11
"Thus the Marcan Jesus is neither, as in Matthew, the giver of a new law, nor as in Luke, the preacher of a
catholic paternity ... His portrait is drawn with the utmost economy of line and colour. Practically all is subordinated
to the emphasising of His Messianic intention. First He announces the Messianic kingdom, then He admits His
Messianic position, then He publicly assesses the Messianic role, goes up to Jerusalem to die, and dies for His
Messianic claim".
W
e appreciate the note in the Companion Bible, p. 1381, which reads :
"The Four Gospels are treated in the Companion Bible not as four culprits brought up on a charge of fraud, but
as four witnesses whose testimony is to be received".
The difference between these four witnesses however must wait until, as in the foregoing articles on Matthew,
we have attained some idea of the structural outline of the gospel itself. Blackwall in his Sacred Classics wrote of
Mark's Gospel :
"Simplicity and conciseness are its characteristics; for the majesty of the subject, the variety of the actions
recorded, and the surprising circumstances attending them together with the important doctrines and precepts laid
down, this is the shortest, the clearest, the most marvellous, and at the same time the most satisfactory history in the
world".
Written across the Gospel according to Mark are the words recorded in 10:45, thus :
The Son of Man came (1:1-13).
To minister (1:14 to 8:30),
And to give His life a ransom for many
(8:31 to 16:20),
which three sub-divisions are summed up by Campbell Morgan as :
Sanctification, " Service, " Sacrifice.
Like Matthew, who was also called Levi, Mark is referred to as "John whose surname is Mark" (Acts
12:12,25), and the Latin surname suggests some association with a Roman family. Mark has a fair sprinkling of
Latin words; he translates the meaning of the Aramaic expressions introduced and explains Jewish customs. The
fact that Mark wrote for the Romans would explain the omission of the genealogy and the general absence of
quotation from the Old Testament Scriptures. The passage quoted at the beginning of the Gospel is the only
exception, for the quotation given in 15:28 is omitted in the R.V. Writing for Romans--who were men of action
and whose ideals differed materially from both those of the Greeks and the Hebrews--Mark emphasises the acts
rather than the discourses of the Saviour, a feature which his frequent use of the words "immediately" and
"straightway", intensifies. Mark differs from Matthew not only in the omission of the genealogy and quotations
from the Old Testament, but in his treatment of a common theme and his selection of material. For example, where
Matthew records fourteen parables Mark records but four; where Matthew occupies a whole chapter of forty-two
verses (10:1-42) to record the call and commission of the twelve apostles, Mark compresses this subject into seven
verses (6:7-13); where Matthew's purpose demanded thirty-nine verses (23:1-39) in setting forth the denunciation of
the Scribes and Pharisees, Mark's purpose is served by the use of but three (12:38-40); where Matthew records in
detail the temptation in the wilderness (4:1-11), Mark simply records the fact that the Lord was there in the
wilderness forty days, tempted of the devil (1:13). Perhaps, with his Roman readers in mind Mark makes one
addition to the record, namely, that the Lord was "with the wild beasts" (1:12,13). Mark does not record the
"Lord's Prayer", a strong echo in chapter 11:24-26 satisfying the requirements of his gospel. In the face of so much
abbreviation and omission, the full report of the prophecy of the second coming found in Mark 13, shows the
extreme importance that must be attached to this epoch-making event for Israel and the nations of the earth.
While the articles combined in this booklet were in preparation, a very precious letter was received from a
valued fellow-worker, which so beautifully brings to light what we were feeling after, that we can do no more than
quote it here, trusting that the reader will be as helped by its reprint as we were at its first reading.