St. Mark

This past week, we celebrated the feast of St. Mark. While we rightly understand the Bible and the various books that make it up to be the divinely inspired Word of God, they were still written by human beings. But who is St. Mark, and what makes his Gospel account special compared to the others?

St. Mark is widely considered to have been a student and scribe for St. Peter. In fact, Mark’s gospel is seen as Peter’s gospel written by Mark. We see evidence for this in the very specific attention to detail present in Mark’s accounts. For example, in his account of Jesus calming the storm, Mark is the only one to specify that Jesus was sleeping on a cushion. It may be a small detail, but the specificity suggests an eyewitness, someone who was actually there. 

Mark’s account is also believed to have been the first one to be written. This is due to two things: we know Peter was martyred around 66 AD and we know that Nero’s persecution took place between 66 and 68 AD. Mark devotes a lot of attention to Jesus’ teachings on redemptive suffering and that He Himself would suffer and die. The other accounts have different emphases besides suffering. It would make sense then that his account would be written during a time of great persecution. 

That the gospel accounts all have different focuses should not be seen as a proof against their being historic. This is something we do all the time in storytelling; we often tell stories to make a point, whether it is to make a joke, to testify to something or just simply tell a story. Each of the four gospel accounts are like this. Mark’s emphasis, as has been said, is the Cross; it is to show that God not only is aware of the sufferings of the Church but also shares in it. He brings His light and His love into our suffering and transforms it into something redemptive. 

May our understanding of the human authors and their histories also help broaden our understanding of our Faith overall!