The Gospel of Mark

Mark was most probably John Mark who was a companion of Peter. He probably learned most of the story of Jesus from Peter though he may have observed some event himself.

Mark is the oldest of the Gospel writings, written around 25-35 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. It is thought that both Matthew and Luke drew heavily from the Gospel of Mark in writing their own Gospel accounts.

Mark’s writing is simple and straightforward and politically charged. His emphasis is on the humanity of Jesus, and he wants his reader to understand that Jesus was the “Son of Man” spoken of in the Old Testament Scriptures.

Mark clearly shows the disciples as real and faulty people who struggled to follow and believe Jesus, and he depicts Jesus as the initiator of a new kingdom order, a worker of miracles, and a disrupter of oppressive religious systems and beliefs.

The earliest copies of Mark’s Gospel end with the women fleeing the empty tomb and Jesus sending out his followers. Scholars are divided on whether the additional section was written by Mark or by someone else at a later date.