This study of the Gospel According to Mark is drawn from Ray and Star Silverman's book, "A Seamless Garment", which studies all Four Gospels.

At the end of Matthew's Gospel, the disciples are commissioned to go forth into every nation and proclaim the good news of His birth, life, death, resurrection, and, especially, His teachings:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19,20).

Mark picks up precisely at that point — with “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” proclaiming that the Messiah, the Son of God, has come. The Gospel of Mark begins as a gospel of proclamation — the proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God who calls us to go into the whole world to preach the good news. But very soon, we discover that the good news begins with repentance.