Reflection Of The Gospel Of Mark

The Gospel of Mark, as written by the prophet John Mark, compiles firsthand insight into the life of Jesus. Throughout, Mark describes accounts of Jesus as he made of himself a public image. But, who was Jesus? Why did he come, or, rather, why was he sent to Earth, and why did he die? Ironically, the characters within this book, some of which devoted their lives to serving the living Messiah, struggled to grasp these same concepts, and answer those same questions.

The complexity of Jesus’ identity makes it difficult for him to summarize it in one statement; for this reason, he uses multiple different descriptions of himself, and even lets his followers come to their own conclusions to his representative identity. The disciple Peter concludes

This, however, is but a modern interpretation. During this time, all of Jesus’ disciples wrestled with the concept of him as a servant king, rather than a dominating king that could deliver the Jews from the control of the Romans. Jesus summarizes his own humanly purpose in a rather noteworthy statement to his disciples within Mark 10, verses 43-45: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” What was initially believed to be a complex concept that nonplussed even the holiest and most godly of people was summarized elegantly into nothing more than a straightforward statement, a metaphysical representation of Jesus’ own sacrifice and the summary of the history and relationship between God and his own creation.

John Mark’s literary account of the life of Jesus summarizes the multiple motives behind the existence of the Living God. Jesus of Nazareth was the crucified Messiah, the risen King over Israel. He came to a damaged Earth to deliver the fallen from the evils of Satan, and he sacrificed himself on the cross to be the deliverer of sins and the ransom for