The Psalms of Lament in Mark’s Passion: Jesus’ Davidic Suffering

Stephen Ahearne-Kroll examines the literary interaction between the Gospel of Mark’s passion narrative and four Psalms of Individual Lament evoked in it. These four psalms depict a David who challenges God’s role in his suffering, who searches for understanding of his suffering in light of his past relationship with God, and who attempts to shame God into acting on his behalf only because he is suffering. Mark alludes to these psalms in reference to Jesus; David’s concerns become woven into the depiction of Jesus. Reading David’s challenge to God as part of Jesus’ going ‘as it is written of him’ (i.e., suffering and dying according to Scripture; Mark 14:21) calls into question the necessity for Jesus’ death within an apocalyptic framework of meaning. Finally, the suffering King David offers a more appropriate model for Jesus’ suffering in Mark than that of the servant from Deutero-Isaiah.