Mark wrote this book while he was living in Rome. Rome is now the capital city of Italy. He wrote it at some time between AD 50 and AD 70. Mark was also called John Mark. He was a young man when Jesus was in the world. In the book called Acts, we read some things about Mark. A group of Christians met together in the home of Mark's mother (Acts 12:12). Paul and Barnabas went to many different places to tell people about Jesus. Sometimes, Mark went with them.
Mark wrote his book for people who were not Jews. We call them Gentiles. At that time, the Roman government ruled many countries in the world. The Roman rulers wanted to hurt Christians. Jesus had said that his people would receive trouble and pain.
Mark wanted to tell everyone about the things that Jesus had done. He described how Jesus lived. He explained who Jesus was. Jesus was a man, but he was also God's Son. Mark described how Jesus died on a cross. And he described how Jesus became alive again after his death. He explained how people could let God rule in their lives. He wrote about the things that Jesus taught the people.
Mark was a friend of Peter. Peter was one of the 12 men that Jesus chose to be his apostles. Mark often listened to Peter when he was talking about Jesus. He wrote down the things that Peter said. He also wrote about the things that he had seen himself.
1. Jesus starts his work (1:1-13).
2. Jesus works in Galilee (1:14—9:50).
3. Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem (10:1-52).
4. In Jerusalem, people kill Jesus and his friends bury him (11:1—15:47).
5. Jesus becomes alive again (16:1-8).
6. People see that Jesus is alive (16:9-20).