Mark
Author: Mark
Mark tells the gospel as a swift account of Jesus’ authority in Galilee and of the suffering that his identity requires.
Outline
The beginning (1:1–13)
John prepares the way, Jesus is baptized and tested, and the book names him Son of God at the outset.
Authority in Galilee (1:14–8:26)
Teaching, exorcism, healing, and conflict come in a rush, and Jesus orders much of it kept quiet.
The way of the cross (8:27–10:52)
Peter’s confession is followed by three predictions of death, and the disciples argue about greatness.
Jerusalem and the tomb (11–16)
The temple conflict leads to the supper, the cross, and the news that he is risen.
Key verses
Mark 1:1
The book introduces itself as the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Mark 8:29
Peter answers that Jesus is the Christ, and the conversation turns at once toward suffering.
Mark 10:45
The Son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.
Mark is the shortest Gospel and the most urgent. It begins without a genealogy and without a birth story. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is a quotation from the prophets and then John in the wilderness, baptizing and announcing a stronger one who will baptize with the Holy Ghost. Jesus comes from Nazareth, is baptized, sees the heavens torn open, and hears that he is the beloved Son. The Spirit drives him into the wilderness. Forty days later he is in Galilee saying that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Mark does not ease the reader in. The identity is stated in the first line, and the public still has to discover it by watching what he does.
What he does comes in a sequence of scenes joined by the word immediately. He calls fishermen, teaches in the Capernaum synagogue as one having authority, and commands an unclean spirit to leave. A leper is told to say nothing, and the news spreads so that Jesus can no longer openly enter a city. A paralytic is forgiven and then walks. Levi is called. Sabbath healings lead the Pharisees to plot with the Herodians. The Twelve are appointed to be with him and to be sent. Scribes from Jerusalem say he is in league with Beelzebub. Storms, demons, a dead girl, a feeding, and a walk on the sea follow, and the disciples’ hearts stay hardened. The Galilean half of the book is a pile of authority they keep failing to read.
The turn is Caesarea Philippi. Jesus asks who men say that he is, and then who the disciples say that he is. Peter says, You are the Christ. Jesus charges them to tell no one, and he begins to teach that the Son of man must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and rise. Peter rebukes him and is rebuked in turn. Whoever will come after him must deny himself and take up a cross. Six days later three disciples see him transfigured and hear the voice again, and they are told to keep it until the Son of man is risen. A boy is freed of a spirit the disciples could not cast out. A second prediction of death is followed by an argument about who is greatest, and Jesus sets a child among them. A third prediction is followed by James and John asking to sit at his right and left. The others are indignant. Jesus says the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and it shall not be so among you. The Son of man came to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Blind Bartimaeus, who will not be silenced, receives sight and follows him in the way. The phrase is Mark’s. Discipleship is a way that goes through the cross, not a privilege attached to a title.
Jerusalem occupies the last third. The colt, the branches, the temple inspected and then cleared, the fig tree, the question about authority, the vineyard, tribute, the resurrection, the greatest commandment, and the warning about the scribes lead into the discourse on the Mount of Olives. A woman anoints him at Bethany, and he says she has anointed his body beforehand for burying. The supper, Gethsemane, the young man who flees naked, the council, Peter’s denial, Pilate, the soldiers’ mockery, and the cross are told without decoration. Darkness comes. Jesus cries why he has been forsaken and gives up the ghost. The veil tears. A centurion, seeing how he died, says this man was the Son of God. The title the book used in its first line is spoken at the cross by a Gentile. Women watch. Joseph asks for the body. On the first day the women find the stone rolled away and a young man who says he is risen and that they should tell the disciples and Peter. They flee trembling and say nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. The earliest ending leaves the news in the hands of frightened witnesses. Later verses in many copies continue with appearances and a commission. Either way, Mark’s Gospel is the account of a Son of God whose authority was public and whose path was a cross, written so that a reader who wants the authority without the way will be corrected by the shape of the book.