I think in Mark the literary mimesis of the death of Jesus is trying to show the lack of a sense of justice among the Jewish leadership, as well as that of Pilate who seems more concerned with smoothing out an administrative nuisance than aiming for justice. This is brought to the fore with the death of Jesus as the executed criminal/just man, echoing the figure of the executed criminal Socrates, or the executed just man of Book 2 of Plato's Republic. The purpose of such stories is that the just man is put to death without any real cause, thereby bringing to the surface the hidden corruption of the society, and hence calling for social improvement/change. I did a couple blog posts on this topic of Jesus reflecting the just, executed criminal typology here: http://palpatinesway.blogspot.com/2019/03/who-is-immoral-in-marks-gospe… http://palpatinesway.blogspot.com/2019/03/final-draft-death-of-jesus-so…
I think in Mark the literary mimesis of the death of Jesus is trying to show the lack of a sense of justice among the Jewish leadership, as well as that of Pilate who seems more concerned with smoothing out an administrative nuisance than aiming for justice. This is brought to the fore with the death of Jesus as the executed criminal/just man, echoing the figure of the executed criminal Socrates, or the executed just man of Book 2 of Plato's Republic. The purpose of such stories is that the just man is put to death without any real cause, thereby bringing to the surface the hidden corruption of the society, and hence calling for social improvement/change. I did a couple blog posts on this topic of Jesus reflecting the just, executed criminal typology here:
http://palpatinesway.blogspot.com/2019/03/who-is-immoral-in-marks-gospe…
http://palpatinesway.blogspot.com/2019/03/final-draft-death-of-jesus-so…