The Beginning Of The Gospel Series

The painter Lundwig Richter, tells in his memoirs of how he and three friends set out to paint the

same landscape. They each were committed to produce as accurately as possible what they saw.

Nevertheless, the result was four different pictures, as different as the four personalities of the artists.

The same thing happened when four well-known artists painted the portrait of the United Nations

hostess Maria Lani. Each of them knew her personally and saw her from a different perspective, and

the result was four remarkably different pictures.

This helps us understand why there are four Gospels in the New Testament. One Gospel would

give us the life of Jesus as seen from only one perspective, and that would mean a very inadequate

portrait. Jesus is too complex to be seen from only one perspective. God inspired four men to write

the life of Jesus, for each of them gives us unique insight into Jesus that you do not get in the others.

Mark gives us the perspective that is most popular in our modern world. Wycliff Bible

Translators have made Mark the most translated book in the world. There is no other book in the

world in so many different languages. It is the shortest of the Gospels, and, therefore, the fastest to

translate and to read. But that is not the only reason for its selection. It is also the Gospel most

appealing to the Gentile world.

Matthew is written for Jews, and it is full of Old Testament quotes, and references to Jewish

customs, all of which are of little concern to the Gentiles to whom Mark writes. He writes for the

Romans, and they did not care about genealogies and a persons pedigree. They only cared about his

deeds, not his decent. The result is, Mark is a Gospel of deeds. Jesus is a man of action-a man on

the move. It is a go go go Gospel, and Jesus is involved in one event and miracle after another, with

hardly a breath in between. If Jesus ever relaxed, it is not noted by Mark.

Mark does not tell us about birth stories and childhood. He leaves that to Dr. Luke. He is more

anxious to get on with the story of the adult action of the Lord. But this does not mean Mark is not

interested in details. He gives us graphic details the other Gospels do not share. If you want to

know exact names, times, locations, or the numbers and colors, you go to Mark for these details.

He is the detail man. His portrait is of Messiah on the run, but he is no blur, but rather, a very

concrete personality involved in very specific settings and lives. Mark tells us more about the looks

and gestures of Jesus than anyone.

Mark is the only one who tells us that our Savior was a carpenter. Mark tells us more about our

Lord's emotions than the other Gospels. He brings Jesus closer to us as a man of like feelings. The

other Gospels just tell us of Jesus calling little children to Him, but Mark tells us twice that when

they came He took them up into His arms. Mark alone brings out a tenderness in Jesus that nobody

else records.

We could go on giving examples, but the point we want to make is, each Gospel writer sees Jesus

from a perspective that the others do not see. You cannot know all there is to know about Jesus by

reading just one Gospel. There are four of them for a reason, and each is vital to the total picture.

Mark is the Gospel that is the first Gospel recommended for reading around the world, and this

morning we are going to start a study of Mark in our goal to know our Lord and Savior better.

Mark begins his Gospel with the word, beginning. The Greek has no article, and so it is not in

the original, the beginning, but just beginning. Beginning of the Gospel about Jesus. Mark does not

waste any time in getting the show on the road. This is the greatest show on earth, and the greatest

story ever told, and he does not give us page after page of background and introduction. He lifts the

curtain on this drama for act one just as the gun is fired for the race to begin.

Matthew is more like the educational channel with a long introduction of genealogies, exciting

to those in the know, but boring to the majority of people who just want to see some action. Mark is

the Gospel for them, for he is like one of those action-packed films that starts off with a chase scene,

or a few explosions, before they even list the characters. Mark does not even say, "On your marks,