Disciples Global Network

A brief introduction to, and outline of, the gospel of Mark, its history, contents, and literary structure .  The New Testament includes four gospel accounts, the gospels of  Matthew ,  Mark ,  Luke , and  John . The first three are categorized as ‘synoptic’ gospels, meaning “to see together.” The term is a compound of the Greek preposition  sun  (“together”) and  optikos  (“to see”), hence - “ to see together .”

The feeding of 5,000 men was a spectacular witness to Israel, yet most Jews continued to reject Jesus as Israel’s Messiah  -  Mark 6:31-56 .  The  feeding of the five thousand  is the only miracle story recorded in all four gospel accounts, which demonstrates its importance to the early church. In John’s gospel, it occurred near the Passover season. In  Luke , only the twelve disciples participated in the distribution of bread and fish.  Mark  places the story after the account of the execution of John the Baptist.

Jesus healed two women, restoring both to a state of ritual purity – Mark 5:21-43 .  Mark presents two stories about women in need of healing. The theme that links the two accounts is that of a woman in need of physical healing and restoration to a state of ritual purity. Both were “unclean” due to their physical condition; the first was because of a flow of blood, and the second due to her recent death.

Jesus compared the final years before his return to the days leading up to the Great Flood. “ Just as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be ” when the “ Son of Man ” returns. Some commentators take this as a prediction of the return of the same conditions existing in Noah’s day, the repetition of the moral anarchy and violence that prompted God to send the floodwaters.

Jesus declared, “ The Spirit makes alive. The flesh profits nothing. The words which I have spoken to you, they are spirit, and they are life .” His statement echoes the principle that life and the Spirit of God are inextricably linked. The “ flesh ” is not inherently evil, but it has no lasting life apart from the Holy Spirit. This principle was demonstrated at the original creation, and now the same Spirit is essential for the bodily resurrection of believers and everlasting life in the age to come.