Guide
What Is the Gospel of Mark?
Late 1st Century
Restricted
Considered the earliest gospel in the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark is one of the three Synoptic Gospels and was likely written near the end of the first century CE. Most scholars agree that Mark served as a source text for Matthew and Luke, the other two Synoptic Gospels. Mark discusses the life of Jesus but seems less concerned with offering a historical or chronological narrative than with communicating theological concepts using literary strategies found in contemporary Greco-Roman biographies.
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
Jesus’ Crucifixion and Death
Mark 15:23–41|Matthew 27:32–56|Luke 23:26–49|John 19:16–30
And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.It was…
Primary Source
Jesus’ Resurrection
Mark 16:1–8|Matthew 28:1–15|Luke 24:1–12|John 20:1–23
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first…
Primary Source
Jesus’ Parables
Mark 4:33–34|Matthew 13:1–53
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in…
Primary Source
The Son of Man and the Messianic Secret
Mark 8:27–33|Matthew 16:13–23|Luke 9:18–22
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered…
Primary Source
Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple and the End Times
Mark 13:1–37
As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone…
Primary Source
Eating with Defiled Hands
Mark 7:1–23
Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them…
Primary Source
John’s Prediction of Jesus’ Coming
Mark 1:2–11|Matthew 3:1–17|Luke 3:1–22|John 1:29–34
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the…
Primary Source
Jesus Revives the Archisynagōgos’s Daughter
Mark 5:21–24, 35–43
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue [archisynagōgōn] named Jairus came…
Primary Source
Jesus’ Trial before the Sanhedrin
Mark 14:53–65
They took Jesus to the high priest; and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes were assembled. Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he…
Primary Source
Criticism of Scribes
Mark 12:28–40
One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is…
Primary Source
Jesus Travels to the Temple
Luke 2 (selections)|Mark 10–11|Luke 19 (selections)
When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in…
Primary Source
The Parable of the Sower
Mark 4:1–20
Again he [Jesus] began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. He…
Primary Source
Passover in the Stories of Jesus’ Execution
John 11–19 (selections)|Mark 14–16 (selections)
It was two days before the Passover and the…
Primary Source
Plucking Grain and Performing Miracles on the Sabbath
Mark 2:23–3:6
One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees…
Primary Source
Jesus on Divorce
Mark 10:1–12
He left that place and went to the region of Judaea and beyond the Jordan. And crowds again gathered around him; and, as was his custom, he again taught them.
Some Pharisees…
Primary Source
Jesus Debates the Sadducees on Resurrection
Mark 12:18–27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man…
Primary Source
Eternal Worms and Fire
Mark 9:43–48
If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.And if your foot causes you to stumble…
Primary Source
The Punishment of John the Baptist
Mark 6:14–29|Luke 3:18–20
King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” But…
Primary Source
The New Testament on Preaching and Teaching in the Synagogue
Mark 6:1–2|Luke 4:14–15|Acts 14:1; 17:1–3, 16–18
He [Jesus] left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him…
Primary Source
The Gospel of Mark on Handwashing and Purity
Mark 7:1–7, 14–23
Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them…
Related Guide
The Gospels as Jewish Literature
Late 1st–Early 2nd Century
Related Guide
Ancient Jewish Communal Identities: Early Christians
1st–2nd Century