Mark: The Gospel of Frustration

Mark has an amazing percentage of stories that reveal Jesus’ frustration during his ministry: healings ending with commands for silence that were ignored, escaping crowds only seeking healing, continual conflict with the religiosos, and amazement at the pandemic lack of faith. Mark reveals Jesus as a man whose ministry did not go as he wanted it to go.

Mark has an amazing percentage of stories that reveal Jesus’ frustration during his ministry: healings ending with commands for silence that were ignored, escaping crowds only seeking healing, continual conflict with the religiosos, and amazement at the pandemic lack of faith. Mark reveals Jesus as a man whose ministry did not go as he wanted it to go.

Mark reveals Jesus’ frustration with his ministry in two ways. First, he describes the direction Jesus wanted for his ministry, and what actually happened instead.  This happens in chapter 1.

Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,  ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)

Jesus wanted to preach the good news. Mark repeats this in verse 38,

“Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. (Mark 1:38-39)

This is the template that Jesus wanted for his ministry. He wanted to go into the towns, into the synagogues and preach the gospel. But the miraculous signs that authenticated his message became the focal point of his ministry. Mark also shows this in chapter one.

And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” ⁴¹Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” ⁴²And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once,  ⁴⁴ and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” ⁴⁵But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.
(Mark 1:40-45)

Jesus could “no longer openly enter a town” and preach in the synagogue which had been his intended pattern of ministry. Mark reminds us of this in 7:36, “Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.” Immediately following this Mark relates the feeding of the four thousand where they were in a “desolate place.” Contrast this with the healing of Jairus’ daughter. Mark recorded that Jesus “strictly charged them that no one should know this” (5:43), but he doesn’t write that the news was spread abroad. He next writes that Jesus “began to teach in the synagogue” in his hometown. When people disregard Jesus instructions, he preaches outside of the towns, but when he can, he preaches in the synagogues.

The second method Mark uses to reveal Jesus frustration in his ministry is to tell us straight out that Jesus is angry or astounded. He does this seven times.

3:1-6 “he looked around at them with anger” The other synoptics do not mention Jesus’ anger. This is unique to Mark’s gospel.

4:40 "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? Jesus stilled the storm and criticized his disciples.

6:4 “a prophet without honor” Jesus condemns his hometown for not acknowledging him.

6:6 “he marveled because of their unbelief” This is related to the previous incident, but it is Mark’s testimony emphasizing Jesus’ dismay.

9:19 “O faithless generation...” The disciples couldn’t heal a mute boy..

10:14 “he was indignant” Like in chapter 3, Mark includes Jesus’ reaction while Matthew (19:13-14) and Luke (18:15-16) omit it.

11:12-14; 19-21 the cursing of the fig tree When compared to Matthew, Mark delays the recognition of success of Jesus’ curse until the following morning --after Jesus had driven the moneychangers from the temple.

11:15-17 driving the moneychangers out of the temple This is told in all four gospels, but Mark embedded it within the cursing of the fig tree.

Mark describes ongoing frustration that is not only directed at the religious leaders. The indignation over the exclusion of the children was directed at his disciples. So was the frustration over the mute boy, and the criticism following the calming of the storm. The cursing of the fig tree stemmed from Jesus’ own hunger, and was directed at a tree!

Mark’s attention to Jesus’ emotional state is especially obvious in the account of the healing of the man with the withered hand and the account of the disciples  keeping the children out from under foot. All three synoptic gospels relate these events, but only Mark labels Jesus’ internal reaction. While Luke says that the Pharisees were filled with fury after Jesus healed on the Sabbath, Mark turns that around and, omitting the Pharisees’ distress, emphasizes Jesus’ anger over their hardness of heart. Jesus indignant response to the disciples keeping the children out from under foot seems obvious in every gospel, but Mark draws attention to it in his.

In the account of the fig tree and the moneychangers, Mark places both the account of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple of the same day, the day after his triumphal entry. Matthew, by contrast, places these two events on successive days, connecting the cleansing of the temple with Jesus as the prophet and his triumphal entry. By connecting the cleansing of the temple with the account of the fig tree, Mark puts the focus on Jesus internal, emotional state.

In the course of this one day, Jesus walks into Jerusalem hungry because of this damned fig tree, unleashes his anger on the moneychangers, and walks home past the shriveled fig tree. While the moneychangers deserved their violence, the fig tree didn’t “for it was not the season for figs.” The tree and the moneychangers are unrelated. The common thread between them is that they triggered an outburst from Jesus by frustrating him. The fig tree frustrated Jesus’ hunger, an intuitive connection. The connection to Jesus’ other frustration, blocked opportunities to teach, is revealed in verses 16 and 17. “And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them…” Jesus’ desire was to teach his people the truth, and after he cleansed the temple, he began to teach there, refusing to allow anyone to walk through.

If these observation are valid, Mark paints a picture of Jesus as a man who is frustrated with his ministry. He is often unable to minister in the way that he desires. His hometown dishonors him. Even his closest disciples misunderstand what he teaches them. The traditional assessment that Mark portrays Jesus as the Son of Man is fitting, but Mark takes it beyond mere biology or lineage. Hebrews says that Jesus can sympathize with our weaknesses. Mark shows that he is familiar with our inability to have everything turn out just as we would like.

Are you comfortable with this portrayal of Jesus? If so, will it provide encouragement during your struggles in ministry? If not, what troubles you about it?

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