Timeline Tuesday: The Gospel of Mark

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The reason there are four gospels is not because there are four different incidents to relate but because there is one incident (the life of Jesus Christ) to detail from the perspective of four individuals. These are the accounts of eyewitnesses. The Gospel of Mark is the third gospel that we've read in our New Testament timeline.

Each gospel is unique in two regards. Each had a target audience and a certain attribute of Christ that it presented. John wrote an evangelistic appeal to unbelievers and presented Jesus as God. Matthew wrote to the Jews and presented evidence of Jesus as their King, or Messiah. Mark wrote to Gentiles, probably Roman believers, and presented Jesus as the servant of man. We'll begin Luke's gospel next week and discuss his work then.

Focusing upon Jesus as servant meant that Mark detailed service more than sermons. Many of Jesus' humanitarian efforts (miracles) are recorded. When compared with the other gospels Mark's shows that these miracles were authentication of Jesus' deity and Kingship. The theme verse of this book is Mark 10:45, For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

It is possible that this was the first gospel account written. As I stated in my introduction to Matthew I chose to read that gospel before this one without too much concern for chronology because each details the same timeline. Matthew's gospel was written to Jews and this one was written to Gentiles. I chose to follow the pattern of "to the Jew first."

Matthew was not present for every event related in his book but it is certain that some events, like the Mount of Transfiguration glorification, would be popular topics of discussion among all of the disciples. On the other hand, since Mark was not one of the chosen 12 he was probably not an eyewitness to every work of Jesus either but took copious notes of the testimony of at least one of them in order to write his account. Indeed, for a time all of the remaining disciples and the early believers were together at Jerusalem (see the book of Acts) and could discuss the things they had witnessed. They also preached many sermons about the things they had witnessed (also in the book of Acts). Since there were many believers and many witnesses, this does not dilute the reliability of the gospel accounts. On the contrary, it gives credence to them since there were many people who could refute erroneous testimony.

Early secular historians and church historians attributed Mark's source for his gospel to be Peter. Mark was known to be a close associate of his so this would be likely. The rapid-fire pace of the events are reminiscent of Peter's style also, the man who often acted quickly! Many times it was Peter's tongue that was hurriedly employed, and he was usually not hesitant to voice his desires to get things done. The same Mount of Transfiguration event is a good example of this. Mark's gospel follows a quick pace as a result. Look for the words "immediately" and "straightway" as you read.

We are most familiar with Mark by his full name of John Mark, the relative of Barnabas and as the young man who deserted Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. When Barnabas later wished to take Mark on another mission assignment Paul refused and the pair separated. We are most familiar with the subsequent missionary efforts of Paul, but evidently Barnabas and John Mark enjoyed Godly success in their endeavors as well since Paul later instructed believers in Colosse to welcome him (Col. 4:10) and asked Timothy to bring John Mark when he came (II Timothy 4:11).

Mark's gospel covers the life of Jesus Christ beginning with the ministry years. This would mean that the book covers approximately the last three and a half years of His life. The book was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, which would place the time of writing before AD 70.

I consulted the study notes contained within The MacArthur Study Bible and The Open Bible for this article. The opinion about Peter's impetuosity is my own, though probably held by many.