The Power of the Kingdom of God (Mark 8,34-9,1)

Abstract

The thesis of this article is that the powerful approach to the Kingdom of God announced in Mc 9:1 occurs in the crucifixion of Jesus as the axis of the liberating messianic event. The saying of Mc 9:1 offers an important contribution to the understanding of the concept of power in the Gospel of Mark, in addition to suggesting a review of the binary apocalyptic conception of the history of salvation, through which human history is merely provisional, an immanent history which only serves as support for the transcendental story of the Kingdom of God. Through a discussion of the main interpretations of Jesus' saying in 9:1, the article presents a reading of the textuality of the pericope and a series of conceptual and hermeneutical arguments to justify its thesis. The concept of power defended in the article is that of power as a liberating service, as a transformative solidarity that opposes the concept and practice of power as domination, conquest and subjection.