The Importance of St.Mark's Gospel for Christians
Discipleship means you are excepting Gods will. It involves putting
others before you and relying completely on God. You must be willing
to sacrifice everything. This means you must have a strong connection
with God and must be willing to struggle through all obstacles. You do
not need to be rich or highly ranked in society. The disciples Jesus
chose were not from these backgrounds and were not from similar
backgrounds. I intend on examining the nature of the disciples Jesus
chose by writing about how they showed this nature.
The first to be called were Peter and Andrew. When Jesus called them
they immediately left all behind and went with him. “Come with me, and
I will teach you to catch people. At once they left their nets and
went with him.” They left their lives behind for Jesus. Not all
responded to this message as well for example the rich young man “When
the man heard this, gloom spread over his face, and he went away very
sad, because he was very rich.” He let his wealth bar him from his
religion. This shows that in order to be a disciple you must be able
to trust God and make an immediate decision without hesitation. This
is the true nature of discipleship.
Jesus gave the first disciples a mission. “Go throughout the whole
world and preach the gospel to the whole human race.” He called twelve
disciples together and sent them out two by two. Jesus gave them
authority over evil and he told them to travel light depending on the
hospitality of towns they visited. This shows they were meant to help
Jesus spread the good news. This story shows if you place complete
trust in God you will be saved. The nature of discipleship means
fulfilling the mission God gave them.
The first disciples also had to make many sacrifices. The best example
of self sacrifice in Marks gospel was displayed by the poor widow.
“Then a poor little widow dropped in two copper coins.
In a survey conducted in 2012, LifeWay.com inquired about the importance of evangelism among members of the Christian faith. The results of the survey showed that 80 percent of people who claimed to follow Jesus Christ and had openly devoted themselves to the teaching of Christianity, felt that they had a “personal responsibility to share their religious views and beliefs about Jesus Christ with non-christians” (Wilke, LifeWay.com). Surveys such as this reflect the Christian doctrine of evangelism and the weight it holds within the Christian faith. As can be seen back in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ commanded His followers “to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).” However, Jesus never told His followers how doing this.
To be a true disciple of Jesus one must not disown or deny Jesus but
Mark's Gospel and Nature of Discipleship In Mark's Gospel, there are many accounts of Jesus' disciples and Apostles which are helpful to Christians as examples of the nature of discipleship. In this part of my coursework essay I hope to address questions involving what Mark's Gospel tells us about Jesus' disciples and Apostles, as well as defining the principle of what being a disciple entails, and defining also who the apostles were. This is because by learning about past disciples and the Apostles, a modern disciple of the Church can learn about the nature of discipleship. A disciple is somebody who is inspired enough by somebody to learn about them, listen to their ideas and follow them and their way of life.
The beginning and ending of the Gospel of Mark really support the four main themes present within the Gospel. The four main themes in the Gospel are: Jesus as being enigmatic, Jesus as a sufferer, Low Christology and Apocalypticism present within the Gospel. The beginning and ending of this Gospel support Jesus as being misunderstood because in the beginning, there is no birth story of Jesus or any background information presented, Jesus is just there. This makes one question where did he come from and who was he born to? In the end of the Gospel, the tomb is described as empty and the last sentences of the Gospel in Mark 16: 8 says: “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (1743). This ending of the Gospel is enigmatic because there is no mention of Jesus’ resurrection or whether anyone ever found out that Jesus had ascended to Heaven. The beginning and ending, not to mention the entire Gospel, leaves one wondering many things about Jesus, because his whole existence in Mark is very mys...
who "does what God wants them to do". This simply means that if we put
Mark's Gospel, Christians, and Persecution In Mark's Gospel it shows that Jesus was persecuted in many forms; rejection, threats, mockery and being arrested, this ended up as death. Persecution still happens in the less developed world of today in countries like Egypt, China, Pakistan and parts of Indonesia. The main persecutions Jesus suffered in Mark's Gospel were; threats Jesus reacted by feeling angry but as soon as he looked around he changed his anger to sorrow. When he was being treated he carried on normally and ignored them.
The Effects of Marks Gospel on the Lives of Christians on Sundays How do the teachings of Jesus from Marks Gospel affect the lives of Christians today on Sundays? Today Christians should try and behave like Jesus use to on the Sabbath. We know that Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, he would pray, worship, heal and then spend time with his friends and family. Today Catholics worship on Sunday by going to church for mass and then spending time doing what they want after.
Similar to the Gospel of John the Epistles of John catalogues a variety of themes on discipleship. However, four main qualities of discipleship are highlighted in his letters, these are witness, obedience, chosen, and indwelling. These four qualities are announced in the first four verses of 1 John 1 by the apostle explaining how disciples of Christ are witnesses to the glory of Christ through their experiences of sight, sound, and touch (1John 1:1). While being able to experience the greatness of Christ is important to the reality of disciples, John exclaims that experience is not enough and one must publicly “testify to it” (1John1:2) and “proclaim to [the world] the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us” (1John1:2). Witnessing to the faith is an important quality also presented in 3
The Meaning of Discipleship In this piece of coursework I will be writing about the meaning of
Modern Day Disciples Following Jesus today is harder than it used to be, but modern day. disciples do not exist. Christians try to see Jesus in other people and they follow Jesus' example and teachings. An everyday Christian would try to see the good in everybody, try to forgive others when hurt or unhappy and apologise for things that they do wrong.
One of the main characteristics of the gospel of Mark is it’s length. Mark is much shorter than Matthew and Luke, but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality. The author of Mark does not slow down the gospel story and makes sure that only important and relevant details are included. When Mark is compared with Matthew and Luke, it becomes obvious to see what Mark has eliminated. The author’s omission of Jesus’ birth, lineage, resurrection, and ascension denote careful planning and purpose in the gospel of Mark.
Jesus Christ lived a very full, if short, life. He did and accomplished more in his thirty years than many men do in twice that. The gospels each tell their versions of his life. Of the four, I found the gospel of Mark to be the most interesting. I enjoy the style of writing in this gospel more than the others. I feel it gives a better summary of the events in Christ’s life. Whereas the other gospels tend to get bogged down with parables or spend too much time on specific events, the gospel of Mark moves along at a good pace and adequately gets the message across.
Mark 8:34 is the only time on the Gospel when Jesus calls the crowd together with disciples because his message is of very high importance. The price for discipleship is a complete denial of yourself in the name of God . And the mission of Jesus is to bring this message to humankind through his suffering and death on the cross. In Mark's gospel Jesus provides his identity which becomes the turning point in the human history. Before He was teaching, healing the sick, had scraps with authorities and established a group of disciples . Was it his mission? No. Jesus is the Messiah.
Willson, S. (1990). Discipleship according to Jesus : a sermon on Mark 3:13-19. Presbyterion, 16(2), 73-80.
Evangelism is one of the key component for changing people’s lives. McRaney states, “The word evangelism comes from a combination of Greek words for “good” and “messenger.” Evangelism involves bringing the goods. Kent Hunter reminded us that “when Christians witness, they tell how Jesus Christ has changed their own lives. The change in their own lives gives them the desires to share the Good News with others.” Christians must share their testimony to people and spread the gospel so that they can bring lost souls to Christ. God has commissioned every Christian to evangelize so that people will learn about Jesus Christ and accept Him as their personal savior. Matthew 28:19 states, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Christians are required to spread the Gospel throughout the world and can no longer just attend church. Christians must plant seeds and water the seeds so that lost souls will be saved.