By: Peter Barber, Danny Fitzgerald, Ryan Hartman, Brett Owings, and Andrew Reuling

Tradition holds that John Mark was the author, who was a traveling companion of Paul and Peter.

The Gospel is based on Peter’s testimonies.

Written in Rome during Nero’s persecution. This was probably when Peter was martyred.

Links the suffering of Jesus with his Resurrection.

The Gospel of Mark was written between 65-70 A.D.

The people it was written for were Gentile Christians who were suffering persecution for their faith in Jesus.

Another belief is it was written for Christians in Syria or Palestine to strengthen Christians suffering at the hands of the Romans during the first Jewish revolt against Rome.

Jesus is shown as someone who does mighty deeds and teaches with great authority. He is shown as the son of God the Messiah and the son of man who suffered for us. His message for us is that Jesus suffered and walked the path to eternal life.

The symbolic message of Mark’s gospel is the winged lion.

This is because his voice is compared to the voice of a roaring lion.

It’s derived from Mark’s description of the John the Baptist’s voice which he says is like a crying out in the wilderness.  

Mark continually asks his readers two hidden questions. Who is this person? And Will you follow Jesus? They are answered in something known as messianic secret.

The messianic secret refers to Jesus’ followers not telling others about Him being the Messiah and concealing his identity. This makes Mark’s Gospel unique.

In Mark 3: 7-12, the author writes about Jesus talking about the Messianic Secret. A crowd is surrounding him and all of the sick want to be healed. They fell to their knees and cried out, “You are the Son of God!” Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about Him.

Get in small groups and discuss the following:◦Do you think Mark’s portrayal of Jesus as the suffering servant is accurate? What other roles do you think Jesus fulfilled?

◦Why do you think Mark wrote for a suffering Gentile audience?

◦Do you think the lion is an appropriate symbol for Mark’s Gospel? What other symbols could represent his writings?

◦Did Mark’s Gospel offer helpful insight that the other Gospels couldn’t?

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+3%3A7-12&version=NIV

http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/gospel-of-mark.htm