Jesus is well known to be a divine figure. People understand that the Christian belief is that Jesus was God making him the most divine. This idea, however, was progressed through time. Mark’s Gospel never fully ever alludes to this well known Christian belief. Even though the idea of Jesus being God was never fully presented, Mark did show that Jesus was divine especially from chapter 8 to chapter 10. Mark uses what scholars call an inclusion where literary bookends are formed to show Jesus as divine. In this section, we find Jesus prophesying his death, performing miracles, being transformed, and the vast knowledge he has.

Mark starts the passage in verse 29 of chapter 8 by proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah through his disciple Peter. The Messiah, being a divine human, would quickly give the right impression to the audience about Jesus. This is quickly followed by Jesus predicting his own death. Mark presents Jesus as the Messiah who understands his role of dyeing for others. Mark then transitions to the transfiguration scene where Jesus is transformed into a white glow where Jesus would be talking to Elijah and Moses. This in itself seems divine based not only on the events that occurred but the people Jesus was talking to. However, Mark goes a step father when he has God exclaim that Jesus “is my Son, the beloved” presenting a relationship between Jesus and God Himself that is greater than any of the Old Testament prophets. Mark then shows Jesus casting out demons and performing miracles which also presented Jesus as divine. Jesus is also presented later in the chapter as having vast knowledge on topics and is consulted with by his disciples and others. Following the Greek tradition of Aretalogies, having knowledge and performing miracles showed that you were divine. By presenting these themes, Mark is able to show the audience his agenda that Jesus was not just an ordinary person, but is instead placed above others.

Among proclaiming Jesus as divine, Mark incorporates two miracles of Jesus healing blind men. These miracles are in themselves metaphors for seeing Jesus as divine through faith. The first miracle, being the blind man at Bethsaida, was first healed but he still could see well. Eventually he was healed again to where he could fully see. The Jewish Annotated New Testament offers fantastic dialogue on this topic saying how this was added to show how the disciples have a lack of clear vision in understanding that Jesus was the Messiah. The other miracle story presents the blind man of Jericho named Bartimaeus who, out of faith, shouted for Jesus’ assistance by yelling “Son of David, have mercy on me”. Mark adds this miracle to show Jesus as the king he is. By proclaiming Jesus as the Son of David, the blind man is recognizing Jesus’ lineage to kingship. The messiah was prophesied to come from the line of David which fit what Mark was trying to accomplish in his Gospel.

Mark is able to successfully present Jesus as divine through the chiasmus he creates by sandwiching discourse, expressions, and the deeds that Jesus performed in between the miracles of the blind men. By doing this, Mark is able to present to the followers of Jesus that in order to see Jesus as divine, they have to have faith first. By having faith, they will be able to see.