{"id":7978,"date":"2025-06-19T07:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T11:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/?p=7978"},"modified":"2025-06-18T12:57:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T16:57:02","slug":"does-the-gospel-of-mark-reveal-jesus-anger-or-his-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/biblical-topics\/bible-interpretation\/does-the-gospel-of-mark-reveal-jesus-anger-or-his-compassion\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the Gospel of Mark Reveal Jesus\u2019 Anger or His Compassion?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Codex<\/a>

In the fifth-century C.E. Codex Bezae, an early edition of the New Testament written in Greek, the Gospel of Mark describes Jesus\u2019 anger before healing a leper (Mark 1:41). While later scribes changed Jesus\u2019 anger to compassion, it is likely that Codex Bezae preserves the original reading. Image: Cambridge University Library\/ff.288v & 289r from Nn.2.41.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Textual variants among ancient manuscripts aren\u2019t usually as controversial as chapter 1, verse 41 of the Gospel of Mark<\/a>. Sometimes one scribe spelled a word differently on his manuscript, while another might have accidentally skipped or repeated some of the text he was copying. These cases are minor variants and don\u2019t really change the meaning of the text. Other times, however, scribes added to or even changed text to clarify a passage or suit the theological preferences of their communities. That\u2019s when things get interesting, and this passage in the Gospel of Mark offers an especially intriguing example.<\/p>\n

In Mark 1:41, a leper has approached Jesus<\/a> seeking to be healed. Most Greek manuscripts (the New Testament was originally written in Greek), as well as later translations, say that Jesus was moved with compassion and healed the man. A few manuscripts, however, say that Jesus\u2019 anger was kindled before he healed him. So did the verse mean to convey Jesus\u2019 anger or his compassion? If this were a popularity contest, the \u201ccompassion\u201d reading would surely win. In 1998, the authoritative book Text und Textwert<\/em> recorded only two Greek manuscripts (and a few early Latin ones) that contained the reading expressing Jesus\u2019 anger. But, as Dr. Jeff Cate announced in The Folio<\/em>,*<\/a> the bulletin of the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center at the Claremont School of Theology, close examination of one of those two Greek manuscripts has shown that it does not contain the word for either anger or compassion. Just as Matthew and Luke did when retelling Mark\u2019s story in their gospels (cf. Matthew 8:2\u20134; Luke 5:12\u201316), the scribe of this Markan manuscript simply left it out.<\/p>\n

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