Socio-Rhetorical Examples
Definition of spirit being.
In the context of Jesus' baptism, holy spirit comes into Jesus (1:10). The presence of holy spirit equips Jesus to cast unclean spirits and demons out of people. On different occasions, these spirit beings call Jesus Holy One of God (1:24) and son of God (3:11; 5:7). Part of being son of God, then, is being equipped with holy spirit in such a manner that one has power over evil, unclean spirits.
When Jesus was in the wilderness forty days immediately after his baptism, angels served him, which means that they fed him (1 Kings 19:5-8). But this is the only time angels are explicitly present in Mark. While other Gospels feature angels at the empty tomb, Mark does not explicity do so. Some interpreters think the young man in a white robe at the empty tomb is an angel (16:5). If so, this is another implicit rather than explicit reference to something of a divine nature in the text. One might expect angels to come and rescue Jesus from the cross, but they do not. Nor is there reference to holy spirit in the Markan account of the death and resurrection. At the time of Jesus' death, his spirit goes out of him (15:37), but this is a reference to his life-sustaining breath rather than to holy spirit. Spirit beings set the context for powerful activity by Jesus while he is on earth and conflict between spiritual forces may be implicit in his death. But there is no explicit reference either to holy spirit or to demons in the Markan account of Jesus' death and resurrection. Again, if spirit beings are present in the Markan account of Jesus' death and resurrection, they are present in an implicit, unstated way rather than in an explicit, openly stated way.
From V. K. Robbins, Exploring the Texture of Texts, (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1996), p. 123.
Back to sacred texture index
For other examples from the Gopel of Mark, click here.
Textures Index | Text Index | Discourse Index | Oppositional Rhetoric Index