Abstract:
This article interprets Mark 14:22-25, using one of the new approaches in biblical interpretation, namely, pragmatic analysis. In pragmatic analysis, a text is considered a linguistic unit composed of linguistic elements (signs) with the scope of communicating a message. Interpretation involves examining the linguistic elements, the relationship between them (the syntax), their semantic valence in view of their communicative potentiality. Reading Mark 14:22-25 with this approach leads us to the conclusion that the evangelist included the institution account in his Gospel primarily to explain the significance and effect of Jesus' death to the reader. By adequately preparing the reader on the power of the word of Jesus before coming to read the institution account, Mark achieves a rhetorical effect: the conviction of the power of the words of Jesus and an admiration for the generosity of Jesus. This elicits in the reader an attraction to enter into Jesus' covenant. © New Testament Society of South Africa.