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| The Badge of St. Mark the Evangelist |
Today is the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist. Although the Second Gospel is anonymous, the
church has associated Mark’s name with that work since the early days of
Christianity. Scholars recognize his account
as the earliest of the four canonical gospels.
Indeed, history credits Mark with the invention of the gospel genre of
literature. While other biographies had
existed since the development of writing, those works were in single-strand
narrative form. Mark takes small
vignettes and sayings and weaves them together not so much for historical
continuity, but to serve his theological purposes.
Mark’s gospel is the shortest of the four biblical
gospels. It includes no Infancy
Narrative. His work moves at an almost
breathless pace, as he introduces individual accounts with the phrase “and
immediately” over fifty times. His Resurrection
account (excluding the “longer endings” that were almost assuredly later
additions) is inconclusive.
Yet, this work is a foundational source for the other
Synoptic Gospels (Matthew and Luke).
There are only a handful of verses in Mark that one or the other (or
both) of the Synoptists does not employ.
Some scholars support the tradition that Mark bases his writing on the
preaching of Peter. That view, however,
does not meet with universal acceptance.
Be that as it may, the church’s debt to St. Mark is
incalculable. We particularly give
thanks for his witness today.
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