The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Messianic Checkpoint: The Gospel of Mark (with Jeff Cavins) -2025
Tue, 03 Jun 2025
Welcome to the second Messianic Checkpoint! Jeff Cavins joins Fr. Mike to introduce the Gospel of Mark and discuss how this short Gospel helps us understand both the identity and mission of Jesus. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the purpose of the Gospel of Mark?
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.
Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is time for our second messianic checkpoint, and it is with the gospel of the Lord. of Mark last messianic checkpoint, or the first one we had went to the gospel of St. John, which was the longest gospel.
Now we are going down to Mark. I don't know, down to Mark is the best way to say it. We're going to Mark, which is the shortest of all four gospels. And again, joining us so grateful as always is Jeff Cavins, who's going to give us an intro to this second messianic checkpoint to this gospel of St. Mark. So Jeff, thank you so much for being here and welcome.
Well, it's a privilege to join you on this journey, and it's beautiful how people can go through the Bible and then every once in a while jump forward a little bit to see the fruit of what this whole story is about. And with four Gospels, each one of them has a little bit different emphasis, and together you get a full look at Jesus.
But we don't just blend them together because each one of them is unique.
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Chapter 2: Why is the Gospel of Mark considered unique?
They are. And it's one of the reasons why I love the fact that how we're doing this in this Bible in a year is we had all of John at once, maybe I think a little over a week, seven or eight days. And then we have all of Mark now, a number of a month and a half later.
And I think that there's something really powerful about that, that over the course of these next, I think it's eight days, we're going to go through the gospel of Mark and be able to hear his voice in a unique way, which is different than John's voice and different than Matthew and Luke's. And so, yeah, the gospel of Mark is remarkably unique.
In fact, we have a missionary here who last year she said, oh, gosh, I just I don't I don't like the gospel of Mark. I mean, it's just it's so it's too brief. It's too like staccato. It's too and kind of downplayed it. And and then. I handed her a commentary that is put out by, I think it's some kind of publication. It's a Catholic commentary on sacred scripture.
And she said, oh my gosh, Gospel Mark is my favorite gospel from now on. Because it just, like you are about to say, the uniqueness of Mark's gospel not only makes it different, it makes it remarkable. I mean, there's some things that are just fascinating that Mark highlights that aren't necessarily in the other gospels in the same way.
Right. It's true. And in fact, the early church didn't pay as much attention to Mark, I think because of the brevity of the gospel. But I think the first actual commentaries that were written on it were not even until the 8th century. But in recent times, lots of scholarship is being done on the gospel of Mark.
So this gospel, while short, is really packed with some uniqueness that gives us a glimpse of Jesus and the work that he is doing. I guess I would start off by saying that a lot of scholars believe that Mark was a real source for Matthew and Luke. You see about 90% of the stories that are shared there. In fact,
It's an important point to make again, and that is that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called synoptic gospels. And by that, synoptic means to see with the one eye, with one vision, and that some even believe that there was another source that they were using called Q, and that gets into the weeds as far as theology goes.
Right.
But it is shorter. St. Augustine said that the Gospel of Mark was an abbreviated version of Matthew. That's what he thought it was. It was kind of like an expanded Cliff Notes, if you will.
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Chapter 3: What are the key themes in the Gospel of Mark?
Yeah, that's so funny you mention that, because when I read that years ago, I always thought it was reverse psychology. You know, you say, don't tell anybody about this, knowing they're going to open their mouth, you know.
Not every day a boy gets a whitewash offense, you know, that kind of thing.
Right. But I think that one of the reasons is that there is a timing to everything in Jesus' life, and that he is revealing himself first to his disciples and to those around them. and laying the foundation down as to who he was. And there is a time, there's a time for everything in his life.
And the real proclamation of his kingdom and who he was, was through the disciples, but that would come after the resurrection. that would be premature to suddenly the Romans and everybody else to say, hey, this guy is really a great king, like the Maccabean revolt or David, you know, and to establish him as a king, renewing the kingdom that had kind of gone silent for years.
And his kingdom was not like that. And his kingdom was different to the kingdom of heaven. And so it was all in the timing, I believe, of that.
Yeah. That makes so much sense. I mean, Cardinal Newman at one point, he asked the question, how come Jesus didn't just appear to everyone after he rose from the dead? And why did he only appear to his disciples? And his answer is kind of similar to that, where he said the idea wasn't just so that people could see him.
The idea was that the people who knew him could see him, the people who had a relationship with him could see him because then they could go and bear witness to him as opposed to the fickle crowds, as opposed to those who had no investment whatsoever in him, who would say, Yeah, sure, I saw this man raised from the dead, but that doesn't change my life at all. He said is a lot.
I'm paraphrasing, obviously, but that sense of it's here's this relationship and out of this relationship comes a witness bearing witness to his identity, not just himself and not just his miracles and obviously not the demons, but
but these apostles who are sent out who are no longer servants, but are friends who then get sent out into the world to not just bear witness to his miracles, not just bear witness to his resurrection, but bear witness to the one they know, the one they're in relationship with. And yeah, that makes sense.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of the identity of Jesus in Mark?
And it speaks to, I think, the fact that he's in control of the narrative. He is not allowing the public narrative to define his kingdom or when he should rise or what he should do. He is in control of that. And you and I are both Mac fans. I mean, we use Macintosh. We have for years. A lot of people have iPhones.
And if you think back for a moment, when Steve Jobs was developing all of that, the Mac computer and the iPads, all of that, He was very, very careful to tell those around him, do not let this out yet. Do not let it out on pain of firing, right? And so Apple had this, they had this unique environment where nobody leaked things out ahead of time because there was a time limit. to do it.
Now I'm not equating the kingdom of heaven with Steve Johnson and Apple, but it's the same type of thing. And that is that we, I am speaking to you as a small group here in the development of everything that I am giving you. And there will be a time. And I know that your natural inclination is to start to record me and sell the tapes and everything else.
I know that, but I don't want you doing that right now. And so I, I think it's an incredible, well, it's an incredible thing because, you know, Solomon was known as the builder in the Old Testament. Jesus is greater than Solomon. He is the master builder. And I think part of the master builder aspect is prudence on when and how the kingdom grows.
And I think that, just to make a note here, I do think the kingdom of heaven is better than apples. Interesting.
Just as a sidebar, asterisk. Just a sidebar. Quick, one thing about the authorship of Mark's gospel. Here's Mark, who I think I've come across many people who have said that it is highly likely that as Mark and Peter were close, Mark had traveled with Paul and Barnabas and that whole story, how that story went down. But then Mark and Peter were close that this would be Peter's gospel via Mark.
Is that important? Is that unique to highlight? Or is that kind of like just a fact or a piece of trivia?
Well, I've read that quite a few times where people talk about that idea. And it certainly could be. I mean, a lot of the themes that he brings about are relating to those which Peter is interested in for sure. But I think that the real emphasis is on the identity of Jesus and the mission of Jesus. But no doubt, no doubt Mark learned from Peter, you know, and it could be through his eyes.
as well. A lot of the formation of Mark is different than the other gospels where there is an immediacy to what he is telling you. In fact, what's interesting about it, about this gospel, is that he uses 41 times, 41 times, the word immediately. And so he's always talking about immediately, and it's an average of two times per chapter.
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Chapter 5: How does the concept of the messianic secret appear in Mark?
Yeah, yeah. He's using it a lot for such a short book. And it really gives us, I think, a sense of a kind of a rapid fire narrative about And so people who say, well, I don't like Mark because it's not as expansive as Luke and Matthew. Well, this could be that rapid-fire look at the gospel. Another thing that's very interesting is the organization of the material in Mark.
And what I mean by that is that Mark has a way, has a tendency, I should say, to organize the gospel by a type of material. So we have miracles, and you have parables, You have controversies, and it's not so much thematic like faith and that type of thing like you would expect. And it's important for the reader to realize that the material is organized.
It's not just a random telling, but he really is organizing it. But the one thing, Father, that I like about Mark, and when I teach this, I'm always using Mark to do this, and you can use the other Gospels as well, and that is that Mark utilizes in a masterful way Jesus' ability to use questions when he teaches.
And Jesus uses over ten different ways to implement questions, that a question could be rhetorical, a question could be a lesson in itself, like, you know, rhetorical. He can use questions to reveal a person's heart. He can use questions to cut off those who are coming against him and trap them in a way.
And so I think that Mark really, really showcases the wisdom and the cleverness of Jesus in how he taught. And he does this, and he also explains it. So, you know, some people think that the audience of Mark was Christians who were not as familiar with the Jewish backgrounds, and so Mark has a tendency to explain these things. That's what I think.
to them so that they would understand in the same way that John will see does the same thing. He's gonna bring up Jewish concepts and then he kind of pauses and says, well, this is what it means.
You guys don't know.
Yeah, right, right. Yeah, rabbi, which means teacher. And then there's one more thing, this last thing that I would mention, and that is that Mark's gospel is not just interested in concepts. His gospel that he's giving us is focused on deeds.
And that is really important because we as Catholics know, we as Christians know, that God revealed himself in words and deeds, and Mark focuses on those deeds, but our response to this revelation is like that. We respond with words and deeds as well.
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Chapter 6: What makes Mark's Gospel distinct from the other Gospels?
And it's what a gift to be able to be again on this journey and have this messianic checkpoint where we get to be reminded of with all the mess, with all the United Kingdom, but ups and downs with all the divided kingdom coming on its way and exile that we have this story that the fulfillment or in many ways of the old covenant in Jesus Christ and bringing us into this part of this story today.
And making us a part of this story. And as you said, here is, as they went out and preached, the Lord confirmed. The Lord did. He didn't leave them orphaned. He didn't leave them abandoned. He didn't leave them alone. Didn't leave them powerless. But he is the one who continues to bring fruit to the works of Christians around the world now.
Jeff, one last thought, if you have, as we launch into these next eight days of listening to and praying through Mark's gospel, any last pieces?
Well, I think two. One is that as you read through the Gospel of Mark, I would encourage people to pay attention to who he said he was, and then to pay attention to his mission, and really pay attention to that. Highlight it, mark it, because his mission is your mission. And when he sends you out, he's not sending you out to just build church buildings.
He is sending you out with a message, and that message is not dependent—and the proclamation of that message is not dependent upon your skill level. You know, a lot of people will say, well, I don't share Christ with other people because that's not my gift. And using that logic, I have often said, well, when it comes to the offering in Mass, that's not my gift.
So I will give the basket to somebody else who has that gift. And the truth is that evangelization is a gift that has been given to all of us. It's a responsibility of all of us. And God is just simply looking for faithful disciples who will continue to spread this story.
So while we come to the end of the Gospel of Matthew, it's really not the end because it's still going on today and even past the book of Acts into the entire world. But I do have one last thing, and I know you like this kind of stuff, Father. You know, in software, like your iPhone or your Android device— they have what they call Easter eggs.
And an Easter egg is like a hidden little gem in there that some of you will find it, some of you won't. And I'll give you a hint about this little Easter egg here. And that is in chapter 14 of Mark's gospel, at the betrayal and the arrest of Jesus, it says in verse 51, and a young man followed him. Well, it starts earlier. Day after day, I was with you in the temple teaching and
You did not seize me, but let the scripture be fulfilled. And they all deserted him and fled. And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. Odd text. Different kind of text. And I'll leave you with this for our listeners. Who do you think that young man was?
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