This dissertation is primarily concerned with the Son of God Christology found throughout miracle narratives in Mark's Gospel. The eighteen texts of the miracle narratives in Mark's Gospel show Jesus as a victor, the Son of God, and the one spreading ...
This dissertation is primarily concerned with the Son of God Christology found throughout miracle narratives in Mark's Gospel. The eighteen texts of the miracle narratives in Mark's Gospel show Jesus as a victor, the Son of God, and the one spreading the gospel of the kingdom of God.
Thirty percent of the Gospel deals with the miracle narratives. Though it consists of the least sixteen chapters among the Gospels, Mark's Gospel records the most eighteen miracle narratives. These narratives are divided into nature, healing and exorcism, and five loaves and two fish narratives. We investigated each text of the narratives through the exegesis using the method of literal criticism. In addition, we studied the social state of those days when the Gospel was written and the narrator's purpose and thought, etc. by using social rhetorical methodology.
Mark's Gospel mainly describes Jesus as the Son of God. The beginning section of the Gospel starts with saying "The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God"(NIV). Moreover, Jesus is called the Son of God here and there in the Gospel. In the miracle narratives, those who accepted the miracles confessed that Jesus is the Son of God and even demons admitted it.
The healing and exorcism miracle narratives show Jesus is a victor. The figures of Jesus conquering diseases and Satan present those of a victor conquering the passion and the death on the cross, which differ from the appearance of political military Messiah his disciples anticipated. Mark represents the glorious victory through the passion of the Christian community.
Jesus is also depicted as the proclaimer of the Gospel imparting the kingdom of God in these miracle narratives. He proclaimed the kingdom of God through the eighteen miracles. He chose doing miracles as one of the methods to proclaim the kingdom of God, which gives one message to us living in the present. We his disciples in the present must focus all our attention on proclaiming the kingdom of God and making all efforts to save people as Jesus did.
In conclusion, Jesus was found as the Son of God, rather than the son of man, who always spread the gospel in Mark's Gospel. Affirming Jesus is the Son of God through this study, we can conclude that our generation must pay attention to the same concerns as Jesus had around 2000 years ago.