Mark 1
Mark 1
The gospel opens without preamble: John baptizes, the heavens tear, the Spirit drives, and within forty verses healings and exorcisms have begun in Capernaum.
Mark — chapter by chapter
All 16 chapters — from the Jordan River to the empty tomb.
Mark divides naturally into three movements. The Galilean ministry (chapters 1–8:21) is the gospel at full speed: calling, healing, exorcism, controversy. The pivot at Caesarea Philippi (8:22–10) turns the gospel south, with three Passion predictions each followed by the disciples' incomprehension. Jerusalem and the Passion (chapters 11–16) bring the entry, the temple controversies, the apocalyptic discourse, the Passion narrative, and the empty tomb.
Galilean ministry · 1–8:21
Calling, healing, exorcism, controversy — and immediate, always immediate.
Mark 2
Mark 2
Five controversy stories begin: a man lowered through a roof is forgiven and healed, a tax collector is called, and the Sabbath controversies open the gathering opposition.
Mark 3
Mark 3
Pharisees and Herodians begin plotting; Jesus appoints the Twelve, rebuts the Beelzebul charge, and redefines family as those who do the will of God.
Mark 4
Mark 4
The parable chapter: the sower, the growing seed, the mustard seed. To the disciples, the mystery is explained. At evening, wind and sea obey a word.
Mark 5
Mark 5
Three healings at the outer limit: a legion expelled into pigs, a twelve-year haemorrhage healed by faith, and a dead girl raised with the words little girl, arise.
Mark 6
Mark 6
Rejection at Nazareth, the Twelve sent out, John the Baptist beheaded at a banquet, five thousand fed, and Jesus walking on the water to the uncomprehending disciples.
Mark 7
Mark 7
The purity teaching, the Syrophoenician woman's impertinent faith, and the Aramaic ephphatha: the gospel's Gentile turn is now explicit.
Mark 8
Mark 8
The gospel's centre: the second feeding, the leaven of the Pharisees, a blind man healed in two stages, Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi, and the first prediction of the Passion.
Caesarea Philippi pivot to Jerusalem · 8:22–10
Three Passion predictions; three revelations of incomprehension.
Mark 9
Mark 9
The transfiguration on the mountain, the second passion prediction, the possessed boy the disciples cannot heal, and the argument about who is greatest.
Mark 10
Mark 10
The third passion prediction, the request for seats of glory, and blind Bartimaeus by the road to Jericho — the way to Jerusalem is also the way of the servant.
Jerusalem and the Passion · 11–16
The entry, the temple, the cross, the centurion, the empty tomb.
Mark 11
Mark 11
The entry into Jerusalem on a colt, the clearing of the temple between the cursing and withering of the fig tree, and the challenge to Jesus' authority from the chief priests.
Mark 12
Mark 12
Five trap questions answered in the temple, the parable of the wicked tenants, the greatest commandment, and the widow whose two coins outgive them all.
Mark 13
Mark 13
The Olivet discourse: temple destruction, false prophets, cosmic signs, the Son of Man in clouds, and the repeated call to watch — for no one knows the day or the hour.
Mark 14
Mark 14
The Passion begins: the anointing for burial, the Last Supper's bread and cup, Gethsemane's prayer, the arrest, the Sanhedrin trial, and Peter's three denials.
Mark 15
Mark 15
The trial, the cross timed by the hour, the cry of dereliction in Aramaic, the curtain torn, and the centurion's confession: the gospel's christological argument reaches its climax at the death.
Mark 16
Mark 16
The empty tomb, the young man's announcement, the instruction to go to Galilee — and then silence. The gospel ends at 16:8 with the women fleeing in fear, the next sentence the reader's.