The phrase εγω ειμι ("I am") only appears 3 times in Mark (6:50; 13:6; 14:62). The latter is coupled with Jesus presenting Himself as the "Son of Man" figure from Dan 7 who is the recipient of worship in both the Greek and original Aramaic (see Is Jesus given λατρευω?; cf. Chris Kugler on Daniel 7:13-14)
And Jesus said, I am
(εγω ειμι): and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of
power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Catholic New Testament scholar and priest Wilfrid
J. Harrington offered the following commentary on the use of “I am” by Jesus in
this text:
“I am.”
The silence of Jesus
(14:61) in face of the high priest’s challenge that he respond to the charges
of the witnesses (14:56-59), a silence carefully underlines (“but he was silent
and did not answer”, v 61), is dramatic preparation for the solemn confession
of v. 62. The high priest was forced to take direct action; his question and
Jesus’ answer form the heart of this passage (14:53-65). Thoroughly Marcan,
these verses are a high point of his christology. The titles “Christ” and “Son
of God” stand in the hearing of the gospel (1:1). The high priest now
ironically bestowed them on Jesus (Son of the Blessed is equivalently Son of
God). When Jesus was acknowledged as Messiah at Caesarea Philippi he enjoined
silence (8:30). But now Jesus himself, positively and publicly, acknowledged
that he is the Messiah, and that he is indeed the Son of God. He did so on his
own terms, in terms of “Son of Man”. With his firm “I am” he made, for the
first and only time, an explicit messianic claim. He could do so because now there
was no risk of triumphalist misinterpretation: he was manifestly a suffering
Messiah (see 8:31). Use of “the Blessed One” and “the Power,” though not really
practical Jewish terminology, did, for Mark, provide a “Jewish” colouring. His
“you will see” refers to the Christian perception of Jesus “ the right hand of
God” by resurrection and “coming with the clouds of heaven” at the parousia.
(Wilfrid J. Harrington, Mark: Realistic Theologian—The Jesus of Mark [rev
ed.; Dublin: The Columba Press, 2002], 119)
