As we begin Year B, we look at the Gospel of Mark. Already, in the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and into the first week of Ordinary time, the evangelist takes no time about introducing us to his central character, Jesus Christ. Mark's style is immediate and vivid, and he wants us to meet and be challenged by Jesus as soon as possible.

It was thought, in the time of St. Augustine, that Mark was simply an abridged version of Matthew. Therefore, the value of Mark's Gospel was seen to be lower in the face of its longer and presumed earlier rival. Questions have been asked as to the identity of Mark. Who was he? Possibly he was a disciple of Peter, and because of this his Gospel has an authority it would not have had if that link was not there, and this may well have been why, out of the many gospels to be written, that it is one of  only four to have been accepted by the Church.

Nowadays, the weight of scholarly evidence and opinion places Mark's gospel as the first to be written, and therefore through the lines of this work we can get closer to the person of Jesus than we can with any of the other Gospels.

By looking at Mark's gospel without reference to Matthew or Luke we can see the structure of the gospel and the purpose of the evangelist more clearly. a task which is not easy, and not complete. The gospel continuously surprises the reader with new insight, as it is a living thing, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. To deconstruct and play with the Gospel is not to deny its importance and is not to diminish the reverence due it; but it will allow the reader (hopefully) a closer look at the focal point of the Gospel: namely the person of Jesus Christ.