Introduction

The Immediate Gospel

The Gospel of Mark

MARK 1:45

But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.

A GOSPEL of Immediacy

Immediately!

What do you do when you have the most amazing news in the world? You share it! When do you share it? Immediately! With whom do you share it? With everyone! Where do you share it? Everywhere! Mark’s Gospel is the amazing, immediate, everyone, everywhere story of Jesus Christ.

Immediately [G2117 Euthus]! Mark uses that word forty times. Amazed [G2284 Thambeo] is used eleven times. Everyone [G3956 Pas] surfaces five times and is used not only for all people, but also all kinds of people. Rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, sick and well; all people and all kinds of people are sought by our Lord.

Then — in one of the most important verses in Mark — we see where the Gospel of Jesus inevitably must travel. Read below:

Mark 1:45

Everywhere [G3840 Pantothen], Jesus goes to all places and speaks to all sides. That is what the term everywhere means.

This amazing news must travel to everyone, everywhere. To all people and all kinds of people, to all places and all sides; and it must do so with immediacy. That is the essence of the Gospel of Peter as told by his beloved pupil, Mark.

A Gospel of Action

Luke and Matthew are largely based upon Mark’s Gospel. Each has a purpose. Luke writes for the fast-growing Gentile church. Those who are primarily Greek in thought and culture. Matthew writes to appeal to the Jewish church, constantly referring to the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. Eventually John will write to dispel the many false Gospels following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Diaspora. Yet Mark writes simply to preach Jesus to the world, especially the world that passes through Rome and the four corners of the earth. Mark wrote this work probably in the megalopolis of first century Rome while visiting Paul and Peter during their years of teaching and confinement (A.D. 60-62).

Mark dives right into the action. There is no recanting the birth narrative, prophecy or Jewish lineage for him. He gets right into the call of John the Baptist and never stops the momentum. Our author records eighteen of Jesus’ miracles but only four of our Lord’s parables. This isn’t an appeal to mystical and intellectual Jews. It is the “down and dirty” Gospel about a man of true compassion and purposeful action. In true Roman tradition, Mark shows Jesus as a man of power. Yet, in contrast to Roman politics, Mark shows Jesus using his power to serve humanity not exploit it. This Gospel to the burgeoning first-century Rome is as relevant today as it was then. In a world where financial capital is used as tool of manipulation, where scarce resources undercut the dignity of impoverished, where Pax Romana — the peace of Rome — is still dictated by the largest arms reserves, this Gospel is vividly pertinent!

A Gospel Written For A New Generation: Then and Now

The Gospel of Mark identifies no actual author, but early Christian leaders beginning with Papias (circa A.D. 140) but also including Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Jerome, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History III, pg. 9) all agreed it was John Mark, the cousin of Barnabas and close friend to both Peter and Paul who wrote this historic document.

John was his Jewish name, Marcus his Roman. That he would write under his Roman nom-de-plume is significant. The center of Christianity was already moving from under the stuffy wing of Judaism to the worldwide stage of Rome. This too is relevant to our age. The church in Jerusalem had become overburdened by Jewish tradition. It was in danger of becoming simply another sect of Judaism burdened by endless rituals and laws. The Holy Spirit is the one who breaks those bounds. The church is persecuted but scattered abroad. Like a birth, the gestation period of the church is over. There is pain involved, but new life is inevitable.

Where is our church in this process today? We are truly at risk of becoming impotent to a new generation of seekers who want an engaging spirituality but not an overburdened religion. Often, the Holy Spirt moves in spite of (and maybe tospite) the religious functionaries of the church. It is the Greek Mark — not the Jewish John — that shows us the Holy Spirit will not be bound by bureaucracy.

A Gospel Forged In Fire

Mark was the translator for Peter and many believe that this Gospel is really the Gospel of Peter written by Mark. No one can precisely name the date of the manuscript, but most place it between 55 and 70 AD. It was a difficult time for the fledgling church but penned definitely before Titus utterly destroys Jerusalem. During that 143 day siege, 600,000 Jews were slaughtered and thousands more taken captive and dispersed to every end of the Roman empire as slaves.

Nero was the fifth emperor of Rome beginning his reign in A.D. 56 at the age of sixteen. At first, Rome experienced a few years of relative peace. Then, following his marriage to Poppea in A.D. 62, Nero’s Rome took a violent turn commencing with the sudden assassinations of his closest advisors, Seneca and Burrus, and eventually his own mother. In A.D. 64, Rome was set on fire. Most people believe Nero had this done to make room for his new palace. However, he attributed it to the Christians. That is when the persecution of Christians began to take place in earnest. In A.D. 68, Nero took his own life but not before taking the lives of both Peter and Paul.

Mark was not in Rome at the time of their execution. We know this because, in II Timothy, Paul asks his young friend to come visit bringing the comfort of companionship. This was to be the great Apostle’s final letter (A.D. 66 or 67).

This in itself is amazing as Mark was a cause of great dissension between his cousin, Barnabas [Colossians 4:10, and Paul in the early years of Paul’s missionary journeys. Shortly after arriving in Antioch — with Mark in tow — Paul and Barnabas are commissioned for their first missionary journey [Acts 13:1-3]. They make it as far as Perga before young Mark must have become homesick and heads back to Jerusalem. Paul says he abandoned them at Perga [Acts 13:13]. When Barnabas asks Paul to give Mark a second chance on a second missionary journey, Paul refuses. The disagreement is so acute that Paul splits with Barnabas over the issue [Acts 15:36-41]. Paul leaves with Silas for Syria and Celicia while Barnabas leaves with Mark for Cyprus.

That wasn’t the beginning or ending of Mark’s story. In fact, Mark was probably the prototype for the Church’s first “youth group.” If scholars are correct, it was at the house of Mark’s mother, Mary, that Jesus held the Last Supper [Mark 14:12-26]. It was also a gathering spot for the initial church and the site of Pentecost [Acts 2:1-4]. In AD 44 — under persecution from Herod — James, the brother of John was executed and Peter was imprisoned. The church gathered at Mary’s house to pray for the Apostle’s release. When Peter is miraculously set free, it is straight to Mark’s home he ventures [Acts 12:11-12].

Many believe that it is Mark who follows Jesus and the Apostles to the Olive Garden on the night our Lord was betrayed — wearing nothing but a night sheet. When the guards find him hiding in the bushes, he flees naked, running back through the streets of Jerusalem [Mark 14:51-52]. This story is so illustrative of Mark. It shows less the impulsiveness of a teen than the total love-with-abandonment that he had for Jesus. Do our lives show such unrestrained passion for our Lord?

It wasn’t just Barnabas who took his cousin, Mark, under his wing. Peter himself entrusts his translations to the young man. In fact, prior to his own execution, Peter calls Mark “his son,” [1 Peter 5:13]. Finally, in a poignant closing to the Paul/Mark story. Mark becomes Paul’s constant and caring companion during the great teacher’s first house arrest in Rome [Colossians 4:10-11, Philemon 23-24].

A Gospel Born in Audacious Honesty

Mark compiled Peter’s gospel during the stressful times of great persecution in Rome. Whatever fears Mark possessed in his early years were obviously overcome and whatever misgivings Paul held about him were similarly laid to rest. Despite the strain of his era, we see no signs of distress in Mark’s writings — only the amazing, immediacy of the Gospel.

Keeping in mind that this is truly Peter’s Gospel translated by Mark, the theological center of Mark’s Gospel could well be the following verses:

Mark 8:27-29

27 Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.”

29 And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter *answered and *said to Him, “You are the Christ.”

Mark takes us to the moment when Peter first recognized who he was truly accompanying when he palled around with Jesus. Not Jesus the miracle worker, Jesus the prophet or Jesus the social radical, but Jesus the Christ; the only Son of God. In re-telling the above story as told by the Apostle (and first-person witness), Mark tells us that Peter’s choice is a choice every follower must make. Do we follow a Jesus who will meet our whims? Jesus the self-help guru? Jesus the political activist?

In truth, the real Jesus is neither our personal God nor a community organizer. He is BOTH. He calls each of us to 1) personal transformation and 2) to communal restoration. We can’t choose one or the other. He is the Savior of sinners but also the Advocate of the poor. He will not let us get off the hook and be comfortable with one or the other.

Peter finds this out when he tries to “keep Jesus to himself.”

Mark 8:31-34

31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man’s.”

34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? “

The fact that Peter essentially tells Mark to “write this word-for-word” is very important! We must never forget that this is Peter’s Gospel told to Mark. Peter is revealing Jesus to a new generation — the first “Post-Christ Generation” — and he is telling them that even though he was an apostle, he was the most frail of all. It was Jesus that was strong and it was in Jesus that Peter found his strength. He wants Mark to get this right and to share the Gospel with audacious honesty. “Tell this story with all the warts, all the mistakes and every frailty.”

That is the strength of this Gospel. It doesn’t bring us leaders who lied about their character or put on airs about their position. It brings us leaders who say, “I was the least worthy to follow God’s only Son, but he took me and gave me enough faith and courage to be his servant.”

Peter’s critical story tells us, “I was the first apostle to recognize Jesus, but then I tried to keep the eternal all to myself. I became his worst enemy. I clung to him, I denied him, yet he loved me in spite of all that!”

Therein is the raw strength and beauty of this Gospel!

A Gospel Born to A New Generation

No one was better suited to write this Gospel than Mark. Why?

Mark was not a first generation follower.

Mark was a youth while the church was being formed in persecution.

Mark stumbled, but because of two mentors who believed in him — even when Mark himself might have stopped — he overcome all obstacles to reach the world.

Tradition tells us that Mark went on to be the first appointed leader of the church of Alexandria. Mark heard the amazing news of Jesus Christ and immediately took that Gospel to everyone, everywhere. All kinds, all sides...

When we read Mark’s Gospel, we should look for its freshness. We can nearly taste the urgency of a young man schooled at the knees of some of the world’s most influential people. This was a Gospel written “on the move” — on missionary journeys, in foreign lands, in the heat of persecution and even in the dungeons of Rome. Reading it without an inclination to act on its word would be like gulping down a gourmet meal without chewing. It would be an insult to the chef. One must breathe this Gospel, savor this Gospel, but finally act with immediacy to the call of this Gospel.

BIBLICAL REFERENCES TO JOHN MARCUS, AUTHOR OF MARK

Mark 14:51-52

51 A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they *seized him. 52 But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.

Acts 12:11-12

11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” 12 And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.

Acts 12:25

And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them John, who was also called Mark.

Acts 13:1-3

1 Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

Acts 13:13

Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

Acts 15:36-41

36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are."

37 Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. 38 But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. 40 But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. 41 And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Philemon 23-24

23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, 24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.

Colossians 4:10-11

10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas's cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him); 11 and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me.

2 Timothy 4:11

Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.

1 Peter 5:13-14

13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love.