Paul Danove, «The Rhetoric of the Characterization of Jesus as the Son of Man and Christ in Mark», Vol. 84 (2003) 16-34

This article investigates the semantic and narrative rhetoric of Mark’s characterization of the Son of Man and the Christ and the contribution of the portrayal of the Son of Man to the portrayal of the Christ. An introductory discussion considers the role of repetition in characterization, the nature of semantic and narrative frames and their implications for describing the implied reader of Mark, and the rhetorical strategies apparent in characterization. The study of characterization investigates the manner in which the semantic and narrative rhetoric introduces and reinforces frequently discordant content concerning the Son of Man and Christ and then relates developments concerning the Son of Man to the Christ. The study concludes with a consideration of the narrative function of the characterizations of the Son of Man and Christ.

        The second occurrence (13,21-27) links a recognition that pre-existing beliefs that identify the Christ by signs and wonders are erroneous to sophisticated beliefs that identify the Christ by the parousaic Son of Man’s glory and deeds. This linkage cultivates beliefs that recognize the implications of the parousaic Son of Man’s actions and identity for the ultimate disposition of his elect (13,27). The second context also evokes 8,38–9,1 and, through its linkage to the former repeated structure, the totality of beliefs cultivated in 8,31–9,1, 9,30-41, and 10,32-45 and links these beliefs to the Christ.

        The third occurrence (14,60-65) links Jesus as Christ and Son of the Blessed (14,61) to Jesus’ teachings about the Son of Man’s parousaic identity and activity (14,62) and his near future (now present!) experience and activity in being condemned as worthy of death (14,64). The first context (14,60-61) concludes with the chief priest’s ironic question whether Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Blessed (14,61), which identifies the chief priest’s beliefs about the Christ as erroneous. The second context (14,62-65), which begins with Jesus’ response, ‘I am’ (14,62), grammatically introduces the Christ through the elliptically omitted predicate nominative; but no explicit assertion about the Christ is forthcoming. Instead, Jesus again narrates content about the parousaic Son of Man; and the chief priest and the whole sanhedrin (cf. 14,55) respond to Jesus as Christ, Son of the Blessed, and Son of Man by condemning him as worthy of death (14,64) and spitting on him (14,65). The latter vocabulary evokes and verifies the content of Jesus’ third prediction (10,32-34); and 14,62-65 again evokes the totality of beliefs cultivated in 8,31–9,1, 9,30-41, and 10,32-45 and links these beliefs to the Christ²⁹ This occurrence, which rounds out the contribution of content about the Son of Man to the Christ, cultivates beliefs that recognize that erroneous thinking about the Christ and Son of Man directly aligns one with the chief priest and the whole sanhedrin in the moment of their most harshly negative evaluation when they condemn Jesus as worthy of death.

        This structure’s three-fold linkage of Christ to teachings about the Son of Man is deemed a deconstructive rhetorical strategy. Deconstructive contextual repetition of the first context (8,27-30; 13,21-23; 14,60-61) identifies pre-existing and previously cultivated