We will be in the Gospel of Mark throughout the season of Lent (March 2 – April 17). If you would like to read the Gospel with us every day, you can find our reading schedule here.
The Gospel of Mark received little to no attention in the first 600 years of Church history, only receiving two commentaries during that time. Many assumed it was simply a thrown together collection of short stories about Jesus. The Gospel of Mark has received a lot more attention over the last hundred years as we’ve better understood the writing styles of the ancient world and cultures. When reading any kind of written discourse, especially ancient texts, it is important to have some ideas about the context in which it was written. While the Gospel writers recorded the life and teachings of Jesus, they did not write them down for a few decades. These stories and teachings were passed along orally, and likely in short writings, from one Jesus community to another.
The Gospel writers later constructed the stories into narratives in order to address concerns of the church in different contexts. They were doing more than simply telling us about the life of Jesus so we could then know how he died for our sins. Each Gospel writer goes into great detail to call their communities to a certain way of life in following Jesus. If you want to read more about this, I highly recommend N.T. Wright’s book How God Became King: the Forgotten Story of the Gospels.
Matthew wrote to a Jewish context and highlights many Jewish themes showing Jesus to be the fulfilment of who Israel was called to be and therefore who the church is called to be. Luke writes to a Greek audience and leans heavily on eyewitness accounts. He focuses largely on Jesus’s ministry to the marginalized, table fellowship, and how the church should handle their possessions. Neither of their birth stories about Jesus share common details. John, leaving out the birth of Jesus entirely, focuses on the divinity of Jesus and what it means for God himself to confront the dark powers of this world to reclaim his Good Creation. Mark neither has a birth narrative nor does he establish a preexistence the way John does. Mark writes to a Roman context and dives straight into the life and ministry of Jesus.
I do not plan to get too technical throughout this study of Mark’s Gospel, but I will point out some important nuggets along the way. This week we will lay a framework for how to read Mark’s Gospel by trying to establish Mark’s intentions for writing it in the first place. Does this two thousand year old story have relevance for us today?
Mark, aka John Mark, was a companion of Peter and likely received his information from Peter’s accounts. Some scholars believe Mark is the young man who runs away naked in Mark 14:51-52 (I just find that incredibly interesting). Mark likely wrote his gospel account to Roman Christians during the intense persecution of Christians under Nero’s reign in the mid-60’s. During this intense persecution it took great courage to be a follower of Christ. The question for those Sisters and Brothers of ours is whether Jesus was worth following when it was that difficult? The Jewish rebellion was likely in its early stages during this time and Mark warns his readers of the things to come in Mark 13 when Titus would walk into the Holy of Holies after conquering the Temple (Mark 13:14).
Mark heavily leans on titles Nero claimed for himself and attribute them to Jesus as the true king. More than any other emperor before him, Nero promoted his own deification and encouraged the used of honorific titles “god,” “son of god,” “lord,” “savior,” and “benefactor.” Christians facing persecution could accept Nero as “Lord and Savior” or they could continue to follow Jesus Christ, their true “Lord and Savior,” to their death. Nero presents his coronation as “Good news,” but Mark begins his Gospel with, “The beginning of the good newsabout Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God…”
Mark presents Jesus’s crucifixion as his coronation, his enthronement as King (we will unpack this more when we get there). Nero set out to conquer his subjects through violence and domination. Jesus conquered through non-violence and peace. As Jesus ascended the throne, it is the Roman Centurion who looks at the way Jesus died and said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (15:39).
Throughout Mark’s Gospel, Christians are called to true discipleship. The theme of true discipleship dominates the narrative of the central section of the story (Mark 8:27-10:52). Are you willing to take up your cross and follow Jesus? This is a very real question for Mark’s persecuted Christian audience.
The first section of the Gospel (1:1-8:26) focuses on who Jesus is. Mark gives insight to the reader on Jesus’s identity, and we get to watch the characters in the story wrestle with who Jesus is. This “messianic secret” builds up to Jesus looking at his followers and asking who people are saying that he is. Then the hard question comes in 8:29, “Who do you say that I am?” This is the question I want to wrestle with throughout our study of the Gospel of Mark. We have the Messiah we have but we often desire a different Messiah.
What does it mean to follow a Messiah who chooses to “lose” in order to “win”?
What does that mean for our life today and how we interact with a world that is increasingly antagonistic toward Christians?
Are we willing to follow Jesus on the path to the cross or are we going to fight tooth and nail to win whatever culture war we think we’re fighting?
The last section of Mark’s Gospel (11-16) focuses on Jesus in Jerusalem and how he becomes King. Are we willing to follow this King and be citizens of his Kingdom?
As you read Mark’s Gospel, pay attention to how everyone responds to Jesus:
Who gets it wrong?
Who gets it right?
Who are the examples of true discipleship?
What grace is shown in those whom you see failing to “do it right”?