Preaching Mark

Bonnie Bowman Thurston

Fortress Press

Minneapolis

PREACHING MARK

Copyright © 2002 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Augsburg Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.

Cover art: Detail from “Four Evangelists in a Scriptorium,” Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund, photograph © 2001 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1539, pen and brown ink with brown wash over red chalk on laid paper. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permission.

In Memoriam

Miss Helen Louise McGuffie, Ph.D. (1915–2000)

She taught me what to do with texts.

“Let her works praise her in the city gates.” Proverbs 31:31

Contents

Abbreviations

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Prologue and Typical Features of Jesus’ Ministry

Mark 1:1–39

2. The Opposition in Galilee

Mark 1:40–3:35

3. The Parables: The Substance of Jesus’ Message

Mark 4:1–34

4. The Miracles: The Extent of Jesus’ Power

Mark 4:35–5:43

5. The Ministry around Capernaum

Mark 6:1–8:21

6. The Journey to Jerusalem and Discipleship Teaching

Mark 8:22–10:52

7. The Ministry around Jerusalem

Mark 11–13

8. The Passion and Resurrection

Mark 14–16

Appendix 1: Lectionaries

Appendix 2: Helps for Preaching Mark

Scripture Index

Abbreviations

ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. N. Freeman et al. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

BR Biblical Research

BRev Bible Review

BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin

CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series

DJG Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Edited by J. B. Green and S. McKnight. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1992.

ExpTim Expository Times

HTR Harvard Theological Review

IBS Irish Biblical Studies

ICC International Critical Commentary

Int Interpretation

JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

JBR Journal of Biblical Religion

JR Journal of Religion

JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament

JSNTSup JSNT Supplement Series

JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

JTS Journal of Theological Studies

LXX Septuagint

mt Masoretic Text

NCBC New Century Bible Commentary

NIB The New Interpreter’s Bible

NovT Novum Testamentum

NTS New Testament Studies

RevExp Review and Expositor

RelSRev Religious Studies Review

SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series

SJT Scottish Journal of Theology

ZNW Zeitscrhift für die neuentestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche