Rev. Klockers: Does God grade our poor penmanship?

In our modern day, it is widely believed that Mark’s was the first Gospel written (before those of Matthew, Luke or John). So, why is Matthew’s listed as the first Gospel instead of Mark’s?

During the original process of collecting the individual books that make the Bible as we know it, Mark’s Gospel made the cut, but was deemed by some to be a “lesser work.”

Some thought that the Gospel of Matthew was far “superior” in how it was written. One way to describe this — Mark’s Gospel was judged to be like a Reader’s Digest abridged story compared to that of Matthew’s complete well-written novel.

There is a surprise twist to this. In our modern day, it is widely believed that Matthew actually used Mark’s Gospel as a major source to write his own account.

If true, Matthew was like a teacher who used a red-marking pencil to correct Mark’s relatively poor grammar. Matthew ended up restructuring many of Mark’s sentences, tidying up the syntax, providing a more eloquent flow that allowed for easier understanding. He also cut out what he found unnecessary and added elements that provided greater detail.

What do I think of all this? Well, when it comes right down to it, in spite of everything I have written, I favor Mark’s Gospel. Why?

I believe that God loves us all equally, and God loves faithfulness. That doesn’t require eloquent writing style.

My grandmother grew up in Kentucky. She said she began to learn how to read and write by using the Bible. (I have copies of documents where she and Grandfather wrote “X” for their signatures).

My grandfather died before I was born. I viewed my grandmother, Lillie Belle Fultz, as being a great woman of faith and a prayer warrior. When she gave me birthday cards, her words were often misspelled. That didn’t matter to me. They were expressions of love for me and I loved her.

I could have edited and corrected what she wrote but that would not have been the same for me.

It was not “inferior,” but honest and praiseworthy, in my book.

I view Mark’s Gospel in a similar light. It was needlessly “bumped” back one peg because of the writing style and shorter length.

We can’t always find the best words to use, but that shouldn’t prevent us from writing, or make our writing any less appreciated.

Walter is pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church and has served as parish pastor for more than 30 years.