I’ve noted in previous blogs on the parish website that the Gospel of Mark is acknowledged by the majority of scholars to be the first gospel written. It is believed to have been written shortly before or after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 of the Common Era (CE). It was therefore composed some 40 years after the death of Jesus.
It is unlikely the gospel was written by an eyewitness to the events depicted in it. This is due to the low level of life expectancy in the Roman Empire during the first century. The average was only 20–33 years, but of course this figure was dramatically affected by the high level of infant mortality, which reduced the average significantly. A person’s life expectancy was also affected by their class and social status, with wealthier people who had access to better living conditions being more likely to live longer.
Research suggests that if a person reached 20 years of age, they could then expect to live a further 30 years or more, to perhaps somewhere between 50 and 60 years of age. If we assume the disciples of Jesus were a similar age to him when he died (30-33 years old), then they would have reached the end of their lifespan some 10 years or more before the Gospel of Mark was written, thereby ruling them out of contention for being the author.
The earliest Christian writings we have are the letters of Paul. The composition dates of those letters range between 18 and 30 years after the death of Jesus, depending on the particular letter, and there is no reference in them to the stories or sayings of Jesus. So we can assume that the stories which found their way to the author of Mark’s Gospel did so via the oral tradition. The type of story that was most likely remembered and passed on in its original form (or close to it) in the oral tradition was probably something short and succinct. Therefore scholars have concluded that any authentic saying of Jesus is likely to be in that form.
We find such a saying in the gospel reading for this coming Sunday (13 October) from the Gospel of Mark. The saying is part of the story of the wealthy man who asks Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus suggests that he sell what he owns and give the money to the poor, the man goes away disheartened, because he is too attached to his possessions to give them up. Jesus then tells his disciples how difficult it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus is quoted as saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25 NRSV)
A number of scholars believe Jesus probably said something like this because, not only is it short and succinct, but it is also memorable for it’s ridiculousness. It is obviously physically impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, and so to use this gross exaggeration really makes the point about how difficult it will be for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.
The problem is not so much wealth in itself, but rather it is the priority that some people give to wealth in their lives. Take the example of the man in the gospel story. He clearly respects Jesus, and wants to become a follower of Jesus, but he is too attached to his possessions to commit to following Jesus. If he were to follow Jesus, then at some point in the future he would undoubtedly be faced with a situation where this attachment to his possessions would prevent him from doing what is required in that situation.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is credited with saying,“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:24 NRSV) A slave, owned entirely by one master, cannot serve two masters, and both God and money are masters that make all-consuming demands. In other words, we cannot commit ourselves fully to God, which we do by trying to emulate the life and teaching of Jesus, if we are too focussed on our material possessions.
There is nothing inherently wrong in having and enjoying material possessions, the problem comes when we spend more time on acquiring and enjoying those possessions than we do on trying to strengthen or deepen our faith and our relationship with God and/or Jesus.
