The gospel of Mark is both the earliest and shortest of the four gospels of the New Testament. Attributed to a follower of the Jesus Movement named Mark, the gospel focuses on the events and stories of Jesus’ life that highlight His heroism, divinity, and oneness with God. Mark’s writings, while historical, are not free from biases, probable embellishment, inaccuracies, and omissions. Mark writes to persuade the readers to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and one with God. Drawing from oral tradition and some brief written traditions, and using language that would evoke certain reactions from Jewish readers, Mark describes Jesus as the true Messiah.
In Jewish monarchies, the term “messiah” was used to describe a newly appointed king, who was usually anointed with oil. Mark telling the story of John the Baptist anointing Jesus with water, and then referring to Jesus as the Messiah conferred a meaning not lost on his Jewish readers. By describing Jesus as the Messiah, Mark declared Jesus the new King, who would defend His people against evil and establish one true rule – the rule of God. Mark also refers to Jesus as the Son of God, a title Israelites bestowed on their kings. By doing this, Mark not only reaffirms his argument of Jesus as King of the Israelites but also directly connects Jesus with the Israelite God.
While Israelites would have immediately understood the connection and meaning of Mark’s phrases, Romans would have taken these phrases to mean something else entirely. Roman emperors were seen as divine. Any reference to divinity by another would have been thought to have been an attempt for rule. Rulers, and only rulers, could have a connection to the divine in Roman eyes. Since Augustus was the ruler of the time and adopted into divinity, they saw Jesus as the adopted son of the Israelite God, and therefore a direct threat to Augustus. While Mark uses these terms to signify that Jesus is the Son OF God and will restore His people to their true glory, Romans would see these phrases and deduce that Jesus stood as a threat to Roman rule.