The Gospel of Mark

1. Mark 1:1-20: Spoiling the Ending at the Beginning (cf. Matt 3:1-4:17; Luke 3:1-4:15) [BSQ, SS]

2. Mark 1:21-34: Who or What is this Jesus? (cf. Matt 8:14-17) [BSQ, SS]

3. Mark 1:35-45: Jesus’ Coming Out: To Pray, Preach, Drive out Demons, and Heal: A Leprous Man Cleansed (cf. Matt 8:1-4, Luke 5:12-16) [BSQ, SS, ET]

4. Mark 2:1-12: Who Can Forgive Sins But God Alone? (Matt 9:2-8; Luke 5:17-26) [BSQ, SS]

5. Mark 2:13-28: Jesus' Fresh Start For Sinners (Matt 9:9-17; 12:1-8; Luke 5:27-39; 6:1-5) [BSQ, SS, ET]

6. Mark 3:1-19: A New Phase of Jesus’ Ministry (Matt 12:9-21; 10:2-4; Luke 6:6-16) [BSQ, SS, ET]

7. Mark 3:20-35: Jesus and the Strong Man (Matt 12:22-50; Luke 8:19-21) [BSQ, SS, ET]

8. Mark 4:1-20: The Mother of All Parables: The Parable of the Four Soils (Matt 13:1-23; Luke 8:4-15) [BSQ, SS, ET]

9. Mark 4:21-34: The Gateway to Understanding the Kingdom: The Parables of the Lamp on the Stand, the Sprouting Seed, and the Mustard Seed [BSQ, SS]

10. Mark 4:35-41: The Maker of the Glassy Sea: Jesus Calms the Storm [BSQ, SS, ET]

11. Mark 5:1-20: A Hell of A Life: The Gerasene Demoniac [BSQ, SS]

12. Mark 5:21-43: Saved By Faith and Raised By Jesus: The Bleeding Woman & Jairus’ Daughter [BSQ, SS]

13. Mark 6:1-30: The Mission Moves A Head: Jesus Rejected at Home, John Killed, the Disciples Preach the Kingdom [BSQ, SS]

14. Mark 6:30-56: A Day in the Life of Jesus: Feeding Five Thousand, Walking on Water [BSQ, SS]

15. Mark 7:1-23: Turning Tradition Inside Out: God's Word or Human Tradition (cf. Matt 15:1-20) [BSQ, SS, ET]

16. Mark 7:24-30: The Crumbs are Enough: The Syro-Phoenician Woman (cf. Matt 15:21-28) [BSQ, SS]

*17. Mark 7:31-37: He Makes the Deaf Hear and Dumb Speak! [BSQ]

*18. Mark 8:1-13: Dependent, Dull, or Deaf? (cf. Matt 15:39-16:4) [BSQ]

*19. Mark 8:11-30: Watch Out For the Yeast of the Pharisees (cf. Matt 16:4-20; Luke 9:18-21) [BSQ]

What Has He Come to Do? (Mark 8:31-16:9)

20. Mark 8:31-9:1: Jesus’ Identity and Mission Revealed: Peter Confesses the Christ at Caesarea Phillipi [BSQ, SS, ET]

21. Mark 9:1-13: God’s Glorious Son will Suffer and Rise Again: The Transfiguration [BSQ, SS]

*22. Mark 9:14-36: Unbelieving Disciples Desiring Greatness: Jesus Brought Back Down To Reality [BSQ]

23. Mark 9:37-50: Permit the Preaching, Amputate to Avoid Hell, Save Your Saltiness [BSQ, SS]

24. Mark 10:1-12: Jesus on Marriage and Divorce (cf. Matt 19:1-12) [SS, ET]

25. Mark 10:13-52: Remarks Along The Way [SS]

26. Mark 10:32-45: The Servant King Wants Servant Leaders [SS, ET]

27. Mark 10:46-52: Blind Bartimaeus Sees Jesus the Merciful Son of David [SS, ET]

*28. Mark 11:1-26:

29. Mark 11:27-12:44: David’s Greater Son Silences the Temple To Hear Two Copper Coins Clink [BSQ, SS]

30. Mark 13: The Warning On the Mount: Watch for the End of the Temple and My Return [BSQ, SS]

31. Mark 14:1-26: Christ the Passover Lamb: The Anointing and Last Supper [BSQ, SS]

32. Mark 14:27-72: From the King’s Grove to the Courtyard [BSQ, SS]

*33. Mark 15:1-32: The Trial and Rejection of the King [BSQ]

34. Mark 15:33-47: Why Have You Forsaken Me?: The Death of Jesus [BSQ, SS]

35. Mark 16:1-8: The Witness to Worried Women: Jesus’ Empty Tomb [BSQ, SS]

Introduction to the Gospel of Mark

Mark is the shortest of the Gospels, or accounts of Jesus' ministry and saving work, with also an account of his identity. It was probably written by John Mark, who was an associate of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 12:25, 13:5,13, 15:36-39; Col 4:10; Philemon 24, 2 Tim 4:11). It has been thought by many people that Mark’s Gospel basically consists of the preaching of Peter, following a statement by Papias.

The following is an early characterization of the synoptic Gospels, recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea (Ecclesiastical History, 6.14.5-7) relating that which was taught by Clement of Alexandria (c. late second and early third centuries). Notice particularly the place Clement gives to the Gospel of Mark in its relationship to the apostle Peter:

And again Clement has inserted in the same books a tradition of the primitive elders concerning the order of the Gospels as follows. He said that the Gospels that include genealogies [Matthew & Luke] were written first; but that the Gospel according to Mark came about in this way: When Peter had publicly proclaimed the word and by the Spirit preached the Gospel at Rome, those who were present, being many, urged Mark—as one of his [Peter’s] long-time followers who remembered what was said—to make a record of what had been spoken. And he did this and distributed the Gospel among those who had asked him. And when this matter came to Peter's attention, he neither strongly forbid it, nor urged it on.

The unique feature of Mark’s Gospel is that it is a fast paced and racey account. Mark tells us who Jesus is upfront, in his very first verse, so he wouldn't make a very good mystery writer. However, as we work together through the Gospel of Mark, we will find that not everyone in the Gospel knows who this Jesus is and why he has come, even though Mark has told us, his readers. But we will often see that those who are closest to Jesus are often the blindest to who he really is, what he has come to do, and the cost of following him. Moreover, Jesus himself doesn’t always want everyone to know who he is.

There are two very important points in Mark's Gospel, the peaks of the Gospel. The first is the turning point in the story, in Mark 8:31-37. We are moved by Mark from asking the question, ‘Who is this man?’ (a question the answer for which we know the answer, from Mark 1:1) to ‘What has Jesus come to do and why?’ (again, a question for which we immediately know the answer). The second is the climax of Mark's Gospel, in chapter 15 verse 39). At the climax, the answer to the question repeated throughout the first half of Mark's Gospel, and for which we already know the answer from Mark 1:1, is answered again for us, but this time the answer is found on the lips of a heretofore unbelieving centurion who has just executed Jesus between two convicted criminals.