This study analyzes Mark 5:1-20 from the perspective of verbal and situational irony. I argue that three elements of irony in Mark 5:1-20 align with distinctive features of exorcisms in the ancient world: (1) the demons act as an exorcist against Jesus, who in turn will exorcise them; (2) the demons ask Jesus to consider their well-being when they have shown no concern for their host; (3) the demons believe that their selection of the swine as a new host will allow them to remain in the country of the Gerasenes, but it results in the destruction of the pigs. Additionally, using other ancient accounts of exorcism as comparative examples (those found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus, Lucian, Philostratus, the Papyri Graecae Magicae, and the Testament of Solomon), I show that Mark 5:1-20 differs in many ways and that those differences both elucidate and intensify its elements of irony.
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T.A. Burkhill, “Concerning Mk. 5,7 and 5,18-20,” in Mysterious Revelation: An Examination of the Philosophy of St. Mark’s Gospel (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1963), p. 86. For the designation of this story as a tale, see M. Dibelius, From Tradition to Gospel (trans. B.L. Woolf; Trowbridge: Redwood, 1971), pp. 70-71. Apart from this example, Dibelius points to eight other tales in the Gospel of Mark: the healing of the leper (1:40-45), the calming of the storm (4:35-41), Jarius’ daughter and the woman with a flow of blood (5:21-43), the feeding of the five thousand (6:35-44), Jesus walking on the sea (6:45-52), the deaf and dumb man (7:32-37), the blind man in Bethsaida (8:22-26), and the boy with epilepsy (9:14-29). For Dibelius, the story of the Gerasene Demoniac is the most descriptive of the nine tales (Tradition, pp. 70-71, 76).
J. Derrett, “Contributions to the Study of the Gerasene Demoniac,” JSNT 3 (1979), pp. 2-17 (2).
Rudolf Pesch, “The Markan Version of the Healing of the Gerasene Demoniac,” ER 23 (1971), pp. 349-76 (349).
As John Craghan has noted, “Jesus’ seemingly bizarre manner of exorcising, the pitiable state of the demoniac, the loss of such a large number of swine, and the request of the inhabitants for Jesus’ departure offer elements unique in the Gospels” (“The Gerasene Demoniac,” CBQ 30 [1968], pp. 522-36 [524]). Roger Aus has also brought to our attention the many hapax legomena and the implied likelihood that a unique tradition lies behind this particular narrative (My Name is “Legion”: Palestinian Judaic Traditions in Mark 5:1-20 and Other Gospel Texts [Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2003], pp. 2-3).
Rudolph Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition (trans. John Marsh; New York: Harper & Row, 1963), p. 210.
Christine Guth, “An Insider’s Look at the Gerasene Disciple,” Journal of Religion, Disability and Health 11 (2008), pp. 61-70; Paul Hollenbach, “Jesus, Demoniacs, and Public Authorities: A Socio-Historical Study,” JAAR 49 (1981), pp. 572-80; Michael Newheart, “My Name is Legion”: The Story and Soul of the Gerasene Demoniac (Collegeville: Liturgical, 2004).
J. Duncan M. Derrett, “Spirit Possession and the Gerasene Demoniac,” Man 14.2 (1979), pp. 286-93. Derrett approaches this text from the perspective of possession as theatre, using comparative examples from various cultures. For anthropological sources on demon possession in different cultures, see Derrett, “Spirit Possession,” pp. 287-88.
Gilbert Bilezikian, The Liberated Gospel: A Comparison of Mark and Greek Tragedy (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977), pp. 122-24.
Jerry Camery-Hoggatt, Irony in Mark’s Gospel (SNTSMon Series 72; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
Ibid., pp. 7-12.
Bultmann, History, pp. 210-11. For a discussion and expansion of these six elements in the story of the Gerasene Demoniac, see Pesch, “Markan Version,” pp. 354-59.
Eric Sorensen, Possession and Exorcism in the New Testament and Early Christianity (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002), p. 138.
Ibid., p. 143. It is important to recognize that Josephus’ account supports this interpre-tation: “He put to the nose of the possessed man a ring which had under its seal one of the roots prescribed by Solomon, and then, as the man smelled it, drew out the demon through his nostrils, and, when the man at once fell down, adjured the demon never to come back to him, speaking Solomon’s name and reciting the incantations which he had composed” (Ant. 8.47; emphasis added). Therefore, in the same way that Eleazar used the name of Solomon, a man favored by God (Eleazar → Solomon → God), the disciples used the name of Jesus as a mediator of God’s power (disciples → Jesus → God).
Adela Yarbro Collins, “Mark and His Readers: The Son of God among Greeks and Romans,” HTR 9.4 (1999), pp. 85-100 (88). Yarbro Collins also brings to our attention that because the translation of עליון is ὕψιστος in the Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible, some readers familiar with the cult Zeus Hypsistos (Ζεύς ὕψιστος) may have seen Jesus’ title as analogous to the “Son of Zeus” (“Mark and His Readers,” p. 90; cf. Adela Yabro Collins, Mark [Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007], p. 268). In support of this interpretation, John Donahue has shown that Gentiles often used this expression in the Septuagint, such as Gen. 14:18-20; Isa. 14:14 (Donahue and Harrington, Gospel, p. 165).
As noted by Guelich, Mark, p. 278; Pesch, “Markan Version,” p. 356.
Translation is taken from Pesch, “Markan Version,” p. 356; references to Mark added.
Donahue and Harrington, Gospel, p. 166. He points to Luke 11:24-7, although his argument is difficult to support since the demons in that passage return to their previous home because a new one was not found, not on account of their desire to remain there.
Bultmann, History, p. 210; Donahue and Harrington, Gospel, p. 166.
Gundry, Gospel, p. 263, referencing O. Bauernfeind, Die Worte der Damonen im Markusevangelium (BWANT 44; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1927). See also Guelich, Mark, p. 284; Marcus, Mark, p. 345.
William Lane, The Gospel According to Mark (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), p. 186.
Marcus, Mark, pp. 348-50. Other more tenuous connections include: (1) the crossing of the Sea of Galilee and the Israelites’ passage through the Red Sea (Mark 5:1; Exod. 14:22); (2) the demons’ shackles and Pharaoh’s power are destroyed (Mark 5:3-4; Exod. 14:28); (3) God is praised (Mark 5:19-20; Exod. 14:31).
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This study analyzes Mark 5:1-20 from the perspective of verbal and situational irony. I argue that three elements of irony in Mark 5:1-20 align with distinctive features of exorcisms in the ancient world: (1) the demons act as an exorcist against Jesus, who in turn will exorcise them; (2) the demons ask Jesus to consider their well-being when they have shown no concern for their host; (3) the demons believe that their selection of the swine as a new host will allow them to remain in the country of the Gerasenes, but it results in the destruction of the pigs. Additionally, using other ancient accounts of exorcism as comparative examples (those found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus, Lucian, Philostratus, the Papyri Graecae Magicae, and the Testament of Solomon), I show that Mark 5:1-20 differs in many ways and that those differences both elucidate and intensify its elements of irony.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 974 | 162 | 16 |
Full Text Views | 279 | 24 | 2 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 474 | 56 | 3 |