Jesus, by Mark

Richard C. Smith is a professor in the Classics Department of the
University of Alberta.

This paperback volume of sermons on the Gospel of Mark is part of a series on the four Gospels by the senior minister of the Peoples Church in Toronto, Paul B. Smith. Each chapter in the Gospel of Mark is taken up and certain verses highlighted as the topic for the sermon. The theological viewpoint is conservative and the scripture quoted is nearly always from the King James Version.

There is also a brief introduction in which Smith identifies the author of the Gospel with the Mark who is mentioned in the Acts as an early assistant of the apostle Paul. He further identifies him as possibly being from the home where the Last Supper was held and the place where Pentecost occurred, yet also as perhaps being a convent of Peter’s, with the Gospel being a reproduction of Peter’s messages after the death of the Apostle in Rome.

Smith has chosen several themes for his sermons: Jesus’s first sermon (in which the removal of fear is discussed), the healing of a cripple at Capernaum, the limit of God’s forgiveness, the parable of the sower, the healing of the woman with the issue of blood (identified in legend with the name Veronica), the feeding of the five thousand, the rejection of Jewish tradition, the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida, the Transfiguration, the rich young ruler, the cleansing of the temple, the widow with two mites, the Second Coming, the woman with the box of ointment, Pilate and the trial of Jesus, and Mark’s version of the first Easter.

Although healing is the subject of three sermons, Smith is not enthusiastic about the claims of faith healers and feels that God rarely interferes with the normal process of sickness and death. He also notes that Billy Graham conducted his father’s funeral, and that the Peoples Church gives over one million dollars each year to — missions which would appear to be good indications that his interpretations of Scripture have been well received both in Toronto and elsewhere.

One minor note of correction to his sermon regarding the Second Coming (of which he says there are no clear signs) is that ancient dates do not appear to be Smith’s strong point. For instance, Nebuchadnezzar did not live in the fifth century BC, nor was the Colossus of Rhodes built at the end of the second century BC. Otherwise the volume should be useful to those who share Smith’s approach to Christian thought.