Like the optical illusion that couches the word "Jesus" in intersecting lines and curves, Mark's narrative has provided a literary illusion. At first glance Jesus is mighty. No one can doubt his power. At the same time he is encased in those mighty acts of supernatural feats, we watch Jesus experience pain and death in Mark’s story. The intersecting lines of Jesus' power fade from sight as we see Jesus’ pain. This Gospel wants us to feel that paradox and wrestle with definitions of power and pain for ourselves as we read. We can, therefore, expect that the portrait of pain will be just as graphic as the Gospel’s portrait of Jesus’ power.

This portrait of pain must be painted because, in Mark, to do the will of God is to suffer. Sharyn Dowd, New Testament scholar, observes that the theme of suffering is not limited to the last half of Mark’s Gospel but is actually seen from the beginning, when in Mark 3:6 we learn that the Pharisees are out to destroy Jesus. The concentration on pain, however, come most vividly in 8:31, 9:30-31, and 10:33-34. Jesus makes three passion predictions in an effort to convince the disciples that he is going to suffer.

In 8:31, Jesus says "that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." The disciples are listening. Jesus’ pain becomes tangible as he seems to be saying to them, "Come on fellows, help me. The going will be a little rough soon, and I am going to need some support. Can I count on you?" Yet Peter rebukes his (8:32). Clearly, the disciples do not understand. Then Jesus begins a long monologue describing what it means to suffer: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me" (8:34). The shadow of the cross falls over the narrative here, foreshadowing the scene to come, for Jesus defines life for the follower as one who carries the cross. Suffering, pain, and perhaps death are inevitable for the followers of Christ.

In 9:31, Jesus again tries to gain a hearing. He has just healed a boy with an unclean spirit. The disciples are there to see it. After the healing Jesus begins to teach them that "the Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him" (9:30-33). Again, the disciples do not understand. After Jesus has tried to elicit their understanding and support for the rough days ahead, they begin arguing over who was the greatest among them. How can their conversations be directed in such shallow ways, when their Friend and Teacher has just opened his heart to them? They simply do not get it. Jesus is going to suffer, and they cannot even imagine the impending pain.

Another scene depicts Jesus and the disciples walking on the road to Jerusalem. Jesus knows what is about to happen. He is looking for some co-laborers. So he says again, "Hey, guys, you are still not getting the message here. Listen one more time--this time with some of the gory detail." This is Jesus’ last prediction of his death--a futile effort to penetrate the thick heads of the disciples. So he says,

See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; and they will hand him over to
the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again. (10:33-34)

The details are there; the fear is there; and Jesus, the powerful Son of God, is about to show the disciples that to follow God means to endure pain.