Prologue to the Passion:  Mark Chapters 11 -13

What do scholars want to know about these chapters?

Not:  did these events happen as described but

2.  Why is the narrative structured in this way?

3.  What picture of Jesus and his followers does it depict?

4.  Mark believes that Jesus's decision to go to Jerusalem sealed his fate -- and most scholars agree -- but why?

5.  How does Mark interpret these events -- is that the only interpretation possible?

 

Chapter 11:  Proclaiming a king

1-10:  entry to Jerusalem on a colt; procession to Temple

12-14:  The cursed fig tree

15-19:  "Cleansing" the Temple

20-25:  Fig tree revisited

27-33:  Jesus's authority is questioned

 

Chapter 12:

1-12:  The parable of the wicked tenants

13-17:  Pharisees' questions about taxes

18-27: Sadducees' question resurrection

28-34: scribes' questions of the great commandment

35-37:  Jesus's questions Davidic ideas about the Messiah

38-40:   Jesus denounces the scribes

41-44:  The widow's mite

 

Chapter 13

1-2:  Prediction of the Temple's destruction

3-37:  The Little Apocalypse

--3-8:  signs of the last days

--9-14: predictions of suffering

--14-22:  Predictions of the end

--24-26:  The coming of the Son of Man

--28-31:  Fig tree as sign of the apocalypse

--32-37:  Necessity of vigilance