Exegesis: Ancient Christian Gospels Essay

Longenecker’s The Lost Letters of Pergamum encapsulates the socio-historical, cultural, and political atmosphere of the first-century setting in which Mark’s Gospel would have been experienced. Understanding Jesus in context of this background alters the way I understand the Gospel of Mark. Specific passages in Mark can be reflected upon based on the socio-historical, cultural, and political aspects of the setting described in Longenecker’s book. In The Lost Letters of Pergamum, readers see Euphemos and Antipas admonishing Luke against associating himself with Christians for they worship and follow a different lord than the emperor as well as endorse an empire other than Rome.

The Gospel according to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The story explains how the Messiah, Jesus, was refused by Israel and finally sent the disciples to preach the gospel around the whole world. As Matthew wrote for his fellow Jews, he wrote his Gospel in the language Jesus spoke, Aramaic, which led early Church Fathers to believe Matthew’s was the first Gospel. On the other hand, the Gospel of Mark teaches that Jesus is the Son of God who assumed human nature. Mark wrote the gospel in Greek for a Gentile-Christian audience, which was undergoing persecution, perhaps in Rome. A central theme is that following Jesus often means that a Christian must suffer like Jesus did. Mark’s Gospel points out that Jesus accepted this important title, but that he was reluctant to let people know his identity. (Matthew 26:26-30 and Mark 14:22-26 )

In the Gospel of Mark, Mark discloses the life of Jesus and his embodiment of God’s Kingdom. Throughout his Gospel, Mark focuses on accurately revealing Jesus’ identity to his readers, and explaining why Jesus was destined to die on the Cross. Mark uses his role as an arranger by employing a diverse array of literary tactics to highlight the lessons of his narrative. One of the most effective of these devices is intercalation—the process of sandwiching one story between the beginning and ending of a separate story. For most people, this tactic would at first appear as impractical or senseless; however, through this process Mark is able to convey a deeper meaning in the lessons he is hoping to share through the life of Jesus, and what it infers about the nature of God’s Kingdom. One of the most notable examples of intercalation in the Gospel of Mark is seen in Mark 5:21-43: the story of the raising of Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter and the woman who suffered from hemorrhages. Through the intercalation of these two passages, Mark is able to express that the boundaries of God’s Kingdom expand beyond social status and wealth, and that faith alone is all that is needed to be a part of His divine realm.

John Mark was the author of the book of Mark in the New Testament. John Mark was traveling companion of Paul and interpreter for Peter in Rome(Harris,2014). It is believed that his accounts in the book of Mark came from oral passing knowledge regarding Jesus from individuals in the area. This word of mouth passing of information is hard for scholars to verify. Some say that John Mark wrote his gospel after the Jewish Revolt against Rome began. Scholars come to ths belief based on the focus on discord towards believers, war and destruction which would bring about the second coming of Christ(Harris,2014). With all the clues and information found in the book of Mark,it is still not known for cetainity who wrote the Gospel. The true author is considered

The gospel of Mark is a short recollection of Jesus life, it has many details but is missing pieces or additions to his life. The Gospel of mark was said to have lost pieces, and also the first account of Jesus life. Although it is not as detailed in some areas as it is in others, it tells many accounts of Jesus life on earth and what kind of a person he was, the life he lived, his struggles and his ending.

All of the Gospels describe the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but each author illustrates the stories differently. Scholars believe Mark is the first Gospel written and is symbolized by a lion to denote Christ as powerful and fast-paced. The Book of John, understood to be the last gospel composed, is perceived as an eagle because the story differs greatly and is often more developed than the other Gospels. Comparing John 2 to the Gospel of Mark will depict unique themes and characteristics of Jesus.

The common belief among source critics is that, the Gospel of Mark is the oldest and Matthew and Luke used his gospel along with an unknown source to write their Gospels. Evidence supporting this view make the makes four points. First, the Luke’s Gospel is contains approximately half of Mark’s information and Matthew’s Gospel encompasses almost all of Mark’s views. Second, Mark’s words are used verbatium Matthew and Luke. Third, Matthew and Luke follow the same sequence of events as Mark. Finally, Matthew and Luke sometimes reword Mark’s uncomfortable passages of scripture to allow smooth transitions and ease of understanding.[5]

The genre of this specific pericope is best described as a narrative (Mann 398). This narrative is seen not only here in Mark but also in Luke 18:18-30 and Matthew 19:16-30. Thus, though the Markan story is written by Mark, it does not stand alone. The Book

A lot about the gospels remains unknown to scholars. But the similarities help understand what texts were available to who. The “two-source hypothesis” already depicts and early Christianity where some gospels, such as the Gospel of Mark and the ‘Q’ scroll were easily accessible to enough people that the other synoptic gospels could be based on them. There may be many similarities in the gospels that help pin together the life and death of Jesus, but many of the differences prevent a crystal clear

The two books of the Bible, Matthew and Mark are alike in many ways, they do tell some of the same stories. On the other hand, if one takes a closer look there are small changes to the stories that bring a whole new meaning to the way that the story is told. I will focus on the stories of Jesus walking on water and the transfiguration of Jesus. In this paper, I will review the changes that Matthew made to the Gospel according to Mark. I will also explain the reasons why he may have made those changes and to what purpose those changes served.

In this paper, I am writing about the Gospel of Mark. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest Gospel, but is a really cool one. It covers a lot of key events that happened during Jesus’ lifetime. After reading the chapters, we pointed out things that stood out to us, which we thought were strange or interesting. We also pointed out spiritual lessons that taught us about our faith. We also wrote down questions that we had about the material.

The Jesus that is portrayed in the Gospel of Mark has the lowest Christology out of the three books being analyzed. The Gospel of Mark has a low Christology because of the human nature that it applies to Jesus’ character(class notes).

The gospel according to mark is a prolific story which takes look at people's view of Jesus, and critiques of several aspects of religion, and a further critiques humanity and human nature. The story does this by making Espinosa imitate the role of Jesus Christ, as well as by making the Gutres his followers and making them a symbol of human nature as well. Finally paints a view of how humanity will continue to react to the unknown.

A Gospel in general, is a textual document written in narrative form of the good news and teachings proclaimed by Jesus to announce the power of God. Mark’s Gospel is one of four others (Matthew, Luke and John), where each Gospel has its differences in structure, language and theological slants. Mark’s Gospel is divided into three main sections: The Ministry of Jesus, Jesus’ prologue of foretelling his Passion, and his Passion and Death. Mark set out

Mark: The Gospel of Mark tells the story of Jesus Christ’s life from when he was baptized by John the Baptist until the days of his death, and his resurrection. Mark was the second of four Gospels although some Scholars argue and insist Mark was the first Gospel written 1. Mark was written by John Mark in AD 65, with a target audience of Roman Christian beleivers 2. Mark was written in a unique manner in regards to literary genre, as it contains figures of speech, and portray life situations in a passionate story like setting that can make the reader feel as if he is there 3. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, however it is written in a manner that emphasizes more so on Jesus’s works than Jesus’s words 4. The key theme in Mark is to portray the life of Jesus Christ as the son of God 5, and the purpose was to show the human qualities and emotions that Jesus displayed from anger (Mark 3:5), and compassion (Mark 1:41). Some of the key events of Jesus Christ’s life in the Gospel Mark include his miracles, his entrance into Jerusalem, the last supper, his arrest and trial, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his ascension 6. The Gospel of Mark ends with his instruction to the eleven Apostles “And he said unto them “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:16), and his ascension into Heaven (Mark 16:19).