Scholarly consensus is that St. Mark was the first gospel written (although it is listed second in contemporary Bibles.) Mark, therefore, created the genre of “gospel” as a way of bringing people to faith in Jesus. St. Paul, for example, would not have been able to refer to any of the written gospels since they were not published until after his death. Mark presents the story of Jesus in stark terms so much so that some scholars call it a passion story with a long introduction. The oldest manuscripts that we have of the Gospel of Mark end with the women walking away from the empty tomb. Later manuscripts add stories of an appearance: Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature,” perhaps a scribal addition in imitation of the other gospels? The Gospel of Mark is short enough to read at one sitting. Read it like that without thinking of other gospel stories and you get his portrait of Jesus to draw us to faith.
