Gospel of Mark Themes

Don't make Jesus mad. Yes, he asserts that the second-most important command is to love your neighbor as yourself (12:33). Yes, he urges his disciples to be forgiving while they pray (11:25). But J...

Mark may call his story "good news" (1:1), but Jesus's arrival isn't all it's cracked up to be in the happily-ever-after department. Turns out it will exact extreme suffering and—yes—grief and...

The disciples are pretty ridiculous, don't you think? In the other gospels, they clean up their act quite a bit. But in Mark, the disciples are poor readers of Jesus's figurative and allegorical
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Talk about a complex portrayal. On one hand, female followers of Jesus make impressive efforts at the end of the story to be faithful in contrast to their male counterparts (15:40-41; 16:1). Jesus...

Jesus is a walking oracle. He's always tossing out prophecies, many of which actually come true in the course of the narrative. We're probably supposed to think that several others will be fulfille...

According to Mark's account, the Son of God has appeared on earth. Pretty big deal, right? But for Mark, much more is in store for a future when everything will be transformed from the bottom up. H...

Say you're looking for the job of your dreams when you come across this ad for an open position: "You want to suffer? Is your idea of success coming in last place and serving others? Then this is t...