When you pick up Mark, and read it (it takes only
1-1/2 hours to read Mark aloud), you have before you the first
life of Jesus ever written. Barclay suggests Mark is "the
most important book in the world."

Mark was, in Laurence Housman’s words, The saint
who first found grace to pen / The life which was the Light of
men.

A generation had gone since Jesus had lived, died,
and risen. Naturally people in a generally non-literate world
preferred to hear the living voices of eye-witnesses to reading
about Him. But many of these eye-witnesses had now died, others
were being executed. So the many new converts flocking into the
churches needed a written record recounting these great events.
So "stump-fingered" Mark (as they called him) procured
a reed-pen and papyrus, and began to compose the earliest gospel.

It’s a gospel of action, the story rushing along
with breathless vividness. Words like "immediately"
(Greek eithus) are used many times. Mark’s style is blunt, colloquial
and racy. He tells his story vividly (using, eg, the historic
present tense 151 times).

These are the "memoirs of Peter", and Mark
describes some happenings which weren’t witnessed by anyone else
except Peter (and sometimes one or two others). There are many
"eye-witness" details: 5,000 squatting down on "green
grass" like so many "garden plots"; Jesus asleep
on a "rower’s cushion" etc. Mark often mentions Aramaic
words (see, eg, 5:41, 7:34, 14:36, 15:34).

The first words a congregation would hear, Arche
tou euangeliou Iesou Christou, "The beginning of the gospel
of Jesus Christ" tell us what Mark is "on about".
He has sone "good news" for us. Mark is "gospel"
not biography as such. Remember these stories were essentially
the apostolic preaching; they were told and re-told, then applied.
When you write biography you tell about a person’s background,
appearance, health, personality characteristics etc. Mark virtually
tells us nothing about Jesus in these respects.

Mark wrote for the Roman world, (Matthew for Jews,
with many OT quotations, and Luke for Greeks). Mark also wrote
for persecuted, sufferers": it’s the "martyr gospel".

And what is Mark’s "good news" in a nutshell?
I like John Gladstone’s three-point summary:

1. Mark presents the person of Jesus as the Son of
God Mark isn’t primarily concerned with Jesus as teacher, prophet,
or even Messiah. His gospel begins with a resounding declaration
of faith in Jesus the Son of God. And there is a "Mysterious
undercurrent" running through his story. Jesus speaks as
one directly inspired by God (1:22). He does things which leave
people "amazed", "awe-struck" (2:12, 4:41,
6:50). Even the wind and the sea obey Him!

But Mark also stresses the real humanity of Jesus
– sometimes happy, sometimes sad; now tender, now stern; sometimes
hungry and tired; compassionate, but also occasionally angry.
In Jesus God became man so that we might become more like God.

2. Mark presents the purpose of Jesus as the Kingdom
of God "Jesus … preached ‘the right time has come, the
Kingdom of God is near’." (1:14-15). Jesus was announcing
the sovereign rule of God, by which God would assert His authoritative
plan and bring everything into conformity to His will. Menninger,
the distinguished psychiatrist, was often asked for the secret
of a happy life. "Find a mission in life," he said,
"and take it seriously." According to Jesus, the highest
goal in life is to be an agent of the Divine purpose, to be a
partner in the Divine mission. Or, to put it simply: To do what
God wants us to do, to fulfil Hisk beautiful purpose for our lives.

But in the second half of Mark (8:31 +) the mood
and emphasis change. Opposition is gathering, and the story moves
towards its climax in Jerusalem.

3. Mark presents the passion of Jesus as the victory
of God Jesus died, in His own words, "to give His life a
ransom for many". Mark’s story is certainly not about "one
more unfortunate gone to his death". In the death and resurrection
of Jesus we see the triumph of God over sin and evil and death,
a victory we share by faith and which in good time the world will
witness as fact.

The "strong Son of God" presented by Mark
achieved a mighty triumph over His foes. And He asks some hard
things of us – our turning from sin, faith, love, loyalty, obedience,
service. His is the victory, and the power and the glory – and
when He fills our lives, we share these triumphs too.