“Mark: Releasing the Gospel’s Power”

Overview: We’re studying Mark because he succinctly explores who Christ is and what it looks like to follow him. “Mark communicates Christ and discipleship through the messiness and vividness of stories, not just through the precision of propositions” (Justin Harris)^[1].

Background: The author of the Gospel of Mark is John Mark, the son of Mary (Acts 12:12). While not one of the original disciples, he went with Paul and Barnabas as an assistant on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:5). However, halfway through the trip, he abandoned them and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). This brought sharp criticism from Paul. However, later, Paul refers to him positively (Col 4:10). Scholars think that Mark wrote the gospel sometime between AD 64–67^[2] and this makes Mark “the earliest gospel” and, therefore, “the closest to actual events”, which gives the “most historical portrait of Jesus.” Mark “is a master storyteller, with a fast-paced, lively style and a multitude of colorful details” (Mark L. Strauss) with a dramatic literary style that stresses the facts with a sense of urgency. Mark’s descriptions of events are often shorter, and therefore the whole book is shorter than the other gospels. Mark, like Luke’s primary audience, was primarily Gentile, especially Roman, rather than Jewish-Christian (Matthew) or both Jewish and Gentile readers (John).

Key verses: “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (1:1, NIV); and “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (10:45, NIV).