The Jewish Annotated New Testament (203 page)

7
:
Tell his disciples
, the women are commissioned as evangelists.

7
:
To Galilee
, 4.12; 25.32n.

9
:
Jesus met them
, two women are the first resurrection witnesses (cf. Jn 20.14–18).
Worshiped him
, Gk “proskyneoō,” “make obeisance, do reverence,” lit., “kiss towards” (in LXX for Heb “shahah,” “bow down” in worship, e.g. Ps 5.7 [Heb, LXX 5.8]), i.e., as divine. Cf. v. 17.

28.11
–15: The guards’ report. 13:
His disciples came by night and stole him away
, the story remained in circulation (Justin,
Dial
. 102.8). Matthew’s account is unlikely: Roman guards would not claim that
we were asleep
.

15
:
To this day
, a biblical formula used here to refer to the time of Matthew’s authorship (11.26; 27.8; cf. Gen 35.20; Deut 11.4).

28.16
–20: The Great Commission.
The name comes from the command or commission in v. 19, directing the mission “to all nations.” See also references to Jeremiah at v. 20n. Cf.
Acts Pil
. 14.1.

16
:
Like Moses, Jesus’ final instructions are given from a mountain (cf. Deut 32.48).

17
:
Some doubted
, doubt and belief are not mutually exclusive (28.13).

18
:
All authority in heaven and on earth
, the risen Christ’s domain has become the entire world (cf. 11.27; Dan 7.14,18,27; Eph 1.20–23; Phil 2.9–11).

19
:
Make disciples of all nations
, the change in Jesus’ status prompts the expansion of the mission (10.6; 15.24) to include both Jews and Gentiles (8.10; 9.17; 15.28; 18.6; 21.21; 24.13–14; 28.20).
All nations
(Gk “panta ta ethne”), also can be translated as “all the Gentiles.” The mission to Israel is never abrogated.
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
, the Trinity did not become an integral part of Christian theological doctrine until at least the second century (
Did
. 7.1–3; Ignatius,
Magn
. 3.2; cf. Eph 4.6; 1 Cor 8.6); a similar formula is found only in 2 Cor 13.13. This occurrence may reflect liturgical usage in Matthew’s community, as other accounts of baptism (e.g., Acts 2.38) do not use this formula.

20
:
I am with you always
, the Gospel’s frame (1.23; 18.20; 28.20). By depicting Jesus as always present and mandating the evangelization of the world, the Great Commission decreases tension over the delay of the second coming. Cf. Ex 3.14, concerning YHWH, and Jer 1.19, “I am with you,” following 1.17, “tell them everything that I command you” as the prophetic commission.

1.1
–15: Introduction.
Mark’s overture strikes a number of gospel themes: repentance and forgiveness (v. 4), the Spirit (vv. 8,10), Jesus the Son (v. 11), the kingdom of God (v. 15), but unlike Matthew and Luke, it does not include an account of Jesus’ birth.

1.1
–11: John’s baptism
(Mt 3.1–17; Lk 3.1–22; Jn 1.6–34).

1
:
Good news
(Gk “euangelion”) or gospel was not used in the first century to refer to a book; in Israel it was the good news of God’s coming deliverance (Isa 52.7 (Heb “mebaser,” “bringing [good] tidings”; Gk [LXX] “euangelizomenos,” “announcing good news”) and in the Roman world the good news of the peace brought by the emperor. Both sets of resonances would have reverberated with the readers of Mark, but with new meanings. Jesus’ identity as messiah (“anointed one”; Gk “christos,” Heb “mashia
h—
”—the Gk term is the source of the title “Christ”) is announced in the first clause, even though the significance of “messiah” will have new meanings as well. Messiah, the one anointed by God, was applied to the king of Israel, the high priest, the prophet, and even the king of Persia when he enacted God’s plan (Isa 45.1), but never in the Hebrew Bible to the ideal future Davidic king (although the promise that the Davidic line will endure in Ps 89.19–37 implies an eternal “anointing”).
Son of God
is present here in some ancient manuscripts; see translators’ note
b
on the previous page and 1.9–11n. It too could be understood as a royal title (see Ps 2.7; 89.26–27).

2
–3:
Isaiah
was one of the biblical books most quoted by Jews and followers of Jesus, but this quotation actually begins with Mal 3.1; Matthew and Luke correct this misattribution by removing “See … your way” (see Mt 3.3; Lk 3.4–6). Mark may have known these texts from “testimonia,” collections of verses on a common theme, in this case, God’s
way
. “Way” is common in Greek, Jewish, and Christian ethical discourse, especially the choosing of the good and difficult path as opposed to the immoral and easy path. The ways of God are emphasized in biblical passages such as Deut 5.33 and Jer 7.23. From this, the word “way” can be likened to Jewish notions of “halakhah,” how one walks, and “derekh eretz,” the way of the land (cf.
Jub
. 12.21;
4 Ezra
7.12–13). At
1 En
. 71.17 we also find the “upright way” of the Son of Man. “Way” will have a central place in Mark 8–10, and according to Acts 9.2 the first followers of Jesus called themselves not Christians but “belong[ing] to the Way.” The Way is one name for the community as a religious movement, and it also suggests a new exodus—one as a release from oppression, equating Rome and Egypt—a common rallying cry for other Jewish prophetic leaders of this period.

4
–5:
John,
the Baptist began a movement similar to but still separate from that of Jesus, in preaching repentance and forgiveness. Jesus and John are a coordinated pair in the Gospels, much like Moses and Aaron, David and Jonathan, Elijah and Elisha, Ezra and Nehemiah, and Peter and Paul in Acts; this aspect of paired figures even extends to their deaths (6.29; 15.45–46). Water purifications occur in the Tanakh (e.g., Lev 13.6; 15.5–10), but at the turn of the Common Era there arose a strong interest in water purification rites among a number of Jewish groups. Judith 12.7–9, written about 100 BCE, already mentions bathing as purification, and “mikvaot” have been discovered in a variety of locations, although whether these concerns would have registered in the first century outside Judea is unclear. Likewise, the Pharisees, probably centered more in Jerusalem, advocated ritual washing of hands before meals (7.2).
Baptism of repentance
, a ritual bathing that was understood to effect the
forgiveness of sin
.

6
:
John the Baptist is likened to Elijah (9.13; 2 Kings 1.8).

8
:
Baptize you with the Holy Spirit
, perhaps an anticipation of the practices in the early Christian community (Acts 2.1–4; 8.14–17).

9
–11:
The rabbis referred to words from heaven as “bat qol,” “the daughter of the voice”; here they combine Ps 2.7 and Isa 42.1–2. The former is a psalm of royal adoption; when anointed, the Davidic king becomes a son of God. Jesus is never called “Son of God” by the disciples, but he is by God, by unclean spirits (5.7), by Jewish authorities (14.61, in a question) and by a Roman soldier (15.39). In some Christian circles Son of God was elevated to include preexistence (as in the prologue to John’s Gospel, 1.1–14) and equality with God (Jn 5.18), but this only became a general view in Christian doctrine later. In Mark, Son of God was more likely understood as the raising of a human being to a special status with God, influenced both by the model of the Davidic king and the Roman emperor (Livy 1.16). This view of Jesus’ status, had it been adopted by the community as a whole, would have been that God “adopted” Jesus as God’s son, as the king was adopted by God at the ceremony of installation (as in 2.7 cited above).
Torn apart,
see 15.38n.
Dove
, perhaps symbolizing gentleness (Ps 74.19).

1.12
–13: Jesus’ testing
(Mt 4.1–11; Lk 4.1–13). Mark’s story here lacks the drama of Matthew’s and Luke’s; Mark has understated it.
Satan
, the “adversary” or “accuser,” was not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible until after the exile, when, under Persian influence, this figure becomes prominent (Job 1.6; Zech 3.1–2;
Gen. Rab
. 57.4). In
Jub
. 17.18 Satan is called by a different name, Mastema.
Wilderness
and
forty days
suggest both the wilderness wanderings during the Exodus (Ex 15.22ff.) and also the fasts of Moses and Elijah (Deut 9.18; 1 Kings 19.8).

1.14
–15: Announcement of the kingdom of God
(Mt 4.12–17; Lk 4.14–15). Jesus’ message is similar to John the Baptist’s, emphasizing the kingdom of God and the urgency of the times.

14
:
Galilee
is the region north of Judea and Samaria, west of the Sea of Galilee, where most of the action of the Gospel will occur until Jesus comes to Jerusalem. It was part of the land given to the twelve tribes (roughly that assigned to Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali, and Asher). More rural and less Hellenized in the first century CE than Judea, archaeological evidence indicates that beginning at the end of the first century BCE —right before Jesus’ childhood begins in Nazareth of Galilee—and into the first century CE Galilee was changing rapidly. Jewish identity markers are more in evidence in pottery, as is the stronger profile of non-Jews, specifically Phoenicians.

15
:
Kingdom of God
, the concept that God is the true king is present in the Hebrew Bible (see, e.g., Ps 5.2; 10.16; 103.19; 145.11,13) and also in Second Temple literature (Wis 10.10), mostly as a future promise or an ideal state not yet accomplished here and now.
Repent,
Gk “metanoia,” “change of mind” where “mind” has the sense of the whole inner being; usually the translation in LXX of Heb “n-ḥ-m,” “suffer regret, repent”; in Jer 31.19 “niḥam” is paired with “shuv,” “turn, turn back.” Here repentance is not in regard to individual sins but in the sense of “returning” to God.
Believe in the good news
, “faith” as a noun and “believe” as a verb (from the same root in Greek) are strongly emphasized in the NT (e.g., Mt 8; 10; 24.23; Mk 13.11; Jn 11.40; 1 Cor 11.18; many other occurrences). In ancient Israel “faith” and “believe” (“‘aman” root; cf. “amen,” 3.28n.) often connoted faithfulness or trustworthiness regarding both humans (e.g., Isa 38.3) and God (e.g, Ps 71.22); cf. also the “amanah” or faith-covenant in Neh 9.38 (10.1). In the Greek period faith/believe also took on a new emphasis: conviction, confession, even conversion (Jdt 14.10; Wis 1.2; 16.26; Sir 1.14; 2.6). The Pharisees also gave the “‘aman” concept a major boost by using it to characterize the first level of initiates into their group: those who tithed carefully were called “ne’emanim” or faithful ones. Faith and believe are key terms in almost all texts of the Jesus movement, describing a personal commitment to Jesus or the kingdom. Mark often discusses faith and Torah, although he never contrasts faith and law as Paul does (but see 2.1–12). If Mark were indebted to Paul, it is strange that this Gospel never opposes faith and law, but it is possible that Mark recognized such a view as Pauline and not attributable to Jesus.