The Gospel According to Mark Essay

The Gospel of Mark is a narrative of the life of Jesus Christ, leading up to his death. The Gospel of Mark starts off with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. In the first couple of chapters, Mark

Matthew opens his argument by describing Jesus: born of a virgin in Bethlehem, in the line of David, worshipped by Gentile Magi, brought out of Egypt, and raised in Nazareth.1 Matthew employs this list of prophecies from Mosaic Law and describes how Jesus fulfilled them all, simultaneously, as Blomberg’s notes in his portrait of Jesus, Matthew describes Jesus as “Son of David, King, and Royal Messiah,” and “Son of God.”2 Moreover, Matthew’s examples of the use of these titles throughout Matthew bear witness to Jesus’ divinity, as well as, how God could be understood through Jesus.3 Matthew proves not only Jesus’ Messiahship but His title of the Son of God.

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 )

“Who do people say that I am?” (Mark 8:27) is one of the most fundamental questions that Jesus asked his disciples. It is a question, from my personal viewpoint, that has a simple answer. Jesus is Lord! Needless to say, there is more to the identity of Jesus, but it is my belief that Jesus is the Messiah, the second person of the Holy Trinity. He is the promised Savior foretold in the Old Testament by the prophets. There is an endless list that gives Jesus titles such as Ruler and King, Master and Teacher, Savior and Christ, but in Acts 2:36 Luke writes, “God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Jesus is the one who went to the Cross to bring humankind forgiveness, redemption, and salvation.

The three central themes in the Gospel of Mark are: The Good News; Following the way; Kingdom of God.

The Messianic Secret- the Jews expected a “militant Messiah” and to accomplish Gods plan “Jesus keep his identity a secret” to make sure Gods plan was fully fulfilled. Gospel of the romans- Mark designed the gospel for a roman audience taking the time to explain Jewish culture. The passion- Mark pays a great amount of attention to the sacrifice of Christ.

In the beginning Gospel of Mark, it states the coming of John the Baptist to make way for Jesus Christ. In John the Baptist's message he states while he baptizes with water the one to come will baptizes with the Holy Spirit. When Jesus came from Nazareth to be baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River the sky opened and the Holy Spirit came upon him like a dove as he was being baptized. God spoke audibly stating that he was pleased with his son. Right after this, the Holy Spirit guided Jesus to be in the desert for forty days, in that time he was tempted by Satan. After John was put in prison. Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news. As he walked along the sea of Galilee he approached Simon and Andrew who he told to follow him.

Unlike the other gospels, Gospel of Mark is not written in a chronological order. It is also the shortest gospel consisting of only sixteen chapters. It is the gospel that guided other gospel in terms of the way gospels should be written. Some of the major points discussed in the gospels are the introduction of how Jesus was baptized. Mark shows that some people already of Jesus coming like John the Baptist. John was able to baptize Jesus with water. Jesus being Baptized with water is where god recognized him as his son. The story then goes to Jesus going on a forty day journey to be tested. The story of Jesus continues to Jesus traveling to Palestine where he started healing people and bringing back the dead. Mark of Gospel shows Jesus taking his role as the Messiah. Another point of Mark is the death of Jesus. This Gospel focuses mostly the resurrection of Jesus in order for Jesus to end all evil. Mark also addresses one must suffer for what they believe. Mark shows the misunderstanding that Jesus followers had. The Gospel ends with two women finding Jesus grave empty and a man with white clothe coming out of

According to Powell the secrecy motif is “the secret of Jesus deeds and person as well (pg.44).” Jesus wish to keep his status secret was perhaps taken to be an implied permission for Mark's readers to keep their faith hidden from public scrutiny. This is best shown when “The secrecy theme is a device to explain why some earlier Christians had not know what otherwise would seem obvious. (Powell, 53).” Powell gives two reasons why Jesus may have wanted to keep his identity and his healing powers a secret. One reason was that he wanted to avoid getting arrested before his time had come (pg.52). Another reason was he didn’t want to address unmanageable crowds (pg. 52). Powell writes that the motif of secrecy in Mark’s Gospel is greatly depicted

After reading Mark, chapters one through five, several things stood out to me. First, when Jesus heals the paralytic that is lowered from the roof in Mk. 2:11, the healed man doesn’t even thank Jesus! He just walked out of the building and back to his house. This stood out to me because most of the time,

The concept of ‘seeing’ the ways of Jesus and that He is the Messiah, is to truly understand the message being portrayed throughout the Gospel, and not the surface meaning that is being represented literally. This concept was very significant to Jesus and his followers as to interpret the meaning without being said, most parables being related to the Kingdom of God and Jesus’ miracle stories. Times were harsh and difficult to spread and teach the words of Jesus, as Mark’s community would face persecution. The disciples of Jesus could ‘see’ more than other believers could perceive, from being apart of Jesus’ life with close relationships, as they were taught the fundamentals from Jesus himself to understand his teachings in much more depth and fluency than others. There were many similarities among Jesus’ twelve disciples and Mark’s community, as both groups share the strong faith in Jesus and God’s power by spreading the good news to others as well as experiencing hardships caused by arrogant hierarchy and society. According to Mark, Jesus was known for his parables and

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).

Jesus is known as the Son of God, the Messiah or the savior of all. Who was the first person to see Jesus as the Messiah? Peter was the first who called him, “Christ, Son of the living God.” There are different versions to this story that can be found in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. I am going to discuss the similarities and differences of how these books relate to each other.

Mark presents Jesus as a compassionate savior who through his acts of service and acts of suffering summons unbelievers to become disciples and so that believers would understand what it means to be committed followers of Jesus. In Mark's account of the Passion of Jesus Christ, Jesus dies alone.Jesus only speaks once from the cross stating "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" and dies. Mark acknowledges that after Jesus' crucifixtion that people believed in Jesus being the true Messiah, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" (15:39).

The title "Christ" is used most often for Jesus in throughout Luke and Acts. “Christ” also served as foundation in constructing Jesus’s journey from earth to him being exalted [1, pg 14]. It refers to Jesus as the Anointed One of the Lord, the Messiah. The title was first used in Luke 2:11, and the strength of this title was clearly outlined in Luke 1:31-35, which described the role of Jesus as the Messiah. Stating that he was the royal figure promised