Ethics in Mark

Socio-Rhetorical Examples

Definition of ethics.

In the Gospel of Mark, perhaps the closest thing to an ethical principle is the assertion of Jesus that those who seek to save their lives will lose it and those who lose their lives for the sake of Jesus and the gospel will save it (8:35). Intrinsic to this is a conviction that humans are not able to grasp and secure divine benefits for their own lives. In other words, divine benefits must come from the divine through divine ways. Mark 15:1-16:8 appears to be a narrative presentation of the manner in which Jesus embodied this principle. He himself did not seek to save his life, and through the process of losing his life, God restored his life to him. The process is mysterious, and the end result is mysterious. In other words, it is not clear just what life is like once it is "saved," but it quite clearly means something that happens through a total commitment of life to God's ways. Being saved is not something that happens while a person is still on earth. Rather, it is something that is given in the context of the end of one's life.

The ethical dimension of saving one's life by losing it requires that person willingly do things that threaten one's life if they fulfill the will of God. But what things are the will of God? The narrative shows what kinds of things they are. They are not things like killing other people. They are not even things like judging other people. Rather, they are things like accepting tasks and responsibilities that offer benefits to others and that affirm the importance and life of people who are otherwise excluded from the benefits of society.

From the perspective of ethics, one of the most interesting people in Mark 15:1-16:8 in addition to Jesus is Joseph of Arimathea. The implication of the narrative is that, as a member of the council, he participated in the decision that Jesus was guilty of death (14:64; 15:43). Though other people with official status in relation to the temple speak against Jesus and mock him during his crucifixion, Joseph takes the courage to request the body of Jesus and give it a proper burial (15:43-46). Why would he do such a thing? The narrator tells us that he was looking for the kingdom of God (15:43). This evidently means that he had a commitment to the will of God that motivated him to do a right and honorable thing, even though there may have been danger in it. At the heart of his action, then, may be an ethical commitment to the will of God that expresses itself in offering benefit to others even in circumstances that threaten one's reputation or even one's life. In a context where no one else acts, he is the one who, though he is supposed to be on the side of Jesus' adversaries, requests the body of Jesus and gives it an honorable burial. There may, then, be moments in the Gospel of Mark that provide data for ethics.


From V. K. Robbins, Exploring the Texture of Texts, (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1996), pp. 129-30.

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