Usually, the interpreters of Mark's gospel understand the allusions and citations to psalm 22 in his passion narrative as proof of prophetic fulfillment. This reveals a theological conclusion rather than a literary one. Instead, this article poses, using a literary approach, that Mark uses psalm 22 for three purposes: firstly, he wants to scripturize the historical details of Jesus' crucifixion account. Secondly, he uses psalm 22 to enhance the literary motifs of abandonment, despair, contempt, and defeat present in his narrative. He invites his readers to understand the details of Jesus crucifixion in light of the sufferings of the psalmist wherein the motifs aforementioned are represented vividly. Thirdly, as a completion of his picture of Jesus as divine, psalm 22 enables Mark to present Jesus as human. Jesus' despair, divine and human abandonment, and defeat are proper of human experience. By describing Jesus this way, a divine-human Christology emerges.
