Posted by Chester Morton / Thursday 6 April 2017 / No comments
The theological purpose of writing the gospel of Mark
THE THEOLOGICAL PURPOSE
OF WRITING THE GOSPEL OF MARK
Jesus the true Son of God
One of the main reasons why Mark wrote his book was to
present Jesus as the true son of God. In the opening verses of Mark’s gospel,
he wrote the following; “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God.” In other words Mark was trying to establish Jesus Christ's sonship from the very
beginning. At the end of his gospel, Mark again confirmed the Sonship
of Jesus when the Centurion said, “Truly, this man was the Son of God.”
Messiah-ship of Jesus to manifest after his death
Another reason Mark wrote his book was to show that before
the mystery surrounding the Messiahship of Jesus can be truly understood, he
must have died on the cross. In order to achieve this, Mark gave accounts of
people who were not able to perceive the true person of Jesus. For example, in “his
own country”, among his people, it did not dawn on them that he was the Messiah;
therefore they took offence when he preached to them in the synagogue. They saw
him as an ordinary person, the Carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of
James, Joses, Judas, and Simon. In the estimation of these people, Jesus could
not have been speaking with such authority.
Not even Jesus’ own disciples could perceive who he really
was even after being with them for a period of time. Jesus asked his disciples “Who
do men say that I am?”. Some of the disciples said he was John the Baptist, others said he was Elijah
and yet others also said, he was one of the prophets. Mark’s aim was that the Messiahship of Jesus should be realized only after his death and resurrection.
Messianic secret
Linked to the previous point is the fact that Mark portrayed Jesus
as hiding his messianic identity. He did not want people to know that he was the
Messiah until he had gone through his suffering and death on the cross. For
example, in Capernaum, a man with an unclean spirit proclaimed the Messiahship
of Jesus but he silenced him by saying, “Be silent and come out of him!”
To proclaim the good-news
Mark’s purpose was also to show that the salvation that was
promised in the Old Testament has been fulfilled in the proclamation of the
good-news in the New Testament. The New Testament fulfillment of the Old
Testament prophesy started with the work of John the Baptist and was taken over
by Jesus Christ. After the death of Jesus, his disciples took over the mantle.
Then after the disciples phased out, the church to take over and spread the good-news to the rest of the world.
Linking the Kingdom with Jesus
Mark’s gospel was aimed at linking the Kingdom of God to the
person of Jesus Christ. Mark’s aim was to show the Kingdom of God as inseparable from
the person of Jesus, the one proclaiming it.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. Outline the theological purposes for the writing of the
gospel of Mark.
2. Why did mark write his gospel?
