All four gospels, including Mark’s, were written down in the lifetime of the first eyewitnesses of Jesus. That’s outstanding in the history of ancient records. Yet, if Mark was not one of Jesus’ disciples, why did the Church trust his account?
Mark, the Insider
John Mark, or “Mark” as we know him, was a well-connected first generation convert to the faith whom Peter called, “Mark, my son” (1 Peter 5:13). Mark’s mother’s house was apparently a central hub for the earliest church community (Acts 12:12). John Mark himself accompanied the Apostle Paul on his first missionary journey (Acts 12:25) and helped Paul in his later ministry career (Colossians 4:10). Mark was indisputably well-connected to the leaders of the earliest Christian movement and helped its spread from Jerusalem to Rome. [1]
The authority of Mark’s Gospel is derived from his close relationship with Peter. Interestingly, no early Christian tradition claims that Peter wrote his own account of Jesus, but all admit that Mark acts as Peter’s mouthpiece. [2] For example, Papias writes,
Mark, who was Peter’s interpreter, wrote down accurately, though not in order, all that he recollected of what Christ had said or done. For he was not a hearer of the Lord or a follower of his. He followed Peter…Peter adapted his instruction to practical needs, without any attempt to give the Lord’s words systematically.
Still, the question remains: If Mark was Peter’s mouthpiece, what’s so special about Mark’s Gospel?
1. An Early Eyewitness
Mark’s Gospel was the first to have been written down, within forty years of Jesus’ death. The Christian movement of house churches had already been copying and circulating many of Paul’s letters for over a decade. [3] Mark’s goal was to capture “the good news about Jesus [Messiah], the Son of God.” In his haste to do so, Mark didn’t even bother to provide biographical material. Instead, he launched straight into the evidence for Jesus’ identity and the authority of his ministry.
Commentators describe the storyline as compact, clear-cut, factual, forceful, and unembellished. Mark was concerned with Christ’s actions. Compared to Matthew and Luke, for example, there was minimal teaching. His realism and simplicity suited the Roman audience he was writing to and provided a solid foundation for other Gospel accounts to elaborate with further theological detail. Quite often, Mark even delivers the Aramaic words Jesus would have used, conveying a sense of hearing straight out of Jesus’ mouth (5:41; 7:34; 7:11; 14:36; 15:34).
The Gospels of Matthew and Luke, written a few years after Mark’s, borrowed a significant amount of material from Peter’s spokesman. Out of Mark’s 661 verses, only 24 are not used by either Matthew or Luke. Matthew fills in his 1068 verses with Jesus’ teachings and elaborations of Jewish prophecies. Luke fills in 1149 verses with additional stories and teachings. Yet in both cases, they utilize Mark’s miracle stories and statements with precision.
2. Evocative
Mark succeeds in communicating vividly with fewer words. Jesus’ gestures and emotions are on display (3:5; 5:41; 6:34; 7:33–34; 8:23; 8:33; 9:27; 10:16) and people’s reactions (1:27; 2:7; 4:41; 6:14; 7:37; 14:1) are emotionally saturated. Jesus’ actions establish his credibility as the Son of God, yet the descriptive details are thoroughly human. He rebukes the weather, yet we find him “sleeping on a cushion” (Mark 4:38). Jesus is tender towards the young girl even while exerting his authority over life and death, “he took her by the hand and said to her… ‘Little girl, I say to you, get up!’” (5:41). And when Jesus was approached by a person deemed untouchable, Mark records in dramatic fashion what happens next, “filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the (leper)” (1:41).
Jesus performs eighteen miracles in fifty-three pages of Mark’s account, compared to Luke’s twenty miracles in almost twice as much space. We don’t get out of chapter one before he performs an exorcism, gives orders to evil spirits, heals Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever, heals a man with leprosy, and publicly teaches the children of Israel with authority. The narrative is explosive and emotionally evocative.
3. Movement and Misunderstanding
With a blistering pace, Jesus seems to be hurrying towards something. “Without delay” (1:19), he called his disciples, and they followed. “Immediately, (the man) received his sight and followed Jesus” (10:52). Mark uses a form of the Greek word “immediately” forty-two times, more than the rest of the New Testament. Mark’s use of the Greek language speaks of historical events as though they were happening presently, creating a sense of action unfolding right in front of the reader. The reader is then left breathless with an avalanche of activity that even Jesus’ disciples can’t keep up with or understand.
Jesus is doing something urgent, but it is beyond comprehension. Peter misunderstands Jesus’ mission and earns a rebuke. “Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?” (8:18) Jesus asks his disciples. Even after the resurrection the women went out “trembling and bewildered” (16:8). Though the cross and resurrection were central to Jesus’ ministry, and though he explained to his disciples repeatedly that he must suffer and die, “they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it” (9:32). This urgent narrative continues even beyond his resurrection appearance, as we’ll see in the next section.
4. Crowd Favorite
Mark’s stylization sets the reader up for maximum impact. Mark’s audience was mostly gentile Romans. In this Gospel, we observe Jesus’ concern for all people, Gentiles (5:1–20; 7:24–30; 15:39), not just ethnic Jews or national Israel (14:28; 16:7). Mark’s Gospel helped spread Jesus to the broader Roman world, unconcerned and unaware of the peculiarities of Jewish law and customs. Mark’s Gospel contained little emphasis on Jesus’ Jewishness precisely because Jesus fulfilled the Jewish law and tradition (2:15–3:6; 7:1–13) and made his kingdom available to all peoples.
Just as the people in the narrative responded to Jesus in different ways—some were “overwhelmed with amazement,”some “terrified,” and some “astonished”—the reader is set up for their own response to Jesus. The story hastily concludes with the continued unbelief of the disciples (16:11, 13, 14, 16). What do we do with this hard-to-believe but factual news about Jesus’s resurrection? It cajoles the reader into deciding how “you” will respond to this “Gospel.”The Roman was surely asking the question why so marvelous a person, with such tremendous authority, should have come to so untimely an end. Jesus provides the answer to this question, “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).
Summary
If Jesus was the Son of God, wouldn’t you want to know for sure? There was no one better integrated into the Christian movement than John Mark to relay the eyewitness account of Jesus’ closest disciples. Mark sets out to describe Jesus with accuracy and factual simplicity, yet with vividness and compulsion. He captures a Jesus who is thoroughly human in description and thoroughly divine in the exercise of authority over sin, evil spirits, nature, diseases, and even death itself. Jesus came to save, not only Jews, but the entire world. He came to give his life as a ransom. The question you, the reader, have to answer is, what will you do with that incredible message? Will you believe it? And in response, will you give your life in service to this “Son of God” who commands all things by his powerful will? This is the rhetorical power of Mark’s Gospel.
[1] Tradition preserved by Eusebius says that he also founded the churches of Alexandria, Egypt (11:16).
[2] This also explains why Peter’s sermon in Acts 10:34–43 is a miniature skeleton of Peter’s interpretation of Jesus’ life preserved in Mark’s narrative flow.
[3]
29–33AD: Jesus died sometime between these dates.
49AD: The letter to Galatians is thought to be the first of Paul’s letters we possess in Scripture.
55–69AD: Mark’s Gospel written
90AD: The final Gospel of John was written
Tags: mark, gospel, authority, good news, miracles, disciples, peter, son of god, action, son of man, eye witness
