The Gospel of Mark is the second of the Gospels in our Bibles. Remember, the word for “Gospel” comes from the Greek word which means “Good News,” and each of the gospels present Jesus as the One who not only is the “Good News,” but who is also the One who brings it!

One of the common words that Mark uses as he moves his reader from one scene to the next is the word “immediately.” Thus, we can see that Mark’s Gospel portrays Jesus as the Servant who is “on the move” as He responds to the Father’s will. By preaching, teaching, and healing, He is seen as the One who “serves” His Father by constantly ministering to the needs of others, even to the point of death. The key passage in this Gospel is a statement that Jesus made about Himself as He reveals His mission to His disciples,

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45).

Interestingly, although Mark traveled with the Apostle Paul and Barnabas on the First Missionary Journey, he was not one of the original twelve disciples. However, we discover in Paul’s letter to the Church in Colossae that Barnabas and Mark were cousins, and because Peter referred to Mark as “my son” (1 Pet. 5:13), it is probable that Mark was led to faith in Christ by Peter. And because Mark was “raised in the faith” by one of the Apostles, namely Peter, Mark’s Gospel was recognized as “authoritative” by the early church.

As it turns out, Mark’s family was fairly wealthy, as we are told that his mother Mary had a large house with servants. Because of this, it was often used as a meeting place for believers in Jerusalem following Jesus’ resurrection. After Peter’s arrest and imprisonment, the believers in Jerusalem met together to pray for his release, and as it turned out, after his miraculous release from prison, Peter went immediately to this house and while he banged at the gate to be let in, the servant girl recognized his voice and let him in (Acts 12:12-16). It is also likely that Mark included himself in his own Gospel, referring to himself as a “certain young man…” in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night in which Jesus was betrayed and abandoned by all the disciples,

“And a certain young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body and they seized him. But he left the linen sheet behind and ran away naked” (Mk. 14:51-52).

Because all of the disciples had already abandoned Jesus, this appears to be a firsthand account of this incident in the Garden on Jesus last night with His disciples before His crucifixion.

Throughout the Gospel, Jesus is portrayed as both a Servant and the Redeemer of mankind. Mark makes sure that what Jesus taught was authenticated by His miracles. There are eighteen miracles recorded in this Gospel and they were recorded to not only portray Jesus’ power, but also His compassion on the masses. Mark shows his gentile readers how the Son of God, rejected by His own people, gains the victory over His apparent defeat at the cross.

There have always been two sections of the Gospel of Mark that I have been drawn to, and both of them combine Jesus’ personal mission with His admonition to His disciples.

“You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:42-45).

Mark wanted to make sure that the disciples’ mission to be servants to others flowed from Jesus’ own mission to be a Servant of all, as well as our Redeemer. In other words, through serving others, Jesus’ disciples would be able to point others to the greatest Servant of all, Jesus Christ, the One who came to redeem them. And here is the second passage of Mark’s Gospel that should resonate with all of us,

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s, shall save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mk. 8:34-37).     

So here is the message we can focus on in the Gospel of Mark: Jesus is the ultimate Servant who came to Redeem us from the penalty and power of sin, and He calls each of us to “deny ourselves” (that is, our own agendas); “take up the cross” (that is, dying to self); and “follow Him” (that is, allowing Him to direct the course of our lives). Jesus never promised that following Him would be easy, but by doing so, we would actually discover what real “living” is all about. I pray that you will discover this truth if you haven’t already done so.

May the Lord bless and keep you in His care.