The Mystery of St Mark

A man named Mark wrote the shortest of the four gospels in the New Testament. Perhaps because it was brief, in ancient times it was relatively neglected in favour of Matthew and the others. Yet it is now believed to be the earliest gospel and, as such, it provided the future Church with the main lines of its portrait of Jesus.

In Mark’s narrative one dramatic scene follows another - the baptism and temptation of Jesus, his conflict with the demons and his healings, sharp controversies with religious leaders, mysterious teachings, Peter’s confession, Jesus’ threefold prediction of his own death, the Transfiguration, Palm Sunday, the cleansing of the Temple, prophecies of the end, the Passion story, and the empty tomb seen by the women who came to anoint him. The gospel is full of what we call dramatic irony: the readers understand what the actors at the time did not. The impression is that of breathless speed and incessant blows.