Res Biblica

The collection of sayings and stories in Mark 3:31-8:26 is arranged around three ideas: faith (and its necessity), the person of Jesus, and the growing multitudes that follow him. Multitudes follow Jesus because of his words and deeds, and Jesus continues to work miracles because of faith. However, even his disciples continue to ask questions about his person: Who is this man? The following outline of Mark 3:31-8:26 shows that the initiates to the Kingdom of God need to have ears to hear and eyes to see before they can rightly proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah.

Mark 3:31-8:26 leads to the Confession of Peter in Mark 8:27+ and to the sections where Jesus begins to speak about himself and his suffering and death as the Suffering Servant. The section beginning in Mark 3:31 therefore prepares for that section by insisting on the need for faith in understanding not only the words of Jesus, his deeds and his person. The opening story about Jesus and his immediate family brings home the message that faith creates a family around Jesus. The phrase "let those who have ears hear" echoing through Mark 4:1-34 actually insists on faith, for "faith comes from hearing" as St. Paul would say.

One needs faith in order to know who Jesus is. Mark 4:35-41 and Mark 6:53-56 form an inclusion based on the dominance of God over the primeval Sea. The question "Who is he?" is a question that rises out of wonder and amazement. It is also a question that arises out of confusion. Is Jesus the prophet like Moses who fed the Israelites in the desert and who gave them the Law? Or one like Elijah, he who raised up the dead? Or is he more than a prophet?

To know Jesus, one must also have faith in his person. But it cannot be like the faith of the Scribes and Pharisees that is based on the conventions introduced by men. It must be pure like that of the faith of a non-Israelite, like bread that is without the leaven of pretense and hypocrisy. It must have ears that truly hear, and eyes that truly see. Only then can the disciple be able to say: "You are the Christ (cf. Mark 8:27 ff)." It is this faith that introduces one to the family of Jesus, the place where God truly reigns.