A lack of ...

There 3 'lack of' in Mark
1. Spirit : ( Extracted from New Bible Commentary Mark Introduction)
The last week of Jesus’ life was obviously of great importance to Mark. In a sense, all that goes before it can be seen as preparation. This tells us that Mark’s theology is a theology of the cross. Mark lived and wrote after Pentecost, and of course he knew of and had experienced the Holy Spirit, but in his gospel he speaks little of the Spirit, and when he does it is always in connection with Jesus. This is because he was writing of a period before Pentecost, when the disciples had experienced the Spirit only in the person of Jesus. He knew well that Jesus was to give the Spirit to all believers, and that is why he put the words of the Baptist at the beginning of his book (1:8). Mark, however, never makes the mistake of putting Pentecost rather than Calvary at the centre of his faith, and he never isolates the Spirit from Jesus. This is a danger which we may face today in our glad rediscovery of the person and gifts of the Spirit. We need to remember that it is the task of the Spirit to bear witness to Christ.

2. Popularity of Jesus: Jesus never told anyone directly that he was God’s Son or the Messiah; he did not even admit it publicly until his trial before the high priest. This silence of Jesus is what we mean by the ‘Messianic Secret’: he waited until God revealed it to others. For example, Peter came to realize that Jesus was the Messiah and acknowledged him as such, but the idea of a suffering Messiah was still very far from his mind (Mk. 8:29). Jesus accepted the title when it was given to him, but not if the witness was given by demons.
Part of the reason for Jesus’ reluctance to reveal his true identity was that he did not wish to be known as a mere wonder–worker. Perhaps this is a word of warning for us today, in the midst of times of spiritual renewal in which we all rejoice, for such times bring their own danger. Jesus saw his task rather as that of bringing the good news about God and his rule, and that is why he warned healed people not to tell of their healing. It also explains why he escaped from the crowds when there was a danger of his mission becoming a mere ‘healing campaign’ and no more.
The secret became plain at the cross. The words of the Roman officer (15:39) were, for Mark, a clear confession that Jesus was the Son of God, whatever the centurion himself may have meant at the time. The second proof was the empty tomb and the message of the angel on the resurrection morning: the Son of God had conquered death and his identity need no longer be a secret.

3. Peter's poor reputation:The early church believed that Mark got many of his facts from Peter, for they knew that Mark himself had not been a disciple of Jesus during his lifetime. We cannot prove this point, but we do know that both Mark and Peter were together in Rome in later years (1 Pet. 5:13). We also know that Peter was intending before his death to make a permanent record of his memories of Christ (2 Pet. 1:15). Most of the early church fathers believed that Mark’s gospel was this record. Certainly there are many details in the gospel that are best explained as personal memories of Peter, e.g. descriptions of incidents at which only Peter, James and John were present. Another possible clue is that the gospel is very uncomplimentary to Peter, pointing out all his faults and failings. As Peter later became such an important man at Rome, it is hard to see how these could have got into the gospel unless Peter himself had insisted on it.

An unhealthy balance of:

- The Messianic Mystery
- Spirit