This study, taught by Pastor Barry Forder, is the 33rd session of our ‘Through-the-Bible-in-a-Year’ series recorded during 2014 as part of our Sunday morning family services.
In this session we look at the Gospel of Mark.
With the Gospels we have a four-fold presentation of Jesus, each from a different perspective. Mark (it is said by the early Church fathers) is essentially the ‘Gospel of Peter’, with Mark acting as an ‘amanuensis’ (secretary) for Peter, who presents Jesus as a Servant. It was customary in those days for an amanuensis to be able to write short-hand, and Mark certainly seems to do this. As Dr Chuck Missler comments: Mark’s is that of a shooting script, as for a movie or a teleplay. It moves rapidly through a series of visual images, emphasizing action. Mark continually uses a word euvqe,wj eutheos, which is translated “immediately,” “straightway,” “forthwith,” “anon,” etc. (It appears over 40 times—about equal to the rest of the NT. Only seven in Matthew; once in Luke.)
An early church tradition suggests that it was Mark who was the certain “young man” who followed Christ right up to His entry into the house of the high priest and then, when the guards tried to lay hold of him, left the linen cloth that he was clothed with in their hands and fled naked. (Mk 14:51-52). Mark was the only one who included this incident.
May this overview prompt you to undertake your own study of this divinely inspired book.
The PDF slides are from the PowerPoint presentation used during the teaching session.
You can listen to the audio on this web page, or save it for later listening.
