Mrk’s Passion Essay, Research Paper

Drew

REL 223

Fr. Berna

February 01, 2001

Mark’s Perception of Jesus

In the “passion,” Mark gives an account of the last horrific events that Jesus faced towards the end of his human life. The events that Mark discusses take place during his sentencing, his crucifixion, and also the events that followed after his resurrection. In these accounts, Mark paints a picture of a man who is strong-willed despite being faced with adversity. Mark tells about how Jesus did not try and defend himself while his accusers asked the high priests to condemn him to death. His inability to fight the accusations that were being brought against him showed that he was able to be at peace with himself and also at peace with the Lord. Mark displays a Jesus who could handle the hardships of life by believing that the power of God would save his eternal soul. . These qualities that Mark displays through this Jesus seem more divine then they do human. With everything that had taken place, Jesus was able to stand there and not say anything. Having Mark say this allows me to see why no one believed who Jesus really was, because even Jesus, the person who should have shown remorse did not. The people of those times are similar to the people of these times. They need to see proof in order to believe in something. People were not just going to believe in the divine because in those days if a person believed in the divinity of Jesus, they were crucified. After the resurrection, Jesus displayed that he did possess qualities of the human nature when he lashed out at his disciples for not believing he was the Son of God. This situation shows the Jesus as a human in that he was angry and hurt by the betrayal of his disciples. His hurt and anger showed that even Jesus needed time to forgive. Having this quality displayed in Mark’s gospel has allowed Christians to see the Jesus who was human, rather than the Jesus who was divine.