Mark - The Master Servant

  • This book was written by the son of a well-to-do lady in Jerusalem whose name was Mary. Her house was the meeting place of the early church (Acts 12:12).
  • Mark’s gospel is the shortest of the four gospels and presents the Lord Jesus as the suffering servant.
  • Mark was the nephew of Barnabas who went with Paul on their first missionary journey. When they reached Perga, for some reason he decided to return home (Acts 14:14).
  • When Paul and Barnabas were planning their second missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to take Mark again, but because of his quitting the first journey, Paul said no. This caused a division between Paul and Barnabas, but later from prison, Paul sent for Mark when he said, “Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry” (II Timothy 4:11).
  • The book of Mark is the oldest and the shortest of all the gospels, and it is believed that it was written after Peter died.
  • This is a biography of Jesus Christ; however, it does not dwell on His early childhood but launches right into His ministry.
  • Almost forty percent of this gospel is devoted to a detailed account of the last eight days of Jesus’ life, climaxing in His resurrection.
  • Mark stressed the supernatural work of Jesus’ ministry as he described nineteen miracles while giving only four parables.
  • To Mark, Jesus was not simply a man among men; He was God among men. None of the other gospels gives such a human picture of Jesus.
  • Early church tradition says that Mark wrote this gospel in Rome, and that is why he did not give Jewish genealogy as the other gospel writers did. This would have been of less concern to the Roman mind.

An outline of the book (Jesus as servant):

  1. Service: Life and ministry of Jesus the servant (chapters 1-13).
  2. Sacrifice: Death and resurrection of Jesus the servant (chapters 14-16).