Online Journal Article: "History’s Dawning Light: Morning And Evening In Mark’s Gospel And Their Eschatological Significance" JETS 61.3 (2018): 493–511

https://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/61/61-3/JETS_61.3_493-511_Ortlund.pdf

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https://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/61/61-3/JETS_61.3_493-511_Ortlund.pdf


From the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (JETS)

"HISTORY’S DAWNING LIGHT: MORNING AND
EVENING IN MARK’S GOSPEL AND THEIR
ESCHATOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE"
DANE C. ORTLUND*
Abstract: This paper reflects on the use of the language of “morning” (πρωΐ) and especially
“evening” (ὀψία/ὀψέ) throughout Mark. It suggests that Mark deliberately uses and carefully places language of “morning” and “evening” throughout his Gospel as a way of quietly presenting Jesus as the bringer of the new creational age, which the OT often spoke of as the dawn of a new day and the arrival of morning. Between the sunset of Mark 1:32 and the sunrise of
Mark 16:2, this Gospel keeps the presence of evening and nighttime before the reader, underscoring the darkness that Jesus has come to engage and overcome. Mark uses the language of “night” and “darkness” to reinforce the pervasive presence of evening time throughout Mark, but it is especially the use of ὀψία/ὀψέ that undergirds our observations. When the sun rises
at Jesus’s resurrection, history’s new day has dawned. The essay considers OT antecedents as
well as seven lines of argument within Mark to argue this thesis.
Key words: ὀψία, evening, morning, night, darkness, eschatology, resurrection, new creation