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Long-form study. Plain English.
Every article does the hard work — what the words meant to the first readers, the historical context, the first-century background — then hands it to you in words you already know.
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The Gospel of Mark — Introduction
It was not Mark that brought me here. It was Daniel. This is the introduction to the Berean Post series on the Gospel of Mark — why we study it, how we read it, and what the first readers would have understood.
Mark 1:1 — The Beginning of the Gospel
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” The Greek word behind beginning reaches back to Genesis, and Mark almost certainly meant it to.
Mark 1:2 — The Jewish Expectation of the New Covenant
Before Mark introduces Jesus, he quotes a promise about a messenger. What first-century Jews were actually expecting when they heard “new covenant.”
Mark 1:2–8 — John the Baptist: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
A voice crying in the wilderness, dressed in camel hair and eating locusts. John the Baptist is easy to skip past, and Mark refuses to let us.
Mark 1:9–11 — The Baptism of Jesus
Jesus walks out of a town people used as a punchline and into the Jordan. Luke says all the people were being baptised, which means there were witnesses.
Mark 1:12–13 — The Temptation of Jesus
The Spirit does not lead Jesus into the wilderness, Mark says it drove Him. Forty days, no food, wild beasts, and a body at its limit.
Mark 1:16–20 — Jesus Didn't Start With a Stage
Most of us met the flannelgraph Jesus first: clean robe, soft eyes, always holding a lamb. Then you open Mark and find someone who interrupts men at work.
Mark 1:21–22 — When Truth Walked Into the Synagogue
Jesus did not start at the Temple or with Caesar. He walked into a small-town synagogue and taught in a way that left everyone there shaken.
Mark 1:21–28 — When the Kingdom Broke the Silence
A demon speaks first and names Him correctly, which is more than the congregation managed. The kingdom arrives in Capernaum and the room never recovers.
Mark 1:29–31 — Synagogue to Sickroom
Straight from the synagogue to a sickroom. Jesus takes Peter's mother-in-law by the hand, and what she does next is the quietest sermon in the chapter.
Mark 1:32–39 — When the Sun Went Down
The Sabbath ends at sundown, and the whole town shows up at the door. Then, well before dawn, Jesus gets up and leaves to pray alone.
Mark 1:35–39 — Mission Over Momentum
Episode Notes The night before, Jesus’ ministry looks unstoppable — crowds pressing, healings flowing, demons shrieking. By any measure, this is “momentum.” But at daybreak, He does something shocking: He walks away.In Mark 1:35–39, Jesus trades applause for prayer, success for s
Mark 1:40–45 — When Clean Hands Touch the Cursed
Cut off from family, banished from worship, shouting “unclean” with every breath. Then Jesus does the one thing nobody does to a leper. He touches him.
Mark 2:1–12 — Breaking Through the Roof
Four friends could not get through the door, so they dug through the roof. Jesus looks at the man on the mat and forgives him, which was not what anyone came for.
Mark 2:13–17 — The Call No One Saw Coming
Jesus calls a tax collector, then eats dinner at his house with his friends. Of all the scandals in Mark, this is the one the religious leaders could not stomach.
Mark 2:18–22 — The Bridegroom, the Fast, and the Wineskins
New wine bursts old wineskins. Jesus is not patching up the religion of His day, and He says so with two images nobody in that crowd could misunderstand.
Mark 3:1–6 — Stretch Out Your Hand
A man with a withered hand, and a room full of people watching to see whether Jesus will break the Sabbath. He looks around at them in anger, and heals him anyway.
Mark 3:6–13 — The Nations at the Shore
They came from Galilee, Judea, Idumea, Tyre and Sidon. Mark lists the regions deliberately, and the list is already reaching past Israel.
Mark 3:13–19 — The New Sinai
Jesus climbs a mountain and calls out twelve names. This is not team-building. Mark wants you thinking about Sinai, and about twelve tribes.
Mark 3:20–21 — When Family Thinks You've Lost Your Mind
Only Mark preserves the raw line. His own family came to take hold of Him, saying, “He is out of His mind.”
Mark 3:22–27 — How Can Satan Cast Out Satan?
The scribes came down from Jerusalem with a verdict ready: He has Beelzebub. Jesus answers with a question that takes their logic apart.
Mark 4 — From Miracles to Parables
Up to here Mark has been all action: healings, exorcisms, rising opposition. Now the story turns and Jesus starts to teach in parables. Why that matters.
Mark 4:1–9 — The Parable of the Sower
Wayside, stony ground, thorns, good soil. The most familiar parable in the Gospels, heard the way the crowd on that shoreline would have heard it.
Mark 4:10–12 — Why Parables?
Why would Jesus teach in a way that hides as much as it reveals? His answer to the twelve is harder than most of us would like it to be.