Mark

  The gospel according to Mark is the earliest written text accepted into the New Testament that tells the good news of Jesus the Messiah. It is also the shortest and the one with the least “editorializing”.

 In Mark, there’s only the bare story of one Yeshua from Nazareth, Galilee, who is a rabbi (teacher), a healer, exorcist, and a miracle worker. He preaches about the coming of a new era and a new “kingdom” of God and the need to prepare for it.

 The mystery of the Messiah or Savior is shrowded in Jesus’ self-identification as “the Son of Man” (in Hebrew בן–אדם or ben-'adam). This was later used to insist on Jesus’ humanity. As to the divinity, Jesus leaves that up in the air, although there are hints, such as at his baptism by John the Baptist, when a voice from heaven says “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

 Also interesting are the two endings of the gospel. In one, the empty tomb is found: end of story. In the other, the risen Jesus appears to the disciples and commissions them to spread the news of his teaching and rising from the dead.

 There is also the issue of Mark’s identity. The Acts of the Apostles identifies a John Mark,  an assistant accompanying Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journeys. According to Eusebius of Cesarea, a bishop who was present at Nicea and was the author of the first post-NT history of Christianity, Historia Ecclesiastica, St. Peter met John Mark in Rome.

 St. Mark the Evangelist is also credited with founding, in 49AD, the Church of Alexandria, Egypt, one of the original Apostolic Sees of Christianity, along with Rome, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. Today, the Coptic, Orthodox, and Coptic Catholic Church all claim to be direct heirs of Mark’s original church community.

 This is the traditional story. Some scholars dispute it, but they offer no credible alternative.

 In terms of the NT, the Gospel of Mark, as the first text, is widely understood to be the basis for Matthew and Luke, along with a collection of other materials scholars call Q.