When (and why) Jesus is hungry in Mark

[Giuseppe]

So Bart Ehrman:

So far in this thread I have argued that Mark 1:41 originally said that Jesus got angry when the leper asked him to heal him; and I have shown that elsewhere in Mark’s Gospel Jesus gets angry in context involving healing. And so: if Jesus got angry when the leper asked for healing in Mark 1:41 – what exactly was he angry about? Over the years numerous interpretations have been proposed, and some of these explanations are highly creative.

https://ehrmanblog.org/jesus-anger-mark-141-members/


Couchoud argued that Jesus is hungry in Mark because he has to be "like YHWH his Father".

So also for Bultmann the reason of the his being hungry is the following:

"He hastens like a Divine Being lost among men and in a hurry to return to Heaven".

Couchoud, in the his last book, Le dieu Jésus (1951), accepted again the traditional thesis that Mark, and not Mcn, is the oldest gospel.

But the fact that Jesus is YHWH just in the his show of anger, makes me raise the suspicion that there is more than an interest, here.

The Gnostics pointed out just the anger of YHWH as the perfect proof of the his being an evil deity.


So "Mark'' (author), is replying directly against these Gnostics, by showing Jesus as hungry and full of anger, just in healing.

[Paul the Uncertain]

Maybe he's angry because he's hungry?

Seriously, Bart nails it:

Some interpreters have argued that Jesus became angry because he knew that the man would disobey orders, spreading the news of his healing and making it difficult for Jesus to enter into the towns of Galilee because of the crowds.

But then fumbles the ball:

The problem with this view is that it seems unlikely that Jesus would be angry about what the man would do later — before he actually did it!

Um, Mark's Jesus is a prophet, actually fairly convincing for near-term forecasts. Regardless, the text establishes Jesus as a mind reader just a few verses later (at 2:8, "Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, 'Why do you reason these things in your hearts?'").

Why the "out of logical order" reveal? It is the atoryteller's job to keep the audience interested. I suppose Bart also wonders why a stripper takes so long to get naked.

The anger-reveal elicits a question in the audience's mind, why is Jesus angry? Mark answers it, the man's ingratitude, in such a way as to elicit a further question, how did Jesus know that? Mark answers that, too. Jesus "perceives in his sprit" stuff; e.g. the man's character.

Audience experience trajectory: Question - curious interest - satisfaction + new question - curious interest - satisfaction

That's entertainment.