crowds follow, buzzing about his remarkable life. "Is he the Holy One of God?" "Is he mad?" "Isn't this the carpenter's boy?"
A Breathless Pace
By dispensing with all but bare-bones action, Mark manages to achieve more drama than perhaps any other biblical writer. Action guarantees an attentive audience, and Mark jams sequences together breathlessly. The heavens open immediately; the Spirit send Jesus into the wilderness immediately; he calls his disciples immediately - 42 times this book uses that hurry-up adverb (in Greek).
Characters rush from place to place, jostle among crowds, are astonished at mighty works. Mark is a Gospel of exclamation points, full of words like amazed, overwhelmed, terrified. A phenomenon is loose on the earth, and the author is determined to capture its impact for future generations. |
