Mark, the essential gospel...

It would not be unfair to call Mark the essential gospel.


Mark starts the story of Jesus a long way back. It did not begin with Jesus's birth; it did not even begin with John the Baptizer in the wilderness; it began with the dreams of the prophets long ago; that is to say, it began long, long ago in the mind of God.


The stories were strong believers in the ordered plan of God. "The things of God," said Marcus Aurelius, "are full of foresight. All things flow from heaven." There are things we may learn here.

i) it has been said that "the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts," and so are the thoughts of God. God is characteristically a God who is working his purposes out. History is not a random kaleidoscope of disconnected events; it is a process directed by the God who sees the end in the beginning.


ii) we are within that process, and because of that we can either help or hinder it. In one sense it is as great an honor to help in some great process as it is a privilege to see the ultimate goal. Life would be very different if, instead of yearning for some distant and at present unattainable goal, we did all that we could to bring that goal nearer.

"In youth, because I could not be a singer,
I did not even try to write a song;
I set no little trees along the roadside,
Because I knew their growth would take so long.


But now from wisdom that the years have brought me,
I know that it may be a blessed thing
To plant a tree for someone else to water,
Or make a song for someone else to sing."