A Statement of Faith on Salvation in Mark's Gospel, v 1.0

The motivation for creating this statement came from discussion at Bill Tammeus' blog. Conversation there prompted me to attend to Mark with fresh ears, especially for passages relating to salvation. The idea of "salvation" begs the question, "saved from what to what?" and Scripture provides a variety of images and metaphors, including from blindness into sight, from slavery into freedom, from death into life, and from aimlessness into purpose. "Salvation" in our cultural context is often linked to an afterlife or a supernatural realm, but these associations are notably absent from Mark; there is simply nothing said aside from Jesus' exchange with the rich man in chapter 10.17-31. Our culture, especially evangelical and fundamentalist sub-culture, also tends to place a premium on human "belief," "acceptance" or "reception" of salvation in order for it to be effective; in Mark, Jesus does not set this condition.

I will use the term "tribe" frequently, to describe our predisposition to band together into groups with a line between "insider/member" and "outsider/other." I find this instinct in itself to be morally neutral, though how it is used (i.e. how wide tribal horizons are set) certainly has a moral dimension that Jesus was interested in.

The gospel of Mark unfolds as a drama in three acts. Jesus asks at the end of Act I, "Do you not yet understand?" (8.21). First acts make introductions; Jesus' character has been on display from the beginning, yet his followers don't get it. Jesus' frustration at this point seems to say "What you need is already in front of your eyes! I'm all here!" In the first act he has taught, healed, fed, turned lives around (from the definition of "repent"), demonstrated acts of practical compassion, frustrated religious authorities, and announced the good news that sin has been forgiven by God's authority (2.3-7). Jesus has pushed the horizons of one's "tribe" - from family, "clean" people, religion, and nation - out to infinity (2.13-17, 3.31-35, 5.1-20, 7.24-30). Reminding ourselves that Jesus was Jewish, his ministry and good news in Mark's gospel is emphatically for Jew and non-Jew equally (8.14-21).

In Act II the conflict between Jesus and the Temple religious authorities deepens. The commandment of God was contrasted with religious law earlier (7.1-23) and when asked about it Jesus finds God's essential commandment in the Shema prayer (12.28-34, quoting Deut. 6.4 and Lev. 19.18); love of God, neighbor, and self. The first occurance of "save" is in the context of the cost of following Jesus (8.34-50), where he calls the people to transcend selfishness and follow the path of earthly compassion marked out in Act I. "Ghenna" is first used in 9.46, where Jesus says that no sacrifice (even "hell") is too great in order to avoid placing roadblocks in front of innocent "little ones" of lowest status who believe and are trying to follow this path. A rich man introduces the phrase "eternal life" (10.17), asking how he may inherit it, and Jesus responds by calling him to follow the hard path he is on. The disciples ask, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus answers, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible" (10:26-27). To Peter's plea that they have left everything to follow the path, Jesus replies seriously about the results to expect in this world (increased family ("Who is my mother?" Matthew 12.46-50) and persecution!) and mocks the rich man's concern (New Oxford Annotated Bible commentary).

With the stage set, Jesus enters Jerusalem to cries of "Hosanna!" (literally "Save us!") (11.1-11) from peasant people concerned with this-world salvation; more egalitarian social, political, and economic arrangements (though not in the mold of a new Davidic regime). A group of Sadducees introduces the concept of ressurection/afterlife, about which Jesus only says it will be markedly different from this life (no marriage) and reminds them that God is God of the living (12.18-27). In the midst of political chaos, Jesus offers reassurance to the "elect" without saying what the group is elected to or how inclusive it might be (13.20-27). As Jesus the martyr-messiah dies, the revered religious boundary between God and humanity (a true "final curtain!") is completely torn (15.37-38), loosing God in the world. It is then, with an empty tomb and no more, that Mark's original narrative concludes (16.8).
- C. Howie Howard

----

I believe salvation is first and foremost a this-world state of being, found by following Jesus' path. This way of living is marked by more egalitarian economic, social, and political relationships, transcendence of selfishness and tribalism, a radical inclusion of all people within God's household, acts of practical compassion, and proclomation of the good news that God is at peace with humanity and all creation.

I believe Mark's scant use of the concepts afterlife, eternal life, the "elect," and bodily ressurection shows these to be of secondary importance on Jesus' path and reflects neutrality towards specific propositions about their existence, nature, and characteristics. Common cultural associations about these concepts made by western Christianity today are neither supported or denied by Mark's gospel.

Given the existence of an afterlife;

By Jesus' unconditional proclomation of the good news that sin has been forgiven,
By Jesus' ministry for Jews and non-Jews alike (members and non-members of his religion) without preference, crossing boundaries and expanding horizons of self-interest and tribe, subverting expectations and correcting for the human tendency to justify interests of self and tribe over God's universal concern,
By Jesus' execution and ressurection in the midst of sin, ignorance, and unbelief,

By Martin Luther's fundamental insight; that God's grace cannot be conditioned on any human action,
By my experience of Christ's boundless, no-last-chances love, and
By my reasoning, in a diverse community of church members, scholars, and philosophers,

I believe that all of creation - all people, all creatures, all matter - has an eternal place in God's presence, toward which we may struggle and progress willfully through the dross-burning process of coming to know God and truth.