of religious community may be implicit in Jesus' further statement that those who have left everything will receive "a hundredfold in this time houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life" (10:30). Members of the religious community who have not accepted the special tasks of traveling around provide hospitality, generosity according to the traveler's needs, and food and wealth from the land. This is another aspect of the sacred texture of Mark that remains at an implicit level. Certain guidelines do appear, however, and they call people into religious community in relation to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
From V. K. Robbins, Exploring the Texture of Texts, (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1996), p. 128.
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