Preaching and the Caricature of Many Jewish People in the Gospel of Mark

Abstract

Mark wrote the Second Gospel shortly after the fall of Jerusalem when many groups in Judaism competed for authority. Mark uses a rhetoric of vilification to caricature the Jewish leaders, and eventually also the crowds, to undermine the authority of competing leaders in Mark’s historical context. While Mark was not anti-Jewish nor anti-Semitic, Mark’s rhetoric contributes to these things. The preacher who makes a simple analogy between the Jewish leaders and comparable people today reinforces anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism. A better strategy for the sermon is to expose the damaging effects of Mark’s rhetoric and to ask how we continue to do what Mark did, namely caricature, even vilify, others, while offering the congregation the possibility of repenting of such actions and moving towards more realm-like ways of relating with others.