Hooker: Irony and fresh beginnings

The message is addressed to Jesus’ disciples — and Peter! — who is mentioned specifically because he has denied that he is a disciple. The message sums up the forgiveness which Jesus offers his followers. Strictly, none of them has any right to be summoned to follow the risen Lord, for all of them by their actions, and Peter by his words, have been ashamed of Jesus. But the warning of Mark 8.38 is not yet put into operation: instead of being ashamed of those who have failed him, Jesus calls them to begin again. He is going before you Into Galilee. These words echo those attributed to Jesus himself in 14.28 — words which introduced Peter’s protestations and Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s failure. In that context, the verb (I will go before) had to be understood in the sense of ‘lead’: after his resurrection, Jesus would lead the disciples into Galilee (as a shepherd leads his sheep). Here, the same verb (t has been translated in the same way, as ‘go before’, but this is generally understood in the sense of ‘go ahead’ or ‘precede’, since it is only when they arrive in Galilee that they will see Jesus. Yet the final words, just as he told you, show clearly that Mark has the earlier passage in mind, and he is certainly saying something far more significant than that Jesus will arrive in Galilee before the disciples. This no mere rendezvous, but a call to the disciples to follow Jesus once again. On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus had gone ahead, and the disciples had seen him and followed. Now they are called to follow him, even though they cannot see him. What looks like an inconsistency in Mark maybe a deliberate attempt on his part to underline that this is what discipleship means, now that Jesus has been raised from the dead….
Perhaps in picturing the disciples as returning to Galilee — the place where they were originally called — Mark thinks of them as beginning again: they have failed Jesus, failed to take up their crosses and follow him to crucifixion, but now they are being summoned once again to follow him, and to learn once again what discipleship means. Mark may perhaps interpret the message as one of forgiveness and renewal….
Throughout Mark’s gospel, men and women have been blind and deaf to the truth about Jesus, and now at the end, when the divine message is delivered to the women, they are struck dumb, and fail to deliver it: they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid. Here is Mark’s final irony. In the rest of the story, Jesus has commanded men and women to say nothing about the truth they have glimpsed, and they have frequently disobeyed Now that the time has at last come to report what has happened, the women are silent!…
It is ironic that on Easter morning those who had faithfully, followed Jesus to his crucifixion should flee from the tomb—just as the disciples tied from arrest: this stupendous act is too great even for their loyalty.