Mark setting & dates

The Setting of Mark

Mark’s Gospel is set in the same first-century land of Israel as the others, but with a distinctly Galilean center of gravity in its first half. Jesus’ ministry radiates from the towns around the Sea of Galilee — Capernaum, where He heals and teaches; Nazareth, where He is rejected; and the villages, hillsides, and shorelines where crowds gather. Jesus repeatedly crosses the sea and moves into surrounding regions, including Gentile territory: the country of the Gerasenes in the Decapolis to the east, and the region of Tyre and Sidon to the northwest, where He heals a Gentile woman’s daughter, and Caesarea Philippi in the far north, where Peter confesses Him as the Christ.

From that confession the geography turns decisively southward. The second half of the Gospel follows Jesus “on the way” up to Jerusalem — through Jericho, where blind Bartimaeus is healed — and into the holy city for the final week. There the action concentrates: the temple, where He teaches and clashes with the leaders; the Mount of Olives, where He gives the Olivet Discourse; Gethsemane, where He is arrested; and Golgotha, just outside the walls, where He is crucified, with the nearby tomb where He is buried and from which He rises. The closing verses turn the disciples’ eyes back to Galilee and then outward to “all the world.”

Timeline

• c. AD 27 - John the Baptist ministers; Jesus is baptized and begins His public ministry in Galilee.
• c. AD 28-29 - The Galilean ministry: mighty works, parables, growing opposition, and the training of the Twelve.
• c. AD 29 - Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ at Caesarea Philippi; Jesus sets His face toward Jerusalem.
• c. AD 30 - The final week: the entry, the temple, the passion, the crucifixion, and the resurrection.
• c. AD 55-65 - Mark writes his Gospel from Rome, drawing on the preaching of Peter.