Feminist Reading of the Gospel of Mark Chaps.

1-5
By Gracy Ruban, Joy Thomas and Binoy John

Introduction

In the Jewish Wisdom writings the life-sustaining activities of God are given
image though the personification of Wisdom as a female figure: the faithful, provident
wife of Proverbs, the female Wisdom "poured out" in Sirach as a divine life-force upon
Creation, and the radiant feminine Wisdom who mirrors God in the Wisdom of Solomon.
It is in keeping with these traditions that Mark dramatizes women as the immediate foils
to the foolish disciples, as symbols of the wise. Mark works out this metaphorical
antithesis in three distinct, although overlapping, ways: in the first part of the gospel he
shows Jesus' healing miracles to be acts in which women are "raised up" to a new status;
in the second part, he shows women acting out the roles the male disciples have failed to
perform; at the end, he uses language which suggests that women are so transformed by
Jesus' resurrection that they become both bearers and symbols of God's renewed
Creation. Mark structures his gospel in such a way that the disciples as well as his readers
are slowly introduced to a right understanding of Jesus’ person and mission.

The gospel of Mark tries to answer the fundamental question “who is Jesus?’
(4:41). Peter answers ‘you are the messiah’. Jesus’ true identity is finally and definitively
revealed at the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross when centurion confesses: ‘truly this
man was the Son of God (15:3a). Jesus has chosen to reveal his Identity by the way of
failure lowliness and suffering. Hence in order to understand Jesus properly one has to
see him as the suffering, dying and rising Son of man (8:31). In harmony with the
canonical gospels, Mark’s women characters are not included among Jesus twelve
specially designated disciples (3:13-19). Indeed in Mark the only faithful group of
followers to be found at the cross and the tomb are women, who though identified as
followers and ministers since Jesus’ early days in Galilee, only enter the story actively as
a group at the cross after the downfall of the male disciples(15:40)All the women
characters in Mark are depicted positively as persons who either come to Jesus in faith
for healing (5:21-34; 7:24-30); perform loving acts for him (14:8-9) stand as example of
piety to be emulated (12:41-44) or speak the truth when a disciple does not (14:66-6a).
This almost universally positive portrayal stands in striking contrast to the dominant. It
forms the basis for the claims for many feminist scholars that the Christian community
reflected by Mark’s gospel must have contained strong women leaders and role models.
Why a feminist reading of the gospel of mark?
 “Throughout history, women have always struggled to gain equality and respect.
This has been difficult because of patriarchy. This ideology has permeated the social
structures of societies throughout the world”.1 In order to fight for this, feminism and
feminist theory was born. Feminists view the world as being unequal. One of the
challenges in this third millennium is to listen to the cry of the marginalized, oppressed,
wounded and exploited and especially the women of India. Jesus touches the
untouchables and impure in the society by his own hands and heals them so that they are
dignified and respected. In the Gospel of Mark chapters 1 to 5 comprises many from-
toward movements. It can be re-read as agony, suffering and rejection of women but
women is raised up. It offers hope to the women flock as a whole.

The main from- toward movements we see in the gospel of Mark chapters: 1-5

Voice of wilderness Confession of the centurion

Suffering and rejection Victory and resurrection

Untouchability Touching and healing

Aversion Compassion

Paralytic conditions Restoration to wholeness

Being looked upon as demonized and Dignified and humanized

demerit

Being excluded in society and religion

Being included in society and religion
Temptation
Survival
Sick and demonic
Restoration of health and divinity
Hardness of heart and evil thought
Doing good
Limited relationships
New kinship of God
Scattering seed
Harvest in the Kingdom

Stilling the storm

1
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, ed. Searching the Scriptures: a Feminist Commentary
2, (N.york, 1994). 86.
Cry of the disciples Joy, harmony and peace

Miseries, chaos and destruction Resurrection and restoration

Physical death/social death Inclusion of all with a touch therapy

and kindness
Exclusion of the sick and poor as
sinners and impure Mercy is better than sacrifice

Pompous sacrificial worship Justification through faith and doing

good
Justification through law

Chapter 1

Mark 1:1-8 John the Baptist preaches

John was the voice (phone) of the Consoler who is coming (John 1:23; Isaiah
40:1-3). With John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit begins the restoration to the human race
of the "divine likeness", prefiguring what would be achieved with and in the Lord Jesus.
Our baptism in Jesus Christ by water and the Spirit results in a new birth and entry into
God's kingdom as his beloved sons and daughters (John 3:5). Jesus is ready to give us
the fire of his Spirit that we may radiate the joy and truth of the gospel (evaggelion) to a
world in desperate need of God's light and truth. The divine likeness and our identity as
sons and daughters need to be restored. It is the voice in the consciousness of every
person but listing is important. Here we are reminded by Medha Patkar, woman who
stands for the cause and the crowd who follow and support her to hear her speech, who
believe in her word and wait for being empowered and to get back what was lost. Also
wait to hear some good news from the officials regarding their struggles. This initiative
helps men and women to stand against caste and culture for a cause for liberation.

Mark 1:9-13 Jesus baptized by John

Why did Jesus, the Sinless One, submit himself to John’s baptism (ebaptizonto)?
John preached a baptism of repentance (metanoias) for the forgiveness (aphientai) of sins
(Luke 3:3).Submission of the powerful before powerless. The society where might is the
right. Male dominant society where women are powerless the act of Jesus is a model. The
word tempt in English usually means to entice to sin. The scriptural word here means
test in the sense of proving and purifying someone. We test pilots to see that they are fit
to fly. Likewise God tests his servants to see if they are fit to be used by him. God tested
Abraham to prove his faith. “Jesus was tempted like us and he overcame not by his own
human strength but by the grace and strength which his Father gave to him.”2 Women
are dehumanized to the level as an object of temptation. And they are the victims of rape,
molestation, model for tempting advertisement. Now resisting a temptation became
always or the only way for women. Most of the time silently, few times loudly, many of
the female population cry for this dignity to be experienced. Wilderness (eremos), is a
place where lot of insecurity and uncertainty is awaiting.

Mark 1:14-20 Jesus preaches gospel

What is the gospel of God which Jesus came to preach? “The word "gospel"
literally means "good news". What is the kingdom of God? The word "kingdom" means
something more than a territory or an area of land. It literally means "sovereignty" or
"reign" and the power to "rule" and exercise authority.” The good news for women is
their liberation and kingdom here on earth freeing the women where ever they are
imprisoned. What is the good news which Jesus delivers? It is the good news of peace,
liberty from sin and freedom to live as sons and daughters of God - Ephesians 1:13). Here
the repentance means to change – to change my way of thinking, my attitude, disposition,
and life choices. God is our Father and he wants us to live as his sons and daughters. God
loved us first and he invites us in love to surrender our lives to him. One needs to believe
that the gospel – the good news of Jesus – has power to free us from bondage to sin and
fear. Jesus chose these individuals, not for what they were, but for what they would be
capable of becoming under his direction and power. The women the way they are looked
at today and what they are capable of. They need enablement.

Mark 1:21-28 Jesus' fame spreads

Jesus was authority incarnate the Word of God made flesh. When he spoke, God
spoke. When he commanded even the demons obeyed. True authority belongs to God
alone. All human authority is not perfect. The authority of man over women is not
perfect. There is not authority such as that.

Mark 1:29-39 Jesus healed many

It cannot be fortuitous that Mark, in portraying the beginning of Jesus' ministry,

describes three healings: of a demoniac, a mother-in-law, and a leper. The first and last
2
Marsh F.E. 1000 Bible Study Outlines.( Hydrabad: Authentic Books, 2000), 104.
make clear that he is depicting Jesus' outreach to the most reviled of the community;
situated between a demoniac and a leper, "the mother-in-law," we assume, is an ancient
joke. But there are serious implications here as well: before the time of Hillel and Jesus,
women, like lepers, were relegated to the outer courts of the Temple, and women
received social status only through their relationship to males -- usually their fathers or
husbands; for a woman to be known through her son-in-law is so extreme as to suggest
that Mark is making a special point of her social anonymity. In that context, Mark's way
of describing Jesus' miracle is reflective of the new attitude toward women which was
emerging in Early Judaism: the miracle has a historical base as well as a theological
purpose.

Mark 1:40-45 Jesus heals a leper

Women healing are also significantly echoed by the cure of the leper: through the
action of Jesus, the leper is not only restored to his religious community, but also
changed from being one who was prohibited from normal converse into the first preacher
of the gospel. Those on the religious fringe -- the woman and the leper -- are changed into
the first ministers of food and word. Here comes Jesus an outsider bringer of wholesome
health restorer of life. Even though she was not supposed to be talked to and touched by
he approached her took her by hand and made her whole. Once again from within made
her experience healthy and worthwhile. She too felt honored by Jesus in front of those
men around. In different ways Jesus acts to restore each person he heals to the center of
communal life: he distinguishes between the man possessed and "the unclean spirit"
(pneumatic akathartoi) and restores him through purgation; similarly, he cures the
"unclean" flesh of the leper and returns him to the priests and the Mosaic ritual. The
center of this triad (always a key placement for Mark) is the healing of the woman.

Chapter 2

Mark 2:1-12 Jesus heals a paralytic

Jesus' treatment of sinners upset the religious teachers of the day. “Man had been
crippled not only physically, but spiritually as well”.3 Jesus freed him from his burden of
guilt and restored his body as well. The situations on women crippled by society, her
inferiority, her fear, need a total healing. Women at many situations experience the
3
Ibid., 109.
paralysis. At times feel the need to express but cannot sometimes controlled by family
members due to fear of not being able to get prestige family and in- laws where she
would get life partner and she live. At times husband threatens her of deserting her, at
times the society would look down upon her saying that she goes against the norms and
traditions of society and won’t be supported. The resurrection is not of the part but the
whole person.

Mark 2:13-17 Jesus with tax collectors

People in Palestine were divided into roughly two groups: the orthodox jews who
rigidly kept the law and all its petty regulations, and the rest who didn't keep all the
minute regulations. The orthodox treated the latter like second class citizens. In any
prestigious position in the society women are second class. This is the mentality of the
society. Women are in a position to prove themselves for their survival. The question
where sinners are human being? Where they can be trusted? They need to prove.

Mark 2:18-22 new wine & old wine skins

For him the value system is different he celebrates the relationship and the healthy
genuine life giving attitudes than the mere external non-life giving practices. He calls for
fasting of non life giving attitudes and action towards humankind that both men and
women are given due respect, treated genuinely and accepted lovingly. Thus life be
promoted and celebrated instead fasting. Jesus goes on to warn his disciples about the
problem of the "closed mind" that refuses to learn new things. Jesus used an image
familiar to his audience — new and old wineskins. The condition of women in India has
improved or not. The question is openness to new. The mentality of women also needs a
change. It is ever-changing, whether we are aware or not, need to bring out change.
Closeness is burst out.

Mark 2:23-28 Lord of the sabbath (sabbatou)

He is the Lord of change and attitudes are radical and provoking the orthodox.
“The condition of woman is almost fixed any change is provoking for her in the society.
Sometimes women themselves are so much confused to the traditional practices and feel
slave to some even. Some rituals and traditional practices are imposed upon women and
which neither give meaning nor it gives life at times it shrinks the spontaneity to be
oneself.”4 Here both men and women are asked to be educated by the values of Christ.

4
Kinukawa, Hisako. Women and Jesus in Mark: A Japanese Feminist Perspective (Wipf & Stock, 1999), 17.
Some rituals and traditional practices are necessary for us who live in society and we
could practice as long as they are of help to promote life and integrity to humanity or else
just say no to such practices. The enablement is not partial but total may be a difference
of night and day.

Chapter 3

Mark 3:1-6 a withered hand restored

Withered hand of a man is restored on a Sabbath day. The disrespect of women is

a withered hand of the society. A complete restoration is the restoration of the society.
Equality of women will ruin the society is a wrong idea. It means the one hand of the
society is not functioning properly. The restored Mother in Low of Peter began to serve
the community.

Mark 3:7-12 "You are the Son of God"

Jesus offered freedom to everyone who sought him out. “Even demons trembled in the
presence of Jesus and acknowledged his true identity: You are the Son of God.” 5 My
identity is God given but should not be interpreted or quoted without proper idea. Even
devil speaks Jesus as the son of God but it has nothing to do with that. The identity of
woman as daughters of God is not a matter of mere discussion but need real thirst to
experience and understand in its fullness.

Mark 3:13-19 Jesus appoints the Twelve

He chose them, not for what they were, but for what they would be capable of
becoming under his direction and power. He enabled them and these ordinary become
extraordinary people. This can be called as women empowerment or enablement where
they can become channels of great change. Here particularly he wants to empower each
one and wants to empower each one and to be in partnership to preach good news to all
those who are under exploitation of various kind. The 12 that he has chose are not from
the dominant section of the society which clearly indicates anybody who responds to his
call can be partners in his mission.It has 3 fold missions; i) To live life of closeness with
him ii). To preach his message iii). To be involved in eradicating of evil

Mark 3:20-21 Jesus' family upset

5
William R. Farmer, ed. The International Bible Commentary.( Bangalore: TPI, 1998), 489.
 Why would Jesus' relatives be so upset with him when he began his public
ministry? Jesus had thrown away the security and safety of a quiet and respectable life
close to his family and relatives. The hardest opposition, however, may come from
someone close to us, even your own kin. Opposition and non-cooperation is a part of
women’s new venture for identify. It can come from their own orthodox family beliefs
and social situations.

Mark 3:22-30 divided realms cannot stand

They attributed his power to Satan rather than to God. They misunderstood Jesus
in His good works. The lack of understanding and knowledge is a hindrance in doing
well. There are people who criticize women for not strictly following the orthodox way.

Mark 3:31-35 True spiritual kinship

“God did not intend for us to be alone, but to be with others.” 6He gives us many
opportunities for developing relationships with family, friends, neighbors, and co-
workers. Why did Jesus, on this occasion, seem to ignore his own relatives when they
pressed to see him? The vision of Jesus about family is not narrow. Here we need to give
new understanding womanhood. Women is no longer is a property of man. She is created
in the image and likeness of God. Jesus’ highlights here a new dimension of relationship
namely that of faith both men and women youth and children of all religions, of all
cultures of all nations of all languages, of all ethnic groups of all who have faith in Jesus
are member of his family.

Chapter 4

Mark 4:1-20 parable of the sower

As the seed fell in all types of soil the presence and the love of the lord is for all
people in all situation for the lord does not count in what condition one lives but
embraces. The challenges for each one of us here is to believe in the transformation
which a seed is calling forth. Any farmer will attest to the importance of good soil for
supplying nutrients for growth. It is in a fertile society where man considers her equal and

6
Marsh F.E. 1000 Bible Study Outlines. (Hydrabad: Authentic Books. 2000), 119.
respects her she can search for her identity. The complete enablement of women needs
the support of his family, relatives and society at large. As seed grows in good soil so is
human being.

Mark 4:21-25 parable of the lamp

What do the image of light and a lamp tell us about God's kingdom? They enable
people to see and work in the dark and to avoid stumbling. This matter of new vision we
need to have. This vision dispels all darkness form the society. This helps one to see
woman as God sees her. A tainted glass always reflects things of its own kind.

Mark 4:26-34 parable of mustard seed

The tiny mustard seed literally grew to be a tree which attracted numerous birds. It
starts from the smallest beginnings in the hearts of men and women who are receptive to
God's word. And it works unseen and causes a transformation from within. A
transformation where the respect for man and woman are grown to its perfection, a
natural growth to the full realization of identity which God has given them. Here woman
grows from shadows of men to give support to others as the mustard seed in its full
growth become a refuge for the birds of the air. “For every little action of a woman have
the potential to bear fruit in the future as the seed is potential with life”.7 So we need to y
respected and acknowledge women.

Mark 4:35-41 wind & sea obey Jesus

Why are you afraid? Have you no faith? Fear does not need to cripple us from
taking right action or rob us of our trust and reliance on God. Courage working with faith
enables us. The women in their time fear and trouble need to be courageous .The
courageous steps they undertake is not challenge somebody but to free themselves from
the oppressed situations. “The necessary and unnecessary miseries, storms and
destructions women face in everyday life in the society are the results of discrimination
and some cultural practices that are inhuman.”8 These unhealthy forces leave women
unfit to live and enjoy life to the full. To many it is like the stormy waves in the ocean
which needs a higher power that of Jesus to be stilled. So all would enjoy the beauty of
life, in peace, justice and happiness that is preached by Jesus.

7
Kopas, Jane. "Jesus and Women in Mark's Gospel." Review for Religious 44 (1985), 143.

8
Prabhakar, M. E., ed. Towards a Dalit Theology. ( Delhi: ISPCK, 1988), 223.
 Mk.Ch.5

Mark 5:1-43 Jesus frees possessed man, heals a woman with hemorrhages and raises
a dead girl

Like chapter 1, this chapter is also organized around three healings of those
considered "unclean" a Gentile possessed by unclean spirits (v. 2 ff.), a woman suffering
because of menstrual blood (vv. 25-27) and a child presumed to be a corpse (v. 35 ff.)
The central story is again that of a woman -- this time of a woman whose menstrual flow
has gone on for twelve years (v. 25). The very fact that this female condition is presented
sympathetically indicates an emerging attitude toward women which might be
characterized as special to both Early Judaism and Early Christianity.
"Within both later Christian and Rabbinic law, a menstruating
woman was considered "unclean." In Ancient Judaism the prophets use the
image of a menstruating woman as a metaphor for Israel defiled by
idolatry. Thus Jesus' cure of a menstruating woman has implications far
beyond that of a simple miracle: on one level, it may symbolize the
healing of idolatry; on another, it seems to indicate a shift in consciousness
in respect to women. On both counts, Jesus' healing of this woman
expresses an attitude of outreach to the "unclean" rather than one of
judgment and exclusion."9

While the woman in the first chapter is the passive recipient of healing, the woman
here takes the initiative, even "following after" (opisthen) Jesus to affect her cure. She
also consciously reflects, "If I should touch even his garments, I will be saved"
(sothesomai, v. 28). The woman's reaction of "fear and trembling" (fobethisa and
tremousa, v. 33), is an expression of awe, and it is followed by a gesture of faith: "she
came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth" (v. 33). Jesus' reply is
couched in the vocabulary of liturgical formula: "Daughter, your faith has saved
(sesoken) you. Go in peace" (v. 34). The formula of "faith" which "saves" suggests early
Christian preaching, while the formula "Go in peace" suggests a familiar Jewish blessing,
levi l'shalom. Together they reinforce the idea that this is an episode of theological and
liturgical significance.

An important aspect of this significance is the emphasis on faith: at the end of

chapter 4, Jesus reproaches his disciples for their lack of faith (v. 40); here he commends
the woman for having faith. In fact, as we have seen above, the woman, although not
9
Kopas, Jane. "Jesus and Women in Mark's Gospel." Review for Religious 44 (1985), 158.
called to be a disciple, acts like one, following after Jesus and trusting him to save her.
The woman is a model of the faith the disciple’s lack. This disparity foreshadows the
passion narrative, where the male disciples all flee while the women remain faithful
followers of Jesus. This foreshadowing needs to be kept in mind in reading the very end
of the gospel, where the women are again described as experiencing "fear and trembling";
we need to note the echo of this earlier episode where such emotions are unmistakably
the mark of a saving faith.

The theological term "salvation" frames the incident: the woman says, "If I should
touch even his garments I will be saved" (v. 28); he tells her "Daughter, your faith has
saved you" (v. 34). “ The power going forth from Jesus without his explicitly willing it is
reminiscent of the seed of the kingdom which grows without the farmer's conscious
attention.”10 Just prior to this incident is healing in a pagan and foreign territory (the
Gerasene demoniac); it is followed by healing in a synagogue and home (the healing of
Jairus' daughter). The interlocking structure makes a parallel between the last two: the
seeking of the unclean woman and the seeking of the synagogue leader; the menstruating
woman and the girl of menstrual age; the twelve years of hemorrhage and the age of the
little girl; the restoration of the woman and the raising up of the little girl. The whole triad
suggests a parallel between all three forms of uncleanness and all three seekers of healing
-- the Gentile demoniac, the woman outcast, the synagogue leader. It further suggests that
none of them represents a fixed or permanent condition: not demon-possession or female
"uncleanness" or even death. Placing the story of the healing of the menstruating woman
in the center suggests that this illness is like those on either side, and is the key to the
other two. Ending with the raising up of the little girl hints that all three episodes are
forms of resurrection. There is a strong implication that Jesus, in allowing a woman to
touch him in a time of "uncleanness," is virtually raising her from the dead.

This implication is bolstered by Jesus' touching of the child presumed dead; it is a

parallel instance of outreach to someone considered ritually unclean. In the latter episode
the theme of resurrection is more explicit than in the first; Jesus' command to "rise up" is
given directly and given twice -- first in Aramaic and then in Greek. The idea of
resurrection is also implicit in Jesus' first observation to the mourners: "The child is not
dead but sleeping" (v. 39). The word for "sleeping" here is katheudo (as in 4:27 and
4:38), which can mean either death or sleep, so that the verbal effect is one of mirror
images. The importance of the scene is underlined by the presence of the same three
disciples who will be witnesses to the transfiguration.
10
William R. Farmer, ed. The International Bible Commentary.( Bangalore: Theological
Publications in India, 1998), 1513.
Conclusion

As conclusion to these five chapters from the feminist perspective we should say
that Markan Gospel very much emphasis particularly that of transformation of women
from being excluded and semi-anonymous to being disciples and and models of faith, to
being anointer of the anointed one and celebrator of his liturgy of death, to being
visionary prophets entrusted with preaching the word of ongoing resurrection -- which
functions as a sign of God's Kingdom. These women point to transformation is the sign
of God's new Creation.

The raising up of the little girl thus echoes the raising up of the mother-in-law and
anticipates the raising up of Jesus. At the same time, the renewed life of the twelve-year-
old girl is linked structurally to the healing of the "unclean" woman. In this way Mark
suggests that the transformations of all three women are related, not only to each other,
but also to the transformed life which the disciples witness in Jesus.

In order to realistically encounter the challenges posed by the women world today,
one has to go beyond the text and to be in tune with the heart beat of Jesus who came to
the world to liberate the human beings. Such a feminist reading and understanding of the
gospel is essential for anyone who follows Jesus. The incarnation of Jesus and his
mission reminds us and challenges us to throw ourselves down to the earth level to
transform ourselves and others.

Bibliography

1. Achtemeier, Paul J. Harper’s Bible Dictionary. Bangalore: Theological Publications in

India, 2005.

2. Marsh F.E. 1000 Bible Study Outlines. Hydrabad: Authentic Books. 2000.

3. William R. Farmer, ed. The International Bible Commentary. Bangalore: Theological

Publications in India, 1998.
4. Raymond Brown, Joseph A. and Roland E. Murphy, eds.The New Jerome Biblical
Commentary. Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 2009.

5. Prabhakar, M. E., ed. Towards a Dalit Theology. Delhi: ISPCK, 1988.

6. Anand, Mulk Raj., ed. Dalit Poetry. Delhi: ISPCK , 1990.

7. Anand, Mulk Raj and Eleanor Zelliot, eds. An Anthology of Dalit Literature. New Delhi:
ISPCK ,1992.

8. Malayappan Chinnappa and Dr. K. Rajaratnam, eds. Dalit Bible

Commentary, New Testament. Vol.1 . Bangalore: Theological Publications

in India, 2004.

9. Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, ed. Searching the Scriptures: a Feminist Commentary

. 2, N.york, 1994.

10. Kinukawa, Hisako. Women and Jesus in Mark: A Japanese Feminist Perspective

Wipf & Stock, 1999

11. Kopas, Jane. "Jesus and Women in Mark's Gospel." Review for Religious 44

(1985): 143-62.