Lessons from retranslated Gospel of Mark

Lessons learned from retranslated Gospel of Mark include a realization that like Shakespeare's works, the Gospel of Mark has subtle humor and cleverness greater than its simplicity of wording. These include:

• the withering of the fig tree is recounted in a very clever, dramatic, captivating, and humorous way
• Mark's criticisms of the older Apostles are witty
• Mark's multiple references apparently to himself are remarkably subtle, such as Jesus's Apostles finding a boy who had a little food
• English translations fail to be as strong against addiction as the original:

• nearly all English translations omit the disparaging reference to gambling, by calling it the archaic "casting lots"
• nearly all English translations refer to wine in a favorable way, when it could be translated as grape juice

• the original Gospel of Mark has an intriguing ending where the women told no "man" of what they found at the empty tomb after the Resurrection
• the Multiplication of the loaves is recounted twice in a dramatic manner
• reinforcing the likelihood that Salome was the mother of Mark, he explains that Salome's group purchased spices for Jesus in Mark 16:1
• Mark artfully explains how faith can cause action at Mark 11:23: "that man's words will become true," providing a glimpse similar to the Ontological argument to prove the existence of God.

See also

• Gospel of Mark (Translated)