Mark’s Narrative of Jesus’ Miracles

The four different gospel accounts vary widely in nature and purpose. Therefore, it is often useful to examine the gospel accounts through different lenses. This is an examination of Mark's depiction of Jesus' ministry as it would pertain to miracles.

             In his gospel account, Mark depicts Jesus as something of a suffering servant, often focusing on his lament and frustrations with the disciples for not understanding his purposes, the religious officials for being hypocritical, and the people for wanting something from him that He had not yet come to bring. It is with this frame that we can best understand Jesus’ miracles and Mark’s depiction of them. In his gospel, miracles are tied to points that Mark wants the reader to understand. Some of these points are Jesus’ power and authority over all things, his compassion for the lowly, and His righteousness surpassing all others (especially the religious leaders).

            The central message of Jesus’ teaching was without question the gospel of the kingdom of God, which is illustrated in all of the gospel accounts. Mark’s account begins with John the Baptist prophesying and preaching concerning Messiah, which Mark uses to segue into the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, presumably to help the reader understand what they are about to see in the actions of Jesus in the form of foreshadowing. Although it is not clear exactly how out of order the stories of miracles are, it is clear that they are not perfectly chronological. Therefore, it seems to make sense that Mark records miracles of healings and exorcisms tied to Jesus’ proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom at the beginning of His ministry. Thusly, we see Jesus healing, preaching, and exercising authority over unclean spirits in the very first chapter.

            In short order, Jesus is confronted with accusations of blasphemy and violating the Law because he heals and forgives a man (in a crowd), plucks grain on the Sabbath, and does not instruct his disciples to fast. The healing of the man is strategically tied to the other aspects of the second and third chapters; although it is almost certain that there were other random instances of controversy and conflict with religious officials (and many are later mentioned), Mark’s ordering of the story is meant to illustrate Jesus’ authority as Lord over everything rather than speak about a certain doctrine. The second and third chapters primarily deal with the matter of what authority Jesus has and why He has it more than the actual nature of the miracles. That is, Mark does not seem to focus on the uniqueness of the miracles (which is valid, since similar miracles are noted elsewhere in his gospel account) but instead on what Jesus said concerning His authority and His purpose. Right after the episodes with controversy, Jesus is seen launching into teachings about the Kingdom, both in direct metaphor and in parable, which, along with the miracles of healing and calming the storm, bring to a close the portion of the text in which Mark establishes the premises of Jesus’ power, authority, mission, Lordship, and prerogative. The purpose of recording these miracles as they were recorded is important because they do not serve as a treatise on behavior and the like but instead on attitudes toward Jesus; that is, the message Mark wanted his audience to understand was not so much how to act, but instead how to think about the identity of Jesus.

            With the beginning of chapter six, the tone of the accounts changes dramatically, a change that is articulated with two episodes: first, Jesus is rejected at Nazareth, His hometown, and is greatly troubled and saddened by their unbelief; secondly, Mark recalls John the Baptist’s execution at the hands of Herod, which had presumably happened beforehand. Mark also notes that Jesus “…could do no miracle [in Nazareth] except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them” (6:5). It is important to note that Mark purposely relates these two seemingly unrelated events to signal something about a change in Jesus’ ministry; the point he attempts to illustrate is perhaps the influx of more resistance, Jesus’ heaviness of heart at unbelief, or that Jesus would have to struggle through His ministry. Whatever Mark is attempting to show, it is quite obvious to see that there is a vast departure from the upbeat and confident nature of the first five chapters, signaling that Mark is no longer speaking directly about Jesus’ power, authority and perhaps divinity.

Through chapters six, seven, and eight, the accounts of Jesus’ miracles are used as part of a section of text that illustrates Jesus’ compassion on the lowly and humble (Syrophoenician woman’s daughter, blind man at Bethsaida, feeding of the thousands) and frustration with those that should understand Him but do not (Pharisees looking for a sign, His disciples not understanding the significance of the number of bread baskets they gathered). The point of this part of the text is to tell more about the nature of Jesus: His humanity, compassion, and willingness to be a servant. This notion of serving is much more prominent through these miracles than the miracles from before chapter six; more is said about Jesus’ compassion than His identity as the primary impetus. In this section of text, we also see a mounting sense of frustration with the Pharisees, who are coming across as increasingly more invasive and scheming than asking legitimate questions.

The next change in tone is found when Jesus first predicts His own death in chapter eight. It is at this point that Mark shows Jesus plainly describing what He had been alluding to and gravitating to before: Jesus tells His disciples that He must suffer death, and also tells them that if they continue on as disciples it will also lead to difficulty and death.  Mark makes little mention of miracles the Jesus is doing at this time, save for two. The first miracle is Jesus healing a demon possessed boy, which Mark writes about in such a way that it speaks to Jesus’ compassion of the suffering, but also expresses His grief over unbelief. The second miracle is the cursing of the fig tree, which Mark blatantly writes in such a way that it shows Jesus’ frustration with religious authorities of the day. The purpose of this section of text is to show Jesus’ mounting sorrow over unbelief and religious arrogance, and to set the emotional stage for Jesus’ crucifixion.

Mark’s use of miracles is meant to compliment his records of Jesus’ ministry by offering examples of Jesus’ actions to speak about His identity and purpose. These miracles were often quite similar in deed, but certainly dissimilarly used in varying contexts to help illuminate a particular aspect of Jesus’ character. Just as Mark’s account is written slightly out of chronological order, it seems likely that he mentioned miracles not out of their particular context, but in a specific light so as to show how they were a part of Jesus’ real thought process and ministry and not a detached footnote. That is, Mark portrayed Jesus’ miracles as an integral part of His ministry by showing that they were useful for illustration of a point in addition to serving others.