Jean-Philippe Fabre, priest, initially a graduate of Essec, exegete and teacher, is a specialist in the evangelist Saint Mark, whom he has been studying for three years. He delivers us to the Lion of Alexandria, a story that includes some elements of fiction. A bold approach that hits the mark.
Your novel is devoured in one go! Why did you choose this literary genre for the life of the evangelist?
During the first confinement, I proposed a followed reading of the Acts of the Apostles in a daily podcast. I then realized the strength of the story. To tell is not to explain. To explore is not to convince. Mark himself did not seek to impose the message of Jesus by autocratic arguments. He did not confine his word to reasoning; she was too free for that. The evangelist preferred to bring the person of Jesus to life before our eyes, to embark on a story that does not cheat with the depth of the characters or the weight of the trials.
Basically, I wanted to try to do with Mark what Mark did with Jesus. After 30 years of assiduous study of his Gospel, I wrote the life of the one who, after 30 years of missionary life in the Roman world, wrote the life of Christ. I also had a great desire to speak to everyone, to get out of the “cathosphere” to join “real life”. The novel allows this, more than any historical or theological essay could have done.
What is the part of reality and fiction in your book?
Many ask me if Marc was in love with Jairus’ daughter. The answer is no ! Did he quarrel with Paul? Yes ! The choice of the fictionalized autobiography necessarily implies recourse to fiction, but I only filled in the gaps.
The reader will realize this by reading the small file in the appendix of the book which summarizes what we know today about the history of Mark and the Roman writing of his Gospel. As for the historical, exegetical and biblical background, I have indeed tried to be as precise as possible. Marie-Françoise Baslez, the much-missed historian of the Jewish and Greco-Roman world of the Ier century, has helped and encouraged me a lot in this work.
How is Mark a ” Explorer “ as you present it?
It is often believed that the evangelist is a kind of witness who would make a statement by collecting testimonies here and there or by compiling pre-existing texts. Now, much more than a dated chronicle of events, the Gospel of Mark was born of a long experience, of his encounter with Jesus who seized him. His story is the result of three quests that are one.
The first exploration is that of the colorful world that surrounds it, that of the Roman Empire, of the Mediterranean civilization of the Ier century. During his travels, from Jerusalem to Rome via Alexandria, he understands that the Messiah awaited by Israel has a message of liberation for all humanity. The second exploration is that of the Jesus event, of the life of this man, both ordinary and unheard of, of whom the witnesses say that in the end he did not remain in the tomb. He finally explores his own wounded heart, his weaknesses and his incapacities which he goes through in companionship with Christ. Her faith was a struggle, and it shows in her story which is not easy good news or pretty uplifting story. His Gospel is that of drama.
It is the story of “the failure of men”, do you write…
His Gospel manifests the paradox of the Christian life, which is this certainty that we will never be up to it. To be a Christian is not to rise to the height of Christ, but to live with him a companionship in the thickness of our lives, in its inconsistencies and failings. It is letting ourselves be lifted up by him when we fall.
Jesus goes up on the Cross knowing very well that his disciples will betray him, abandon him, deny him: “All of you will succumb”, he said. But he adds: “I go before you to Galilee. » In other words: I will be there, you are free to be there too. The Resurrection does not evacuate the mystery of the Cross. On the contrary, it makes our failures the very place of our recovery. Marc encourages us to resist the temptation to always believe ourselves below where Jesus awaits us when there are no men too low for Him.
How did the idea of writing a life of Jesus come to him?
In his time, little stories about Jesus were already circulating, especially about the Passion, in the service of catechesis and the liturgy of the first Christian community. How did Marc have the click to move on to a story that becomes bios (“life”) in the Hellenistic sense of the term? In fact, I don’t know! I imagine that at some point he realized the power of storytelling. He must also have understood that the existing texts remained incomprehensible if we did not rewind to the baptism in the Jordan.
Still, his literary invention was brilliant enough for Matthieu and Luc to take it up 20 years later. They even kept the plot, with this idea of making the life of Christ a single climb to Jerusalem.
Wasn’t his gospel sufficient or satisfying?
Of the 661 verses of his Gospel, only 25 were not included in the other two synoptic Gospels. Using it as a basis, Matthew and Luke say: it is insufficient, but it is consistent. They canonize Marc in a way. What do they bring? Many teachings of Jesus, including the Beatitudes and the prayer of the Our Father; childhood stories; a theological explanation.
The first Gospel indeed lacks theological finesse. Mark was so gripped by the novelty of Jesus that he could not say Him in the codes of the Old Testament, for example. His great genius is to have written a performative, effective story: he leads the listener to conform his life to the hero. The purpose of his approach is indeed to initiate, to move from being a believer to being a disciple, from believing to following. Ask ourselves the question with Saint Mark: are we ready to follow Jesus?
To read : The Lion of Alexandria, by Jean-Philippe Fabre, Deer, €22.
“The Lion of Alexandria”, a book to get to know Saint Mark better