THE EARLIEST GOSPEL
Scholars have discovered that the Gospel of Mark is the earliest of the four Gospels—the one on which Matthew and Luke largely depend for their accounts. Thus, Mark was the first person to develop the literary form known as a Gospel. The shortest and most compact of the four Gospels, Mark is written in a vivid, direct style that gives the impression of being an eyewitness account of the events it records.
Throughout this Gospel, Jesus is portrayed as a man of action. The author uses as his theme a journey— both for Jesus and for those who would follow Him. Jesus journeys through Galilee, makes six boat trips on the Sea of Galilee, travels from Galilee to Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem makes three visits to the temple. Mark invites the reader to follow Christ through conflict and crisis, through opposition and rejection, and on the way to discover that God’s purposes are fulfilled through the suffering of His Son.