Mark and John’s Conflicting Plot’s and Differences in Climactic Action

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Recommended: Compare and contrast the gospel of mark and the gospel of matthew

Mark begins and ends his gospel with schism. The division of the heavens when Jesus is baptized by John (Mark 1:10) and the final one, the tearing of the veil in the temple (Mark 15:38). These two schisms form the fundamentals of the Book of Mark. God splits the heavens, in order to establish His Son, and then He splits the veil of the temple, in atonement for His Son’s death. In between these boards of the book of Mark, in between the schisms, lies the vigorous, dynamic gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. If we view the schism of the heavens and the schism of the veil as a literary bracket which envelopes this shortest of the four gospels, then within these brackets, inside this shortest of gospels, inside is the good news of Jesus of Nazareth and the good news of the kingdom he brings. Mark writes to tell us the gospel story, the gospel story of who Jesus is and the gospel story of the kingdom Jesus brings. Before the schism of the heavens at the Jordan is Mark's prologue, his introduction to his gospel story and after the schism of the veil of the temple is Mark's epilogue, the conclusion to his gospel story. Mark has structured his story of Jesus and his kingdom in a rather straight Prologue, or introduction, being the rending of the heavens; ministry of Jesus from Jordan to Jerusalem; rending of the veil of the temple, conclusion. The heart of Mark's story of Jesus is inaugurated with the schism of the heavens then consummated with the schism of the veil. Therefore, if the splitting of the heavens defines the separation between the introduction and when the rising action of the play begins, then the splitting of the veil at Jesus’ Crucifixion separates the rising action from the falling action, and by the definition of pl...

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...tant to the understanding of the Gospel as a whole. Mark’s being the tearing of the temple veil and John’s as the decision made by the pharisees, and the execution of the murder and burial of Jesus. As described earlier, establishing a definite climactic point in any work allows for one to further analyze the narrative plot structure. This inversely applies to finding the climax, locating the other portions of the plot development allows for a simple way to identify the climax, as done here. Mark and John both wrote about similar experiences happening at the same time, but had very different ways of explaining the same story. This does not discount these two books, and does not make either more true than the other. Simply, it allows for readers to interrogate the stories to truly understand the meaning behind each and to obtain greater understanding through doing so.

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