of
the whale" mentioned as typical of Christ's rest in the tomb (xii. 40),
the absence of all reference to the _burning_ of the temple in xxiv. 2,
the reference to Zachariah the son of Barachiah (xxiii. 35; contrast 2
Chron. xxiv. 20). Such verses would probably have been altered if the
Gospel had not gained an authoritative position at a very early date.

[1] Strom. iv. 9.

[2] Eusebius, _H. E._ iii. 39.

[3] _Adv. Haer._ iii. 1.

[4] _De Vir, Ill._ 3.

[5] _In Matt._ xii. 13.

[6] _Con. Pelag._ iii. 1.

[7] So Prof. Armitage Robinson, _Expositor_, March, 1897.

[8] Batiffol, _Six Lecons sur les Evangiles_, p. 48.

[9] Burton, _Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of New Testament Greek_,
pp. 92-95.

[10] In this Gospel only is sin called "lawlessness."

[11] These analyses of the Gospels are not complete, but are arranged
with the hope that the readers, by studying all the four, may gain a
clearer conception of the life of our Lord.

{49}

CHAPTER IV

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK

[Sidenote: The Author.]

John Mark was the son of a Mary who was an influential member of the
Church at Jerusalem, as the Church met in her house (Acts xii. 12). He
was a cousin of Barnabas (Col. iv. 10), who had been a man of some
property. It has been thought that Mark was the "young man" referred
to in the account given by this Gospel of the arrest of Jesus in the
garden. To others the incident would probably have appeared
insignificant. He lived at Jerusalem during the famine in A.D. 45, and
Barnabas took him to Antioch on returning thither from Jerusalem at
that time. He accompanied St. Paul and St. Barnabas on St. Paul's
first missionary journey, and laboured with them at Salamis in Cyprus.
It is possible that Acts xiii. 5 means that John Mark had been a
"minister" of the synagogue at Salamis. At any rate, the Greek can be
so interpreted. After crossing from Paphos to the mainland of Asia
Minor, the missionaries arrived at Perga. Here St. Paul made the great
resolve to extend the gospel beyond the Taurus mountains. St. Mark
determined to leave him. Perhaps he was not prepared for so
magnificent an undertaking as a "work" which included the conversion of
the Gentiles (Acts xiv. 27), or for the substitution of the leadership
of St. Paul for that of St. Barnabas.

St. Mark returned to Jerusalem, and was again at Antioch about the time
of St. Paul's rebuke of St. Peter. Possibly St. Mark followed