Mark

The gospel of Mark contains most of the elements that are contained in the other synoptic gospels which are Luke and Matthew.  Mark has a different focus in writing his book though.  Mark writes to affirm that Jesus is the Messiah but he does so through telling of the miracles Jesus performed.  Mark is believed by liberal theologians to have been written in the 40's AD and by conservative theologians to have been written during the time of the destruction of the temple and the persecution of Nero Caesar.  I don't often agree with liberals on their views, but I do believe that Mark is the earliest of all the gospels.  Mark apparently converted to Christianity through Paul.  Paul often speaks in his letters of a John Mark whom has a part in his ministry.  There is no evidence that shows how Mark converted to Christianity.  It was probably through Paul.  Mark though probably not religious before being a Christian, was a Jew.  Mark focuses on the miracles of Jesus including a woman who had  a blood clot for twelve years and from simply touching the cloak of Jesus was healed.  Mark doesn't focus so much on the dualistic struggle between Jesus and the Pharisees.  Mark gives an account of the transfiguaration and other significant events and figures such as John the Baptist and Herod Antipas.  Mark speaks of Jesus as cleansing the temple like all the other synoptics.  Mark also tells of Jesus cursing of the fig tree which also appears in Matthew and Luke.  The fig tee represents the nation of Israel and its inability to produce fruit.  Jesus says that when the fig tree blossoms again then the generation that sees this happen will never pass away.  That has been interpreted by scholars to mean that the generation that sees Israel become a nation again will never die until the end has happened.  However, generation can also mean race of peoples.  Mark is the only gospel that records Jesus as telling Pilate he is the Messiah.  All the synoptics present the charactar Barrabbas at the crucifixion.  Barrabbas is represenative of us for we try whatever we can to save ourselves and many of us like Barabbas try to start our own Messianic revolts.   That is exactly why Barabbas was imprisoned.  Mark also tells of how their were women who found Jesus at the tomb.  In the codex sinaiticus fragments which I tell about on my How the Bible came to be Page, does not have the account of the women at the tomb.  This is because women were suppressed by the patriarchal high society of Judaism and the tradition was passed along to Christianity.  The book of Mark would be the best book to recommend to anybody who wants to know about the miracles that Jesus performed.