When you think of what the Bible has to say about judgment, which books of the Bible do you open up first? Which don’t even enter your mind? Many would turn first to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke before they would Mark’s Gospel, because after all Matthew and Luke repeat what Mark has to say on judgment anyway, right? Why read the same thing twice? In his introduction, what M. John-Patrick O’Connor sets out to do is “to establish a grammar of judgment for Mark and how such a grammar might influence how one thinks about questions of justice for our world today” (12). This divine judgment is aimed at protecting the more vulnerable among us (20).
In his first chapter, O’Connor briefly surveys divine judgment in the Old Testament. After covering the semantics for judgment, he homes in on the language and situation of the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, the Day of the Lord in the Book of the Twelve, and judgment in the book of Daniel. His interest lies “in key places in which divine judgment is leveraged against more powerful groups in defense of vulnerable ones” (37).
O’Connor notes how later interpreters, such as Jeremiah (Jer 23:14), Ezekiel (Ezek 16:49-50), Philo, and Calvin, drew out the pride and greed that the men of Sodom and Gomorrah had. It was the catalyst for their sexual sin, and it led them to neglect and take advantage of their neighbors.
O’Connor references Exodus 23:6 and Deuteronomy 1:17 as examples of taking advantage of others, but I see no warnings about “destruction” and “retribution” in these texts. Their point here is to remain impartial in judgment. Pointing to texts like Deuteronomy 27:19 would help bolster his claim.
In chapter two, O’Connor surveys divine judgment in early apocalyptic literature, showing how this topic is portrayed in 1 Enoch and the Dead Sea Scrolls. He finds a pattern of evidence that “a substantial amount of divine judgment language aims to condemn the abuse of power and to protect vulnerable groups” (58). One example of this is seen in 1 Enoch’s Animal Apocalypse (1 En 85–90) where seventy shepherds await God’s judgment due to their evil treatment of the sheep. Or, in line with O’Connor’s judgment themes, in the War Scroll of the DSS, the threat of God’s future divine judgment (1) empowers socially marginalized groups by giving them hope for a future liberated from oppressive rulers, and (2) sharply distinguishes insiders from outsiders.
Chapter three covers divine judgment in the early Roman Empire. This chapter looks at the theme of judgment in texts written after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The dating of some of these works will be contested of course, as O’Connor includes in this period Paul’s letters, Matthew’s Gospel, and Revelation. That aside, how O’Connor dates these letters really doesn’t affect his interpretation of them from what I can see.
For the most part, the language of judgment according to O’Connor is used by Paul most often to promote unity within the Christian community. This would fit with texts like 1 Cor 3:14–15 and Rom 14:10–12. The language of judgment in Matthew’s Gospel is also meant to protect the marginalized (see Matt 25) and to keep the Christian community pure and from going astray. We see the same in Revelation. John’s language against “Jezebel” and her followers was unlikely to change their minds because they were already outsiders. It was meant for those inside the Christian community to hear about the hardness of heart of outsiders, and to help bind insiders to one another. Christians repent and then live in a way that follows God’s will to the benefit of others.
In chapter four O’Connor looks at the nature of judgment in Mark. Many look past Mark in favor of Matthew and Luke when looking for what Jesus had to say about judgment. But this is to miss Mark’s own emphasis. Gos is the divine judge who judges because it is his kingdom that has arrived. As God’s spokesman for the coming messiah, John the Baptist brings his own form of judgment. Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man speaks of himself as the divine judge. However, earthly courts and rulers such as the Sanhedrin and Pilate do a terrible job of judging justly. “God is the judge of the world who aims to set things right” (131).
In chapter five O’Connor looks at the rhetoric of divine judgment in Mark. He believes Mark has been underutilized regarding God’s justice, for Mark’s rhetoric “offers us a rich theological resource to defend and protect the least of these as well as threaten a day of reckoning upon those who harm them” (133). O’Connor shows how judgment shows up in Mark’s apocalyptic binary. There are two ways: God’s way or the way of God’s opponents. There are two contesting forces, and Jesus constantly points others to God’s way of thinking and living. Mark has a divided community of insiders and outsiders. O’Connor covers what kinds of outsiders would receive God’s judgment and why, groups like Satan and the unclean spirits and humans groups, such as the scribes and tyrants. Insiders will receive judgment, and this group includes women, widows, and little children. Herod’s step-daughter is included in this group. While much of the language used here fits with other stories, Mark says nothing of her faith in Jesus (read more below). At the very least, this shows Herod to be one of the “great ones” whose role will be reversed and who will be judged by God. Although, perhaps she and the slave girl who speaks with Peter in Mark 14:66–72 may be considered Christ-followers because of the implicit language used about them. I am not yet sure.
In his conclusion, O’Connor shows how “Mark’s narrative of Jesus reorders power dynamics in line with the pronunciation of the way of God” (174). O’Connor begins both his introduction and conclusion with the arrest and death of George Floyd. While understandable, how compelling it functions in his book depends upon which news source you’re listening to. Despite purported evidence to the contrary, Floyd’s death wasn’t a result of systemic racism or of power against the poor and neglected. His death should not have happened, but it is incorrect to think it came about because of racism.
Aside from this, O’Connor connects the poor, marginalized, and suffering throughout the world with Christ, writing that they are “a ‘collective body, that represents the concrete presence of the crucified Messiah in history” (175).
While O’Connor emphasizes the importance of justice for these people (174–78), I believe it is incorrect to draw connections between pagan gentiles who haven’t repented of their sins and put their faith in Jesus with Jewish characters in Mark’s gospel who were under God’s covenant, were part of his people, and who specifically reached out and put their faith in Jesus. O’Connor seems to find any marginalized group and compares them with the marginalized in Mark’s Gospel. This may be partially due to the fact that he includes Herod’s stepdaughter (Mk 6:22) and the slave girl of Mark 14:66–72 as insiders despite there being no explicit comment by Mark that they were followers of Jesus.
To offer one example, O’Connor writes, “The image of Jesus in Mark dances to the beat of the same drum: Jesus is God’s son and regularly draws others into God’s family. The recognition that those on the margins—an enslaved girl, Herodias’ daughter, the woman with the flow of blood, or a Syrophoenician woman and her little girl—might also be daughters of God illustrates for us Thurman’s theology of belonging” (181).
But is Herodias’ daughter a child of God simply because she was sexualized and then carried a platter with a dead man’s head on it? This scene points to the awfulness of sin in the world in which we live and the need for God’s judgment to come and right all the wicked wrongs made, but without repentance (see O’Connor’s emphasis on pp. 75, 135, and 139), no one can be a child of God no matter what their social standing may be.
O’Connor writes that “the kingdom of God belongs to children” due to Jesus healing the Syrophoenician’s daughter, the mistreatment of Herodias’ little girl, and texts like Mark 9:42–50 and 10:13–16. While we should protect children, we also cannot forget that the “little ones” Jesus spoke of in 9:42 were those who believe in him (Mk 9:42), not simply all little ones (although see Mk 10:14).
Recommended?
O’Connor has written a helpful, pointed monograph showing how the theme of judgment is used in Mark’s Gospel. Interact well with O’Connor’s comments on the text and do see the need for Christians to help bring justice and to be just people who do reach out to help the lowly and those whom we would rather have nothing to do with. O’Connor’s book will not allow you to skip Mark’s angle on God’s judgment of those who cause his little ones to stumble, and I hope it emboldens you to help those who cannot at all help themselves. But I would say not to follow O’Connor’s notion that the tears of all who suffer and are marginalized lead us straight to the cross of Christ.
Buy it on Amazon or from Baylor University Press
Lagniappe
- Author: M. John-Patrick O’Connor
- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Baylor University Press (July 2024)
Review Disclosure: I received this book free from Baylor University Press. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html.
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