The Gospel of Mark: Exploring the Authorship, Purpose, and Themes
The second book of the Christian New Testament, the Gospel of Mark, is thought to have been penned by Mark with the help of his companion in Rome, Peter. It skips over the account of Jesus' birth and focuses instead on his work following His baptism. A large portion of the material in the book tries to explain how Jesus served the people. He only made an effort to benefit the populace through His sermons, healings, and favors. Jesus mainly communicated through stories, which required the listeners to interpret them in order to understand the true meanings. As such, this article will focus on several elements revolving around the book including the authorship, purpose, and themes as compared to the other Gospels.
Authorship and Date
As elucidated above, the book was written by John Mark under the influence of Peter. Debate is rife over the authorship of the book but most affirm that it was mainly influenced by Peter who was a friend to Mark. The gospel is purported to have been written in Egypt while some assertions state that he wrote it while in Clement Alexandria. Mark is the shortest of the synoptic Gospels and was written close to 64 A.D. However, it is not certain since other accounts purport that it was written between 50 and 60AD. The early church affirmed that Mark was inscribed after both Matthew and Luke had been completed so as to summarize the two (Zealey.org).
Audience and Purpose
The purpose of the Gospel of Mark is to show that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God sent to suffer and serve to rescue and restore humankind. His book contains 16 chapters, the first 8 of which Jesus is traveling north and preaching. The remaining eight chapters, Jesus is going back south to Jerusalem, all the way to Calvary’s Cross. In the first chapter, there is an introduction of John the Baptist and his preparation for the coming Messiah. The book addresses Heathen believers and is a simple and understandable account of the ministry of Jesus, emphasizing more on what He did rather than His sayings. After the deaths of Apostles Paul and Peter in Rome, John Mark went to Alexandria which is a Greco-Roman city in Egypt with a large Jewish population (Matt Morton).
The Gospel of Mark has many distinctive features as compared to the rest of the books. It does not write about Jesus’ birth, childhood, or activities He undertook before baptism. It only dwells on the life of Jesus after baptism. As such, its main purpose is to relay to the readers the work of Jesus in this world without necessarily featuring the childhood experiences. Going through the chapters, it is evident that they all had a common goal. The first 8 of which Jesus is traveling north and preaching. The remaining eight chapters, Jesus is going back south to Jerusalem, all the way to Calvary’s Cross. In the first chapter, there is an introduction of John the Baptist and his preparation for the coming Messiah. Jesus’ baptism in river Jordan is also in and the temptation in the desert by Satan. Focus then changes to the message and ministry of Christ (Smith).
In chapter 2-10, Jesus chooses His disciples as written in Mark 3:14 “And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him, and that He could send them out to preach.” The remaining texts present Jesus as a servant. He is either teaching, helping, blessing, and performing miracles, being a compassionate, healing and challenging authority. The final chapters 11-16 declare the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is betrayed by Judas, trialed faultily, and then beaten cruelly, humiliated and subjected to a painful crucifixion for the salvation of humanity. The final chapter presents the Holy resurrection of His physical body, numerous appearances and command of the Great Commission and lastly His ascension to the right hand of God.
Synopsis and the Major Themes
The Gospel according to Mark entails different literary aspects such as narrative history, prophetic oracles, sermons, and parables that strive to emphasize different themes. One of the primary themes entailed in this Gospel is humility. Humility is portrayed through Jesus and His undertakings throughout His life. Throughout the ministry, Jesus is depicted as a servant helping people to know the true way. The Jewish expectation of the Messiah dwelled much on a King who would deliver them from the rule of Rome. They expected somebody powerful like David who could lead the Jews into battle and emerge victorious. This expectation of the Messiah derived Jesus as a powerful being who would require everyone to bow down whenever they see Him. On the contrary, Jesus comes as a humble being helping, blessing, and teaching the people. The Gospel of Mark also demonstrates how Jesus worked in humility mandating us to emulate the same.
Jesus’ identity is the most prominent element throughout this book. The author wants the readers to completely comprehend Jesus. People including the disciples ought to comprehend the link between the identity of Jesus and destiny, his messiahship, work, and the cross. It is a crucial theme that allows the disciples to feel motivated in faithfulness eagerly awaiting for His triumphant return. Throughout this text, the reader pictures Jesus’ ministry as a persistent advancement of activities whose destiny and climax is the Cross. While some portrayed him as a victorious King, His crucifixion fulfilled God’s plan. Through Jesus’ ministry, a message of forgiveness is taught. This is one of the most crucial message passed by the Messiah as entailed in Mark 11:25. The book also emphasized on the Kingdom of God.
Personal Comments
There are several captivating events in this book that are quite distinctive from the rest. For example, the book dwells on the messianic secret, which not entailed in the other writings. It also gives a detailed account of Jesus’ ministry more than any of the Gospel books. Mark emphasizes Christ’s message about the kingdom of God as good news. This theme portrays Jesus as a separate and mysterious figure. He teaches his followers in secret, orders those He cured not to tell anyone, commands demons to be silent when they started to declare His identity and His disciples become confused on what Jesus was saying. It is not clear what made the author of this book emphasize on this theme, but one likelihood is that he wished to correct present misinterpretations about Jesus. This is in light with the Jewish Revolt of AD 66-70 and the demolition of the temple (James 57).
He explains to the readers why all that had happened, what had gone wrong, why Jerusalem was destroyed and tries to bring sense to all this. Another reason why Mark may have highlighted the messianic secret is to show that the Savior must suffer and pass on, which was conflicting to the anticipations of most of Jesus’ followers. His disciples observe His miracles, pay attention to His wisdom, correctly recognize Him as Messiah but never expect the execution at such a tender age. Mark after the death of Jesus goes on to display that this fact is not as bizarre as it seems. The messianic secret of Jesus is that He is the Son of God who came to suffer and not one who would perform great miracles (Matt Morton).
The key verses of the first chapter of Mark are programmatic and review what Jesus declares as the gospel: fulfillment, the closeness of the kingdom, and thus the need for repentance and faith. Another key focus of Mark is the death of Jesus. This event is central to the entire gospel as well as the hope of His second return when God shall bring an end to the present evil age. The passion account, with the conviction of Jesus by the Sanhedrin and judgment by Pilate. The entry into Jerusalem precedes it. Ministry and disagreements there, Jesus last supper with His followers and the arrest at Gethsemane. A chapter of apocalyptic tone about the destruction of the temple, and the coming of the Son of man. A discourse filled with promises and admonitions to be watchful is important in this Gospel since it helps one see Jesus as victorious at the cross and at the end of time (Matt Morton).
However, the Gospel of Mark does not contain the resurrection of Christ. It ends in the most ancient scripts with an abrupt scene of spotting of the empty grave but concludes in a rather perplexing note. Jesus own prophecy as repeated in the book of Mark 14:28. He goes before his followers into Galilee, where the angel informed them that they would see Him after revival. The two women went to the tomb as normal on the third day but found a man dressed in a long white robe who clarifies that Jesus had been raised, and instructs them to tell the other disciples of the good news. The two women fled in terror and did as the Spirit told them. All these aspects make the book of Mark quite unique (Vien 28).
Conclusion
The Gospel of Mark is a crucial book in the ministry of Jesus. Though it draws various assertions, it is believed to have been authored by John Mark under the influence of Peter. It is full of narrative history, prophetic oracles, sermons, and parables that strive to pass a common message. As portrayed by the book, Jesus’ messages were full of love, forgiveness, and humility. He focused on these aspects since they lacked in the society. The main purpose of the book is to enlighten the people about Jesus’ ministry. Through the book, readers can comprehend the real Messiah and not the one that some Jews expected. For example, some though He would be king to lead them against the Romans. Through Him, the Jews would be freed. However, as the Gospel of Mark shows, Jesus came to help the needy and strengthen our faith into accepting God’s message. However, the book of Mark is quite unique regarding the manner in which it is represented. For instance, it does not discuss Jesus’ birth and early life. It only begins from the point where Jesus is baptized. Regardless of its presentation, the main purpose of the book is to relay the ministry of Jesus thus enlightening the people about the real Messiah.
Works Cited
James, Rick. The Gospel According to Mark. CRU PRESS, 2012.
Matt Morton, et. al. "The Miracle of Christ." (2012): 1-94. .
Smith, Morton. "The Secret Gospel of Mark." (2012).
Vien, James Lu. "Discipleship in Mark's Gospel and Its Implications to Contemporary Religious Life." (2012): 1-66.
Zealey.org. "Authorship, Location, and Date of Mark's Gospel." n.d. 20 April 2017. .
