READING BETWEEN THE TEXTS: MINOR CHARACTERS WHO PREPARE THE WAY FOR JESUS

Encounter, Winter 2005 by Gardner, A Edward

In a book titled Other Followers of Jesus: Minor Characters as Major Figures in Mark's Gospel, Joel F. Williams examines analogous episodes of minor characters "who come out of the crowd and come into contact with Jesus."1 For example, the episode of the poor widow and the episode of the woman who anoints Jesus are similar in that the episodes are about the gifts of women. They frame the account of Jesus's apocalyptic discourse-that is, the episode of the poor widow is placed just before the apocalyptic discourse (Mark 13), and the episode of the woman who anoints Jesus just after its conclusion. Likewise, the woman who anoints Jesus and the three women that come to the tomb to anoint Jesus's body frame the passion account. They have in common the motif of anointing by women.

Williams holds that in the first part of the Gospel, the minor characters like the woman with hemorrhages and the Syrophoenician woman are exemplifiers of faith. Blind Bartimaeus is a transitional figure because not only is he an example of faith, but he also follows Jesus and reflects his values, unlike James and John, who brashly ask for seats of honor in Jesus's kingdom. Contrasted with the rich young man, the following characters-the scribe, the poor widow, the woman who anoints Jesus, Simon of Cyrene, and the centurion-continue character development that reflects positively Jesus's values. With the three women at the tomb, however, a series of exemplary figures ends surprisingly with fear and failure, according to Williams.

While I agree with Williams's thesis that minor characters are major figures and followers of Jesus, I would like to focus on an additional motif that he misses: the fact that these figures prepare the way of the Lord. Mark suggests this motif himself. Mark 1:2-3 is the lead quotation from the Hebrew prophets. It is meant to help the reader interpret the roles of John the Baptist, Bartimaeus, other minor characters, and Jesus himself. It says, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'" The minor characters are not only major figures because they are exemplars of faith and/or values, but also because they prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.

I will discuss what Mark 1:2 might mean after I discuss issues of methodology.

METHODOLOGY

Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig published in Berlin in 1936 a book translated as Scripture and Translation, which brought together a variety of their articles and lectures dealing with the nature of the Hebrew Bible and problems of translation.2 Everett Fox, the translator, considered the "leading-word" (Leitwort) technique "one of Buber's enduring contributions."3 Buber defines the meaning of the "leading-word" technique in the following way:

By leitwort I understand a word or root that is meaningfully repeated within a text or sequence of texts, those who attend to these repetitions will find a meaning of the text revealed or clarified, or at any rate made more emphatic. As noted, what is repeated need not be a single word but can be a word root; indeed the diversity of forms often strengthen the overall dynamic. I say "dynamic" because what takes place between the verbal configurations thus related is in a way a movement; readers to whom the whole is present feel the waves beating back and forth. Such measured repetition, corresponding to the inner rhythm of the text-or rather issuing from it-is probably the strongest of all techniques for making a meaning available without articulating it explicitly.4

The means for "making a meaning available without articulating it explicitly" is by paronomasia or word-play. Word-play, including punning, may exist "within the individual syntactic context." It may mean word-play more generally, including alliteration and assonance. However, the word-play that Buber's exegesis looks for is word-play at a distance, "working not in immediate juxtaposition but over an extended stretch of text."5 Word-play may include play upon synonyms and metaphors of motion. The title "Between the Texts" is meant to remind one of the idiom "between the lines," which the dictionary defines as "by implication: in an indirect way." As a reader compares and contrasts analogous narratives, word-play at a distance becomes evident and opens up additional interpretations of the text. Some of the literary characteristics of the Gospel of Mark include repetition of key words and phrases, word-play at a distance, framing, and narrative analogy.6 Multiple and ambiguous meanings are implicit and not overtly stated, but are hinted at by means of word-play.

Narrative episodes may be compared or contrasted regarding repetitions of like characters, situations, or motifs, as well as key word parallels that illumine their recurring patterns and motifs (I use the terminology of "key word" rather than leading-word).

PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT