Gospel of Mark
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The Gospel of Mark
Mark is generally believed to be the earliest gospel. Based upon common elements in Mark and the gospels of Matthew and Luke, it appears that Mark was used as the framework from which to expand. There is a theory that Matthew was first, especially based on church tradition, but this theory does not have much popularity today.
The second Gospel is mainly concerned with the Galilean ministry of Christ, and the circumstances during the last week at Jerusalem. It begins with Jesus' baptism and temptation. The main portion of the Gospel concerns the public ministry, Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus.
Mark doesn't mention certain events mentioned by the other synoptic gospels. The genealogies, the birth story of Jesus, the birth story of John the Baptist, are all not included in favor of getting right into the adult stage, beginning with John the Baptist preparing the way for the savior.
Mark is much more concerned with Christ's acts than with His teachings, though two of these teachings 4:3-32 and 13:5-37 are fairly long. The miracles take up almost 25% of the Gospel. This impresses upon the reader Christ's almighty power and dominion over all physical laws. The first chapter shows three miracles: the casting out of an unclean spirit, the cure of Peter's mother-in-law, and the healing of a leper. Eighteen miracles are recorded and all but three occur in the first eight chapters. Only two of these miracles (7: 31-37and 8:22-26) are peculiar to Mark. Mark, however shows details not found in the other Synoptics. Mark has only four parables: the sower (4:3-9), the seed growing secretly (4:26-29), the mustard seed (4:30-32), and the wicked husbandman (12:1-9). The second of is found only in Mark.
Mark gives a face to the human feelings and emotions of Christ. The frailties of the apostles are much more graphic than in the parallel narratives the other two Synoptics.
There are problems with the ending of Mark. The earliest manuscripts do not have Mark 16:9-20, a section of scripture that puts forth ideas that aren't found in the other gospels. Current thinking is that Mark 16:9-20 is a later addition and that the Gospel either ends with 16:8 or with original ending is now lost.
Authorship
While the author of the Gospel of Mark is not named in the writing, early tradition connects the Second Gospel with two people Mark and Peter. Mark being "Peter's copyist", putting to paper what Peter preached. Irenaeus says: "Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, himself also handed down to us in writing what was preached by Peter" [1] Papius, Origen, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria also support a similar position.
John Mark, mentioned in 2 Timothy, is also sometimes put forward.
Audience
The audience is for gentiles. Mark describes Aramaic words and Jewish customs that would not be necessary for a Jewish audience.
Style
The Second Gospel was written in Greek, being that Greek was widely spoken in the Roman empire in the first century. Greek was the lingua franca of the times. Paul wrote to the Romans in Greek.
The Second Gospel uses 1333 different words, of which 58 are proper names. Eighty words, exclusive of proper names, are not found elsewhere in the New Testament. Compared to Luke, which has more than 250 peculiar words, Mark has only a third as many unique words. Mark shares 150 words with the other Synoptics. 15 are shared only by John and 11 others by one or other of the Synoptic and John.
