On the three answers of Jesus as 'satire'

[Giuseppe]

Jesus doesn't limit himself to not reveal his true identity. He does more than that. He is saying that he is not the Messiah insofar he is seen as ''only'' the Messiah.


1) He is the Messiah but not only the Messiah:

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”
“I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

(Mark 14:61-62)

2) He is the 'king of the Jews' but not only the 'king of the Jews':

“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

(Mark 15:2)

3) He is definitely NOT the 'king of the Jews' even if (and contra factum that) he is proclaimed explicitly with extreme emphasis as such:

The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS.

(Mark 15:25)

[Giuseppe]

So the satire is that, just when the Jews arrive to recognize Jesus as ''King of the Jews'' (by titulum crucis), just then Jesus denies definitely that he is the Jewish Messiah.

But the satire doesn't finish here: just when Jesus denies that he is the Son of God (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”), well, just then Jesus is believed as ''Son of God'' by the centurion.

So at the end Jesus is neither the Jewish Messiah nor the Son of God, but he is believed as such respectively by Jews and Romans.

Is this a criticism against both the Jewish and Gentile Christianity?

[Giuseppe]

There is a implicit tension in Mark between who wants to fix Jesus someway in the role of Messiah (the simple Jewish Messiah, period) and the fugue by Jesus himself from that limiting role as explicit reaction against that will.

According to Markus Vinzent (I go to memory), in Mcn the Jews want at any cost to proclaim Jesus as their king or at least as the Messiah ben Joseph. They kill Jesus to prove if he, before the extreme real danger, reveals really himself.

So the injuries under the cross are really prayers addressed by the scribes (and by the other 2 crucified persons) to Jesus:

1) if you are really the king of the Jews

2) and we believe that you are the king of the Jews,

3) then come down from the cross, "so that we see and believe" (=that we confirm our previous assumption that "you are the Jewish Messiah").


But Jesus is crucified. So he is NOT the king of the Jews.
If Jesus is NOT the king of the Jews, who is then?

The centurion knows the answer: he is the Son of God.

So being the Jewish Messiah is not being the Son of God.