In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark's Gospel

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dec 2001 by Williams, Joel F

In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark's Gospel. By Elizabeth Struthers Malbon. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2000, xx 244 pp., $29.95 paper.

The study of characterization in Mark's Gospel is an area of research in which Elizabeth Struthers Malbon has shown considerable leadership and insight. This book, In the Company of Jesus, is a collection of previously published essays on the topic of Markan characterization, focusing not on the main character of Mark's Gospel, Jesus, but on the other characters around Jesus, on followers and foes, exemplars and enemies. Yet Jesus remains central in these studies because all other groups and individuals in the narrative are evaluated in terms of their response to Jesus and his demands. Malbon examines how characters are portrayed in relation to Jesus and also in relation to one another, noting the interplay, comparisons, and contrasts between these characters and the way in which their portrayal reaches out to readers.

Two themes pervade the book, both of which are important for understanding characterization in Mark's Gospel. First, Mark's portrait of the followers of Jesus is both composite and complex, According to Malbon, Mark's treatment of discipleship is composite in that he does not limit the followers of Jesus to the disciples. Other Markan characters meet the demands of following Jesus, so that Jesus' followers include also the crowd at times, certain women who exemplify both faith and sacrificial service, as well as other exceptional individuals such as Bartimaeus and Jairus. Therefore, a study of discipleship in Mark's Gospel cannot focus entirely on the characterization of the disciples without missing some of what Mark has to say about following Jesus. Malbon also argues that Mark's portrayal of discipleship is complex, since he shows both the strong and weak points of Jesus' followers. What Mark has to say about discipleship is understood not only from the failure of the disciples and other followers, but also from their success and from the tension between success and failure. By providing a composite and complex image of Jesus' "fallible followers," Mark is able to communicate that discipleship is both open-ended and demanding. No one is excluded from following Jesus, but no one finds it easy.

A second theme is that an adequate understanding of Mark's use of characterization must take note of exceptional individuals. For example, Malbon points out that members of the Jewish religious establishment are generally characterized as enemies of Jesus but that they are not automatically categorized in this way. Mark's Gospel includes an exceptional synagogue ruler, Jairus, an exceptional member of the council, Joseph of Arimathea, and an exceptional scribe, one who is not far from the kingdom of God. The Gospel of Mark stereotypes the Jewish religious leaders as Jesus' opponents but refuses to make that picture absolute. The exceptional characters in Mark suggest that being a foe of Jesus is not simply a matter of one's social or religious status and role but rather a matter of how one responds to Jesus, and the same is true of being a follower of Jesus. Judas, after all, is an exceptional disciple. Mark's Gospel challenges the absolutism of simply "good" and "bad" characters. The Jewish leaders are antagonistic to Jesus, but not without exception, while the followers of Jesus waver between faith and doubt, trust and fear, obedience and denial. No one can be ruled out as a potential disciple, and yet no one is a perfect disciple either.

One of the ways that Malbon makes a contribution is by consistently asking, "How does the text work?" In other words, how do the various literary patterns of the text, and the interrelated characters, settings, and actions of the plot, work together to communicate meaning? In general, interpreters are more accustomed to asking, "What does the text mean?" However, Malbon's study of characterization in Mark demonstrates the value of examining how Mark's narrative works, since the way in which a text communicates constrains what a text can and cannot mean. It is to be hoped that the publication of these essays will make Malbon's work available to a wider audience, so that it might continue to influence future studies of characterization and discipleship in Mark's Gospel.

Joel F. Williams

Columbia International University, Columbia, SC