Lent on the Small Screen: Watch Movies Based on All Four Gospels (and Win One, Too!)

The Gospel of Mark (2016)

Most biblical historians believe that the Gospel of Mark was the first Gospel written. It also feels like the most “journalistic” Gospel to me, in a way, stressing the story’s action and reaction, emphasizing Jesus’ deeds in taut , sometimes even terse language and leaving the high poetry to others.

Given its emphasis on action, you’d think it would’ve been more popular with moviemakers. Not so: Lionsgate claims that it’s the first word-for-word adaptation ever of the book. And strikingly, it also features a Jesus that eschews the Western, European Jesus we so often see in biblical movies and gives us a Christ (Selva Rasalingam) who looks like he could’ve been born and raised a Jewish carpenter in the Middle East.

Obviously, only one reader can win my copy of The Gospel of Mark. But the rest of you can buy the film today at Walmart for $14.98.