In the last issue I shared that Mark used the word straightway numerous times. In the passion narrative of the Gospel, however, Mark uses the word sparsely and ironically. Judas arrives to betray Jesus straightway and approaches his with a kiss straightway. After he as denied Jesus three times, Peter hears the second cockcrows straightway. The high priest calls the council to condemn Jesus straightway. If one recalls Mark’s earlier use of the word, the irony here seems heavy. At the same time, by using it Mark is signaling a larger irony by which, in spite of all appearances, God’s plan is going straight.

Another key word translated literally in the Gospel is ecstasy. If one analyzes the elements of this word, one sees that it is made up of two parts ek, which means out in Greek and stasis, which is related to the Greek word for stand. Thus to experience ecstasy means to stand outside oneself, to be outside one’s normal state of being. Mark uses one form of this word when he wants to indicate that someone is out of his mind. When Jesus cures the paralytic, for example, Mark first describes his cure as a kind of resurrection, saying that the man rose up, picked up his mat straightway and went away in the sight of everyone. He then says, “they were all out of their minds and glorified God saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this’. A similar use occurs in Chapter 3 when Mark says that those close to Jesus thought that Jesus was out of his mind.

Mark uses a different form of the same word to indicate moments when something Jesus does or says causes people to experience an abnormal state of awareness and joy. He uses both forms of the word to describe the scene in which Jesus raises up the daughter of Jarius. When Jesus arrives, people are already lamenting her death. Then, Marks tells us, “He said to her, ‘Talitha koum’, which means Little girl, rise up.” Then Mark describes the reaction of those witnessing this event: “the girl, a child of twelve, rose up straightway and walked around. At that, they were out of their minds with ecstasy.

At the end of the Gospel, when three women come to Jesus’ tomb to anoint him, they discover that his body is not there, and a young man in white tells them: “He has been raised.” Mark then describes their response as one of “trembling and ecstasy”. Mark has prepared his readers for this response by the earlier episodes.

More to come!