Mark
The author of the Gospel of Mark—John Mark (Acts 12:12)—was not an apostle nor an eyewitness. It is this Mark, the failing though restored servant, that God in His sovereignty chooses to present for us a divine picture of the perfect Servant Jesus Christ, the Son of God in His unwearied and faithful service. “They were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well” (Mark 7:37).
The order of events in Mark’s Gospel is, by and large, chronological. A genealogy is not to be found; though required for a king, it has no significance for a servant. He is not once addressed as “Lord” by the disciples. The word variously translated “immediately,” “straightway,” “forthwith” and “anon” occurs some twenty-six times directly of the Lord and His acts, but rarely in the other Gospels.
This is a Gospel of action; there is immediacy to what is written. Though the shortest Gospel, it is full of details not elsewhere recorded. While the Lord’s divine power is everywhere displayed, the depths of His feelings as man are never hidden.
If we contrast Mark 4 with Matthew 13, the distinct character of this Gospel may be clearly seen. Both chapters begin with the parable of the sower, yet the subject pursued in Mark is that of the Lord’s service—its history, character and results. He was the sower that was His service and likewise the service of His disciples.
A candle is not to be hid, either by industry or laziness. In His absence the gospel goes forth, and though the King be not here, the seeds sprout and grow. At the time of the harvest He will return, and the fruit, or lack of it, will be seen. He will personally take care of the harvest. There are storms, yet the Lord is with us. The One whom even the wind and the sea obey is in the ship it cannot sink. If we feel that He has abandoned us, it is because of our own lack of faith. He shares in all our labors.
The book may be divided in the following manner: chapters 13, Christ’s ministry in Galilee, the opposition of the Jewish leaders, their apostasy, and the Lord’s rejection of the nation; chapters 45, a summary of His personal service among the Gentiles and His people, taking us to Israel’s future raising up; chapters 6-10:45, His service resumed, though rejected by a blinded people; chapters 10:46-13, His return to Jerusalem and final ministry; chapters 14-16, His death and resurrection.
Luke
Luke, Paul’s companion and fellow-laborer (Acts 16:10; 20:6; Philem. 24; 2 Tim. 4:11), wrote both this Gospel and the Acts. He addresses both accounts to Theophilus, an Italian nobleman. Luke was “the beloved physician” (Col. 4:14), apparently a Gentile.
The Gospel is an account of the Lord’s life, by a Gentile to a Gentile: “That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed” (Luke 1:4). It is a divine portrait of Christ—a Man among men—perfectly meeting their need in grace His moral glory always shining.
Whereas the “kingdom of heaven” is predominant in Matthew, the “kingdom of God” distinguishes Luke. This expression takes us beyond Israel and the Messiah “all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6). Yet even in Luke, the order followed is to the “Jew first, and also to the [Gentile]” (Rom. 1:16).
Its message is to those who were bidden, then to the poor of the city the remnant and finally beyond the city to the highways and hedges the Gentile (Luke 14:16-24). In Luke 13 He is presented to the godly remnant in Israel (Luke 2:25-38) the devout few that thought upon His name (Mal. 3:16).
The “kingdom of God” also has an important moral element: “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:17). Moral principles, applicable to all, shine in Luke.
The genealogy in Luke is traced back to the first man, Adam. Jesus is the Son of Man taking up the inheritance God gave to man. The temptations in Luke are presented in moral order first the most basic desire, hunger, and then that which man has by every means sought for himself, power and glory: “He builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son” (Gen. 4:17). The final temptation-more subtle is spiritual in character, appealing to man’s religious nature.
Unlike the first Adam, the Lord Jesus is triumphant in obedience. In Luke He is ever the obedient, suffering, victorious man, and only here do we find such details concerning His agony in the garden: “Being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).
While all the subject matter of Luke is rich, it is helpful to observe the following divisions: chapters 1-3, His birth till the commencement of His public ministry thirty years; chapters 4-5, His ministry of grace among the cities, towns and villages of Galilee; chapters 6-9:50, His ministry in grace, but in contrast with Judaism (the old garment cannot be patched with new cloth), closing with His glory as man; chapters 9:51-19:48 begin with His determination to go to Jerusalem and end with His entry into that city, in between which we have the judgment of those who rejected the Lord and the grace He dispensed along the way the promises of God are accomplished by grace and laid hold of by faith; chapters 20-21, Jerusalem and the Jews delivered up to the Gentiles; chapters 22-24, the Lord with His disciples, His death and resurrection the risen Man.
N. Simon