In the early chapters of Mark’s gospel, the only beings to identify Jesus as “Son of God” are the Father and demons. No human being recognizes Him until He dies, and then it’s a Roman centurion.
Perhaps Mark intends us to remember the demonic identifications when we get to the centurion – not that the centurion is a demon (though this might be true in some sense, since Jesus battles a “legion” of demons earlier in the gospel), but rather in the sense that the death of Jesus is the great final exorcism of Israel. What Jesus had been doing as “Son of God” in the synagogues He does climactically at the cross.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Possibility of Possibility
"Might could” is a Southern expression meaning “maybe I could” or “I might be able to,” conveying…
The False Promise of No Contact
Around the time nineteen-year-old Alice began cutting ties with her family, she announced on social media that…
Moral Certitude and the Iran War
The current military engagement with Iran calls renewed attention to just war theory in the Catholic tradition.…
