Mary in the Gospel of Mark: Part VIII: Is Mary A Disciple of Jesus?
Fr. J. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
An his mother and brothers came, and standing around outside, they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him; “Your mother and brothers are outside, asking for you”. And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers? And looking around on those who set about him, he said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, nod mother”. (Mk 3:31-35)
Mary, In the Gospel of Mark
In this final installment of Mary in the Gospel of Mark, we will briefly consider how Luke interprets this passage of Mark and then draw some conclusions concerning Mark’s “Mariology.”
Considering this passage of Mark in isolation, little if anything can be learned about Mary. Is she a disciple of Jesus? Mark is ambiguous for he does not tell us whether the mother of Jesus fulfills the condition of discipleship; “Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother”. (v. 35).
However, as pointed out in previous articles, these verses do tell us that flesh and blood relationship – even motherhood of Jesus – does not suffice to call Mary a disciple. The Messiah’s mother and brothers, precisely as mother and brothers, are outside while the disciples are inside. The physical family is not ipso facto a group of followers of the Christ.
Mark’s purpose is fulfilled. He has clearly taught that natural ties do not entitle anyone to enter the kingdom of God. What is needed is faith. His aim is not to tell us whether Jesus’ mother is or will be eventually a disciple. That is outside his scope. His insistence is on the need “to do the will of Good” to be within the messianic family. This requirement for entry into discipleship is not met by blood relationship in itself (Mk 10:29-30).
Since Mark is a primary source of Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels, their interpretations of this episode can shed light upon a question these verses raise, but which Mark never answers. Is Mary to be considered a disciple of Jesus? In the last issue of The Queen, Matthew’s clarification (Mt 12:46-50) was examined. Luke’s re-doing of this Marcan text must now be studied.
The Interpretation of Luke
Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him on account of the crowd. And he was told; “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you”. But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the ward of God and do it”. (Lk 8:19-21).
Luke emphatically reworks Mark’s account of Mary and the brothers of Jesus going in search of him. The Lucan narrative thoroughly embellishes the content of the account and its context so that there be no misinterpretation of Mark’s ambiguity.
The Content.
Luke clarifies Mark’s account in two ways. First, like Matthew, he omits the rather striking contrast between the disciples who are inside and the mother and brothers of Jesus who are outside. Moreover, Luke gives us the reason Mary is outside; “they could not reach him on account of the crowd”. There is no longer any possibility of concluding to some hostility between Jesus, his followers, and his family.
Second, Luke omits the Marcan question, “Who are my mother and my brothers”? And the response given by Jesus as he points to those inside, sitting around him; “Behold, my mother and my brothers”. Rather, Luke thoroughly re-writes Mark. When Jesus is told that his mother and his brothers are outside, he publicly praises them as disciples; “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it”.
The Holy Family: Italian Painter: Giorgione: Approximately 1499 or 1500
This series originally utilized a black and white copy of this painting within the original Queen of All Hearts Magazine. It resides in the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, DC as part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection.
With this issue (article) we conclude the rather lengthy study of Mary, in the Gospel of Mark. In general, we can say that Mark does not have a “Mariology”. His references to Mary are only in passing and are never the direct object of his teaching. Yet, his allusions to Our Lady do raise two important topics; the virginity of the Mother of Jesus and her discipleship. Both have been studied in this series of articles.
Mark himself is ambiguous concerning these Mariology questions since his direct purpose is never to qualify who Mary is, except that she is the Mother of Jesus. It is Matthew and Luke who illuminate the description of Mary begun by Mark. With their insights into Mary – plus those of John – the portrait of Mary becomes brighter and brighter, revealing the fundamental “personality” of Our Lady as she is understood by the earliest followers of Jesus.
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There is no doubt in Luke’s interpretation of Mark that Mary and the brethren are to be counted among the followers of Jesus. All ambiguity is lifted. Luke, writing in the 80’s, expresses the mind of the Church in his insistence that Mary is definitely a disciple of Our Lord. As we will see when studying Mary in the Gospel of Luke (see links to all Mary, in the Gospel of . . . series link may be found here) , the evangelist stresses Mary as the model disciple.
Luke’s . . .
The context; Luke’s reconstruction of the Marcan episode is as radical as his interpretation of the content. Like Matthew, he omits the Marcan reference to Jesus’ “own” who believe he was “beside himself”. Moreover, Luke changes the Marcan context far more thoroughly than Matthew does. In Mark’s account of this event, it is followed by the parable of the sower (Mk. 4:1-20). This may leave us with the possible impression that those who are inside around Jesus are like the “good soil” which accepts the seed (the word of God) and therefore “hear the word of God and accept it”. Those who are outside (Mary and the brethren and the scribes) could perhaps be considered as representative of those who for various reasons do not let the word of God grow within them.
. . . Context
No such interpretation is possible in Luke’s reconstruction of the context. He places the parable of the sower (8:4-15) before the narratives of “the mother and the brothers”. (8:19-21). Luke concludes the parable with a description of the success of the seed that fell on good soil. “And as for that good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience”. (Lk. 8:15). Now a few verses later, the evangelist recounts the words of Jesus; “My mother and my brothers are those that hear the word of God and do it”. (Lk. 8:21). Luke is making a rather clear link between Mary and the good soil that yields a hundredfold.
The Marcan ambiguity about Mary’s discipleship has been cleared up. She is definitely a faith-filled follower of Jesus. True, solely as the womb that bore him and the breasts that fed him (Lk. 11:27), she is not within the messianic family. But as Luke insists in his clarification of Mark and even more emphatically in the infancy narratives (Lk 1 & 2). Mary is the woman who hears the word of God and does it. She is the woman of faith, the model disciple of the Lord.
Conclusion
With this issue (article) we conclude the rather lengthy study of Mary, in the Gospel of Mark. In general, we can say that Mark does not have a “Mariology”. His references to Mary are only in passing and are never the direct object of his teaching. Yet, his allusions to Our Lady do raise two important topics; the virginity of the Mother of Jesus and her discipleship. Both have been studied in this series of articles.
Mark himself is ambiguous concerning these Mariology questions since his direct purpose is never to qualify who Mary is, except that she is the Mother of Jesus. It is Matthew and Luke who illuminate the description of Mary begun by Mark. With their insights into Mary – plus those of John – the portrait of Mary becomes brighter and brighter, revealing the fundamental “personality” of Our Lady as she is understood by the earliest followers of Jesus. These inspired teachings will be studied in other articles within The Queen (see Mary in the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John).
