THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

authorship and date

Although the Gospel is anonymous, an ancient tradition ascribes it to John Mark (mentioned in Acts 12.12;
15.37), who is supposed to have composed it at Rome as a summary of Peters preaching (see 1 Pet 5.13). Modern
scholars nd lile rst-century ce evidence to support this tradition. Mark is the shortest of the four canonical
Gospels and is generally thought to be the earliest and to have been used as a source for both Mahew and
Luke. The vague references to the destruction of Jerusalem in Mark 13 (contrast Mt 22.7; Lk 19.43) could be clues
that the Gospel was composed just prior to the Jewish revolt that began in 66 ce and the Roman reconquest and
destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 ce.

style and content

The language of the Gospel is that of popular spoken Greek. Its style features rapid sequences of brief and vivid
concrete episodes linked simply by and or and immediately, frequently omied in translation for less awkward
reading in English. The narrative oen shis from the past tense into the present tense, enlivening the action. The
content of the Gospel consists mostly of stories about Jesus actions and disputes with scribes and Pharisees, in-
cluding some of Jesus sayings, with two speeches (one mostly of parables) interrupting the rapid ow of episodes.
Mark appears to have drawn upon a rich variety of oral traditions of Jesus actions and teachings, including chains
of miracle stories, sets of parables, and stories of controversies with the Pharisees. Some scholars think that the
Gospel may have been a text that was still performed orally by Christian storytellers. The overall narrative weaves
sequences of episodes together into a complex plot with several interrelated themes and conicts. In the earliest
manuscripts, Mark ends abruptly at 16.8. This (apparently original) open ending invites the reader to continue the
story of Jesus and the kingdom. In some later manuscripts Marks story was completed with resurrection appear-
ances of amalgamated elements from the other canonical Gospels, to make it conform to their common paern.

structure
The Gospel story unfolds in an escalating series of steps. Aer Jesus baptism by John, he proclaims the kingdom of
God and manifests its miraculous power in rural Galilee as the renewal of Israel, over against the Jerusalem priestly
establishment and its representatives, the scribes and Pharisees (chs 13). In the rst long speech of the Gospel,
Jesus then teaches the mysterious plan of the kingdom in parables to large audiences and especially to his disciples
(4.134). Jesus continues his program of the renewal of Israel in a sustained program of sea crossings, exorcisms,
healings, and wilderness feedings reminiscent of the activities of Moses and Elijah (the great prophets of the past
who, respectively, founded and renewed Israel), along with continuing disputes with the scribes and Pharisees
(4.358.21). In the next step of the story, one framed by healings of blind men that highlight the disciples misun-
derstanding, Jesus repeatedly makes clear that, besides being a new prophet equal in signicance to Moses and
Elijah in his restoration of covenantal Israel, it is necessary that he carry out the agenda of a martyr-messiah of Israel
who must be condemned by the rulers, be killed, and rise again (8.2210.52). Aer his dramatic messianic entry
into Jerusalem and his provocative prophetic condemnation of the Temple, Jesus confronts the Jerusalem priestly
establishment and its representatives (chs 1112). In a second major speech, Jesus warns the disciples about fanati-
cal misinterpretation of the coming political struggles (ch 13). In the nal section of the Gospel, following Jesus last
meal with the disciples and his betrayal and arrest by the rulers posse, he is accused of treason, blasphemy, and
insurrection, condemned, and turned over to Pilate, the Roman governor, who orders him executed by crucixion
(chs 1415). The Gospel then ends abruptly with the story of the empty tomb and the womens fear (16.18).

interpretation
Modern readers oen hear the Gospel as a story of Christian discipleship, but it is much more than that. Mark is
a story of multiple conicts, exciting to read and with a compelling message. In the dominant conict that builds
to a climax throughout the Gospel, Jesus challenge to the Jewish religious leaders and their Roman imperial
overlords escalates from his preaching and practice of the kingdom of God in the village gatherings of Galilee to
his dramatic demonstration against the Temple and confrontation with the rulers in Jerusalem. That results in his

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mark 1
torturous death by crucixion at the hands of the Romans as an insurrectionary. In Jesus exorcisms, moreover,
God is winning the struggle with Satan and the demonic unclean spirits (1.27; 5.1012) that have taken posses-
sion of the people like an occupying Roman legion. Surprisingly, a conict between Jesus and the very disciples
he designates as representative of the renewed people of Israel also develops in the course of the story. Although
Jesus teaches them the mystery of the kingdom, they persistently fail to understand what he is teaching and
doing, and at the end they betray, deny, and desert him. By contrast with the misunderstanding and faithless
disciples, women, who play an increasingly prominent role in Marks story, serve as models of faithfulness.
The Gospel of Mark presents Jesus preaching and manifestation of the kingdom of God as a decisive new de-
velopment in the history of Israel, not as the beginning of a new religion. Indeed, in this story religion is inseparable
from the social, political, economic, even the physiological aspects of life. Throughout the Gospel, Jesus is por-
trayed in terms of popular Israelite memories of the great prophets, especially Moses, who had led Israels Exodus
from subjection to alien rule in Egypt; Elijah, who had led the renewal of Israel in resistance to oppressive monarchs;
and Jeremiah, who had proclaimed Gods judgment on the Temple and the rulers based there. At the beginning,
in the middle, and toward the end, Mark also presents Jesus as a specially designated son of God, or king. Jesus,
however, turns out to be a messiah (anointed one) who is a martyr, in contrast to the disciples expectations that
Jesus would be invested with political power in Jerusalem. And Jesus role as both prophet and martyr-messiah is
pointedly distinguished from the expectations of the Jewish elite, such as the scribes (see esp. 9.1113; 12.3537).

guide to reading
Because the Gospel presents a sustained narrative of escalating conicts, it should be read as a whole so its
components are understood in their connection with the overall storya story that did not end at the tomb,
as the prophecy of a new encounter between Jesus and his disciples reminds the audience (14.2728; 16.7).

Richard A. Horsley

1 The beginning of the good newsa of Jesus

Christ, the Son of God.b
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,c
John the baptizer appearede in the wilder-
ness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins. And people
See, I am sending my messenger ahead from the whole Judean countryside and all
of you,d
who will prepare your way; a Or gospel
the voice of one crying out in the b Other ancient authorities lack the Son of God
wilderness: c Other ancient authorities read in the prophets
Prepare the way of the Lord, d Gk before your face
make his paths straight, e Other ancient authorities read John was baptizing

1.113: Preparing the way of the Lord. 1: In the context of the Roman Empire, the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ,
i.e., Jesus the anointed king of Israel, a people subject to Rome, would have been understood over against the
gospel of Caesar as the Savior who brought peace to the world. Son of God is missing in the earliest manuscripts.
1.28: Johns baptism of repentance (Mt 3.112; Lk 3.120; Jn 1.615,1928) preparing the way as the new Exo-
dus and covenant renewal. 23: See Ex 23.20; Mal 3.1 (cf. Mt 11.10; Lk 7.27); Isa 40.3. That this is not all a quotation
from Isaiah suggests that it is rooted in a popular (non-scribal) oral conation of prophecies. It is not clear
whether my messenger ahead of you refers to John sent ahead of Jesus, or Jesus sent ahead of the addressees.
Prepare the way of the Lord proclaims a new Exodus, as in Isa 40. The wilderness, also suggestive of a new Exo-
dus, was a place where other popular prophets and movements oen originated (e.g., Acts 5.36; cf. Josephus,
Ant. 20.5.1). 45: Acts 13.24. Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, John proclaims and performs a ritual
of entrance into Gods renewed covenant with Israel in which those ready to change their ways are baptized as
forgiven for having broken the covenantal laws. 5: The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem, i.e.,
all the people of Israel, from the capital city as well as from the villages, were baptized. 6: Johns garb evokes an
image of the prophet Elijah, as in 2 Kings 1.8; cf. 9.1113. Jesus is also taken to be Elijah in 6.15; 8.28; 15.3536. 78:
John also proclaims one . . . more powerful who will bring the enabling divine power of the Holy Spirit.

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