Many times, it is helpful to understand who wrote a book, its organization, and the author’s purpose for writing it. This is background information about one of the books of the Bible.

Background: The New Testament book of Mark is a gospel.  This means that it tells the story of Jesus.  It is called a synoptic gospel, which simply points out that Mark has many similarities with Matthew and Luke.  There are no original copies of the book available to us today, but we still know quite a bit about this book from ancient authors and the Bible itself.  In the earliest copies, the title of the book was simply According to Mark.  This is the shortest gospel, and many scholars consider it to be the earliest of the four books about Jesus’ life.  Some authorities believe that it might have been written in Rome as early as sometime in the decade of A.D. 50 although others think it was A.D. 65-70, but it had to be before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The earlier date means that the book of Mark could have been written within 25 years of Jesus’ death.  Textual evidence indicates that it was written originally in Greek.  However, one interesting characteristic of the book of Mark is that it has more Aramaic phrases than any of the other gospels.  Ancient tradition says that the contents of this book are in fact Peter’s memories of Jesus.  Some people have suggested that Jesus’ Aramaic words sang out in the apostle Peter’s memory as he told stories of his Master to Mark and others.  The book also has more Latin words than any of the other gospels, indicating that Mark’s primary audience was probably the Roman church.

Author: Who was Mark?  He was the John Mark who left Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13. Later, he was the cause of the two men going their separate ways in Acts 15.  He was a relative of Barnabas according to Colossians 4:10. Later, Paul and Mark would reconcile so that Paul requested that Timothy bring Mark with him to help during Paul’s imprisonment in Rome.  More importantly for Mark’s credentials as an inspired writer, he was a close associate of Peter.  In Acts 12, Peter is set free from prison, and the first place he visits is the home of Mark’s mother.  When Peter wrote his first letter, he called Mark his son. Peter was not referring to biology with this term, but rather affection.  The two were close companions. This letter was probably written from Rome, so it places Mark with Peter in Rome during Peter’s later years.  Early Christian writers wrote that Mark’s gospel was a retelling of Peter’s testimony of Jesus.  In other words, the book could be called The Gospel According to Peter.   Mark 14 includes an interesting scene in the Garden of Gethsemane where a young man flees naked from the Roman soldiers.  It is thought that this is Mark inserting his own direct experience into the story.  Thus, according to the Biblical record, John Mark was a close associate of Barnabas, Paul, and Peter.  It indicates that his mother’s home was an important center of Christian worship in Jerusalem—maybe even the first Christian church there, so Mark would have also associated closely with many other followers of The Way who had known Jesus well.

Organization and Theme: The book of Mark is organized into two sections that answer two different questions.  Chapters one to eight answer the question “Who is Jesus?” while chapters eight to sixteen answer the question “Where is Jesus going?”  In the first half of the book there is the theme of secrecy versus revelation.  The people are unsure of who Jesus is (although the demons know), but the power of Jesus is clearly revealed to everyone.  In the second half of the book, after Jesus’ identity as the Messiah is confirmed to the disciples, Jesus begins to disclose His destiny on the cross to them.  The book of Mark is full of action.  Other gospels emphasize Jesus’ teachings and divinity, but Mark focuses on the events of Jesus’ ministry.  The story proceeds quickly from one experience to another.  In fact, one of Mark’s favorite words is “immediately,” which is used more than forty times.  One of the striking characteristics of the Gospel of Mark is the vivid, eyewitness details.  For example in Mark 3:5, Mark describes how Jesus looked around in anger at a group of people in a synagogue, and in Mark 6:39, Mark makes a point of including the green grass that was available for the multitude of people to sit on as they waited to be fed.

Style: The beginning of Mark is consistent with the whole book.  Mark does not try to introduce a genealogy as Matthew does; he does not start with a greeting to a specific person or with Jesus’ childhood as Luke does; he does not start with creation as John does.  Mark simply states that he is telling the story of Jesus who is the Messiah and the Son of God.  His purpose is to tell the plain story of Jesus in writing so that believers who did not have access to a living witness of the Messiah’s actions could still know the details of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  Mark stays true to the stories that he learned from Peter without adding extra commentary or explanation.  In many ways, this characteristic makes Mark one of the best gospels for novice readers of the Bible.  It is short and to the point without a lot of extra references to prophecies and theological lectures.  In fact, this is the book of the Bible that is usually translated first when missionaries enter new territories.  It bears the distinction of being one of the most translated books in the world, partly because of its brevity, but also because it is written in a manner that is easy to comprehend.  However, that simplicity does not mean that the book is shallow.  There are a great number of deep lessons to be learned from reading the book of Mark, and Jesus’ beauty can be seen clearly without distractions like genealogies or sermons.