What is the setting in Mark's Gospel?

Answer 1

A: Mark's Gospel has been described as a story of the passion, with a long introduction. Jesus begins his mission in Galilee, but six of the sixteen chapters take place in Jerusalem. The gospel originally ends at verse 16:8, with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen and they fled in terror, telling no one. The 'Long Ending', verses 16:9-20, was added much later and was not part of Mark's original setting.

Mark's Gospel is set around an elegant parallel structure, a literary sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another, parallel set of events that mirrors the first. In Mark's Gospel:

• The opening set begins with John explaining the coming of Jesus, followed by the baptism and the voice of God from heaven, and ends with Jesus predicting his death (9:1).
• The contrasting structure begins with the Transfiguration of Jesus and the voice of God from heaven, and ends with the crucifixion, followed by the young man explaining the departure of Jesus.