A lifelong passion - 4

A lifelong passion

About one-third of St Mark’s Gospel is taken up with the events of the last week of Jesus’ life, the story of Jesus’ betrayal, suffering and death, his ‘Passion’. It’s a very striking proportion, which has led some scholars to describe St Mark as a Passion narrative with a long introduction (by way of comparison, only about one-seventh of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke are taken up with the narrative of Jesus’ last days before the crucifixion). And in Mark it’s made very clear that, as we move into this section, we’re moving into a slightly different atmosphere. A narrative which up to this point has felt quite rushed and packed, even a bit scattergun in its effect, noticeably slows down. There are far more quotations from the Old Testament; and, intriguingly, far more references to specific places in and around Jerusalem. There is careful reference to the time of day when things happened…