2025 Episode 1 The Gospel according to Mark 1-3

Welcome back to our Digging In audio teaching. This year each episode will coincide with our reading plan which is accessible on our app and through a document download below. On January 1st, we will be starting with the Gospel according to Mark.

Mark's gospel is what most believe to be a gathering and organizing of the eye witness testimony of the apostle Peter. His audience is the Roman world and he moves quickly through the life and death of Jesus. Action, is one word to describe Marks gospel, and the word he uses to communicate this is "immediately".

The first section of Mark's gospel takes place for the most part in Galilee, that's chapters 1 through the beginning of 8. It then shifts to Jesus on His way to Jerusalem, that's the rest of 8 through 10, and then 11 through 16 are happening in and around Jerusalem.

As Mark moves from scene to scene, he keeps putting this question in front of his audience, "Who is this?" Mark knows who Jesus is, he states his belief in the opening verse, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." As we read we see those involved in the story, Jesus' disciples, the people, and the religious leaders all wrestling with the question, and his intention is for the reader to do the same, and yet, ironically, it's the "unclean spirits" who know and testify as to who Jesus is. His goal is for the reader to come to the same conclusion, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so Mark is writing what he believes is necessary to accomplish this.

I've included a link to the Bible Project's overview video of the Gospel according to Mark, it's worth watching.

We hope you enjoy the reading plan and our podcast, and we look forward to Digging In deeper with you.