What did Mark concentrate on when writing his Gospel?

Answer 1

The three accounts of Christ, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all present Christ from different angles of view points.

Notice that Matthew starts off with an account of Joseph of the house of David, which was the king line of the house of Israel. Therefore, Christ is presented from the view point of King of Israel, since Mary married Joseph

The book of Mark starts with Christ at his adult age, being baptized by the holy spirit and becoming Emmanuel (God with us), just as it was promised at the mouth of the prophet Isaiah 7:14

The book of Luke starts with the priest line (house of Aaron) of the tribe of Levi. Here Christ is presented as the High Priest. Also the promise of the prophecy if Isaiah 7:14 is fulfilled as Christ is conceived by a Virgin who has known no man.

Answer 2

The Gospel we now know as Mark's Gospel was originally anonymous, until the second century when the Church Fathers attributed the New Testament gospels to the authors they believed were probably the actual authors. Mark's Gospel is entirely about the mission of Jesus, his crucifixion and resurrection, with almost half of the gospel based on the last week before the crucifixion. As originally written, the Gospel ended at verse 16:8, with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen and they fled in terror, telling no one.

By looking at the parallel structure that forms a framework for the Gospel as a whole, we can also see that the author focussed on how events unfolded towards the inevitable end of Jesus' mission on earth. A parallel structure is a literary sequence in which an opening set of events (here, events A-X) is contrasted with another, parallel set of events (events A'-X') that mirrors the first:

A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

In the above summary, we can see that event R occupies around two whole chapters, and is therefore a very important part of the first set of events. Mark 6:33-8:21 form an integrated set of passages with ten references or allusions to food, including a summary by Jesus of the two feasts in 8:19-21, maintaining a consistent theme of food, plus a minor theme of not understanding:

• Jesus and the disciples had no leisure so much as to eat , so they went into a desert place
• Feeding the 5000
• When Jesus walked on water the disciples were amazed, for they considered not the miracle of the loaves
• Pharisees complain about the disciples eating with unwashed hands
• Discourse - what goes into a man goes into his belly and does not defile
• Greek woman metaphorically begs for crumbs from the table
• Feeding the 4000
• Disciples are hungry and have only one loaf of bread
• Jesus warns the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and they reason, "It is because we have no bread," showing they do not understand
• Summary by Jesus of the two feasts

The importance Mark placed on event R can be recognised when we see that the matching event, R', is the Last Supper, which is then linked to the events of the Passion by a smaller chiastic structure:

A. When it was evening they sat down to eat (Mark 14:17-18).
--- This was the Passover feast, which traditionally took three hours.

B. When they had sung a hymn, Jesus took them to the Garden of Gethsemene

--- They stayed there for three hours, as Jesus prayed three times, asking "Could you not stay awake one hour?"

C. At midnight, Jesus was betrayed by Judas.

--- This will be reflected by the darkness at midday.

D. After three hours, Jesus was led away for a trial before the high priest and other senior priests and elders.

--- The hours are counted off by Peter's denial of Jesus once each hour for three hours.

E. "As soon as it was morning" ", Jesus was led away for trial by Pontius Pilate.

--- The ancients divided the day into exactly 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of daylight, regardless of season.

D' At the third hour (9 o'clock) they crucified him.

C' "When the sixth hour had come" (12 noon) , darkness covered the whole earth

--- This reflected the betrayal at 12 midnight.

B' At 3 o'clock Jesus cried out and gave up the ghost.

--- The three hours of darkness, until 3 p.m. mirror the agony in the Garden of Gethsemene.

--- Jesus' last words, "My God. My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" reflect the recognition that his prayer in the Garden has not been answered.

A' Joseph of Arimathea then asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, so that he could be buried before the sun went down and the Sabbath began.