Countless people regard the disciples as some of the most devout followers of Jesus, as they were the first and the chosen ones. Followers of Christ use the disciples as models of faith, and attempt to share the messages of the Gospels in the same way the twelve did. What modern Christians fail to emphasize, however, is that the disciples doubted and denied Jesus. Although the disciples spread Jesus’ message after Jesus’ death, during Jesus’ lifetime, they were not always the perfect models of faith that they are portrayed as today. In the Gospel of Mark, the disciples doubt the power of Jesus on many occasions, but one of the most significant is the feeding of the four thousand. Previously in Mark, Jesus demonstrated his ability to feed five thousand people with only five loaves and two fish, yet when Jesus says he is going to feed four thousand people with seven loaves and a few …show more content…
Shortly after Jesus was arrested, one of the high priest’s maids approached Peter proposing, “You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus”, but Peter replied saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about” (Mark 14:67-68). Today, Peter is known as the “rock” that Jesus built his church upon, but during Jesus’ lifetime, Peter hesitated to admit that he was a follower of Jesus. Accordingly, Peter, who was supposed to be Jesus’ closest follower, turned his back on Jesus, leaving Jesus to die alone. Through the stories told by Mark, it becomes evident that there is an obvious discrepancy between what the disciples did when Jesus was alive and what they did after Jesus died and resurrected. The disciples were only human, so one could not expect them to be perfect in all they did, but the stories of Mark show they played a key role in the suffering of Jesus. In fact, the disciples, as portrayed in the stories of the gospel, can even be seen as models of how not to follow
In Raymond Brown’s introduction to the Gospel of Mark, he notes that the Gospels require particularly careful reading, because people are often familiar with their content and must avoid letting that familiarity color their reading (Brown, 126). This sentiment rings true when examining a peculiarity in Mark’s Gospel: rather than proclaiming his divine status as Messiah, Jesus often seems to hide his identity, from demons, crowds, and even his own disciples. This “Messianic Secret” runs so counterintuitive to most Christians’ theology, they could overlook or outright deny evidence. Wrede claimed that the Messianic Secret was a scandalous early church conspiracy to paint a Messianic façade onto Jesus that he never possessed. Although Wrede raises important questions, I propose two alternative theses: Jesus either yearned for peaceful reflection time of which crowds deprived him, or did not believe his disciples – or anyone else – grasped the suffering inherent to his “Messiah” definition.
In other words, what the disciples did not understand; while Matthew focuses on Peter’s spiritual gains, or what the disciples learned. Matthew also portrays Peter in an abrogating way. For instance, when Jesus asks Peter why he puts forth doubt in his leader in 14:31 Matthew is portraying him as someone who doubts his leader, who is almighty and powerful. Jesus does not question Peter’s faith in Him in Mark. However, Jesus presents some positive light in Matthew as
Throughout the New Testament Gospels, an abundance of enriching, soulful narratives thrive and live on through their cultivated messages of hope, compassion, miracles, and redemption. Recalling in detail the heroic life and journey of Jesus Christ, expounding his teachings and philosophy, and revealing hidden components of God’s divine nature, the Gospels are rife with symbolism and potent imagery which are accessible to people of every faith. The timeline of Jesus Christ’s life, miracle healings, administered sermons, and selfless service to the people he met and interacted with is encapsulated in the storyline of four texts within the Christian Bible which have been juxtaposed with one another. When these are read together, one can observe many fascinating parallels and similarities that make it difficult to dispute the information or messages about the life of Jesus Christ which the Gospels disseminate. There are specific passages in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John which reveal the fundamental aspects of what it means to be a disciple, and furthermore, what it means to be a human being. This essay will address discipleship and human nature as they appear in three passages, Mark 5: 1-20, Mark 5: 35-43, and Matthew… By way of thorough examination and formal analysis of the scriptural text, definitions of what it means to be a true disciple and a true human being will be discussed.
While both books of Mark and Matthew portray Peter as one of the most important followers of Jesus, Mark seems to emphasize Jesus' spiritual career unlike the broad, more in-depth pursuit of Jesus' life that Matthew embellishes on. As both Jesus' student and friend, Peter is the one disciple most commonly referred to in the stories. Yet the two passages seem to draw different pictures of Jesus' distinguished disciple. In Matthew, Peter seems to play a larger role in Jesus' teachings and seems more significant to Jesus throughout the book. In Mark, he is still important, but to a lesser extent in the eyes of the author. Mark leaves Peter out of a few of the stories altogether and only touches
The fight over slavery and the resulting Civil War was probably the closest this great nation has to come to destroying itself . Years of constant disagreeing , compromises , and cynical idea about slavery Pushed the country into a terrible problem between the 2 major abolitionist , Southern & Northern abolitionist . The Nation suffered a major loss economically and everything went down hill. The reconstruction period started with many leaders stepping up to fix the crippled country . It didn’t turn out The way everyone hoped . Slavery was still one of the largest issues and the reconstruction halted because of the disagreement the people faced . After several years of working , compromising and passing laws, the task provided itself to be
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is portrayed in many ways. There are countless adjectives that could be used to describe Jesus in this literary setting. Mark provided an insight to Jesus’s personality that was not only kind and giving as we know him, but also a view of him in other facets. He presented Jesus as a leader, a teacher, a healer, and a humble person, as well as other dimensions.
The Gospels of Jesus tell a story that is a unified story over the four gospels. Each of the four writers had their own point of view that they were writing from. Just a four journalists covering an important story will write from their own point of view
There are many aspects of Jesus’ life that are very noticeable throughout the New Testament and the four gospels through recurring themes. Mark’s Gospel contains the most prominent of those themes. The main themes that our class has focused on, that seem the most important to Mark are secrecy, response, and food/eating. In Mark 8:22-10:52, he has a very strategic way of setting up the stories of Jesus’ life. Thought the reading of this section we mainly notice two of the three themes, those being secrecy and response, although earlier in chapter eight we do see how Mark highlights the importance of food/eating in The Feeding of the Four Thousand. Within Mark 8:22-10:52 there are sixteen separate stories that are all placed in a certain order to exemplify what Mark wants to make known of the life of Jesus and his disciples.
The Gospels of Mark and Matthew give us details of the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. Mark focuses on Jesus being a servant, healer, teacher and miracle worker. Matthew focuses on Jesus as the Messiah of the “New Law”. Both gospels are to encourage Christians and give them strength to build their faith. Jesus is using his disciples in both gospels to show that we all sin, are afraid and turn away from God but through the love and sacrifice of Jesus we are forgiven.
Throughout the books of Luke and Mark, there are several different views on the life of Christ. In both, Christ is portrayed as a teacher who gives out advice as well as a miracle worker. And, in both, Christ eats the Last Supper, and is left by Peter when in captivity and dies on the cross, simply to be resurrected. Though there are many similarities, there are several places where they differ. Mark fails to include detail about the birth of Christ, whereas, Luke has detailed descriptions of Christ as a child.
But in Matthew, and most of all Mark, the Disciples are, in Dr. Rick Beaton’s words, “dumb as boards.” … So when you read through the Gospels, especially Mark, and if you have any ounce of irreverence in you, you can’t help but agree with Holden. The Disciples really don’t get it. They’re pretty useless. And it’s pretty surprising that Jesus spent all his energy with them. … My favorite example of the Disciples’ stupidity is in Mark 8, right after Jesus fed the 4,000. And I mean literally right after they fed the people, Jesus and the Twelve got on a boat, and this happened: … Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.” (Mark 8:14-16, NRSV) … And the Disciples, filled with anything but wisdom, assumed that Jesus was making some obscure reference to the lack of bread in the boat. Not, “Hey, guys, I’m using this as an opportunity to teach you a lesson about life.” But rather, the Disciples yet again think that their present circumstances are all that matter. They have forgotten
vMarijuana should be illegal because it gets people sicker and it gives a lot of bad health like cancer, heart disease, and it will get people addicted to marijuana.
This research assignment aims to analyse and interpret an influential part of the New Testament – Mark’s Gospel. An analysis of Mark and his community will be discussed as well as interpreting Jesus’ teachings and his significant theme of Discipleship as it was then and in present society.
As Jesus developed His disciples, the first relationship examined was with Peter. The Gospel accounts list a variety of interactions between Jesus and Peter that define this discipleship process. Categorizing the items in this process included Peter’s presence in the transfiguration (Mark 9:2ff), his participation in miraculous acts such as walking on water (Mark 6:45), and his confession that Jesus is the Christ (Mark 8:27ff). Jesus set apart His relationship with Peter through changing his name from Simon to Peter (Mark 3:6), and making the pronouncement regarding building His church using a play on Peter’s name following Peter’s claim that Jesus is the Christ (Matt. 16:18).
Concerning the dissimilarities included within the two works of Matthew and Mark, as it was previously noted in the aforementioned paragraph, it is quite apparent through the selection of words that both Matthew and Mark were conveyed towards separate audiences. Although it was established that both of them work in unison to promote Christ’s image as a servant of God, the reasoning behind the differing executions Matthew and Mark used to promote this image is worth noting. First, due to its emphasis on genealogy, Matthew is dedicated to an audience of Jews.