A Ghost on the Water? Understanding an Absurdity in Mark 6:49-50.

In Mark 6:49-50, the author dramatically defines the disciples' miscomprehension of Jesus through the insertion of the absurd: the belief that a ghost could walk on water. (1) Exegesis of the pericope of Jesus' walking on the water is enhanced by an understanding of ancient beliefs about ghosts, as described in tales of hauntings and similar phenomena in Jewish, Greek, and Roman sources. By identifying in this ancient literature characteristics common to the Markan account, one may detect how Mark initially establishes the expectation for a phantasmic appearance and then diverges significantly to emphasize the disciples' misconstrual of Jesus' messiahship. There is currently a near consensus that the pericope that encompasses Mark 6:49-50 represents, at least in part, an epiphany. (2) This categorization has much to do with parallels with other epiphanies, and, consequently, these parallels have been influential in the interpretation of [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. Some scholars have argued for direct allusion to the appearance of YHWH in the OT, and others for the prefiguration of NT resurrection motifs. (3) Still others have seen the ostensible [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] to be a foil to an actual "Christophany"; these scholars emphasize that the disciples actually think that Jesus is a ghost and therefore respond in fear instead of faith. (4) Little has been done, however, to identify precise parallels to this account of a perceived ghost on a lake. Some have assumed that such an account is a sort of timeless tale, "wie simply, es in den See-Erzahlungen aller Volker und Zeiten spukt." (5) Others have noted the popular belief in apparitions among ancient people, emphasizing either Hebrew or Greek traditions. (6) Although some of these sources indeed share certain characteristics with the account of Jesus walking on water, none of them mentions water, much less a ghost walking on water. A few scholars have attempted to locate a parallel sea-walking account. C. F. D. Moule cites Strack-Billerbeck as evidence that "Jewish popular belief often recounted the appearance of unusual apparitions on the sea." (7) Their primary example, however, is not only quite late, b. B. Bat. 73a, but also makes no mention of ghosts. (8) The talmudic text instead recounts how sailors should use a special club inscribed with the name of the Lord to ward off extraordinary (but not ghostly) waves. Finding no informative parallels in Hebrew sources, others have turned to Greek. According to Eduard Schweizer, "Greek writers asserted that supermen and demons could walk upon the sea." (9) Yet "supermen" and the "demons" to which Schweizer refers are not ghosts. (10) Adela Yarbro Collins has written a thorough treatment of the Greco-Roman texts that parallel Jesus' walking on the sea and has quite convincingly demonstrated the wealth of evidence for gods, god-gifted rulers, and divine men walking on the sea. (11) This, however, problematizes the passage further. Since there exists abundant evidence for gods and godlike beings who walk the seas, and no evidence outside of this pericope for the appearance of ghosts on water, why would Mark record that the disciples thought that Jesus was a ghost? Before this question can be answered one must first determine the plausibility of an ancient belief that a ghost could walk on water despite the lack of evidence for tales where ghosts did walk on water.