184 GEERT VAN OYEN secondly, the Christological interpretation is also a support and a guarantee to encourage the disciples to follow in the footsteps of Jesus 55. In becoming a slave, the Son of Man will receive all honor. We can repeat what we said before: remember that the “passion predictions ” (8,31; 9,31; 10,33-34) include a prediction of the resurrection. Nonetheless, however much this link between the paradoxes and Jesus’ fate is true from an exegetical and theological perspective, it will remain a difficult issue for actual readers. Notwithstanding different theological traditions about atonement and redemption, which try to make sense of the unique theological position of Jesus and to interpret Jesus’ life as more than a simple model to imitate, the question of how what happened to Jesus stands in relationship to our daily life will always be a puzzling challenge. The paradoxes thus lead us into the heart of Christian belief itself; i.e., into the significance of Jesus himself. They lead us to ask questions like these : How does Jesus’ death and resurrection have an effect on people’s choice of values? Or what about those people who consciously or unconsciously keep distance from Christian belief: can the paradoxes make any sense to them? And what is an adequate hermeneutic to talk about the resurrection today? When does the resurrection as a symbol of new life become a tangible reality in the lives of people? In the language of the paradoxes: is it possible to experience what it means to be great in the eyes of God while one is being the last of all, knowing that a theology of “ reward ” or “compensation” after death is difficult to accept at the beginning of the twenty-first century? 3. The double function of the paradoxes: appeal and hope This leads me to a brief third and last reflection provoked by the exegesis of the paradoxes in Mark. We have emphasized that the paradoxes are to be lived in daily reality. But it is inevitable that the concrete and practical consequences of these words depend on the É. CUVILLIER, “La résurrection dans l’évangile de Marc ou: La finale 55 courte . . . et puis avant?”, in Quand la Bible se raconte (ed. D. MARGUERAT ; Paris 2003), 105-122, 114: “[n]on pas la domination mais le service (v. 43-44): cette compréhension n’est pas une philosophie du sacrifice, elle passe par l’acceptation préalable d’avoir été racheté par le Fils de l’homme (v. 45)”.