Bible (WEBU) NT 02: Mark

The Gospel according to Mark is the earliest of the four Gospels, written around 70 CE by a follower of the apostle Peter. It drops readers into the action immediately, no birth narrative, no long genealogies. "The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God." That's the entire opening. From there, the narrative rushes forward: Jesus baptized, tempted in the wilderness, then healings and controversies and crowds pressing close. This Gospel moves at the speed of someone who witnessed it all and couldn't get the words out fast enough. Mark is visceral and urgent. Jesus performs exorcisms with raw authority, heals a leper with a touch, walks on water. But he also confuses people, withdraws from crowds, and predicts his suffering with a stubbornness that baffles his disciples. The crucifixion isn't triumphal, it's brutal and abandoned. The resurrection? Mark simply says the women fled. The tomb was empty. End of book. For centuries, readers have found in Mark something the other Gospels lack: the feeling of the moment, unfiltered. It's the Gospel for those who want to encounter Jesus not as theology but as event, as disturbance, as news that won't wait.