The Gospel of Mark
The Gospel of Mark, anonymously
written but traditionally ascribed to Mark the
Evangelist, is a synoptic gospel of the New Testament.
It narrates the life of Jesus from John the Baptist to
the Ascension, but it concentrates particularly on the
last week of his life (chapters 11-16, the trip to
Jerusalem). Its swift narrative portrays Jesus as a
heroic man of action, an exorcist, a healer and miracle
worker. It calls him the Christ (the Greek translation
of Messiah), the Son of Man, and the Son of God.
Two important themes of Mark are the Messianic secret
and the obtuseness of the disciples. In Mark, Jesus
often commands secrecy regarding aspects of his identity
and certain actions. Jesus uses parables to obscure his
message and fulfill prophecy (4:10-12). At times, the
disciples have trouble understanding the parables, but
Jesus explains what they mean, in secret (4:13-20,
4:33-34). They also fail to understand the implication
of the miracles that he performs before them.
Christian churches have traditionally interpreted Mark
to be based on the Gospel of Matthew, an epitome, and it
is placed after that gospel in most Bibles. However,
most contemporary scholars regard it as the earliest of
the canonical gospels (c 70). According to the
two-source hypothesis, it was one source for material in
the other synoptic gospels, Matthew and Luke. Mark was
associated with Paul and Barnabas (who was Mark's
cousin) on their missionary journey through the island
of Cyprus. Later he accompanied Barnabas alone. We know
also that he was in Rome with Peter and Paul. Tradition
ascribes to him the founding of the Church in
Alexandria.
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