It is clearly seen through the Gospel of Mark, that he is trying to persuade his audience in believing and using the terms “Messiah” and “Son of God” by opening up his Gospel stating, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Because Mark is considered the first Gospel written in 70 AD, I find it rather interesting that Mark makes this claim without prior mentioning of the “Messiah” and “Son of God.” Many Roman audiences were unfamiliar with the term “Christ” therefore the audience in which Mark was writing to would not understand what he meant by that word. This exemplifies that Mark is trying to get his audience to conform to the idea that He is in fact, the Son of God, the Messiah. However, for the Jewish audiences, the term “messiah” held various meanings to them. For some, they believed the Messiah was the future King of Israel who, with his power, would deliver His people from their oppressors and establish a sovereign state in Israel. Whereas, other others believed he was a cosmic deliverer from Heaven in which he would use his supernatural power against the enemies of the communities and bring divine victory over their oppressors.

The stories throughout Mark’s Gospel give reference of Jesus healing the sick and broken. It is stated that there were people from all over who came to see and hear Jesus and the great news and miracles he was bringing to the people. This helps the audience jump on the idea, that indeed Jesus is the Messiah because he lead his disciples through the cities and desert to help those who needed it, and believed. This brought much debate towards the non-believers and even the people who were closest to Jesus. In all, He was misunderstood tremendously. Ironically enough, the Jewish leaders opposed him because Jesus refused to practice their own practices of purity such as eating with the unrighteous and sinners. This is seen in versus 40-45 where He claimed that the man with leprosy was freed from his sins. In their eyes, only God could do that, not Jesus, the Son.

It is clear that throughout the Gospel of Mark, the author created a specific image of Jesus that they wanted to portray and for the audience to agree with. The word “immediately” is used throughout this Gospel showing that his disciples believed Jesus to be the Son of God and the Messiah, no hesitation. Mark tells other stories throughout this Gospel such as Jesus performing exorcism on people who are consumed by demons. I also thought it was interesting when Mark states that Jesus did not ask the demons who they were, for they knew Jesus and they knew that he too, is the Son of God. I feel as though many would overlook that part, but I feel as though it is really essential to take that into consideration when reading through the Gospel of Mark because it shows not only do the believers of Jesus know who He is, but so do the darkest of enemies.