Men read the Gospel of Mark and think they're getting a fast-paced action movie. It's short, it's punchy, it's full of miracles. "Immediately" this, "immediately" that. They get caught up in the pace and the power, and they feel entertained. But they remain completely blind to what's actually being said.
Mark is not a highlight reel of Jesus's greatest hits. It is a brutal and relentless exposé of the human ego's utter inability to comprehend God. The central characters are not Jesus and the demons; the central characters are the disciples, and their purpose in the story is to fail.
1. The Disciples: A Portrait of Spiritual Blindness
Mark goes out of his way to portray the disciples as spiritual infants. They are a case study in how you can physically walk with the Son of God and still be completely lost in the dark.
After Jesus feeds the 5,000 and walks on water, Mark doesn't say they believed. He says, "they were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened." (Mark 6:51-52). They saw the miracle but missed the message. Their intellect was amazed, but their spirit was asleep.
Jesus asks them directly, "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?" (Mark 8:17-18). This is the key question of the entire gospel, aimed not at the Pharisees, but at his own inner circle—and at you. You read the words, but do you see?
The disciples represent every person who tries to "figure out" God with their mind. They are driven by ego: arguing over who is the greatest (Mark 9:34), wanting positions of power (Mark 10:37), and acting out of fear (Mark 4:40). They are a mirror held up to the reader.
2. The Messianic Secret: Rejecting Mental Idols
Throughout Mark, Jesus repeatedly tells people he has healed and even the disciples themselves not to tell anyone who he is. "See that you don't tell this to anyone," (Mark 1:44). Why? Is it some clever strategy?
No. It's because a label, a concept of "Messiah" or "Son of God" grasped by the mind is a useless idol. It's another thing for the ego to possess. True knowing doesn't come from someone else's testimony; it comes from a direct revelation of the Spirit within. Jesus wasn't trying to build a fan club based on hearsay. He silenced them because the truth cannot be told; it must be realized. If you think you know who Jesus is because a book told you so, you are as blind as the disciples were.
3. The Cross: The Only Solution
The entire gospel drives relentlessly towards the cross. And the cross is not about a legal payment for "sin." The cross is the answer to the disciples' and our blindness. It is the symbol for the complete and total death of the ego.
The path to knowing God is not through accumulating more knowledge or witnessing more miracles. The path is the crucifixion of the false self, the self that is afraid, ambitious, angry, and blind. The disciples could only receive the Holy Spirit after Jesus demonstrated the death they too must undergo.
Mark's Gospel is a diagnosis. It shows you the sickness, which is the hardened heart of the ego. It shows you that following Jesus around and calling him "Lord" means nothing if your inner state is still one of fear and self-interest. The only cure it offers is the one nobody wants: you must die to who you think you are. Only then, in that emptiness, can you begin to see.