In the Glory of His Father: Intertextuality and the Apocalyptic Son of Man in the Gospel of Mark

Abstract

In this article, I explore the Gospel of Mark's intricate interweaving of various OT texts into the three apocalyptic Son of Man passages (8:38; 13:24–32; 14:62) with a view toward how those passages contribute to the narrative's overall depiction of Jesus as the Son of God. I argue that through its complex appropriation of Israel's Scriptures, one of the narrative's most integral claims is that Jesus is the filial embodiment of Yhwh, and that scholarly accounts of the Son of Man as Yhwh's eschatological "agent" inappropriately flatten Mark's scripturally shaped narrative of Jesus. In the conclusion, I attempt to navigate the unity and distinction of the Father and the Son as set forth in Mark's narrative.