over 600 of its 661 verses find a parallel in Matthew’s.

The author fails to mention himself and this is a characteristic of all the Gospels. They all seemed to have the ambition of diverting attention away from themselves and giving the main character of their books the centre stage. The Gospel of Mark is so titled because a man named Mark wrote it. Most Bible scholars seem to agree this was John Mark (Acts 12:12).

Tradition says that Mark wanted to put down Peter’s preaching in writing before he died. There was an urgent need for this, as the apostles were beginning to die off, and the christian community needed to have a written record of their preaching.

Chapter 8 of Mark's Gospel brings a turning point in the Gospel. It many ways it is the climax. Jesus asks his disciples who men say he is and Peter gives his inspired answer. Immediately after this, we have Jesus who brings the issue of his death to the light for the first time. Until this point he had not mentioned it. This is probably why Peter was so disturbed and took Jesus aside to advise him not to say such things.

It is as if Jesus had to wait for them to know who he was before he could reveal his mission to them. For well over two years the disciples followed Jesus about without knowing anything about the type of death he was to die. They knew little of his real mission.

Some scholars believe that evidence that this gospel is based on an eyewitness account can be found in the little details which this gospel preserves, details which can only have been known by an eyewitness.

The Gospel of Mark portrays, more than any of the other Gospels's, the desire of Jesus to keep His identity secret. Theology refers to this as the messianic secret. (1:25, 34, 1:43, 3:12, 5:43, 7:24, 7:36, 8:26, 8:30, 9:30) in all these places Jesus is telling people not to broadcast the fact of who He is. This is also recorded in the other Gospels but not in the same frequency.

Some topics in this essay:
Gospel Mark, Rome Gospel, AD Rome, Immediately Jesus, Son God, Mark Peter’s, Mark's Gospel, Barnabas Acts, Peter Papias, Schizo Spirit, mark's gospel, gospel mark, mark's gospel gospel, mark wrote, river jordan, speaks death, gospel gospel, matthew luke, jesus speaks, speaks death disciples, jesus speaks death, death disciples,