Jesus, with a Dab of British Irony
N.T. Wright’s Translation of St. Mark.
The Gospel of Mark is already the most ironic of the four Gospels — even without N. T. Wright’s help. It begins in chapter one with the ultimate spoiler: Jesus is the Messiah, continues for the next 9 chapters with the protagonist desperately trying to hide this fact, and then ends with the ultimate anticlimax: “They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.” (16.8) Clearly this ending has bothered the church, as at least three alternative endings have been attached to St. Mark over the centuries.
But for some reason, I had never noticed this irony until reading Wright’s translation for the first time just a week ago. I took his advice to read it in one sitting —just over an hour. And I was delighted by what I discovered. He is right in saying that it reads “more like a revolutionary tract” than “good literature.” And I was struck by Jesus’ energy and immediacy compared to the other three. But I was most surprised by the irony I found here (almost Monty Pythonesque at times). Here are a few examples:
“Silence! Shut up!” (4.36).
An essential element of irony is understatement — or under-insult in this case. This is Wright’s Jesus “scolding” (his word)the wind and waves that are battering the disciples’ little boat in the middle of Lake Galilee. Never had Poseidon been told to “shut up!” And one would normally “scold” a naughty boy, not a terrifying storm. It is a line one could imagine coming from Basil Faulty rather than from Jesus. This is quite a departure from the austere KJV in which “he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still” — something we would imagine Gandalf saying. But this Jesus connotes not just comic understatement, but also a sense of irritation at his disciples: “Why are you scared? Don’t you believe yet?”(40). The question itself is highly ironic: they had never seen Jesus do anything remotely this miraculous. How could they not be scared?
“Cheer up, it’s me. Don’t be afraid.” (6.50)
This is Jesus a few chapters later, strolling on the sea this time past his panicking disciples as if he were on his way to visit his mum. And again, his response to their freak-out is comically understated. He expresses no irritation this time at least, and as he stepped into the boat “the wind stopped.” Again.
“If you have ears, then listen!” (4.9)
Another element of irony is to “attack” a perceived stupidity. In Wright’s translation, Jesus shouts this out — in the 2nd person imperative — to the huge crowd standing eagerly before him on the beach. Clearly a direct — and ironic — rebuke to an audience that was so keen to hear him that he had to launch out in a boat to avoid being trampled on. Most translations soften Jesus’ words into the less direct 3rd person: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (ESV). But Wright’s Jesus is both ironic and very direct. Right after this crowd is dispersed, Jesus’ disciples immediately ask him the meaning of the parable he told the crowd. And his answer to them is, again, disturbingly ironic in every translation:
“It’s all in parables, so that ‘they may look and look but never see, and hear and hear but never understand; otherwise they would turn and be forgiven.’” (4.12).
He orders them to “hear” yet speaks in parables “so that” they will “never understand”? It appears to be a very cruel type of irony. And yet on closer examination, we see that Jesus is quoting Isaiah 6.9–10 to this sea-side audience; another ironic speech, but this one directed to a people who had continually rejected the message of a coming Messiah again and again. So the irony here may well have been percolating — in their ancestral roots — for over 600 years.
“Why don’t you give them something?” (6.37)
A rather blunt question. The disciples had simply asked Jesus if they shouldn’t let the 5000 go get something to eat. And his response is usually translated as a cryptic “You give them something to eat” (ESV). But Wright turns Jesus’ response into a question. I’ve noticed that the British like tagging their statements with questions— especially rhetorical ones that aren’t meant to be answered. It adds that level of irony they appreciate — and perhaps Jesus too.
“You still don’t get it?” (8.21).
The New American Standard Jesus asks this question with a more gentle “Do you not yet understand?” But Wright’s Jesus seems fed up by now. After his miraculous feeding of the 5000 in chapter 6, and another 4000 in chapter 8, they still fretted over how one loaf was going to feed the 12 of them on board the boat: “Why are you mumbling about not bringing bread?” he asks, clearly exasperated by now. Yet The New American Jesus renders this as a sincere question: “why are you discussing the fact that you have not bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand?” Perhaps Wright’s Jesus has picked up by now that he is no longer dealing with a simple cognitive blockage in his disciples. Hence the irony.
“Isn’t he the handyman?” (6.3)
This has to be my favorite one-liner from Wright’s translation. A classic ironic slight. Usually translated “Isn’t this the carpenter?” But I think Wright is right in emphasizing how deeply his hometown devalued Jesus here; so much so that he was unable to even perform miracles. After all, he was only the “handyman.”
“Fancy needing swords and clubs to arrest me!” (14.48).
Wright’s Jesus responds to his arrest with scathing sarcasm rather than the more astounded, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me?” (ESV)
“Messiah, is he? King of Israel, did he say?” (15.31)
The Romans conclude their butchery with cruel irony here, as Jesus hangs naked and in agony on the cross. Usually translated as a more somber ”He saved others; he cannot save himself” (ESV)
“They went out, and fled from the tomb. Trembling and panic had seized them. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid” (16.8).
As mentioned, this traditional ending to Mark has always struck us as deeply ironic: The closing statement of our oldest Gospel ends in panic, fear, and silence in the face of Christ’s Resurrection! Exactly the opposite of what happened. And Wright, for once, makes no change to the traditional translations of this final verse: “They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid” (ESV).
