A Comment on Mark 8:34-9:1

Commentators interpret Mark 8:34-9:1 as teaching how the disciples of Jesus should live. This was only revealed to them after Jesus’ announcement of the Passion and Peter’s remonstration with him at the villages of Caesarea Philippi, when there were no multitudes hear the disciples. According to this interpretation, ‘the multitude’ mentioned in vs.34 was added to the original tradition by the redactor in order to apply this teaching about the disciples to his readers or the members of his church who were suffering from persecution. However, when we see that not only the disciples, but also ‘those who were about him [i.e., Jesus], were given ‘the secret of the kingdom of God’ in Mk.4:11, we can understand that it is not unnatural that ‘the multitude’ was called along with the disciples in Mk.8:34. If so, it is possible that the teaching originally might have been told in a different situation than the one recorded in Matthew, and might not have been concerned with how the disciples should live as the followers of the crucified Jesus. Jesus might have taught the secret of Kingdom of God in a different way than is written in ch.4.departmental bulletin pape