Mark's Excitement

I love this idea in the Smash series, and how we're looking at the way God Smashes into people. That includes the way he Smashed into Mark, the writer of this Gospel.

It's the oldest of the Gospels, and written in a unique way. There is no advent narrative, no sense of historical context, and no flowery prose. Mark smashes into the text and the story, and that can't help but make me think he was excited to write it.

I remember when I worked for the newspaper, or sometimes even when I'm writing these posts, I have so much great information I just want to jam it out. So it doesn't come out flowery, or with a lot of beautiful filler, it's more just thrown onto the page as quickly as possible.

You get that sense, a bit, when you read the Gospel of Mark. He has great information and he wants to get it out to his readers. He has so much to say and wants to say it so quickly, he doesn't waste a lot of time with stuff that's not at the heart of the matter. That's one of the gifts of the book of Mark.

It jumps right into the fray and asks us to get excited about the message and ministry of Jesus. And, you know what, it works. Mark is excited about the important message he wants to get to his audience, and that's what helps his Gospel stand out as a little unique centuries later.