178 GEERT VAN OYEN at the same time 48). And it is this paradoxical dimension of the characterization of Jesus himself (as the suffering Son of God) which shines its light on the paradoxes and helps the reader to understand the tension and the unity of the two parts within each paradox : in the first place, Jesus is a trustworthy character because he fulfils his own words about losing one’s life and becoming the slave of all. In the second place, in doing so he is not asking any greatness for himself, but is manifesting complete trust in God who is the only one who can fulfill the other half of the paradox and make Jesus to be the first and the greatest. Therefore, the real denouement of Mark’s story is the empty tomb story, in which the young man dressed in white proclaims: “He is risen. He is not here ”. As short as it is, it is a victorious sentence 49 that gives sense to the verbal paradoxes in 8,35; 9,35b and 10,43-44 in a double way. (a) In a very condensed way, they thus become the illustration of the Christological paradox as a whole: God is on the side of the Crucified Man from Nazareth. The real greatness of Jesus lies in his being great in the eyes of God. (b) Because of Jesus’ resurrection, the “wisdom” of the paradoxes is not a call for absurdity or for masochism. It should not be overlooked that the three paradoxes each follow announcements of the passion and resurrection. The Markan Jesus asks the disciples — and through them the other followers and readers — to share the same perspective as well. What does Jesus, and Mark, promise them? Nothing else than to be sont insaisissables. Nul ne peut épuiser la connaissance de Jésus; son identité échappe à toute prise” (FOCANT, “Une christologie”, 20). Although FOCANT, “Une christologie ”, 19 (italics mine) does not use the 48 word “practical”, it is clear that “mysticism” should not only be understood at a spiritual level. It has, on the contrary, very concrete consequences for the reader : “L’interprétation que je propose est très proche d’une christologie de l’étonnement propre à déstabiliser le lecteur de toute certitude trop facile, tout en le stimulant à percer le mystère de ce personnage fascinant et énigmatique non de manière intellectuelle, mais en le suivant sur le chemin”. For the reader, this “resurrection” message which clearly turns the 49 outcome of the story upside down does not come as a surprise. Jesus had announced it three times together with his passion (and see also 9,9-10; 14,28). One should rather be surprised about other things at the story level, such as the lack of interest of the disciples in asking Jesus for an explanation about his resurrection, or the shortness of the empty tomb story and the lack of appearances, or the silence and fear of the women. But these elements contribute as well to the mystical character of the gospel.