The Gospel of St Mark

St Mark wastes no words. With no genealogy and no infancy narrative, his first line names his subject and his faith: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (Mark 1:1). The whole Gospel then keeps a swift pace for sixteen chapters, from deed to deed, with "immediately" and "forthwith" on nearly every page, to the empty tomb and the sending of the Apostles into the whole world. The Fathers tell us why it reads like an eyewitness's memory: it is the preaching of St Peter, written down by his disciple. Below this guide you will find every chapter, St Jerome's Latin Vulgate beside the English of the Douay-Rheims.

Who wrote the Gospel of Mark?

The Church has received the second Gospel as the work of St Mark the Evangelist, the disciple and interpreter of St Peter. He is generally held to be the "John, who was surnamed Mark" of the Acts of the Apostles, whose mother's house in Jerusalem was the place where "many were gathered together and praying" on the night the angel freed Peter from prison (Acts 12:12).

Cousin of St Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), he turned back from Paul's first missionary journey (Acts 13:13) but was later reconciled with him; St Paul wrote from his last imprisonment: "Take Mark and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11). Above all he was with Peter at Rome. Peter sends his greetings in his first Epistle: "The church that is in Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you: and so doth my son Mark" (1 Peter 5:13); the Fathers read "Babylon" as Rome.

The witness of the early Church is unanimous. Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, quoted by Eusebius (Church History III.39), reports what "the elder" taught: that Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately what he remembered of the Lord's words and deeds, though not in order, for he had not himself heard the Lord. St Irenaeus (Against Heresies III.1) says that Mark "handed down to us in writing what was preached by Peter". Tertullian (Against Marcion IV.5) says that what Mark published "may be affirmed to be Peter's, whose interpreter Mark was". Clement of Alexandria (Eusebius VI.14) relates that Peter's hearers at Rome begged Mark to write down the preaching, and Origen (VI.25) says Mark wrote as Peter instructed him. St Jerome (On Illustrious Men 8), in words the Roman Breviary reads on his feast, calls Mark "the disciple and interpreter of Peter", who "wrote a short gospel at the request of the brethren at Rome", and says that Peter approved it and gave it to the Church to be read.

The Pontifical Biblical Commission, in its response of 26 June 1912 under St Pius X, taught that Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, is really the author of the Gospel that bears his name, and that he wrote according to the preaching of Peter. Many modern scholars regard the Gospel as anonymous and its link with Peter as uncertain; the teaching above is the one the Church has handed down. His life, his martyrdom at Alexandria and the lion of St Mark are told in our page on St Mark the Evangelist.

Peter's voice is heard throughout: in the vivid details of an eyewitness, and in the frankness with which the Gospel tells Peter's failings, the rebuke "Go behind me, Satan" (Mark 8:33) and the threefold denial ending, "And he began to weep" (14:72). Commentators saw in this the humility of St Peter, who let his own faults be preached. Many have also seen the Evangelist's own signature in the young man who fled naked on the night of the arrest (Mark 14:51–52), a detail no other Gospel keeps.

When was the Gospel of Mark written?

Tradition places Mark second of the four Gospels, after Matthew and before Luke; this is the order St Augustine gives (On the Harmony of the Gospels I.2) and that the Biblical Commission upheld in 1912. The ancient writers differ only on whether Mark wrote during Peter's lifetime or just after his death. Clement of Alexandria and St Jerome say Peter knew and approved the work; St Irenaeus seems to place it after the martyrdom of Peter and Paul under Nero.

The Biblical Commission taught that the Gospels of Mark and Luke may not be dated as late as the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913, weighing the evidence, concluded that the date "probably lies somewhere between A.D. 50 and 67". On any traditional reckoning it was written in Rome, within a generation of the Resurrection, from the preaching of an eyewitness.

Written for the Church of Rome

St Mark wrote for the Christians of Rome, most of them converts from paganism, and his text shows it. He translates the Aramaic words he keeps: "Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder" (3:17), "Talitha cumi" (5:41), "Ephpheta, which is, Be thou opened" (7:34), "Corban, (which is a gift,)" (7:11). He explains Jewish customs a Jew would not need explained: "the Pharisees, and all the Jews eat not without often washing their hands, holding the tradition of the ancients" (Mark 7:3). He names Simon of Cyrene as "the father of Alexander and of Rufus" (Mark 15:21), as though his readers knew them, and St Paul greets a Rufus at Rome (Romans 16:13). He wrote in Greek, the common language of the Roman Church in that age.

What is the Gospel of Mark about? A summary

Mark's plan is simple and dramatic. After a short prologue, Christ works and preaches in Galilee and the regions around it; at Caesarea Philippi Peter confesses Him the Christ, and from that hour the Gospel turns toward Jerusalem and the Cross.

The Baptist, the Baptism and the first days at Capharnaum (chapter 1)

Chapter 1 joins Malachias and Isaias in one prophecy: "Behold I send my angel before thy face... A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord" (1:2–3). Christ is baptized by John, the Father says, "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased" (1:11), and after the forty days in the desert Christ begins to preach: "The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel" (1:15). He calls four fishermen, casts out an unclean spirit, heals Peter's mother-in-law and cleanses a leper.

The ministry in Galilee (chapters 2–6)

In chapter 2 Christ forgives and heals the man sick of the palsy, calls Levi the publican, and declares Himself "Lord of the sabbath also". In chapter 3 He chooses the Twelve and answers the scribes who say He casts out devils by Beelzebub. Chapter 4 gives the parables of the sower, the seed that grows secretly and the mustard seed, then the stilling of the tempest. In chapter 5 He drives the legion of devils into the swine, heals the woman with the issue of blood and raises the daughter of Jairus. In chapter 6 He is rejected at Nazareth, sends out the Twelve, feeds five thousand and walks upon the sea, while Herod beheads the Baptist.

Beyond Galilee and the confession of Peter (chapters 7–8)

Chapter 7 sets the commandment of God against the traditions of men, then takes Christ into Gentile country: He grants the faith of the Syrophenician woman and opens the ears of the deaf and dumb man with the word "Ephpheta". In chapter 8 He feeds four thousand and asks, "But whom do you say that I am? Peter answering said to him: Thou art the Christ" (8:29). At once He foretells His Passion and calls every disciple to the Cross.

The way to Jerusalem (chapters 9–10)

In chapter 9 Christ is transfigured before Peter, James and John, and the Father's voice says, "This is my most beloved son; hear ye him" (9:6); then He delivers the possessed boy. In chapter 10 He forbids divorce, blesses the little children, warns the rich young man of the danger of riches, foretells His Passion a third time, and at Jericho gives sight to blind Bartimeus.

The last days in Jerusalem (chapters 11–13)

Chapter 11 tells the entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the cursing of the barren fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple. Chapter 12 gives the wicked husbandmen, the tribute to Caesar, the first commandment and the widow's mite. In chapter 13, on the Mount of Olives, Christ foretells the ruin of the Temple, "There shall not be left a stone upon a stone", and the signs of His coming, and ends: "And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch" (13:37).

The Passion (chapters 14–15)

Chapter 14 gives the anointing at Bethania, the betrayal of Judas, the Last Supper and the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the agony in Gethsemani, the arrest and Peter's denials. Chapter 15 gives the trial before Pilate, the crowning with thorns, the crucifixion and death of Christ, the confession of the centurion and the burial.

The Resurrection and the Ascension (chapter 16)

In chapter 16 the holy women find the tomb open, and the angel tells them, "he is risen, he is not here" (16:6). The risen Christ appears to Mary Magdalen, to two disciples on the road and to the Eleven; He sends them to preach to every creature, ascends into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, while "they going forth preached everywhere: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed" (16:20).

Themes of the Gospel of Mark and the Catholic reading

Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The main message of Mark is in its first and nearly its last lines. It opens with "Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (1:1); the Father proclaims Him at the Baptism and the Transfiguration; before the high priest He answers, "I am" (14:62); and at the foot of the Cross a pagan centurion confesses, "Indeed this man was the son of God" (Mark 15:39).

The Gospel of deeds and power. Christ commands devils, sickness, the wind and death itself, and claims what belongs to God alone: "that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins" (Mark 2:10). Often He commands silence about His miracles and His identity, so that His Messiahship would not be mistaken for an earthly kingdom before the Cross revealed what kind of King He is.

The Cross and discipleship. From Caesarea Philippi onward, Christ three times foretells His Passion (8:31; 9:30; 10:33), and each time the disciples fail to understand. His answer is the law of the Christian life: "If any man will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (8:34), and its ground: "the Son of man also is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many" (Mark 10:45). We follow those hours in The Passion of Jesus Christ.

The sacraments. The words of institution, "Take ye. This is my body" and "This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many" (14:22–24), are among the texts on which the Council of Trent taught the Real Presence (Session XIII) and the sacrifice of the Mass (Session XXII); see the Holy Eucharist. Of the Apostles' first mission Mark says that they "anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them" (Mark 6:13), and Trent (Session XIV) teaches that the sacrament of Extreme Unction was "insinuated" there and promulgated by St James 5:14; see the Anointing of the Sick. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (10:9) grounds the indissolubility of marriage.

Our Lady and the "brethren of the Lord". At Nazareth the people ask, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon?" (Mark 6:3). St Jerome, in Against Helvidius, showed that "brethren" in Scripture's usage means kinsmen, and that these were cousins of the Lord, not sons of Mary, who remained ever a virgin; Mark himself calls James and Joseph sons of another Mary (15:40).

The symbol of St Mark: the lion

St Mark's symbol is the lion, one of the four living creatures of Ezechiel 1:10 and the Apocalypse 4:7. St Jerome, in the preface to his commentary on Matthew, gave the lion to Mark because his Gospel opens with "the voice of one crying in the desert", the voice of the Baptist like a lion's roar in the wilderness. The winged lion of St Mark is the emblem of Venice, which claims his relics.

Famous verses and chapters of Mark

Mark 1: the beginning. "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (1:1), and the call of the fishermen: "Come after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men" (Mark 1:17).

Mark 8:36. "For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?" (Mark 8).

Mark 9:22–28. The father of the possessed boy cries, "I do believe, Lord: help my unbelief", and Christ teaches, "This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting" (Mark 9).

Mark 12:30–31: the greatest commandment. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength... Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Mark 12).

Mark 14:36: Gethsemani. "Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: remove this chalice from me; but not what I will, but what thou wilt" (Mark 14).

Mark 15:34: the cry from the Cross. "Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabacthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mark 15), the opening cry of Psalm 21 (22).

Mark 16:15–16: the mission. "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned" (Mark 16).

The ending of Mark's Gospel (16:9–20)

The last twelve verses of Mark, from the appearance to Mary Magdalen to the Ascension, are missing from two of the oldest Greek manuscripts, the Vatican and Sinaitic codices, which stop at 16:8: "they said nothing to any man; for they were afraid". But the great mass of manuscripts and versions contain them, St Irenaeus in the second century quotes them as the end of Mark's Gospel (Against Heresies III.10), and St Jerome kept them in the Vulgate. The Church has always read them in the liturgy: they are the Gospel of the Ascension.

The Council of Trent (Session IV, 1546) received the sacred books "entire with all their parts, as they have been used to be read in the Catholic Church" and as they stand in the Vulgate, so the ending of Mark is inspired and canonical. The Biblical Commission added in 1912 that the arguments of critics against Mark's authorship of these verses do not prove that they are not inspired, nor that Mark did not write them. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 summed it up: Catholics are not strictly bound to hold that Mark wrote the verses, but "whoever wrote the verses, they are inspired". On the appearances themselves, see the Resurrection appearances of Jesus.

What is the "Secret Gospel of Mark"?

The "Secret Gospel of Mark" is not part of the Bible and was never received by the Church. It is known only from a letter attributed to Clement of Alexandria, which the American scholar Morton Smith said he found at the monastery of Mar Saba in 1958; it is now known only from photographs, and many scholars consider it a modern forgery. The Gospel of Mark the Church has always read is the one in sixteen chapters given here.

Its place in the canon and the liturgy

Mark is the second Gospel and the second book of the New Testament in every Christian Bible, Catholic and Protestant alike, and the Council of Trent names it among "the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John". With Matthew and Luke it forms the three synoptic Gospels, which share the same general outline and often the same words; the Gospel of St John stands apart. Tradition holds the order Matthew, Mark, Luke; many modern scholars hold instead that Mark was written first and used by the other two, a view the Church's tradition does not teach. On the translation these pages follow, see the Douay-Rheims Bible and the Latin Vulgate.

The 1962 Roman Missal reads Mark on its greatest day: the Gospel of Easter Sunday is the angel at the tomb (16:1–7), and the Gospel of the Ascension is the ending (16:14–20). On Tuesday of Holy Week the Passion according to St Mark (chapters 14–15) is sung. Mark also gives the Gospels of the sixth Sunday after Pentecost (the feeding of the four thousand, 8:1–9) and the eleventh Sunday after Pentecost (the deaf and dumb man, "Ephpheta", 7:31–37). St Mark's feast is kept on 25 April, the day of the Greater Litanies. The day's reading is on our Today's Gospel page, and the feasts on the liturgical calendar.

How to read the Gospel of Mark

Mark can be read aloud in a single sitting of about an hour and a half; a chapter a day takes you through it in sixteen days. Read it once straight through, then slowly, watching for the questions "Who is this?" and "Whom do you say that I am?", for the three prophecies of the Passion, and for the small details that St Peter remembered. For commentary, follow the Fathers: St Bede's Commentary on Mark, the Catena Aurea of St Thomas Aquinas, which gathers the Fathers verse by verse, Cornelius a Lapide, and in English the notes of Challoner and Haydock. Then go on to the Gospel of St Luke, which Mark's companion in the Pauline mission wrote next.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the Gospel of Mark?

The Gospel of Mark was written by St Mark the Evangelist, the disciple and interpreter of St Peter, generally identified with "John, who was surnamed Mark" (Acts 12:12), whom Peter calls "my son Mark" (1 Peter 5:13). Papias, St Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and St Jerome all attest that he wrote down Peter's preaching at Rome, and the Pontifical Biblical Commission confirmed this in 1912. Peter did not write it himself, but, as St Jerome relates, he approved it for the churches to read.

When was the Gospel of Mark written?

It was written at Rome, second after Matthew, within a generation of the Resurrection. The Pontifical Biblical Commission (1912) taught that it was written before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, and the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia places it probably between AD 50 and 67.

Who was the Gospel of Mark written for?

St Mark wrote for the Christians of Rome, most of them converts from paganism. That is why he translates Aramaic words such as "Ephpheta" and explains Jewish customs. He wrote at the request of those who had heard St Peter preach.

How many chapters are in the Gospel of Mark?

The Gospel of Mark has 16 chapters, the fewest of the four Gospels, numbered alike in the Douay-Rheims, the Vulgate and other Bibles. You can read every chapter in Latin and English from the grid on this page, beginning with Mark 1.

What is the Gospel of Mark about?

It tells the public life of Jesus Christ, from His baptism by John in the Jordan to His Passion, Resurrection and Ascension. The first half shows His power in Galilee up to Peter's confession, "Thou art the Christ"; the second follows Him to Jerusalem and the Cross.

What is the main message of the Gospel of Mark?

Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God, as Mark says in his first verse and the centurion confesses at the Cross. He proves it by His works, yet He came "not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many" (10:45). Whoever would follow Him must deny himself, take up his cross and believe the Gospel.

How does the Gospel of Mark end?

In the Vulgate and the Douay-Rheims, Mark ends with the appearances of the risen Christ, the sending of the Apostles to preach to every creature, and the Ascension (16:9–20). Two ancient Greek manuscripts stop at 16:8, but the Council of Trent received the books with all their parts as read in the Church, so these verses are inspired and canonical.

What is the symbol of the Gospel of Mark?

The symbol of St Mark is the lion, often winged. St Jerome gave it to him because his Gospel begins with "the voice of one crying in the desert", the preaching of John the Baptist. It comes from the four living creatures of Ezechiel 1 and Apocalypse 4; the others are the man of Matthew, the ox of Luke and the eagle of John.

Read the whole Gospel of St Mark verse by verse, in the Latin of the Vulgate and the English of the Douay-Rheims, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. Holy Scripture, Douay-Rheims (Challoner) and Latin Vulgate: Mark 1–16; Acts 12:12, 13:13, 15:37–39; Colossians 4:10; 2 Timothy 4:11; 1 Peter 5:13; Romans 16:13; Malachias 3:1; Isaias 40:3; Psalm 21; Ezechiel 1:10; Apocalypse 4:7; James 5:14. Papias, in Eusebius, Church History III.39. St Irenaeus, Against Heresies III.1 and III.10. Tertullian, Against Marcion IV.5. Clement of Alexandria, in Eusebius, Church History VI.14. Origen, in Eusebius, Church History VI.25. St Jerome, On Illustrious Men 8, Against Helvidius, and Preface to the Commentary on Matthew. St Augustine, On the Harmony of the Gospels I.2. St Bede, Commentary on Mark. St Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea. Cornelius a Lapide, Commentary on Mark. Council of Trent, Session IV (1546), Decree on the Canonical Scriptures; Sessions XIII (1551), XIV (1551) and XXII (1562). Pontifical Biblical Commission, response on the author, date and historical truth of the Gospels of St Mark and St Luke (26 June 1912). Catholic Encyclopedia (1913 edition), "Gospel of Saint Mark". Challoner's notes to the Douay-Rheims. Roman Missal (1962) and Roman Breviary, 25 April.