Transcription
I'm going to go with your assumption that the Gospel of Mark is the earliest gospel. I'm fine with that for argument's sake.
But you mentioned that you did not think that Jesus was portrayed as divine in Mark's gospel, and that's where I think you're fundamentally incorrect. In fact, I would argue that Mark's gospel portrays a more divine Jesus than even John's gospel, which you said is the later development where Jesus is really human early on and then becomes this divine figure.
I'm going to prove you wrong by going chapter by chapter through the Book of Mark.
Okay, so Mark chapter 1: John the Baptist makes straight the path for who? It's Jesus, right? In Mark 1:3, it says, "As it was written in Isaiah the prophet, 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way; a voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight.'"
If you go back to what he's quoting, it's Isaiah 40:3, which says, "A voice of one calling: 'Prepare the way for Yahweh in the wilderness; make a straight highway for your God in the desert.'"
Now, when you hear Mark setting that up and saying that Isaiah the prophet says, "Behold, I send a messenger before your face," you're expecting John the Baptist to prepare the way for Yahweh. But that's not what he says is happening. It's John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus. Who is he saying Jesus is if he's quoting Isaiah 40:3, where a way is prepared for Yahweh? But John the Baptist is preparing a way for Jesus. He's saying that Jesus is Yahweh.
Mark chapter 2: No one can forgive sins, and yet that's exactly what we see Jesus doing in Mark 2:7. Jesus's detractors see him heal someone and say, "Your sins are forgiven." They say, "Why do you talk like that? This is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
And Jesus, what does he do? Does he correct them and say, "No, no, I'm not God; I'm doing this by the power of God"? No, he doubles down. He says, "No, it's easier for me to say, 'Your sins are forgiven.'" He's claiming to have that divine prerogative.
Mark chapter 3: Jesus casts out demons by his own power. In chapter 3:27, it says, "No one can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man's house." He's talking about having authority to do this to Satan. They're accusing him of casting Satan out by Satan. He's saying, "No, I have the power to both tie Satan up and plunder his house." That is a prerogative that only God has.
In Mark chapter 4, Jesus calms the storm. In verse 38, it says, "And Jesus awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still!' And the wind ceased, and there was great calm." They were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
If you go to Psalm 107:28-29, it says that when people cry out to God in the midst of the storm, it's Yahweh who calms the storm to a whisper, and the waves become quiet.
Mark 5:35-43: You have the story of Jesus raising Jairus's daughter from the dead. If you go back and look at instances where prophets raised the dead in the Old Testament, you have examples like Elijah raising the widow's son in 1 Kings 17, but it's done by crying out to Yahweh to restore life because Yahweh has the ability to give life and take away life.
But when Jesus raises Jairus's daughter from the dead, he merely tells her to get up. Why? Because he is the one that holds that authority of life and death.
Mark chapter 6: Jesus walks on water. In chapter 6, verse 48, it says, "He came to them walking on the sea." Now, what's interesting about that is that there's a parallel in the Greek with the Greek translation of Job. In Job 9:8, it says that it is God alone who stretches out the heavens and does what? Walks on the waves of the sea. You have an interesting parallel there in the Greek.
Mark chapter 7: Jesus heals the deaf and the mute. In 7:31-47, you have Jesus healing a number of physically disabled people, among them the deaf, the mute, and the blind. In Exodus 4:11, when Yahweh is talking to Moses through the burning bush, he says, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I? Is it not Yahweh?"
Now Jesus is doing that, and then I would argue that he then speaks to Moses in the past through the burning bush and declares his ability to do that. We see an example of that in Jesus's earthly ministry in Mark chapter 7.
Mark chapter 8: We have the story of the feeding of the 5,000. In verses 1 to 10, we see what is essentially a repeat of Exodus 16, where God's people are in the wilderness and they are without food and they're hungry. Yahweh provides for God's people in Exodus supernaturally in order that they may be full. It's Yahweh who is able to call down bread from heaven in Exodus; it is Jesus who does it in Mark.
In chapter 9, then you have the Transfiguration. In chapter 9:2-5, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on a mountain, and then he appears in a blinding white. Mark says that he is whiter than any launderer would ever be able to bleach.
And who is Jesus seen on the mountain with? It's Moses and Elijah. Now, there are only two people in the Hebrew Scriptures who climb up on a mountain to commune with God: Moses in Exodus 24 and Elijah in 1 Kings 19.
What if, when Moses and Elijah walked up on Mount Horeb, time collapsed? When it says that they talked with Yahweh, they were actually talking with Jesus. There are only two people who climb up on a mountain to talk to God; those happen to be the two people who climb up on a mountain and talk with Jesus in Mark 9 in the Transfiguration.
Now, I could go on chapter by chapter, but what this all does is culminate at Mark 14 with Jesus and his trial. At Jesus's trial, they ask in Mark 14:61, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" And Jesus replies, "I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, coming with the clouds of heaven."
He's quoting Daniel 7:13-14, where it says the divine Son of Man who rides on the clouds of heaven and is given dominion, glory, and kingship over all the nations. It says that this reign of the Son of Man will last for an everlasting period of time; it will never pass away.
The high priest understands exactly what Jesus is saying. It says that the high priest then tears his robes and says, "Why do we need any more witnesses? We've heard the blasphemy."
When Jesus calls himself the Son of Man and quotes Daniel 7 about himself, he's putting the exclamation mark on this whole ministry. There's no ambiguity about it; their verdict is blasphemy because Jesus is doing that. He's claiming to be God.
He's already proven through Mark that he not only has the audacity to claim to be God, but he has the divine prerogative to do the things only God is able to do. It's not just a claim; Jesus is Yahweh in every chapter of the Gospel of Mark.