Many Christians do not realize that the Gospel of Mark gives us a biography of a life that is fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy. The New Testament economy of God is for God to dispense Himself into His chosen people to make them sons of God and members of Christ for the formation of the Body of Christ to express the Triune God. This is a simple definition of the wonderful matter of God’s New Testament economy.
In order to have a proper understanding of God’s New Testament economy, we need the entire New Testament. The Gospel of Mark by itself is not sufficient for this. As we have pointed out, in the Epistles we have the explanation and definition of the life presented in Mark. Therefore, in the light revealed in the Epistles we can see that the life recorded in the Gospel of Mark is a life fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy.
When I was young, Mark was not as precious to me as Matthew, John, and Luke were. My impression of the Gospel of Mark was that it was too simple. Matthew, on the contrary, presents wonderful teachings and parables concerning the kingdom of the heavens. I spent much time to study the Gospel of Matthew, and, as early as 1939, I put out a series of messages on the kingdom of the heavens based on the Lord’s teaching in chapters five, six, seven, thirteen, twenty-four, and twenty-five. I have also given many messages on the Gospel of John. Although I have not given as many messages on Luke as on Matthew and John, in the book entitled Gospel Outlinesthere are a good number of outlines of subjects taken from the Gospel of Luke. Those outlines are based on the different gospel stories and parables in Luke.
In the past, I appreciated Matthew, John, and Luke, but I did not have nearly as much appreciation for Mark. It seemed to me that this Gospel could be compared to a cup of plain water that had no particular color or flavor. However, recently, while I was preparing the Life-study Messages on Mark, the light began to shine from this Gospel. Now I see that in the Gospel of Mark we have a record of a life that is absolutely according to and for God’s New Testament economy.
I believe that the Gospel of Mark is the most simple book in the New Testament. But the simplicity of Mark is very striking, and we need to consider it. We need to ask why the Gospel of Mark was written in such a simple way. We need to ask why, apparently, this Gospel has no particular taste or color. I can testify that this kind of questioning opened the door for the light to shine in. The simplicity of the Gospel of Mark is very meaningful.
The more we read the Gospel of Mark, the more we are impressed with its simplicity. Compared to Mark, the Gospel of Matthew is quite complicated. Consider how many names are included in the first sixteen verses of Matthew. Mark, however, begins in a very simple way: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1).
Like Matthew, the Gospel of Luke is also rather complicated. Consider, for example, the lengthy account of the conception and birth of John the Baptist and the conception and birth of the Lord Jesus. Furthermore, Luke 1 includes the praises of Mary, Elizabeth, and Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist. Then in chapter three Luke presents a genealogy that is more complicated than that found in Matthew. Matthew speaks only of forty-two generations, but in Luke we have seventy-seven generations. To be sure, whereas Mark is simple, Luke is complicated.
In the Gospel of John we have many deep mysteries. John’s Gospel opens in a mysterious way: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). We are told that in Him was life (1:4), and then that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (v. 14). The Gospel of John, therefore, has a distinct color and flavor. When we read the Gospel of John, we can taste the flavor of this Gospel. But what kind of flavor do you taste when you read the Gospel of Mark? It seems that the only taste in Mark is the taste of plain water.