Over the course of the next year most of my sermons will be taken from passages in the Gospel According to Mark. Mark’s Gospel is interesting because it was the first gospel written and it is one of the oldest books in the New Testament. As such, it was written at a time when early church’s ideas about who Jesus was were more vague and less settled. Mark does not speak of Jesus’ miracle birth, and while it speaks of his resurrection Jesus never appears in his resurrected form. Mark is filled with stories of miracles, but Jesus’ role as a teacher is less important (though his miracles are all object lessons, which means that in Mark, Jesus leads more with his actions than with his words).
The Gospel of Mark is written with a strong sense of urgency. It seems that the author of Mark was convinced Jesus would be returning soon, and he wanted to make sure the story got out. Mark’s literary style makes use of short, simple sentences (think Earnest Hemmingway rather than Gabriel Garcia Marquez), and many of the stories of Mark begin with the word “immediately.”
As we go through Mark together, I hope you will consider what it means to meet God in ways not necessarily encumbered by Church doctrine, and I hope you will ask what it means to practice an urgent faith, a faith that is eager to change the world, a faith that is quick to dispense grace and to live lives marked with God’s love.
I look forward to reading and considering Mark with you!
Ben