The ongoing conversation between my sister and I...

So this is a response that I wrote to my sister, Addie, in the midst of an ever burgeoning email conversation we have had over the past few days. She recently wrote a paper on the "messianic secret" in the Gospel of Mark for one of her classes. The "messianic secret" refers to Jesus' tendency in Mark to forbid people to spread the word that he was the Messiah.

Here is my response to her email, to which she responds here.

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My understanding is pretty close to the third option that you gave, though when I first heard about it (in Na's class in college), the notion that Jesus didn't realize he was the Messiah seemed most likely (and the scariest/most confusing).

Elements of the Messianic Secret, or of it as an idea happen in Matthew and Luke as well (which makes sense, since they likely used Mark as a source), so I wouldn't simply chalk it up to Mark's writing style, though it is most clearly present in Mark.

I would say that Jesus seems to be keeping his identity hidden because people had such a clear idea of what the Messiah was supposed to be (this great warrior who would come in and essentially destroy all of the enemies and rule as a mighty king, like a super David). The entire Old Testament is calling for this Messiah, so the whole Jewish nation is well versed on it, and is really anticipating his coming.

While Jesus does essentially destroy our enemy (death, Satan), and rule on high as a king, he does it in a way that is completely different than what was expected. He doesn't come triumphantly, he comes as a poor baby. He doesn't rule as a mighty monarch, he serves as a servant, proving his love. If people had heard 'Hey, Jesus is the Messiah!' they would have had this preconceived image of what that meant that would have clouded their ability to see what Jesus truly was. He was redefining what it meant to be the 'Messiah,' and he couldn't do that if people expected him to be something else first. That is why people are so incredulous in the Passion. This guy can't be the Messiah, and it is blasphemous to think this is what a Messiah would look and act!

An even scarier (and stupid) interpretation of Mark is that Jesus wasn't God's son until the moment the spirit descends at his baptism, as this is where Mark's gospel starts - that Jesus was just a normal guy before that. This is called 'Adoptionist Theology' and it's whack. It is completely out of line with any of the other Gospels, so there's little reason to give it any credence.

Ironically, where the synoptics (Mark, Matthew, & Luke) present a Jesus who is more secretive about his divinity, John's Jesus is in people's face about it.

Going off of that (long) explanation above, this helps us to make sense of why Jesus gets so mad at Peter when he claims that Jesus is the Christ/Messiah and tries to stop the crucifixion. In saying this, Peter is saying that he knows who Jesus is, that he is this archetype of a Superhero Messiah. The reality is that Peter really doesn't get it anymore than any of the other disciples. Jesus is trying to dispel this image of the Superhero Messiah to make way for the Servant Messiah that he was, and if his own followers don't even get it, that's a big deal. The last thing he needs is his disciples telling everyone that Jesus is the Superhero they are waiting for.

In a lot of ways, Mark is encouraging to me, when I look at how stupid the disciples are in Mark. They just don't get it. It makes them human. Jesus is always trying to tell them what's up, and they keep thinking they have it all understood, but they don't. Jesus keeps trying to help them understand, but admonishes Peter when he thinks he has it all figured out, in such a way that he would be claiming that Jesus is something that he is not.

I think about this when I see things like Acquire the Fire, this really fundamentalist youth rally that uses a lot of military imagery to rope youth into waging 'war' against society. Or the people who carry signs that say 'God hates Fags.' If Jesus was mad at Peter for misunderstanding who he was, how mad must he be at these people, doing things in the name of Christ that have nothing to do with who Christ really was.

Anyway, that was long.

Tell me what you think.

rock.