Mary in the Gospel of Mark: Part VII: Jesus’ Faith-Family

Mary, In the Gospel of Mark

In our study of the Mariology of Mark, we have already considered Mary in 6:3;

Is not this the carpenter,  the son of Mark? In this only other Marcan reference to our Lady, the context has been studied to see if the mother of Jesus was among those who “set out” to seize Jesus, thinking he may be out of his mind.  (3:20-21). In this installment of Mary in the Gospel of Mark, we are faced with the task of examining the situation which met his family when they “arrived” on the scene.

Mark goes into no detail about what happened when Jesus’ relatives caught up with him. The only point mentioned is that when they did arrive, Jesus was talking to a large crowd inside while “his own” stood outside. When Jesus was informed that his mother and brothers were outside, he spoke the famous phrase; “Who are my mother and my brothers”?  And looking around on those who sat about him, he said; “Here are my mother and my brothers.  Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother”.  And Mark then closes the scene abruptly. Nothing is said about any actual encounter of Jesus with his family; nothing of their success or failure in “seizing him,” which is, after all, the purpose why his relatives “set out”.  (3:20-21).

Mark’s One Aim Within This Passage

It appears evident, then, that Mark has only one aim in mind in this entire section. Flesh / blood relationship, no matter how close, is no entry into Jesus’ true family. Only faith – the surrendering of ourselves to the Lord on every level of being –  constitutes a person as a ‘Relative” of the Lord. The natural family of Jesus cannot claim to be “one” with him just because they are his natural family.

Faith-listening to his word and keeping it is the one thing necessary.  His family as family does not understand him, and even tries to restrain or seize him. Only those who are sitting around him and absorbing his words are “his own.”

Mark accentuates this division between the natural family of Jesus and his true disciples by stressing that his family is outside while those who are listening to him are inside. Paul makes use of the same terms – outside to signify unbelievers and inside to indicate the faithful – when writing to the Corinthians (l Cor 5: 12).  Jesus’ mother and brethren, Mark forcefully notes, are outside.  Those who “do the will of God” are inside.

How Does Mary Fit Into This Section?

Mark is teaching us that natural relationship of itself avails nothing.

Mark applies this equally to “his own people” in the national sense. If they reject him, it will be of no benefit whatsoever that they are his brethren, the chosen people of God by natural descent. (cf 6:1-6, Mt 3:9, 8:11-12). In fact, to become a member of Jesus’ “faith-family” it is often necessary that even the closest earthly ties be broken (Mk 10:28- 30). What is important, Mark insists, is that we belong to Jesus through faith.  That is the principal thrust of this entire passage.  The biological family is replaced by the faith-family.

Now where does Mary fit in all this? Is it a legitimate conclusion to declare that our Lady is is not a member of Jesus’ faith—family because she is “the womb that bore him and the breasts which fed him”? (cf Lk 11:27).  Biological relationship – even motherhood – of itself does not automatically make Mary his disciple.

But is Mary a disciple? Is she a Woman of Faith?  Mark gives no answer for this is not within his scope.  His aim has been accomplished by stating so clearly and poignantly that even his natural family cannot be counted as his disciples just because  they are his natural family. Whether or not Mary and the brethren should also be counted now or eventually as his faith-family is left unanswered by Mark.

Is Mary a Disciple?

Where can we go to find an answer to the question left hanging in the air by this earliest Gospel?  According to this scriptural account, is Mary a woman of faith? Is she or is she not a disciple of the Lord?

Although Mark is at best ambiguous on this point, we instinctively go to the corresponding sections of Matthew and Luke to see how they interpret this Marcan passage. Since Mathew and Luke depend upon Mark, the possible clarifications would be necessary in order to capture the full meaning of this section.

And both Matthew (12:46-50) and Luke (8:19-21) do copy this Marcan incident. Since it is common to all synoptic – Matthew,  Mark and Luke – it is called the “synoptic Mariology.” But neither Matthew nor Luke are copy machines! They modify,  adapt, embellish, in order to clarify Mark’s  account  according to the needs of their particular audiences.

Matthew’s and Luke’s View-point

Matthew’s rendition of Mark 3:31-35  is hardly a major overhaul. Nonetheless, since in his first two chapters Matthew has already informed us of the virginal conception and some miraculous incidents in the infancy of Jesus (which Mark does not do) he omits any mention that Jesus’ family thought he was “out of his mind” and therefore set out to “seize him”.  (Mk 3:21-22). In light of Matthew’s description of Mary in chapters one and two of Gospel, he makes certain that the readers of his Gospel do not in any way include Mary among those who may have judged Jesus unbalanced.

We have here an important clarification of Mark.

In the latter’s Gospel, whether or not Mary is among those who thought Jesus was “out of his mind” is not perfectly clear. Matthew elucidates Mark on this point.  By deliberately omitting the incident altogether, he is removing any doubt concerning Mary’s possible misunderstanding about  Jesus.

And Matthew even toned down the description of Jesus’ family being outside while his “true” family is inside. If we accept that v.47 is probably the work of a manuscript copyist (it is omitted in the best texts) then Matthew mentions only once that the mother and brothers are outside. Moreover, the general impression of Matthew’s rendition is of a milder contrast between the faith-family of Jesus and his mother and brethren.

Luke’s version of this Marcan story is such a major revamping that it will be considered in the next issue / publication article of this series in The Queen. We will then bring the study of Mark’s  Mariology  to a close.

(To Be Continued)