Mark’s Gospel in Sneakers – Introduction to Mark’s Gospel.

Mark’s gospel is packed but punchy. Brian suggests we should read it with our sneakers on as it is an action packed story.

Mark’s Gospel in Three Minutes

Do you like movie trailers?  They are meant to tell you enough to grab your curiosity, but not everything, so you’ll pay to watch the whole movie.  I’d like to give you a teaser for the Gospel of Mark.  Mark opens his Gospel “on the run”.  Or you might say, “On your mark, get set, Go.”  So, lace up your sneakers, here is Mark in 3 minutes:

Kingdom and King

In the first 8 chapters of Mark, Jesus presents a Kingdom and he is its King.  In the last 8 chapters, he is the King moving toward a Cross. 

Mark Miracles and More

The word for “immediately” appears 41 times in Mark.  There are more miracles in Mark than in the other 3 Gospels, even though Mark is much shorter. There are 37 miracles in the 4 Gospels and 19 of them happen in Mark.

In the most important case ever tried by any Supreme Court, they vote 69 to 2 against Jesus, the only completely innocent person in all history.  

2 completely blind men receive their sight from Jesus, but crowds of important people are blind to who Jesus really is – Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, the Roman government.

4 men rip apart a roof to get to Jesus.  Demons beg to get away from Jesus by going into 2,000 pigs.

Two of the Old Testament’s greatest prophets – Moses and Elijah – appear on a mountain where Jesus shines brighter than the 400 trillion, trillion watts of the sun.

Twelve Disciples

Jesus chooses 12 very ordinary men to be his apostles.  They fumble and fail many times, but after their time with Jesus, they are described as men who turned the world upside down.  A man named Peter pays Jesus the greatest compliment and the worst insult … all in the space of a few seconds.  Jesus predicts his death & resurrection 3 times, and the disciples are still shocked when both happen.

Jesus is a walking miracle: He walks on water and hushes the storm to sleep.  He multiplies a single lunch to feed thousands of people.  He heals leprosy and epilepsy.  He heals the blind, the deaf, the paralyzed and the speechless.  He drives out demons, rebukes the devil and brings a little girl back to life as if he were waking her up from an afternoon nap.

Get Going in Living the Gospel

In the very first verse, Mark tells us who Jesus is:

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  (Mark 1:1 ESV) At the end of Mark, that same Jesus tells Christians what we must do: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”  (Mark 16:15).

Mark is inviting us to get going in living the Gospel. 

That teaser took about 3 minutes. And here’s a challenge – read the whole Gospel of Mark – you can do it in about 90 minutes.  And it won’t cost you a movie ticket.  On your mark, get set —

Have you read Mark’s gospel? What did you think of it?  Contact us at HopeStreamRadio,  or comment below.