Thesis 8: The so-called messianic secret is a feature of Markan Christology.

Mark 19:9-20 is the

canonical ending of the gospel of Mark, the earliest of the four canonical Gospels.- alvin
Thesis 8 presents two important points about the Gospel of Mark, first the so-called messianic
secret, which is very Markan or a unique theological theme of the gospel of Mark; second, is concerned
about the structure of the gospel, especially its ending; and third, it is the earliest ending.
Point 1: The theological theme of messianic secret in Mark gives us the idea of who Jesus was for
Mark, his identity as a messiah. Jesus teaching, miracles and what he advocated-for were encapsulated in
parables. And after doing such things, Jesus would usually remind his disciples, tells no one about this,
that is, this should not be talked about outside his inner circle. This idea was meant to avoid creating a
misconception about Jesus, for it is very possible during those time (context: in the presence of social-
political and religious unrest) that Jesus might be perceived as someone advocating radical social change,
through violence. Thats why; the theme of messianic secret provides the contrary. That is to say, Jesus could
only be understood in the light of the cross, which in this sense made Jesus differs from being merely a
nationalistic liberator or a political figure.
Point 2: The gospel of Mark has four endings, (1) the original ending of Mark in 16:8, (2) the
canonical ending from vv 9-20 of chapter 16, (3) the shorter after verse 20, and (4) the longest ending or
freer-logion. First, the ending in Mark 16:8 is believed to be the original and the earliest ending of the gospel.
It is considered the earliest ending, because it presents the disciples negatively, which strongly suggests that
kind of presentation is what really happened to disciples after the crucifixion of their master. That is to say,
after the death of Jesus, his followers were left in fear. A Fear that the Roman and temple authorities would
look for them and will let them experience the same fate as what Jesus had experienced. But this kind of
ending implies discouragement for the Church that will be born out of the proclamations of the disciples, and
so a more promising ending would be necessary. Then the Canonical ending was made, which is from verse
9 to 20 of chapter 16. Chapter 16:9-20 is called canonical because it is the ending traditionally accepted and
officially recognized by the Church as proclaimed in the Council of Trent. Further, the canonical ending,
provides us with a compilation of some of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus to his followers.
Point 3: the gospel of Mark is considered the earliest of the four canonical gospels for some reasons:
a. Argument from length, that Mark is the shortest of all the gospels.
b. Argument from grammar, the gospel is poor in Greek, where it uses colloquialism, many Aramaic
expressions and redundancy, which are absent in Matthew and Luke, and this suggests that omissions
and corrections were made by Matthew and Luke.
c. Argument from difficulty that is Marks harder reading where it presents Jesus with limited power
and the disciples negatively.
d. Argument from order, that is to say, Matthew and Luke never agree against Mark, but Mark and Luke
or Mark and Matthew disagreeing to Matthew or Luke.
e. Literary argument, there are individual passages that give priority to Mark from the literary point of
view.
f. Argument from reduction, there were corrections insertions made into Mark by Matthew for example,
when he accommodated his theme about Jesus as Son of David, which is not present in Mark.
g. Mark has a more primitive theology as compare to the other synoptic gospels.
Thesis 9: