Why We’re Starting With Mark
Peter's Eyewitness Account and the Power of Proximity
When I felt God nudge me to begin this project in 2024, I was immediately led to the Gospel of Mark. Why is Mark a good starting point for the story of Jesus? Here are a few possible reasons:
Mark is the oldest extant Gospel. Written 65-70 AD (an estimation thanks to our critical studies friends), Mark precedes Matthew, Luke, and John. It’s the earliest existing account we have of Jesus’ life and ministry. When the early church wanted to tell the story of Jesus, they turned to Mark first.
Mark is a “story-friendly” Gospel. It’s largely plot-driven. No lengthy sermons. No theological prologue. Instead, we gets lots of action and “immediately”s, a word which appears 42 times. I heard about the use of the word “immediate” in seminary with kind of a curious nod, like it’s a quirk of Mark’s personality. But I think there’s more to it than that. “Immediate” isn’t a quirk. It’s how the disciples actually experienced Jesus. One moment fishing, the next watching Jesus calm a storm. Mark isn’t just fast-paced for literary effect or because he’s an urgent kind of guy. He’s showing the reader what proximity to Jesus actually felt like: disorienting, breathless, one big moment after another. He is saying, following Jesus is a roller coaster. You didn’t always get time to process. You just follow.
Mark is Peter’s story. Early church tradition identifies Mark’s Gospel as based on the eyewitness testimony of Peter. Papias, writing around 110 AD, says Mark was Peter’s interpreter and wrote down everything Peter remembered. When you read Mark, you’re actually reading the story from the perspective of someone who walked with Jesus, failed Jesus, and was restored by Jesus.
Mark is the closest witness. Because it’s the earliest and most direct account, and comes from the firsthand source of Peter, Mark gets us as close as we can get to how the first disciples actually experienced Jesus. Not theological reflection written decades later, but the raw, immediate, confusing, transformative experience of following a rabbi who turned out to be so much more than anyone expected.
For these reasons, The Gospel of Mark is an ideal Story Study. It invites us to experience Jesus the way Peter did, with wonder and confusion, failure and discovery, one moment at a time.
