Overview of the Gospel of Mark

Welcome to video lecture number two, the Gospel of Mark. This is an overview of the Gospel of Mark. We will not be looking at all of the specific details within the Gospel. Some of those will be in later events. We'll be looking at some lectures that deal with the ministries of Jesus, the ministry activities, and also specifically about the Passion Week. This particular lecture is just to look at the overview of the Gospel itself and some uniquenesses about it and help us to understand why it was written, to whom it was written. And some of the takeaways from it that are unique to Mark, different from the other Gospels. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of all of the Gospels, and it has the least amount of unique material. By that, I mean this. The Gospels themselves are a collection of the activities of Christ and the teachings of Christ, and it was shared material, and we see a lot of the same material in the Gospel of Mark that we find in Matthew and Luke specifically, and some shared material in John as well. We know that there's about 92% of the Gospel of Mark that we find in the Gospel of Matthew, and some of it is verbatim the same, and so we know they had the same source. We will look at the synoptic problem and dealing with what that source might be, and most scholars think it was probably Mark itself as one of the sources. There's about 45% of Mark that's found in the Gospel of Luke, and so those two Gospels put together have about 95% of the Gospel of Mark within them, leaving only about 5% of the Gospel of Mark having its own unique material that you don't find in any other Gospel. The Gospel of Mark itself does not have a parallel in the ancient world. Mark probably invented the concept of writing down a Gospel. It's so... related a little bit to the concept of the biography that we see in the ancient Greek world, but the way that Mark wrote a biography to help be persuasive is a new genre of its own. Mark functions as a portrayal of the life of Jesus Christ, though only taking certain episodes of that life to help to understand some key themes that we're going to look at in a few moments. It is not probably an eyewitness account from Mark himself. It is an eyewitness account of Peter. So Mark is capturing the words of Peter, and we can understand that in a couple of ways. One, we know that Peter was the one who traveled with Jesus, and though Mark shows up occasionally in the text, in the Gospels themselves, he doesn't show up all of the time. So obviously it's not an eyewitness account of Mark. Is Mark probably capturing Peter? And then Richard Bachman, a scholar, identified another way that we can understand who the eyewitness is. In the ancient world, oftentimes when the biography was written, and it was written by... an eyewitness, that eyewitness would show up in the story itself early and at the end of the story, and that sort of gives you the credibility that that eyewitness observed these events. And we see that happening with Peter. Peter shows up in the very beginning in chapter 1, and he shows up at the very end in chapters 15 and 16 as well, and of course throughout the gospel. But him showing up at the beginning. And the end indicates that he is the eyewitness that's being referred to in the gospel of Mark. It's his account of these events, and Mark is probably capturing those events. It is probably written down not as necessarily chronological in order, although it follows a chronological pattern, but it probably is structured in a way that follows a series of sermons that Peter is preaching and is organized that way. Whereas John is very particular to write things in a very specific order. And there's a couple of instances where John puts something in a different order than Mark does. And that's probably because Mark is trying to go for the sermon theme rather than the chronological in those instances. We know that Peter preaches a sermon in Acts chapter 10, verses 34 through 43. That has a lot of reflective material that we also see in the Gospel of Mark. Let's talk about the authorship of Mark for a moment. The historical opinion is that this is John Mark, who is the nephew of Barnabas and a companion occasionally of Paul and of Peter, and he's attested to in the books of Acts and also in some of the other epistles, and then finally in 1 Peter. And so we know that this is probably a person that was a companion of the early disciples and they were able to give him firsthand account of the events that took place, and most likely it's Peter's account. Peter shows up prominently throughout the Gospel of Mark, and interestingly, he often shows up as a person who doesn't understand or a person who makes mistakes. Peter's weaknesses are portrayed, and this is going to come along with how Mark also portrays Jesus. We'll see that in a few moments. Who is the audience? that this book is written for. Obviously, all the scriptures are written for all of us to understand who Jesus is and how God is working here on earth. But each of the books of the New Testament were written for a specific audience in mind when it was written down. That makes it easy when we see, say, Galatians to figure out who it was written to because it was written to the Galatians or the churches in Galatia. When it's written to a specific person like Timothy or Titus, his name indicates it's written for that specific person answering specific questions that they were wrestling with. Mark does not do that. He doesn't say this is for the churches in Rome or for the churches in Jerusalem. And so we have to understand. who it is that it's written for from within the text itself. And there's a couple of ways we can kind of determine that. One of the things is that there are a few times that Aramaic shows up in the Gospel of Mark. Aramaic was the language of Jesus and of the disciples in most cases. Though they may have been somewhat educated in some level of Greek, they probably spoke Aramaic. And so it's normal if Mark is including eyewitness accounts of events that he's going to include Aramaic. Now, here's the intriguing thing is every time Mark includes Aramaic, he translates it. And the examples of that would be, for example, when he talks about the sons of thunder, that's John and James, he calls them Boraginus, which he translates as sons of thunder. When he refers to the girl that Jesus raises from the dead and Jesus speaks to her, he says, Talitha Kumi, it literally means little girl, get up, rise up. And so the fact that Mark is translating it indicates that he expects his audience doesn't understand those Aramaic words. Other words include korban, which is a temple tax, abba, which is father in Aramaic. And when he calls the place where Jesus is executed, he calls it Golgotha, which he then translates as the place of the skull. And then finally, there's a phrase that was very powerful when Jesus spoke it. And so he writes it down in Aramaic, but then immediately translates it in Greek. for his audience, where Jesus says, Eloi, Eloi, lemma sabachthani, which is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's so powerful that Mark seems to want to capture it in the original Aramaic, but then he translates it for the audience. And so it's clear that they don't speak Aramaic or he would not be translating these prominent words. There's other times when he doesn't translate, but he explains Jewish customs. sort of like when he talks about washing the hands before going into synagogue or for Passover events. He explains why Passover events happen in certain order, or when there's the Feast of Unleavened Bread, he explains that as well. He would not need to explain these events to a Jewish audience. He would have to explain these events to a Gentile audience. So now we know that it probably wasn't an Aramaic speaking audience and probably wasn't a Jewish audience. Are there any hints for us to understand? who the audience might be, not just who it wasn't. There are actually. There's a few phrases that are Roman terms or Latin terms that show up in Mark that don't show up in the other gospels. Some of these include where the word legion is used in Mark chapter five, verse nine, where the word for executioner is the Latin word in Mark chapter six, verse 27. Where Jesus is flogged, the term there is used, is a Latin word in Mark chapter 15, verse 15. And then when he talks about the Praetorian and Centurion, he uses the Latin forms of these words, not the Greek forms. So why would he have Latin words in there? Well, it indicates that this is probably written for a Latin speaking audience. He would not have to translate words. He would use words that they were familiar with. And then when the Roman centurion, the Roman guard, the soldier speaks in Mark chapter 15, 39, his confession is written in a way that's Latin in origin, that Jesus truly is the son of God. And so it indicates that probably the very first audience that was going to read the gospel of Mark was possibly a Latin speaking audience. Even though the book itself was written in Greek, It's written for an audience whose first language might be Latin, which indicates it was probably written in or near Rome, which makes sense if that, in fact, was where Peter was going to be executed. He was on trial, and so he would be in Rome. So it makes sense that that's where Mark is when he's writing this particular letter. The purpose for the writing of the Gospel of Mark is to explain who Jesus is, but specifically in a unique way. He's dealing with the persecution of Christians at the time. And so he's trying to help Christians understand what their persecution might be, how it relates to the coming Messiah. The intended purpose at this particular time would be to encourage Christians who are facing persecution and also give a testimony to non-Christians about the true message of the Messiah. Mark's gospel would then go on to explain why Jesus has to die on the cross. It provides an apology for the crucifixion of Jesus in a way that makes sense of it, especially in a world that would look down on that, and explains that he indeed was the Messiah. The overall purpose of the Gospel of Mark, therefore, seems to be attached to four very specific interrelated purposes. Number one is to teach Christians about the nature of discipleship. Number two, to explain to Christians how to be missionaries in a difficult world. Number three, to demonstrate to non-Christians that Jesus is the Son of God because of his power in spite of the crucifixion. And number four, to serve to show that Jesus, not Caesar, is the true Son of God who is also simultaneously the Savior of the world and Lord over all. The Gospel of Mark is full of a lot of action. It's the type of literature that moves. rapidly. The details are very compact, concrete, they're vivid, and they're orderly. Mark regularly uses the word uthus, which in Greek is translated into English immediately. And I don't think it always means the sense that this event happens and so right after that the next event happens. Instead, it's moving the events in an orderly and rapid fashion to focus your attention on the things that happen in progression. Mark's Greek is the least polished of all of the Gospels, which might indicate his style or lack of education, but it could also indicate this power, this movement that's happening, this lack of sitting back and waiting for the next thing. It's a lot of action. So it's just as you tell a story, if you tell an exciting story, there's more punch to it. And it could be partly why Mark wrote the letter the way that he did it. The Gospel of Mark is structured primarily in two big passages. It's split right almost in the middle. The pronouncement of Peter, of Jesus as the Messiah, takes place in Mark chapter 8, verses 27 through 30, and that seems to be where the gospel is split. So the chapters before that, chapter 1 through chapter 8, verse 26, seem to emphasize Jesus as the Messiah. After the declaration of Jesus as the Messiah, all the way through the end of the book, It seems to emphasize a new aspect of Jesus, that is Jesus as the suffering servant. And so we get the idea that Jesus is both the Messiah and the suffering servant. Let's look at some of the key components of the Gospel of Mark. The first is that this is full of action and sequence that I talked about a moment ago. There's not a lot of discourse, a lot of parables or discussions. There's just a lot of action from one thing to the next, a healing, feeding. Persecution, things that take place, boom, boom, boom, a lot of action. There's a lot of miracle stories that take place about Jesus, where Jesus does heal or cast out demons or does things that is unexpected by his audience. There's also a strong sense of Jesus keeping his identity as a secret, what we will refer to as a messianic secret, something that I will get to in just a few more moments. There's also this idea of Jesus as the Son of God. The plot... of the Gospel of Mark centers on Jesus as the Son of God. This is first proclaimed in chapter 1, verse 1. It's then again proclaimed in chapter 8 at the major turning point of Peter's confession, and then again at the Roman centurion, the Roman soldier that takes place in chapter 15, verse 39. The Gospel of Mark has a long section of the Passion Week, chapters 11 through 15. Five chapters out of its short 16 chapters focus on one week of the life of Jesus, Passion Week. And so it's given a great prominent role in the particular Gospel. And there's also this concept of conflict and control. There's all this chaos going on around Jesus, yet he maintains control in his situation and then takes over control in the chaos. There's much conflict in the Gospel of Mark that you don't necessarily see as defined in the other Gospels. God is shown to remain in control. Jesus is in control of that which seems to be out of control. Let's look at the theology of the Gospel of Mark that will help us to understand a little bit more some of the aspects of why it was written. Jesus as the Son of God is regularly pronounced throughout the Book of Mark. It starts off, like I said a moment ago, in Mark chapter 1, verse 1, where God himself declares Jesus as the Son of God, and that's Mark's own declaration of Jesus as the Son of God. The next people that identify Jesus as the Son of God, interestingly, are the demons that we see in Mark chapter 3, verse 11, and then in Mark chapter 5, verse 7. When he's casting them out, they recognize him as the Son of God. the Son of God. And so Jesus is recognized by his enemies in that sense. God the Father and Jesus himself will identify himself as the Son of God again in Mark chapter 9 verse 7, and then in Mark chapter 13 verse 32, where Jesus recognizes his role as the Son of God. And then when he's on trial, Caiaphas asks Jesus, are you the Son of God? Now this is a unique way that Mark uses to basically allow Caiaphas to declare Jesus as the son of God. And so that's a way to say something without saying it. He doesn't have Caiaphas tell everyone that Jesus is the son of God, but by having Caiaphas ask Jesus that, it's putting in the mind of the reader that yes, he is the son of God. And then a similar thing is done when the Roman centurion in chapter 15, verse 39, that it's a Roman. a pagan, if you will, that is referring to Jesus as the Son of God, even if he doesn't fully understand it in that moment, and we get hints that he might grasp it in a powerful way, and that becomes a great communicative tool for speaking to a Roman audience, obviously. Interestingly, the disciples in the Gospel of Mark never refer to Jesus as the Son of God, and neither do any of his followers. It seems to be in A strange thing for us, but it seems to be in keeping with the concept of the messianic secret. Jesus does not want the world to know who he is until the right time, until the empty tomb, if you will. And so the best we have from the disciples is when Peter calls him the Christ in the end of chapter 8. Let's look at the next aspect of theology we see in the Gospel of Mark, and that is the concept of the kingdom of God. Jesus introduces the concept of the kingdom in Mark chapter 1 verse 15 and then regularly brings it up in his parables. He talks about the kingdom of God and gives examples of it throughout different expressions. We're going to see more details of that as we get to the teachings of the gospel of Mark. And then Jesus often refers to what it takes to enter into the kingdom of God in his teachings and in his practices. And then he also hints at the coming of the kingdom of God as the diminishing of the power. of the kingdom of Satan. We see this, for example, when Jesus, through his miracles, demonstrates his power over the problem areas of this world. He has power over nature in Mark chapter four, and then in subsequent series of miracles that take place, he demonstrates he has power over demons, he has power over sickness, and he has power over death. Go look at chapters four and five of Mark, and you can see how as Jesus inaugurates the kingdom of God, He demonstrates control over all of these elements that are fallen and that he's going to overcome nature and demons, spiritual powers, if you will, sick and death. And so as a result, his kingdom is entering into the world. A theological key that is important to understanding the book of Mark is the idea of the messianic secret. Jesus frequently tells his disciples and those who understand who he is to not tell anyone. When Jesus is with the disciples and Peter recognizes them as the Christ, as the Messiah, he says, don't tell anyone this. That's in contrast to what happens in the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus praises Peter for understanding who he is. Jesus regularly tells people who are healed or demons to not refer to anyone that he is the Messiah. Why is this? Well, we call this the messianic secret. And the idea is that Jesus wants people to understand him in the fullness of who he is as the Messiah, and that is not revealed until the end of the Gospel of Mark. He doesn't want people to approach him because of his miracles or because of authority. They want him to understand him in the light of his suffering and the redemption that comes as a result of that suffering. And you don't know the full extent of the suffering of the Messiah until the Passion Week. And passion plays such a prominent role in the Gospel of Mark that it has to be understood. in order to understand the message of Jesus. And of course it doesn't happen until the end of the book. And so Jesus seems to want his followers to keep this secret that we call the messianic secret. It's unique to the gospel of Mark and it plays its role in the role that Jesus plays in the gospel of Mark. Let's talk about the nature of discipleship in the gospel of Mark. Jesus calls the disciples in a way that's quick, that's authoritative. He just tells the disciples to follow them. him, and they do. Whereas you see in Matthew and Luke, it seems like there's hesitation. There's encounters when they're with John the Baptist. There's encounters when they're fishing. There's encounters when they're at the table taking taxes. And then they seem to follow Jesus. They're going back and doing the things that they were doing prior to Jesus' encounter. Not in Mark. When they follow Jesus, they leave everything behind and follow Jesus. And this is an indication by Mark that if you're going to follow Jesus, it's done with no reservation. You just need to follow him, and it casts the light that there should not be any hesitation in following him. Another theme that we see prominently in the Gospel of Mark is the idea of Jesus as the Son of Man. And that plays a pivotal role in a couple of ways. One, it helps us to understand the dual nature of Christ. He is fully divine, but he's also fully human. And for the Jewish world at the time, they were expecting a human Messiah to come and conquer their enemies and set everything right here on earth. They didn't necessarily understand that it was going to be the son of God and he's going to pay for sins. And so by referring to Jesus as the son of man, he is the embodiment of the expectations. and the fulfillment of the hopes of the Jewish people from the Old Testament. That phrase was actually one that was very prominent in the book of Daniel. And so the son of man coming on the clouds was a phrase that represented the coming Messiah. And so it has a messianic meaning beyond just the human aspect of it. And it holds on to this idea of these Old Testament expectations. Let's talk about the concept of the suffering servant, which plays a very big role in the... Gospel of Mark. Jesus is referred to as one who suffers throughout the Gospel of Mark. The concept of the suffering servant in the Gospel is central to understanding Jesus' identity and his mission in this particular Gospel. Mark uniquely portrays Jesus in this role as the Messiah who's going to suffer, who's going to basically have shame on him and physical suffering on him. It's a theme that permeates the entire gospel and shapes how readers are to understand the work of Jesus. Let's look at a few key aspects of what it means to be a suffering servant in the gospel of Mark. It starts off with Jesus' own predictions about his suffering and death. Mark records three explicit instances where Jesus predicts his gruesome death, the Passion Week, and his resurrection. Mark 8, verse 31. Mark chapter 9 verse 31 and Mark chapter 10 verses 33 and 34 all basically are where Jesus predicts that he's going to suffer. In each instance, Jesus emphasizes that suffering is an essential part of his role as a Messiah, as part of his mission being sent from God. These predictions are followed by the disciples' misunderstandings. They don't want Jesus to suffer as the readers would not want Jesus to suffer. Therefore, it illustrates their lack of understanding and their struggle to comprehend this idea of a servant of God and the necessity of that servant to suffer and die on the cross as the Messiah. This idea, the suffering servant, relates to the concept of the messianic secret. The messianic secret underscores that his role as a Messiah cannot be understood apart from the idea of suffering. The secrecy that's tied up to the idea that Jesus' full identity of the Messiah can only be understood or comprehended as a result of his role as a suffering servant is partly why it's kept secret. Because like I said earlier, Passion Week doesn't happen until the end of his time. And so if that's the way you're supposed to understand Jesus and it doesn't happen until the end and then the conclusion of the resurrection doesn't happen until the end, then that's partly why it's kept secret. The Passion Narrative, as a result, plays a huge role in the idea of the suffering servant. Mark's Passion Narrative, chapters 14 and 15, are detailed and stark, emphasizes Jesus' betrayal, his abandonment, he's all alone in a way that's heartbreaking for the reader to read. It also emphasizes his suffering, his physical and emotional turmoil that he goes through. And then, of course, there's a gruesome depiction of his death. In Passion Week, Jesus is portrayed as the innocent and obedient suffering servant who willingly accepts that suffering because he's there to fulfill the mission that God has given to him. Unlike in other gospels, there is a profound sense of Jesus's isolation in Mark, his cry of abandonment on the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? in Mark chapter 15, 34, reflects the depth of his suffering and the fulfillment of the suffering servant motif that we see in Isaiah chapters 52 and 53. The suffering servant's role as a sacrifice is a big part of the suffering servant. In Mark chapter 10, verse 45, Jesus explicitly connects his mission as the Messiah for the role of one who's going to suffer as a result of a sacrifice for others. He says, 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. This statement encapsulates the idea of Jesus as the suffering servant who sacrifices himself for the salvation of humanity, for the salvation of others. This verse is unique to Mark. And it highlights the purpose of Jesus' sufferings, not as a tragic consequence of betrayal or people's evil deeds, but as a deliberate act by God as part of the salvation story. There's a connection to the suffering servant motif that we see in Isaiah chapters 52 and 53, particularly starting at 52 verse 13 and carrying over to 53 verse 12. Mark's portrayal of Jesus, his suffering that we see, in the Passion Week, actually lifts very specific texts out and quotes these passages, such as he was despised and rejected, that he was wounded for our transgressions, that by his stripes we are healed. He's attaching this idea of the suffering servant in Isaiah that it existed 700 years before the coming of Christ to the Messiah himself in a way that probably would not have been recognized prior to that by... the Jewish people. They knew the Messiah was coming, but they thought he was going to be a conqueror, a victor. And in this case, he comes across as the suffering servant who's fulfilling this job that Messiah predicted, that Isaiah predicted 700 years earlier. Mark weaves this imagery throughout the gospel, portraying Jesus as the fulfillment of this prophetic role, where his suffering leads to the redemption of humanity. Therefore, we see what we call a paradox. in the power and weakness of the Messiah and Jesus. Mark presents this paradox where Jesus is his true power and his kingship are revealed at the depths of his suffering, not in conquest or political power, but in his suffering and his death. The centurion's declaration that truly this was the son of God in Mark 15 39 happens at the foot of the cross, not after the resurrection. but when Jesus is suffering his greatest is when his enemies recognize his greatest power. And so it teaches us this idea of the relationship between power and weakness. This understanding is one that this weakness and suffering sets the stage for the resurrection. It is his greatest moment, not because Jesus is suffering, but because the suffering sets the stage for when he conquers death and conquers sin. And therefore, it is not really hinted at. It's not fully described in the Gospel of Mark. It's hinted at. But it helps us to understand that Jesus' greatest power takes place in his greatest weakness. It leaves us to wonder about the implications of it in our own lives. First of all, Jesus' salvation, what it does for us as individuals, but also in our own life when we feel powerless, when we feel like we are suffering for the sake of the kingdom. We can recognize that that may be when God's ultimate power is present in our life. And so that gives us hope. It gives us encouragement whenever we face something. Think about where Peter was when Mark was writing this and to the audience with whom he was writing. The church in Rome was probably facing persecution and suffering on their own. And even though there was not an empire-wide suffering taking place at this point, There were localized sufferings that were already taking place, persecutions against Christians. Peter and Paul would have experienced that in Rome. And so here we see that Jesus' suffering becomes an encouragement for us. His suffering becomes our salvation. His suffering was intentional, not an accident, not the cause of other people, but the plan of God. The role of the suffering servant in Mark is unique in how it defines Jesus' identity and his mission. and his authority. Mark emphasizes that Jesus' Messiahship cannot be separated from his suffering and his death, which are necessary for the redemption of all of humanity. This portrayal challenges the conventional understanding of who the Messiah was for that time, and it sets into motion an understanding of a theological vision where true greatness is found in the servanthood and sacrifice. of Christ, which we should also exemplify. Later, the apostle Paul is going to write a letter to the church in Philippi where he tells us to live out the example of Christ, who humbled himself, who had great things and humbled himself to come to earth. And then he says, we should do the same. We should have the same attitude or the same mind. as Christ. The Gospel of Mark is probably the earliest gospel written. I do think that Matthew and Luke used Mark in their writings. And so Mark is profound. It sets the stage for the rest of the gospels that are going to be written. It's one of the earliest books written in the New Testament. And so it's probably the foundation for much of early Christian thought. And therefore, it is a very prominent book. It's not as fully developed as Luke or Matthew, and we're going to look at those in subsequent videos. But maybe that's a good thing. Maybe that it's punchiness and it's directness helps us to understand Jesus in a vivid and concrete way. His message is full of passion and in movement and action. And as a result, I believe it calls us as Christians to be people of action and deliberateness and of discipleship. It gives us a clear understanding that the role of a disciple is one who follows after the mission of God, the mission of Christ, that could include suffering, that could include pain, in order to receive redemption for the world. The servant is no greater than the master. And so the understandings we have out of the Gospel of Mark is that we might too suffer. This isn't a prosperity gospel book. It is one that tells us the opposite, in fact, that you may suffer ... for the sake of the gospel, and that if that happens, it's okay. Your Messiah did the same thing. But look at the victory we got as a result of his suffering. It's not just that the suffering made him good. His suffering became the conduit for the salvation of all of humanity. His suffering on the cross provided for redemption for sin and eternal life for those who will follow after him. What a powerful and good message, and what a great way to start off. the Gospels. Now we're going to look at more details in future videos of the teachings of Christ. Some of them are in Mark. We're going to be looking at them as they kind of are across all of the Gospels, so Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and then where John fits in with those as well. And we're going to be looking at the Passion Week and the Resurrection. But what a wonderful story to start with, this concept of Jesus as the suffering servant who's come, keeping it a secret for a little while, but eventually when he tells the story to the nations, what a powerful story it is. that Jesus came to suffer to pay the price for you and me. God bless you all.

This particular lecture is just to look at the overview of the Gospel itself and some uniquenesses about it and help us to understand why it was written, to whom it was written. And some of the takeaways from it that are unique to Mark, different from the other Gospels. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of all of the Gospels, and it has the least amount of unique material.

By that, I mean this. The Gospels themselves are a collection of the activities of Christ and the teachings of Christ, and it was shared material, and we see a lot of the same material in the Gospel of Mark that we find in Matthew and Luke specifically, and some shared material in John as well. We know that there's about 92% of the Gospel of Mark that we find in the Gospel of Matthew, and some of it is verbatim the same, and so we know they had the same source.

We will look at the synoptic problem and dealing with what that source might be, and most scholars think it was probably Mark itself as one of the sources. There's about 45% of Mark that's found in the Gospel of Luke, and so those two Gospels put together have about 95% of the Gospel of Mark within them, leaving only about 5% of the Gospel of Mark having its own unique material that you don't find in any other Gospel. The Gospel of Mark itself does not have a parallel in the ancient world.

Mark probably invented the concept of writing down a Gospel. It's so... related a little bit to the concept of the biography that we see in the ancient Greek world, but the way that Mark wrote a biography to help be persuasive is a new genre of its own. Mark functions as a portrayal of the life of Jesus Christ, though only taking certain episodes of that life to help to understand some key themes that we're going to look at in a few moments. It is not probably an eyewitness account from Mark himself.

It is an eyewitness account of Peter. So Mark is capturing the words of Peter, and we can understand that in a couple of ways. One, we know that Peter was the one who traveled with Jesus, and though Mark shows up occasionally in the text, in the Gospels themselves, he doesn't show up all of the time. So obviously it's not an eyewitness account of Mark.

Is Mark probably capturing Peter? And then Richard Bachman, a scholar, identified another way that we can understand who the eyewitness is. In the ancient world, oftentimes when the biography was written, and it was written by... an eyewitness, that eyewitness would show up in the story itself early and at the end of the story, and that sort of gives you the credibility that that eyewitness observed these events.

And we see that happening with Peter. Peter shows up in the very beginning in chapter 1, and he shows up at the very end in chapters 15 and 16 as well, and of course throughout the gospel. But him showing up at the beginning. And the end indicates that he is the eyewitness that's being referred to in the gospel of Mark.

It's his account of these events, and Mark is probably capturing those events. It is probably written down not as necessarily chronological in order, although it follows a chronological pattern, but it probably is structured in a way that follows a series of sermons that Peter is preaching and is organized that way. Whereas John is very particular to write things in a very specific order.

And there's a couple of instances where John puts something in a different order than Mark does. And that's probably because Mark is trying to go for the sermon theme rather than the chronological in those instances. We know that Peter preaches a sermon in Acts chapter 10, verses 34 through 43. That has a lot of reflective material that we also see in the Gospel of Mark.

Let's talk about the authorship of Mark for a moment. The historical opinion is that this is John Mark, who is the nephew of Barnabas and a companion occasionally of Paul and of Peter, and he's attested to in the books of Acts and also in some of the other epistles, and then finally in 1 Peter. And so we know that this is probably a person that was a companion of the early disciples and they were able to give him firsthand account of the events that took place, and most likely it's Peter's account. Peter shows up prominently throughout the Gospel of Mark, and interestingly, he often shows up as a person who doesn't understand or a person who makes mistakes.

Peter's weaknesses are portrayed, and this is going to come along with how Mark also portrays Jesus. We'll see that in a few moments. Who is the audience?

that this book is written for. Obviously, all the scriptures are written for all of us to understand who Jesus is and how God is working here on earth. But each of the books of the New Testament were written for a specific audience in mind when it was written down.

That makes it easy when we see, say, Galatians to figure out who it was written to because it was written to the Galatians or the churches in Galatia. When it's written to a specific person like Timothy or Titus, his name indicates it's written for that specific person answering specific questions that they were wrestling with. Mark does not do that.

He doesn't say this is for the churches in Rome or for the churches in Jerusalem. And so we have to understand. who it is that it's written for from within the text itself.

And there's a couple of ways we can kind of determine that. One of the things is that there are a few times that Aramaic shows up in the Gospel of Mark. Aramaic was the language of Jesus and of the disciples in most cases. Though they may have been somewhat educated in some level of Greek, they probably spoke Aramaic.

And so it's normal if Mark is including eyewitness accounts of events that he's going to include Aramaic. Now, here's the intriguing thing is every time Mark includes Aramaic, he translates it. And the examples of that would be, for example, when he talks about the sons of thunder, that's John and James, he calls them Boraginus, which he translates as sons of thunder.

When he refers to the girl that Jesus raises from the dead and Jesus speaks to her, he says, Talitha Kumi, it literally means little girl, get up, rise up. And so the fact that Mark is translating it indicates that he expects his audience doesn't understand those Aramaic words. Other words include korban, which is a temple tax, abba, which is father in Aramaic.

And when he calls the place where Jesus is executed, he calls it Golgotha, which he then translates as the place of the skull. And then finally, there's a phrase that was very powerful when Jesus spoke it. And so he writes it down in Aramaic, but then immediately translates it in Greek. for his audience, where Jesus says, Eloi, Eloi, lemma sabachthani, which is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

That's so powerful that Mark seems to want to capture it in the original Aramaic, but then he translates it for the audience. And so it's clear that they don't speak Aramaic or he would not be translating these prominent words. There's other times when he doesn't translate, but he explains Jewish customs. sort of like when he talks about washing the hands before going into synagogue or for Passover events. He explains why Passover events happen in certain order, or when there's the Feast of Unleavened Bread, he explains that as well.

He would not need to explain these events to a Jewish audience. He would have to explain these events to a Gentile audience. So now we know that it probably wasn't an Aramaic speaking audience and probably wasn't a Jewish audience.

Are there any hints for us to understand? who the audience might be, not just who it wasn't. There are actually.

There's a few phrases that are Roman terms or Latin terms that show up in Mark that don't show up in the other gospels. Some of these include where the word legion is used in Mark chapter five, verse nine, where the word for executioner is the Latin word in Mark chapter six, verse 27. Where Jesus is flogged, the term there is used, is a Latin word in Mark chapter 15, verse 15. And then when he talks about the Praetorian and Centurion, he uses the Latin forms of these words, not the Greek forms. So why would he have Latin words in there?

Well, it indicates that this is probably written for a Latin speaking audience. He would not have to translate words. He would use words that they were familiar with. And then when the Roman centurion, the Roman guard, the soldier speaks in Mark chapter 15, 39, his confession is written in a way that's Latin in origin, that Jesus truly is the son of God.

And so it indicates that probably the very first audience that was going to read the gospel of Mark was possibly a Latin speaking audience. Even though the book itself was written in Greek, It's written for an audience whose first language might be Latin, which indicates it was probably written in or near Rome, which makes sense if that, in fact, was where Peter was going to be executed. He was on trial, and so he would be in Rome.

So it makes sense that that's where Mark is when he's writing this particular letter. The purpose for the writing of the Gospel of Mark is to explain who Jesus is, but specifically in a unique way. He's dealing with the persecution of Christians at the time.

And so he's trying to help Christians understand what their persecution might be, how it relates to the coming Messiah. The intended purpose at this particular time would be to encourage Christians who are facing persecution and also give a testimony to non-Christians about the true message of the Messiah. Mark's gospel would then go on to explain why Jesus has to die on the cross. It provides an apology for the crucifixion of Jesus in a way that makes sense of it, especially in a world that would look down on that, and explains that he indeed was the Messiah. The overall purpose of the Gospel of Mark, therefore, seems to be attached to four very specific interrelated purposes.

Number one is to teach Christians about the nature of discipleship. Number two, to explain to Christians how to be missionaries in a difficult world. Number three, to demonstrate to non-Christians that Jesus is the Son of God because of his power in spite of the crucifixion.

And number four, to serve to show that Jesus, not Caesar, is the true Son of God who is also simultaneously the Savior of the world and Lord over all. The Gospel of Mark is full of a lot of action. It's the type of literature that moves.

rapidly. The details are very compact, concrete, they're vivid, and they're orderly. Mark regularly uses the word uthus, which in Greek is translated into English immediately.

And I don't think it always means the sense that this event happens and so right after that the next event happens. Instead, it's moving the events in an orderly and rapid fashion to focus your attention on the things that happen in progression. Mark's Greek is the least polished of all of the Gospels, which might indicate his style or lack of education, but it could also indicate this power, this movement that's happening, this lack of sitting back and waiting for the next thing.

It's a lot of action. So it's just as you tell a story, if you tell an exciting story, there's more punch to it. And it could be partly why Mark wrote the letter the way that he did it. The Gospel of Mark is structured primarily in two big passages. It's split right almost in the middle.

The pronouncement of Peter, of Jesus as the Messiah, takes place in Mark chapter 8, verses 27 through 30, and that seems to be where the gospel is split. So the chapters before that, chapter 1 through chapter 8, verse 26, seem to emphasize Jesus as the Messiah. After the declaration of Jesus as the Messiah, all the way through the end of the book, It seems to emphasize a new aspect of Jesus, that is Jesus as the suffering servant.

And so we get the idea that Jesus is both the Messiah and the suffering servant. Let's look at some of the key components of the Gospel of Mark. The first is that this is full of action and sequence that I talked about a moment ago.

There's not a lot of discourse, a lot of parables or discussions. There's just a lot of action from one thing to the next, a healing, feeding. Persecution, things that take place, boom, boom, boom, a lot of action. There's a lot of miracle stories that take place about Jesus, where Jesus does heal or cast out demons or does things that is unexpected by his audience. There's also a strong sense of Jesus keeping his identity as a secret, what we will refer to as a messianic secret, something that I will get to in just a few more moments.

There's also this idea of Jesus as the Son of God. The plot... of the Gospel of Mark centers on Jesus as the Son of God. This is first proclaimed in chapter 1, verse 1. It's then again proclaimed in chapter 8 at the major turning point of Peter's confession, and then again at the Roman centurion, the Roman soldier that takes place in chapter 15, verse 39. The Gospel of Mark has a long section of the Passion Week, chapters 11 through 15. Five chapters out of its short 16 chapters focus on one week of the life of Jesus, Passion Week.

And so it's given a great prominent role in the particular Gospel. And there's also this concept of conflict and control. There's all this chaos going on around Jesus, yet he maintains control in his situation and then takes over control in the chaos. There's much conflict in the Gospel of Mark that you don't necessarily see as defined in the other Gospels.

God is shown to remain in control. Jesus is in control of that which seems to be out of control. Let's look at the theology of the Gospel of Mark that will help us to understand a little bit more some of the aspects of why it was written.

Jesus as the Son of God is regularly pronounced throughout the Book of Mark. It starts off, like I said a moment ago, in Mark chapter 1, verse 1, where God himself declares Jesus as the Son of God, and that's Mark's own declaration of Jesus as the Son of God. The next people that identify Jesus as the Son of God, interestingly, are the demons that we see in Mark chapter 3, verse 11, and then in Mark chapter 5, verse 7. When he's casting them out, they recognize him as the Son of God. the Son of God. And so Jesus is recognized by his enemies in that sense.

God the Father and Jesus himself will identify himself as the Son of God again in Mark chapter 9 verse 7, and then in Mark chapter 13 verse 32, where Jesus recognizes his role as the Son of God. And then when he's on trial, Caiaphas asks Jesus, are you the Son of God? Now this is a unique way that Mark uses to basically allow Caiaphas to declare Jesus as the son of God.

And so that's a way to say something without saying it. He doesn't have Caiaphas tell everyone that Jesus is the son of God, but by having Caiaphas ask Jesus that, it's putting in the mind of the reader that yes, he is the son of God. And then a similar thing is done when the Roman centurion in chapter 15, verse 39, that it's a Roman. a pagan, if you will, that is referring to Jesus as the Son of God, even if he doesn't fully understand it in that moment, and we get hints that he might grasp it in a powerful way, and that becomes a great communicative tool for speaking to a Roman audience, obviously. Interestingly, the disciples in the Gospel of Mark never refer to Jesus as the Son of God, and neither do any of his followers.

It seems to be in A strange thing for us, but it seems to be in keeping with the concept of the messianic secret. Jesus does not want the world to know who he is until the right time, until the empty tomb, if you will. And so the best we have from the disciples is when Peter calls him the Christ in the end of chapter 8. Let's look at the next aspect of theology we see in the Gospel of Mark, and that is the concept of the kingdom of God. Jesus introduces the concept of the kingdom in Mark chapter 1 verse 15 and then regularly brings it up in his parables.

He talks about the kingdom of God and gives examples of it throughout different expressions. We're going to see more details of that as we get to the teachings of the gospel of Mark. And then Jesus often refers to what it takes to enter into the kingdom of God in his teachings and in his practices.

And then he also hints at the coming of the kingdom of God as the diminishing of the power. of the kingdom of Satan. We see this, for example, when Jesus, through his miracles, demonstrates his power over the problem areas of this world. He has power over nature in Mark chapter four, and then in subsequent series of miracles that take place, he demonstrates he has power over demons, he has power over sickness, and he has power over death.

Go look at chapters four and five of Mark, and you can see how as Jesus inaugurates the kingdom of God, He demonstrates control over all of these elements that are fallen and that he's going to overcome nature and demons, spiritual powers, if you will, sick and death. And so as a result, his kingdom is entering into the world. A theological key that is important to understanding the book of Mark is the idea of the messianic secret.

Jesus frequently tells his disciples and those who understand who he is to not tell anyone. When Jesus is with the disciples and Peter recognizes them as the Christ, as the Messiah, he says, don't tell anyone this. That's in contrast to what happens in the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus praises Peter for understanding who he is.

Jesus regularly tells people who are healed or demons to not refer to anyone that he is the Messiah. Why is this? Well, we call this the messianic secret.

And the idea is that Jesus wants people to understand him in the fullness of who he is as the Messiah, and that is not revealed until the end of the Gospel of Mark. He doesn't want people to approach him because of his miracles or because of authority. They want him to understand him in the light of his suffering and the redemption that comes as a result of that suffering. And you don't know the full extent of the suffering of the Messiah until the Passion Week. And passion plays such a prominent role in the Gospel of Mark that it has to be understood.

in order to understand the message of Jesus. And of course it doesn't happen until the end of the book. And so Jesus seems to want his followers to keep this secret that we call the messianic secret. It's unique to the gospel of Mark and it plays its role in the role that Jesus plays in the gospel of Mark. Let's talk about the nature of discipleship in the gospel of Mark.

Jesus calls the disciples in a way that's quick, that's authoritative. He just tells the disciples to follow them. him, and they do.

Whereas you see in Matthew and Luke, it seems like there's hesitation. There's encounters when they're with John the Baptist. There's encounters when they're fishing. There's encounters when they're at the table taking taxes.

And then they seem to follow Jesus. They're going back and doing the things that they were doing prior to Jesus' encounter. Not in Mark. When they follow Jesus, they leave everything behind and follow Jesus. And this is an indication by Mark that if you're going to follow Jesus, it's done with no reservation.

You just need to follow him, and it casts the light that there should not be any hesitation in following him. Another theme that we see prominently in the Gospel of Mark is the idea of Jesus as the Son of Man. And that plays a pivotal role in a couple of ways.

One, it helps us to understand the dual nature of Christ. He is fully divine, but he's also fully human. And for the Jewish world at the time, they were expecting a human Messiah to come and conquer their enemies and set everything right here on earth.

They didn't necessarily understand that it was going to be the son of God and he's going to pay for sins. And so by referring to Jesus as the son of man, he is the embodiment of the expectations. and the fulfillment of the hopes of the Jewish people from the Old Testament.

That phrase was actually one that was very prominent in the book of Daniel. And so the son of man coming on the clouds was a phrase that represented the coming Messiah. And so it has a messianic meaning beyond just the human aspect of it.

And it holds on to this idea of these Old Testament expectations. Let's talk about the concept of the suffering servant, which plays a very big role in the... Gospel of Mark. Jesus is referred to as one who suffers throughout the Gospel of Mark.

The concept of the suffering servant in the Gospel is central to understanding Jesus' identity and his mission in this particular Gospel. Mark uniquely portrays Jesus in this role as the Messiah who's going to suffer, who's going to basically have shame on him and physical suffering on him. It's a theme that permeates the entire gospel and shapes how readers are to understand the work of Jesus.

Let's look at a few key aspects of what it means to be a suffering servant in the gospel of Mark. It starts off with Jesus' own predictions about his suffering and death. Mark records three explicit instances where Jesus predicts his gruesome death, the Passion Week, and his resurrection.

Mark 8, verse 31. Mark chapter 9 verse 31 and Mark chapter 10 verses 33 and 34 all basically are where Jesus predicts that he's going to suffer. In each instance, Jesus emphasizes that suffering is an essential part of his role as a Messiah, as part of his mission being sent from God. These predictions are followed by the disciples' misunderstandings. They don't want Jesus to suffer as the readers would not want Jesus to suffer. Therefore, it illustrates their lack of understanding and their struggle to comprehend this idea of a servant of God and the necessity of that servant to suffer and die on the cross as the Messiah.

This idea, the suffering servant, relates to the concept of the messianic secret. The messianic secret underscores that his role as a Messiah cannot be understood apart from the idea of suffering. The secrecy that's tied up to the idea that Jesus' full identity of the Messiah can only be understood or comprehended as a result of his role as a suffering servant is partly why it's kept secret. Because like I said earlier, Passion Week doesn't happen until the end of his time. And so if that's the way you're supposed to understand Jesus and it doesn't happen until the end and then the conclusion of the resurrection doesn't happen until the end, then that's partly why it's kept secret.

The Passion Narrative, as a result, plays a huge role in the idea of the suffering servant. Mark's Passion Narrative, chapters 14 and 15, are detailed and stark, emphasizes Jesus' betrayal, his abandonment, he's all alone in a way that's heartbreaking for the reader to read. It also emphasizes his suffering, his physical and emotional turmoil that he goes through.

And then, of course, there's a gruesome depiction of his death. In Passion Week, Jesus is portrayed as the innocent and obedient suffering servant who willingly accepts that suffering because he's there to fulfill the mission that God has given to him. Unlike in other gospels, there is a profound sense of Jesus's isolation in Mark, his cry of abandonment on the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

in Mark chapter 15, 34, reflects the depth of his suffering and the fulfillment of the suffering servant motif that we see in Isaiah chapters 52 and 53. The suffering servant's role as a sacrifice is a big part of the suffering servant. In Mark chapter 10, verse 45, Jesus explicitly connects his mission as the Messiah for the role of one who's going to suffer as a result of a sacrifice for others. He says, 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.

This statement encapsulates the idea of Jesus as the suffering servant who sacrifices himself for the salvation of humanity, for the salvation of others. This verse is unique to Mark. And it highlights the purpose of Jesus' sufferings, not as a tragic consequence of betrayal or people's evil deeds, but as a deliberate act by God as part of the salvation story.

There's a connection to the suffering servant motif that we see in Isaiah chapters 52 and 53, particularly starting at 52 verse 13 and carrying over to 53 verse 12. Mark's portrayal of Jesus, his suffering that we see, in the Passion Week, actually lifts very specific texts out and quotes these passages, such as he was despised and rejected, that he was wounded for our transgressions, that by his stripes we are healed. He's attaching this idea of the suffering servant in Isaiah that it existed 700 years before the coming of Christ to the Messiah himself in a way that probably would not have been recognized prior to that by... the Jewish people.

They knew the Messiah was coming, but they thought he was going to be a conqueror, a victor. And in this case, he comes across as the suffering servant who's fulfilling this job that Messiah predicted, that Isaiah predicted 700 years earlier. Mark weaves this imagery throughout the gospel, portraying Jesus as the fulfillment of this prophetic role, where his suffering leads to the redemption of humanity.

Therefore, we see what we call a paradox. in the power and weakness of the Messiah and Jesus. Mark presents this paradox where Jesus is his true power and his kingship are revealed at the depths of his suffering, not in conquest or political power, but in his suffering and his death. The centurion's declaration that truly this was the son of God in Mark 15 39 happens at the foot of the cross, not after the resurrection.

but when Jesus is suffering his greatest is when his enemies recognize his greatest power. And so it teaches us this idea of the relationship between power and weakness. This understanding is one that this weakness and suffering sets the stage for the resurrection.

It is his greatest moment, not because Jesus is suffering, but because the suffering sets the stage for when he conquers death and conquers sin. And therefore, it is not really hinted at. It's not fully described in the Gospel of Mark.

It's hinted at. But it helps us to understand that Jesus' greatest power takes place in his greatest weakness. It leaves us to wonder about the implications of it in our own lives.

First of all, Jesus' salvation, what it does for us as individuals, but also in our own life when we feel powerless, when we feel like we are suffering for the sake of the kingdom. We can recognize that that may be when God's ultimate power is present in our life. And so that gives us hope. It gives us encouragement whenever we face something.

Think about where Peter was when Mark was writing this and to the audience with whom he was writing. The church in Rome was probably facing persecution and suffering on their own. And even though there was not an empire-wide suffering taking place at this point, There were localized sufferings that were already taking place, persecutions against Christians.

Peter and Paul would have experienced that in Rome. And so here we see that Jesus' suffering becomes an encouragement for us. His suffering becomes our salvation. His suffering was intentional, not an accident, not the cause of other people, but the plan of God.

The role of the suffering servant in Mark is unique in how it defines Jesus' identity and his mission. and his authority. Mark emphasizes that Jesus' Messiahship cannot be separated from his suffering and his death, which are necessary for the redemption of all of humanity. This portrayal challenges the conventional understanding of who the Messiah was for that time, and it sets into motion an understanding of a theological vision where true greatness is found in the servanthood and sacrifice.

of Christ, which we should also exemplify. Later, the apostle Paul is going to write a letter to the church in Philippi where he tells us to live out the example of Christ, who humbled himself, who had great things and humbled himself to come to earth. And then he says, we should do the same.

We should have the same attitude or the same mind. as Christ. The Gospel of Mark is probably the earliest gospel written. I do think that Matthew and Luke used Mark in their writings. And so Mark is profound.

It sets the stage for the rest of the gospels that are going to be written. It's one of the earliest books written in the New Testament. And so it's probably the foundation for much of early Christian thought. And therefore, it is a very prominent book. It's not as fully developed as Luke or Matthew, and we're going to look at those in subsequent videos.

But maybe that's a good thing. Maybe that it's punchiness and it's directness helps us to understand Jesus in a vivid and concrete way. His message is full of passion and in movement and action. And as a result, I believe it calls us as Christians to be people of action and deliberateness and of discipleship. It gives us a clear understanding that the role of a disciple is one who follows after the mission of God, the mission of Christ, that could include suffering, that could include pain, in order to receive redemption for the world.

The servant is no greater than the master. And so the understandings we have out of the Gospel of Mark is that we might too suffer. This isn't a prosperity gospel book.

It is one that tells us the opposite, in fact, that you may suffer ... for the sake of the gospel, and that if that happens, it's okay. Your Messiah did the same thing.

But look at the victory we got as a result of his suffering. It's not just that the suffering made him good. His suffering became the conduit for the salvation of all of humanity.

His suffering on the cross provided for redemption for sin and eternal life for those who will follow after him. What a powerful and good message, and what a great way to start off. the Gospels. Now we're going to look at more details in future videos of the teachings of Christ.

Some of them are in Mark. We're going to be looking at them as they kind of are across all of the Gospels, so Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and then where John fits in with those as well. And we're going to be looking at the Passion Week and the Resurrection. But what a wonderful story to start with, this concept of Jesus as the suffering servant who's come, keeping it a secret for a little while, but eventually when he tells the story to the nations, what a powerful story it is. that Jesus came to suffer to pay the price for you and me.

God bless you all.

Transcript for:Overview of the Gospel of Mark

Transcript for:
Overview of the Gospel of Mark