185 THE VULNERABLE AUTHORITY AUTHOR OF THE actual situations in which they are read. Reading that one should be “ last of all” in the modern western world has other implications than reading the same verse in a context of persecution, war or famine. Although the general meaning of the paradoxes is clear, these different contexts in which Christians are living make it difficult to generalize about how one should act. It seems to me we can make a distinction between two functions of the paradoxes. The main function that we have been emphasizing until now, is a continuous appeal for those who want to be great in the eyes of God to serve and to be last. This paradoxical thinking is an unceasing process without limits; there is no final point in the imitatio Christi. But in addition to this meaning, the paradoxes can also have a comforting, hope-giving function for those who are on the lower rungs of society. In order to understand this second function, one has to look at how the paradoxes shine their light retrospectively upon the first half of Mark’s gospel. Jesus is presented as a man with authority and success, but his authority is incomparably different from that of the religious hierarchy. “They were all amazed ” about his authority (1,27). When the reader reaches the paradoxes in Mark 8-10, the scope of Jesus’ authority in the first half of the gospel becomes clear. Jesus never uses his authority for his own advantage. In fact, he shows in his miraculous deeds, his healings and exorcisms what power as service means. He is not doing this for himself but for the Reign of God. His authority is not one of violence or brutal power (contrast 10,42). He is in fact willing to help anyone who crosses his path, “all”. He serves the “non- entities ” of society and in doing so he provokes the opposition of his opponents. He starts to lose his life. * * * “ The experience of paradox is the experience of being bracketed between seemingly incompatible but nevertheless coexisting polar opposites ” 56. In more than one way the paradoxes in Mark 8,35; 9,35b and 10,43-44 are miniatures of the larger paradox that spans FOWLER, Let the Reader Understand, 184-185. 56