Mark Book Study - the StoryNäide

Introduction to Mark

Do you like mystery stories? Mark's Gospel is one of the greatest ever written. Have you ever read those children's stories in which you're invited to write your own ending? Mark is like that.

I've just read Mark right through and was powerfully moved by the tension and intrigue. Mark loves paradox. He loves to leave questions hanging in the air. Even the end is mysterious.

You have to read it right through to get the full effect. Or, better still, hear it. It was written to be read aloud. Mark's vivid descriptions, his accounts of people's emotions, and his rhetorical questions all draw us into the story and leave us asking with the disciples, "Who is this man?"

The actor Alec McCowen made it famous as a theatrical performance in London, Broadway and even at the White House. You can watch it on YouTube.

Mark probably ended his book at 16:8, with the rest added later. Again we are left hanging. The story has not ended. (And we are part of it.)

Mark is probably the earliest of the four Gospels and was written by John Mark, the friend of Peter and Barnabas. From the earliest times, it is believed that Peter was his main source.

Annabel Robinson