Gospel Study of the Gospel of Mark

by John-Peter Gernaat

​Mark was not a disciple of Jesus; he was the nephew of Simon Peter. Jesus sent out the Apostles and instructed them to spread the Gospel.

What was this “Gospel”? There were no books of scripture. Jesus spoke with his disciples and his deeds were an expression of his mission. Ultimately, his death on the cross and his resurrection are the Deed for which the Christ incarnated into a human being.

Mark will have heard the stories told by the apostles and listened to them spreading the Gospel. In his later years, when he sat down to write his book of the Gospel, Mark had come to realise that the Holy Spirit that had descended upon Jesus in the River Jordan and remained united with him, expressed itself in the ministry of Jesus through the mighty spiritual beings that the ancients had identified in the twelve constellations that represent the path in space traversed by the sun, the Zodiac. Mark was not a journalist, nor a historian, writing an account of the life of Jesus. The Gospel Mark wrote is an inspired account of the meaning of the Incarnation and the Deed of Death and Resurrection expressed in the light of the influences of the mighty beings through which the sun passes, that the Lord of the Sun, Christ, let shine in his actions.

Therefore, we can read the Gospel of Mark in this light and recognise the three years of Jesus from the Baptism to the Crucifixion in the influences of the constellations of the Zodiac.

During May we read those words and deeds that reflect the influences of Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius in the first cycle through the Zodiac. Thereafter we read how there is an elevation in the influence in the second cycle as we read the words and deeds influenced by Capricorn and Aquarius.

How can we approach writings that have been inspired by the spiritual world in an age when our thinking occurs in our heads and is analytical?

Richard Goodall gave a very appropriate image. In the Book of Genesis (chapter 32: 22–32) Jacob wrestles with an angel all night. Jacob refuses to release the angel until he knows his name. Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (Penuel), "for I have seen God face-to-face, and my soul survives." When we struggle with the Gospel and take that with which we have struggled into the night, we will, bit by bit, “see God face-to-face” as the spiritual world reveals in night consciousness the meaning of that with which we struggle.

Therefore, this article is not going to provide answers or interpretations to the struggle that the Gospel Study group engaged in. We may have gleaned a little insight into the Gospel as written by Mark, but it is only the very beginnings of an understanding, and each person walked away with something different as suits his or her soul’s yearning.