Uniqueness of Mark’s Gospel Message

Jesus Christ:  “But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave (servant) of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:43-45 (NLT)

Mark’s Gospel portrays Jesus Christ as the Suffering Servant and Son of God (e.g. see Mark 8:31-9:1; Mark 10:43-45). Jesus Christ was God in the flesh (incarnate), but Mark’s Gospel reveals Him as entering human history as a Suffering Servant to save humanity as predicted in the Old Testament prophecies (e.g. see Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 49:1-6; Isaiah 50:4-9; Isaiah 52:13-53:12). Jesus Christ did not come as a conquering King on His first advent (arrival) but as a Servant announcing the Good News of God’s Kingdom to the world and sacrificially giving His life to save all humanity through their faith in Him (e.g., see Mark 8:31; Mark 9:31; mark 10:33-34). Although Jesus Christ suffered during His public ministry, Mark’s Gospel reveals Him serving humankind by telling the people of God’s Good News, healing varies disease and evil spirits, and proclaiming God’s love, mercy and compassion. Also, Mark’s Gospel shows Jesus Christ crossing national, racial, gender, and economic barriers to spread the Good News of God’s Kingdom to the world (e.g., see Mark 6:31-44; Mark 8:1-10). Mark wrote his Gospel message to encourage Jews and Gentile alike in their suffering and to also prove beyond a doubt that Jesus is the Messiah and the Suffering Son of the living God (Mark 1:1, 11; Mark 9:7; Mark 15:39).

Of the four New Testament Gospel messages of Jesus Christ, Mark is the shortest. Mark’s Gospel gives the readers a simple, concise, and vivid portrait of Jesus Christ. Mark emphasized more of Jesus’ activities and travels than what He said and taught. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus Christ is revealed in rapid and chronological action. The Gospel of Mark portrays Jesus Christ as busily moving from place to place as He met the physical and spiritual needs of all kinds of people – rich, poor, Jew, Gentile, male and female. Even more, Mark records more of Jesus Christ’s miracles than sermons. Jesus Christ is clearly revealed in Mark’s Gospel as a Man of power and action and not just words. With these series of actions, Mark’s Gospel portrays Jesus Christ’s true identity as the Messiah and God’s unique Son.

Mark begins his Gospel with a clear declaration: “Here begins the wonderful story of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1, TLB). Then, Mark summarizes the entire Old Testament and intertestamental period in two verses at Mark 1:2-3. By Mark 1:4, Mark takes the reader quickly into first century Galilee. Omitting the birth narrative (the nativity) of Jesus Christ, Mark begins with John the Baptist's preaching. Then, Mark moves quickly past Jesus Christ’s baptism, evil’s temptation in the desert, and the call of His disciples. Mark’s Gospel takes us directly into Jesus Christ’s public ministry in the first century Galilee at Mark 1:14. Jesus Christ is the uncontested subject of Mark’s Gospel and He is portrayed as a Man of action. Mark’s Gospel reveals Jesus Christ confronting evil, healing sick people, and forgiving sins. However in Matthew and Luke’s Gospels, the reader does not get into first century Galilee until after Jesus Christ’s birth narratives. Moreover, Mark’s deals with Jesus Christ’s temptation by evil in only two verses (Mark 1:12-13) while Matthew’s Gospel devotes eleven verses to Jesus Christ’s temptation (Matthew 4:1-11) and Luke’s Gospel devotes thirteen verses to His temptation (Luke 4:1-13). Moreover, Mark only gives the reader a sample of Jesus Christ’s teaching at Mark 4 with the parable of the sower, the parable of the growing seed, the lamp stand motif, and the illustration of the mustard seed. Then, Mark immediately takes the reader back into the action. Mark shows Jesus Christ calming the powerful waves, driving out demons, and healing Jairus's daughter. Next, Mark shows Jesus Christ returning to His hometown, Nazareth and experience utter rejection by His hometown. Although opposition against Him continued to mount, Jesus Christ continued to move, feeding 5,000 hungry Jewish men, reaching out to the Syrophoenician woman, healing the deaf man, and feeding another 4,000 hungry Gentile people. Then, Jesus Christ revealed His true identity to His disciples with His transfiguration. Even after His transfiguration, Jesus Christ continued His good and faithful ministry of teaching, healing, and defeating evil. Events moved rapidly toward the climax with Jesus Christ’s Last Supper, the betrayal, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. In all, Mark’s Gospel shows Jesus Christ in action – moving, serving, healing, sacrificing, and saving! Although Jesus Christ faced opposition, servitude, and suffering during His ministry, He continued faithfully serving God and loving others (see Mark 12:28-34; Acts 10:38).

Also, Mark’s Gospel was written with a simple structure using abrupt language, and sometimes poor grammar. Mark wrote his Gospel using ordinary spoken Greek. Until modern times, Mark’s Gospel had received considerably less attention than the other three Gospels. In comparison to John’s Gospel with its lofty theology, Matthew’s Gospel with its teachable narrative structure, and Luke’s Gospel with it parables and stories of Jesus Christ, Mark’s Gospel has often been called clumsy, artless and ordinary. Due to Mark’s ordinary writing style, the early church placed Mark’s Gospel behind Matthew and considered Mark’s Gospel as an inferior and slavish abridgement of Matthew’s Gospel. Mark’s Gospel begins with an abrupt title “Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ” and ends abruptly at Mark 16:8. Third, Mark wrote his Gospel with a sense of urgency. For example and as mentioned above, Mark gives a very concise version of the temptation of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:12-13) in comparison to Matthew and Luke’s Gospel version of Jesus’ temptation. Furthermore, a distinctive characteristic of Mark’s Gospel is his use (some 47 times) of words such as “at once,” “without delay,” “immediately,” “quickly,” and “just then” (e.g., see Mark 1:12, 18, 20, 23, 28, 42-43). Mark moves quickly from one episode in Jesus Christ’s public ministry to another. Some urgency about Jesus Christ public ministry is revealed in Matthew and Luke’s Gospels but this urgency was more pronounced in Mark’s Gospel. Mark’s Gospel contains the most action-packed events of Jesus Christ of the four Gospels. Moreover, Mark appears to be writing his Gospel to a Gentile Christian audience from Rome. As will be discussed later, many in the early church believed Mark was closely associated with Apostle Peter in Rome. Mark’s Gospel does not specifically designate his audience as Gentile Christians. Yet, Mark’s Gospel quotes relatively infrequently from the Old Testament. Also, as Mark is telling the story of Jesus Christ, Mark often interrupts his Gospel message with parenthetical remarks to explain common Jewish customs or Jewish words for readers (e.g. see Mark 7:2-4; Mark 12:18; Mark 14:12; Mark 15:42). Moreover, anytime Jesus Christ quotes an Aramaic word, Mark gives the reader the translation of the Aramaic word (see e.g. Mark 3:17; Mark 5:41; Mark 7:11, 34; Mark 10:46; Mark 14:36; Mark 15:22, 34). Mark’s Gospel presents Romans as neutral (e.g. see Mark 12:17; Mark 15:1-2, 21-22) and sometimes favorable light (Mark 15:39). Such remarks as these indicated Mark was writing to a non-Jewish audience who needed background explanation. Possibly, Mark’s audience was composed of Gentile Christians that came to the Christian faith directly from the pagan world. Next, Mark’s Gospel frequently interrupts a story with another second seemingly unrelated story. For instance at Mark 5, Mark starts telling the story of Jairus’s dying daughter and then Mark abruptly interrupts this story with another story of a woman with a hemorrhage.

In addition, Mark gives a unique portrait of Jesus Christ as misunderstood. Mark’s Gospel reveals large crowds following Jesus because He miraculous provided food, healed their sickness and brought comfort to hurting people. Jesus Christ’s compassion and mercy was unusual for first century Rome. The first century was a segmented society and no one cared about one another. In Roman first century society, there was no welfare system. However, Jesus Christ showed compassion to the weak, the hurting, and the needy (e.g., Mark 3:10; Mark 6:34; Mark 8:2). Also, Mark reveals the crowds misunderstanding Jesus’ true role as Messiah (Christ). The crowd wanted a conquering King like King David of the Old Testament. Instead, Jesus Christ came as a Suffering Servant serving and caring for the people as foretold by the Prophet Isaiah. Also, Mark reveals Jesus Christ’s confrontation with the teachers of the law early in His ministry. By Mark 2:6, the religious leaders were in direct conflict with Jesus Christ’s teaching and healings (see also Mark 2:6-7, 16, 24; Mark 3:2, 6, 22). Jesus Christ’s conflicts with the religious leaders came much later in Matthew and Luke’s Gospel. Moreover, Mark reveals the earliest plot to kill Jesus Christ came at Mark 3:6. Furthermore, Mark’s Gospel reveals that Jesus was often misunderstood by His own family and His hometown (e.g. see Mark 3:21, 31-32; Mark 6:1-6). Jesus’ family members thought He had lost His mind as a religious fanatic (Mark 3:21). These people saw no reason to believe that Jesus was any different from them, much less that He was specially appointed by the true and living God. The strangest misunderstanding of Jesus Christ came from the Twelve apostles (disciples). The picture we get of the Twelve in Mark’s Gospel is not a flattering picture. In Mark’s Gospel, the disciples often look confused, dulled or slow learners about Jesus Christ’s powers and authority (e.g., see Mark 4:13; Mark 5:51-52; Mark 7:17-21; Mark 8:4; Mark 9:32; Mark 10:13-14, 35-40). At one point, Jesus even called the disciples “hard hearted” (Mark 6:52; Mark 8:16-19).

Next, only Mark’s Gospel reveals Jesus Christ’s loneliness, isolation and abandonment by His family, friends, and His disciples. At the Cross, Jesus even felt abandoned by God. Only Mark gives one utterance of Jesus Christ from the Cross:  “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Mark 15:34, NLT). These final words of Jesus on the Cross reveal how deeply He felt in His abandonment even by God as He bore “the sin of the world” (see John 1:29).

Finally, the chief critical part of Mark’s Gospel concerns Mark’s ending. Serious doubts exists as to whether Mark 16:9-20 belongs to Mark’s Gospel. Mark 16:9-20 do not appear in two of the most trustworthy manuscripts of the New Testament, though they are part of many other manuscripts and versions. If Mark 16:9-20 are not a part of the genuine text of Mark, then Mark’s Gospel ends abruptly at Mark 16:8 with a promise that Jesus Christ has risen! 

The Gospel messages of Matthew, Mark and Luke are commonly identified as the Synoptic Gospels. These three Gospels tell essentially the same story of Jesus Christ, while John’s Gospel is quite different. Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospel agree extensively in language, in material, and sayings of Jesus Christ. The basic outline of Matthew, Mark and Luke are the same and in the same sequence. For instance, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke have a common starting point of Jesus Christ’s baptism and empowerment of God’s Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ’s baptism and Holy Spirit empowerment launched His public ministry in Galilee (northern Israel) with the peak of His ministry being Easter Sunday – the date of His resurrection! An example of the Gospels’ verbatim agreement is found at Matthew 10:22 and Mark 13:13. Even more, a mathematical calculation of the three Gospels reveals that 91 percent of Mark’s Gospel is contained in Matthew and 53 percent of Mark’s Gospel is found in Luke.

Since Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospels give the same story of Jesus Christ; these similarities have given rise to the question of Mark’s relationship to the other two Gospels. Many theories have been put forward to explain the similarities between Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospel. Some believe that the oral traditions circulated in the early church about Jesus Christ provided a common source for these three Gospels. Some have suggested that the three Gospel writers drew from each other with the result being similarities in their three Gospels. The most widely accepted theory explaining the three Gospels’ similarities is that Mark’s Gospel and a lost document commonly called “Quelle (meaning German for “source”) or “Q” were used by Matthew and Luke as sources for most of their materials. 

Matthew’s Gospel was written primarily for a Jewish audience and he opened his Gospel with a genealogy. After all, Matthew had to prove to his readers that Jesus Christ is indeed the rightful Heir to King David's throne. Also, Matthew’s Gospel continually presents Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. For instance, Matthew’s birth narrative is to present Jesus as the royal Messiah from the royal lineage of King David. The Sermon on the Mount portrays Jesus as a new Moses who teaches God’s law from the mountain. Moreover, Matthew’s Gospel provides extensive examples of Jesus’ parables and other teachings. While Mark’s Gospel emphasized the power and activity of Jesus Christ, Matthew’s Gospel emphasized His teaching. As mentioned earlier, Mark did not record many of Jesus Christ’s sermons because he emphasized what Jesus did rather than what He said. Mark’s Gospel reveals Jesus as God's Servant, sent to minister to suffering people and to die for the sins of the world.

Luke’s Gospel was primarily written to reveal Jesus Christ’s humanity – Jesus was the God-Man. Luke had a profound interest in interpreting Jesus as the Savior of all humanity. Gospel writer Luke is generally accepted as the only Gospel written by a Gentile and also by a person who was not directly connected to the historical Jesus or to one of His original disciples.

The Gospel of John was the last Gospel written. John's Gospel begins with a statement about Jesus Christ’s eternity and His existence as the eternal God. The most striking characteristic of John is its sequence of Jesus’ ministry, the vocabulary and tone of Jesus’ words, even the day on which Jesus is crucified. John’s Gospel does follow the same sequence as Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospels. Like John’s Gospel, Mark records no genealogy of Jesus Christ, unnecessary in regard to a servant. Mark’s Gospel, like the Gospel of John, begins with the ministry of John the Baptist.

The early church recognized God’s inspiration in the four Gospels of the New Testament. Yet several other books which presented themselves as gospels also circulated during the early church history. However, these other gospels were rejected as either an inadequate Jewish interpretations of Jesus or works heavily influenced by Gnostic heretics. Moreover, all of these rejected gospels were written much later than the four included in the New Testament.

For centuries, many scholars believed Matthew’s Gospel was the first Gospel written and Mark was clumsy abbreviation of Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew’s Gospel was the most popular Gospel accepted by the early churches because Matthew’s Gospel is very practical with actual teachings of Jesus Christ for everyday Christian living. However, Mark’s Gospel does not give actual teachings of Jesus Christ nor does Mark’s Gospel have a Sermon on Mount as in Matthew and Luke’s Gospel. Nonetheless, Mark’s Gospel message emphasizes Jesus Christ as “Teacher” more than Matthew’s Gospel message. The words “Teacher,” “teach” or “teachings,” and “Rabbi” are applied to Jesus Christ more than thirty-nine times in Mark’s Gospel.  Nevertheless, Mark’s Gospel remained in obscurity for many years as to the four Gospels and did not rise to the level of literary presence until the 18th century. In the 18th century as product of the Enlightenment, scholars concluded that Mark’s Gospel was not a clumsy abbreviation of Matthew’s Gospel but the first of the four Gospels written. So, many scholars concluded Gospel writers Matthew and Luke used Mark’s Gospel as their key source in composing their message of Jesus Christ.

The next question turns to the identity of Mark. No one really knows the true identity of the author of Mark’s Gospel. Mark’s Gospels have no direct internal evidence of authorship. Mark is never named as the author of the Gospel within the Gospel manuscript. The author of Mark’s Gospel as the other Gospels’ authors are anonymous and never identified within the early New Testament manuscripts. Connecting Mark as the author of this Gospel was done much later by the early church. Even the titles of each of the four Gospels, which were assigned on the basis of church tradition, appear in the second century. Mark was a common first century name and the true identity of Mark is generally not known.

Traditionally, the early church believed John Mark (“John, also called Mark”) authored Mark’s Gospel. John Mark was the cousin of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10) and sometimes the traveling companion of Apostle Paul (Acts 12:25; Acts 13:4). The first mention of John Mark is in connection with his mother, named Mary, who had a house in Jerusalem that served as a meeting place for believers of Jesus Christ (Acts 12:12). John Mark was perhaps the young man who fled on the night of Jesus Christ’s arrest (see Mark 14:51-52). When Apostle Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch from Jerusalem, John Mark accompanied them (Acts 12:25). Mark appears as a “helper” to Apostle Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:5). Evidently, John Mark was responsible for travel arrangements, food, and lodging for Apostle Paul and Barnabas. For reasons unknown, Mark quit the journey with Apostle Paul and Barnabas at Perga in Pamphylia to return to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). Apostle Paul was deeply upset with Mark’s abrupt departure from the missionary journey. When Barnabas proposed taking Mark on the second missionary journey in approximately AD 50, Apostle Paul strongly refused. Apostle Paul and Barnabas disagreed whether John Mark could return with them on the missionary journey. This disagreement caused Barnabas and Apostle Paul to split their working relationship (Acts 15:36-39). Barnabas goes on another missionary journey with John Mark to Cyprus (Acts 15:36-41) and Apostle Paul picked up Silas on his second missionary journey. No further mention is made of John Mark in the book of Acts. Apparently, John Mark reunited with Apostle Paul. By the end of Apostle Paul’s life, John Mark had fully regained Apostle Paul’s favor (see 2 Timothy 4:11). John Mark reappears in Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossian church written from Rome (see Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24). John Mark was present with Apostle Paul’s first Roman imprisonment. Evidently, John Mark returned from his work with Barnabas and became associated with Apostle Peter. A final New Testament reference of importance shows John Mark laboring with Apostle Peter in Rome (1 Peter 5:13).

The most important evidence of John Mark’s authorship of Mark’s Gospel comes from Papias, a prominent Roman historian. Papias quotes other earlier sources that identify Mark as a close associate of Apostle Peter. Mark became Apostle Peter’s faithful interpreter and followed Apostle Peter’s preaching. John Mark was not connected to the original Twelve apostles but his eyewitness account came from Apostle Peter. Mark received the oral tradition of Jesus Christ from the preaching of Apostle Peter, a close disciple of Jesus. The conclusion drawn from this tradition is that the Gospel of Mark largely consisted of Apostle Peter’s preaching. Similar to the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, Apostle Peter’s sermons began with John’s baptism and continued to Jesus Christ’s resurrection from complete death (e.g. Acts 10:37-43; see also Acts 2:14-41; Acts 3:12-26; Acts 4:8-12; Acts 5:29-32;). However, some people argue there was no valid connection with Apostle Peter and John Mark in Rome. Nevertheless, Papias’ statement gives rise to a geographical context from Mark and other sources support that John Mark was associated with Peter and more importantly with Rome.

As to the date of Mark’s Gospel, most scholars place Mark around the year AD 70. Mark’s Gospel does not give an exact date. Some argue Mark’s Gospel was written around AD 65 to 73. In the 60s and 70s, there were two major crises in the Roman Empire. In the eastern part of the Roman Empire, Palestine was heading to a war with Roman due to Rome’s oppression and taxation. On the western part of the Roman Empire, there were the activities of Emperor Nero. Nero came to the throne around AD 54 and ruled to approximately AD 68. Interestingly, the first five years of Nero’s rule was good and pleasant due to the good influences by his mother and two good tutors. After his mother and tutors’ death, Nero’s life began to turn evil, cruel and vain. Nero even had his son killed but spared his pet pig. Nero’s great ambition was himself and he was very vain. Nero was murderous, heartless and spending excessive money. The worse of Nero’s act was the fire he started around July 64 AD. No one saw Nero setting the fire in Rome but many people believed Nero started the Roman fire. Nero’s ultimate ambition was to rebuild Rome and name the city Neropolis, meaning “city of Nero.” Sadly, Nero made followers of the Way the scapegoats of the Roman fire. Seeking a scapegoat for the fire in Rome – a fire that Roman historian Tacitus blamed on Nero – Nero fastened blamed to Christians. As a result, Nero subjected Christians to the most gruesome horrors. Up to this point, Christians were not persecuted because they were seen as a sect of Jews and Judaism was protected by Roman laws that allowed religious toleration. So the by AD 60s the Christians were now separated from Judaism and many Christians were persecuted and even set on fire by the Romans. This was the worst time period for Christians.

A second statement relevant to the dating of Mark is the statement found at Mark 13:14 concerning the “abomination that causes desolation” and Mark’s reference to flee to the hills when “the abomination that causes desolation” arrives. These statements by Jesus Christ concerned the coming destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by God's enemies. The Temple was destroyed in AD 70 when the Roman general Titus placed an idol on the site of the burned-out Temple after the destruction of Jerusalem. If this suggestion could be established, then Mark’s Gospel was written before AD 70. Many scholars find ambiguity of Mark 13:14 rather puzzling if Mark composed his Gospel after the actual fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.

As mentioned earlier, many scholars believe Mark’s audience was Gentile Christians suffering in Rome around the last half of the first century during Nero’s reign. Many biblical scholars believe that Mark wrote his Gospel about Jesus Christ’s suffering as God’s Son to encourage and comfort these Gentile Christians also suffering in Rome. These Gentile Christians confessed Jesus as Lord. Yet, these Gentile Christians were suffering at the hands of Rome. Mark may have been writing to these Gentile Christians to comfort them by revealing Jesus Christ’s service and suffering for the Kingdom of God. There are many references throughout Mark’s Gospel to suffering and the importance of service (e.g., see Mark 1:12-13; Mark 8:34-38; Mark 10:33-34, 45). Suffering is the central issue of Mark’s Gospel. Mark was showing the audience how Jesus is Lord, even though He suffered persecution and rejection!

References

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Ryrie Study Bible (Chicago, IL: Moody, 1995).

Zondervan NIV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008).

Butler, Trent. Holman Bible Dictionary (Broadman & Holman Pub., 1991).

Edwards, James R. The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002).

Kelber, Werner. Mark’s Story of Jesus (Houston, TX: Fortress Press, 1979).

Loyd, Melton, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament. Due West Campus: Erskine Theological Seminary, 2015.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Bible Exposition Commentary (Victor Books, 1989).