The Book of Mark

ESSAY ON THE LIFE OF MARK

By

Keyna Douglas

A Project

Submitted to Minister Carlos Tomlinson

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

Synoptic Gospels

Kingston Extension Bible School

Kingston, Jamaica

November 2015

The Life of Mark

Not much is mentioned about who Mark was, however, traditionally he was known as John Mark the author of one of the books in the New Testament, “The Gospel of Mark”(“The Book of Mark)”.

His mother was known as Mary, a woman who was seemingly wealthy as she was the owner of slaves and also owned the home that was used as the meeting place for the deliverance of Peter when he was in prison.  He was also the cousin of Barnabas who was a man of property, thus assuming that Mark was from a family of some sort of wealth.

Mark was introduced to the ministry by Barnabas, who took him along on his first missionary journey with Paul as an assistant and an understudy.

At some point in his role in the mission he was silent for about ten years which was influenced by some disagreement between him and Paul.  However at the end of this ten year silent period it seemed they had sorted out their differences because he was once again accompanying Paul, this time to Rome. The claim of their reconciliation was supported by the fact that Paul recommended him to the Colossian church and characterized him as useful to him in his ministry.  This came as no surprise as traditionally it is said that he founded the churches of Alexandria and this was as a result of his continuous commitment to the ministry even in the silent years.

Mark, being an assistant to both Paul and Peter, living in a home that was used for         worship, and meeting other Christian leaders was blessed with the privilege of witnessing a lot of the works of the early apostles which would have given him first hand knowledge and

The Life of Mark

information to write the gospels.  The gospels, which is the good news that Christ delivered in order to save man,  had to be written down and who better to do so than Mark.  

Mark was the first to write the gospels, and this had a great influence on the church people who were able to read and study the messages that were delivered. Mark did not just write the gospel but he also taught them.  Mark was a man of truth, he wrote the facts about what God had done for men in Jesus Christ. His main source of information  was from the oral teachings of great Christian leaders he knew.  From reading, “The Book of Mark,” it is obvious that Mark was a writer who focused on the preaching and teachings of Christ and not His personal life.  Mark’s main concern was the messages that Jesus shared for man’s salvation, he reported the important events as was told by the apostles and paid  little attention to anyone else at that time unless they were directly touched by Jesus.