Mark’s Gospel Backstory
Saint Mark (tempera and gold leaf on panel)
by Emmanuel Tzanes (1610–1690);
Benaki Museum Athens, courtesy Wikipedia
Friends in Christ, I'm pleased to advise that, beginning this Sunday, we'll be preaching through Mark's Gospel up until Easter.
Importantly to note, Dr Malcolm Gill will preach his final sermon as a member of the Cathedral staff by introducing us to Mark's Gospel from the start of chapter one, and we will be farewelling him and Tamara on the day (including a community meal after the 5pm service - $5/head).
Moore College lecturer, Dr Peter Orr, says,
"As the shortest and earliest Gospel, Mark gives us a crisp, fast-paced picture of Jesus... Mark is something of a linchpin for the New Testament, in fact for the whole Bible, as voices from the Old Testament and the New Testament join in a conversation that centers on the most important person in history."
The Beginning of the Gospel: A Theology of Mark [p13, Crossway 2023]
To paraphrase Dr Orr, I hope our preaching helps you become more excited about Mark and, more importantly, about Jesus.
The presupposition for Mark's original Gospel was that his readers would have heard the gospel preaching of men like the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul.
For example, Paul has preached the gospel of Jesus all around the eastern Mediterranean seaboard. In his letters, he summarises it as:
"Jesus died and rose again" (1 Thessalonians 4:14), or
"Christ died for our sins... was buried... was raised on the third day... and that he appeared..." ( 1 Corinthians 15:3-8), or
"regarding his Son... a descendant of David... appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:3-4).
Now Mark fills in the backstory to this very tight gospel message, in long-form written narrative, albeit more concisely than Matthew and Luke who (almost certainly) wrote after him.
Early church historians indicate (quoting Papias, a very early Bishop of Hierapolis, who lived c.60–130 AD) that Mark was Peter's "interpreter", who wrote down accurately (though not ncessarily all in chronological order) what Peter had remembered of things said and done by Jesus.
Remember that Peter has spent more time as an eyewitness, up close with Jesus, than almost anyone else alive at the time.
And we can note that Peter is both the first (Mark 1:16) and last (16:7) named disciple in this Gospel. And on a ‘per word’ basis, Peter is mentioned more often in Mark than in either Matthew or Luke. We are often also given the narrative from what seems to be Peter's perspective, for example in Caesarea Philippi (8:27-38) or on the night Jesus was arrested (14:29, 14:37, 14:54-72).
It's notable that Mark reports others "seeing" and "hearing" Jesus' words and deeds. But the only person Mark describes as "remembering" is Peter (11:21 and 14:72). This is another indirect piece of evidence that here we have particular access to Peter's memoirs of Jesus.
Not always so well appreciated is how Mark must have written under the theological influence of Paul.
Mark had travelled with Paul (Acts 12:25) and despite serious misgivings at one point (Acts 15:37-40), Paul himself later mentioned Mark favourably (Colossians 4:10). In particular, 2 Timothy 4:11 anticipates them joining together near the end of Paul's life in prison, most likely in Rome, and in a context where it was intended writing materials would be present (2 Tim 4:13)!
Now the word "gospel", literally "good news", refers to a noteworthy announcement. So here's another suggestive fact for Pauline influence on Mark...
The word "gospel" does not actually occur in Luke or John, and only 4 times in Matthew. But it occurs 7 times in Mark, more than any other author in the New Testament except Paul. And both Mark and Paul share major themes, especially their focus on the cross, yet noting the inability of the wider world easily to understand it; the importance of keeping food laws in their place now that Christ has come; the relationship of Jesus to Caesar/Rome (i.e. to secular authority).
Anyway, the result of reading Mark is, as Campbell and Pennington put it, a bit like the impact of a superhero movie or a graphic novel today.
"These are analogies we can use to understand the fury, flow and flurry of activity that is the Gopspel according to Mark. If we think of the four Gospels as four children, Mark is the energetic and wild one, full of action and verve."
[Reading the New Testament as Christian Scripture: A Literary, Canonical, and Theological Survey, p105.]
One way of analyising the structure of the Gospel of Mark is around two key questions:
Who is Jesus? (chapters 1-8)
How will he become King? (chapters 8-16)
Of course, as it answers those questions for readers, Mark also poses a third question for us: What does it mean to be his follower?
Now I imagine that in 2023, we'll only get as far as chapter 8 at most, and only up to Chapter 4 by Easter...
So for those who don't know where it all ends – spoiler alert – Mark's Gospel takes us on a "discipleship journey" with "the King, who unexpectedly conquers by donning a crown of thorns" (p22, The Visual Word: Illustrated Outlines of The New Testament Books, by Patrick Schreiner).
But for now, buckle up and be there (or online) as Malcolm starts to open up Mark's Gospel to us this Sunday.
Warmly in Christ,
Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney