An Evaluation of the Importance of Women in the Gospel of Mark - Essay Example

An Evaluation of the Importance of Women in the Gospel of Mark By An Evaluation of the Importance of Women Disciples in the Gospel of Mark A close look at the Gospel of Mark shows that women were central in the Mark Gospel as a model of discipleship. Women actually occupy the central portion in the mission and message of Jesus as examples of model disciples1.However, Mark in his Gospel does not present women as infallible; Mark also exposes the weaknesses of women in his Gospel2. This paper evaluates the importance of women Disciples in the Gospel of Mark. The evaluation takes into account both the strengths of women in the Gospel of Mark as model of discipleship, and the weaknesses of women disciples in the Gospel of Mark. In the Gospel of Mark, women are presented as the ones who faithfully remained with Jesus Christ during His passion till His death3. In the Gospel of Mark we read the following “There were also women working on a far off; among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less, and of Joses, and Salome; Who also, when he was I Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him; and many other women who came up with him unto Jerusalem’’4 . In the Gospel of Mark therefore, women disciples are contrasted with the male disciples who ran away during the passion of Jesus Christ. Even Simon peter, who had early promised Jesus Christ that he would never abandon him, eventually abandoned Jesus Christ. Women therefore are presented in the Gospel of Mark as faithful disciples, who are ready to endure all manner of sufferings for the sake of their faith. Again, as we have seen in the above quotation, the women who remained faithfully with Jesus Christ during his passion had been with Jesus Christ, throughout his ministry, ministering to him. This fact shows that women disciples were quite important in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Besides enduring sufferings and remaining faithfully with Jesus Christ during his passion, women disciples also discovered, as it were, Jesus’ suffering messiahship before the male disciple. On this view, the feminist Bible scholar Elisabeth Fiorenza in her book, A Feminine Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, states that it was a woman who recognized Jesus’ suffering messiahship, and in a prophetic sign-action, the woman anointed Jesus for his burial, while some of the male disciples of Jesus Christ reprimanded her5. The women disciples in the book of Mark, therefore, are presented as having a clear knowledge of the mission of Jesus Christ as a suffering Messiah. In the Gospel of Mark, in the healing miracles of Jesus Christ, women are portrayed as a model of Jesus Christ’s disciples. First, on the healing of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, we are told the following “So he came and took her by the hand and he lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her”6. In this same verse, we are told that after Simon’s mother in law was healed, “she served them”. In the Gospel of Mark, service is the hallmark of those who will be greatest in the kingdom of God7. Through serving Jesus in gratitude after being healed, Simon’s mother in law, therefore, is presented as a faithful and grateful disciple, who gives a life up in service for the sake of the kingdom of God. This fact therefore shows that women are used in the Gospel of Mark as a model of discipleship. Jesus also healed the woman suffering from blood haemorrhage. On this incident, we read the following, “When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague”8. In response to this incident, Jesus responded as follows, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague”9. In this incident, the healed woman is clearly a woman of great faith, the woman believed that she could be healed by just touching the garment of Jesus Christ, and indeed the woman was healed. Jesus Christ himself confessed that it was the faith of the woman that had healed her. This woman therefore is portrayed as a model of faith. Women discipleship in the Gospel of Mark, therefore, are presented as models of faith. The second healing miracle of Jesus Christ that portrays the great faith of women disciples is Jesus’ healing of the daughter of the Syrophenecian woman, the daughter of the Syrophenician woman had been possessed by the evil spirits. The healing miracle is descried thus, “ And she answered and said unto him, yes, Lord: Yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter”10. Despite the fact that the Syrophenecian woman was of Greek origin, and not a Jew, the woman however believed that Jesus Christ would have mercy on her and heal, and Jesus Christ responded favourably to her strong faith, and the evil spirits were exorcised from her daughter. The Syrophenecian woman therefore is used as a model of faith in the Gospel of Mark. This again is presentation of women discipleship as being marked by strong faith. Having looked at the miracles in the Gospel of Mark that presents women disciples as being characterised by strong faith, let us now look at Mark’s presentation of women as models of sacrifices, and self-giving. In the Gospel of Mark, we read the story of a poor widow who offered to mites, and since the two mites are all that she had, Jesus said that the offering of the widow is more meritorious than the offering of the rich people whose offering was just a an insignificant percentage of their wealth11. Mark expresses the story of the heroic offering as follows, “And there came a poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto his disciples, and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in, than all which they have cast into the treasury”12. In this heroic act, the poor widow offered all she had to the Lord, and although her offering was minute in comparison to the offerings of the rich people, Jesus Christ however said that the offering of the widow was more meritorious because the widow had offered all she had to the Lord. By offering all she had, the two mites, the poor widow offered her very self to the Lord, unless the rich people who offered only a small portion of their riches. The poor widow therefore is an epitome of self sacrifice, in which one offers herself/himself completely to the Lord. This fact therefore shows that women discipleship in the Gospel of Mark is portrayed as a model of self-sacrifice to the Lord. Another story in the Gospel of Mark that portrays women disciples as a model of self-sacrifice is the story of the women with a box of Alabaster ointment. Mark expresses this story as follows, “ And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard and very precious; and she broke the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, why was this waste of the ointment made?’’13 When some people started complaining about the woman’s act, Jesus responded by saying that what the woman had done because she was preparing his body for burial14. The indignation that some of Jesus’ disciples had expresses as the result of the woman’s act could somehow be justified because, from an economical point of view, it would have seemed more reasonable to sell the expensive ointment and to use the money in feeding the poor. However, the people who expressed discontent about the action of the woman failed to recognize the true meaning of the woman’s action: to prepare Jesus Christ’s body for burial. In this story, the woman made a very big sacrifice by using her expensive ointment to prepare the body of Jesus Christ for burial. This action was indeed heroic, in light of the expensive nature of the ointment15. For this reason, this story portrays self-sacrifice as an important element of women discipleship. Women disciples, therefore, are models of self-sacrifice I in the Gospel of Mark. In the Gospel of Mark, women also are portrayed as special witnesses to the Easter events. Besides faithfully remaining with Jesus Christ during his passion and death, the women were key witnesses to the resurrection event. Since women disciples were present and were watching, from far, the death of Jesus Christ, the women saw Joseph of Arimathea take the body of Jesus Christ and bury it. Mark tells us that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where Joseph buried the body of Jesus Christ16. Besides witnessing the passion event therefore, women were the first to witness the empty tomb when Jesus Christ resurrected on the Easter morning, “And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right, clothed in a long white garment; and they were frightened”17. The women went to Jesus’ tomb early in the Easter morning, so as to serve Jesus, i.e. to anoint his body with spices. Following their faithful and dedicated service to Jesus, the women were rewarded for being the first witnesses to the resurrection event. The angel of the Lord spoke to the women and confirmed to them that Jesus Christ had indeed risen from the dead, “Be not frightened; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen, he is not here: behold the place where they laid him”18. Being the first to witness the Gospel, event, means that women are very faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. This therefore means that, in the Gospel of Mark, women are presented as very faithful and dedicated disciples. Besides being the first to witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ also appeared first to women. “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast out seven devils”19. After this incident, Mary Magdalene went straight to the other disciples of Jesus Christ to tell them what she had seen. However, some of the disciples were sceptical and they did not believe in what Mary Magdalene told them. This incident again shows that women disciples had great faith in Jesus Christ20; this shows that Mark portrays women as model of disciples. Besides presenting women as a model of disciples, Mark also pointed out the weaknesses of women as disciples of Jesus Christ. Mark gives the story of the persecution of John the Baptist as an example of weaknesses of women disciples. Mark narrates the persecution of John the Baptist thus “At once the girl hurried to the king and with the request: I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oath and dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head, the man went and beheaded John in prison”21. Herodias, the wife of Herod, therefore is a bad example of women discipleship. By instructing her daughter to request for the head of John the Baptist, Herodias clearly violated the principles of good discipleship. In conclusion, an evaluation of the importance of discipleship in the Gospel of Mark shows that, women are very important in the Gospel of Mark. Mark portrays women as models of faith, dedication, sacrifice, endurance in sufferings, and sacrifice. For Mark, women disciples offers model of discipleship. Mark, however, did not present women in his Gospel as infallible, he also pointed out examples of weaknesses of women as disciples of Jesus Christ. References Boring, M.E., 2006, Mark: A Commentary, USA: Presbyterian Publishing Co. Print. Brown, R., 1994, An Introduction to New Testament Christology, USA: Paulist Press. Print Fiorenza, E.S.,1988, A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: The Crossroad Publishing, Co. Print. France, R.T., 2002, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, USA: Eerdmans Publishers. Print Swartley, W.M., 2012, “The Role of Women in Mark’s Gospel”. Sage Journals. New York: Sage publishers. Print. Turner, R., n.d , Women as models of Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark. Web. Retrieved from:http://ri.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEVzHtKk5T6HEAwU5XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMT EzanF0az> Weeden, T.J., 1995, “The Heresies that Necessitated Mark’s Gospel” in Telford, W. Interpre tation of Mark. New York: Hackett Publishers. Print Read More