Two Gospels, five themes

You will study one Gospel in depth, but the structure is identical.

• Unit 4 — Matthew: identity · miracle worker · Kingdom of God · death and resurrection · discipleship.
• Unit 5 — Mark: identity · miracle worker · teaching (Kingdom and Sabbath) · death and resurrection · discipleship.

CCEA's exact demand: read every set passage in two contexts — its own religious, political, social and cultural setting, and its meaning for Christian life today. Answers that do only one of the two lose marks.

Peter's declaration

The identity of Jesus

The titles CCEA names are Son of God, Messiah, Son of Man, Son of David and Saviour. The key passages:

• Peter's declaration — 'You are the Messiah' (Matthew 16:13–20; Mark 8:27–33).
• The Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1–13; Mark 9:2–13).
• The entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–11).
• In Matthew, the birth (Matthew 1:18–25) and the visitors from the East (Matthew 2:1–16); in Mark, the story starts with John the Baptist (Mark 1:1–13).

Sharp detail: immediately after Peter names him Messiah, Jesus tells the disciples he must suffer, and rebukes Peter for objecting. The title is redefined by the cross.

A controversial healing

Jesus the miracle worker

CCEA wants you to take account of the controversial nature of the healings, not just retell them.

• A leprosy sufferer (Matthew 8:1–4; Mark 1:40–45) — Jesus touches a man his society excluded.
• A paralysed man (Matthew 9:1–7; Mark 2:1–12) — Jesus first forgives sins, which the scribes call blasphemy.
• A man with a paralysed hand (Matthew 12:9–14; Mark 3:1–6) — healed on the Sabbath, provoking a plot against him.
• In Mark also: Jairus' daughter and the woman with a haemorrhage (Mark 5), and the Syro-Phoenician woman's daughter (Mark 7:24–30).

Contemporary significance: each miracle crosses a boundary — of disease, of ritual purity, of Sabbath law, of ethnicity. That is why they were controversial then and why they are preached now.

Which theme?

Tap a passage, then tap the CCEA theme it belongs to.

The Kingdom of God in parables

Mark summarises Jesus' message: 'The time has come; the Kingdom of God is near' (Mark 1:14–15). The parables show what that Kingdom is like.

• The Sower (Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23; Mark 4:1–20) — different responses to the message.
• The Mustard Seed (Mark 4:30–32) — the smallest beginning, the largest result.
• The Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1–16) — grace is not wages.
• The Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:10–14) — the value of the one.

Mark also sets Jesus' attitude to the Sabbath here (Mark 2:23–28) and the Greatest Command (Mark 12:28–34).

The Kingdom of God

The death of Jesus

The set passages run in a chain. Learn the order, and you can answer almost any question:

• The plot against Jesus and Judas' betrayal.
• The Passover meal and the Last Supper (Matthew 26:17–35; Mark 14:12–26).
• Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36–56; Mark 14:32–50).
• The Jewish council, then Pilate, then the mocking.
• Crucifixion, death and burial (Matthew 27:32–61; Mark 15:21–47).

The Great Commission

The resurrection

Matthew 28:1–10 — the women find the tomb empty and meet the risen Jesus. Mark 16:1–8 — the women find the stone rolled away, a young man tells them Jesus has risen, and they flee in fear and amazement.

An evaluation gift: Mark's abrupt ending is genuinely debated. Does it leave the reader to complete the story by becoming a witness? Or is it simply an ending we have lost? Either answer, argued with evidence, earns credit.

Christians hold that the resurrection is what makes the crucifixion good news rather than a tragedy: it vindicates Jesus and is the ground of hope in eternal life.

Key terms

Tap a term on the left, then its meaning on the right.

The cost and call of discipleship

CCEA asks you to relate discipleship to modern pluralist societies and to identity, belonging, meaning and values.

• The call — 'follow me' (Matthew 4:18–22; Mark 1:16–20).
• The cost — take up your cross (Mark 8:34–38); the demands of discipleship (Matthew 5:13–16; 16:24–26).
• The failure — Peter's denial (Matthew 26:69–75; Mark 14:66–72): a disciple can fail and still be restored.
• The widow's offering (Mark 12:41–44) — she gives all she has.
• The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16–20) — go and make disciples of all nations.

Discipleship

Answering CCEA Gospel questions

The paper rewards two things, and you must do both.

• AO1 — knowledge: name the passage, tell it accurately, explain what it meant in its first-century setting (Sabbath law, Roman occupation, purity rules, the position of women, attitudes to tax collectors).
• AO2 — evaluation: give more than one point of view, with reasons, and reach a judgement. Include Christian views that differ from one another, and, where relevant, non-religious views.

Habit that scores: learn one exact quotation or verse reference per theme. Vague retelling caps your marks.

Evaluation

Live debates in these units

Questions that come round again and again:

• Were the miracles historical events? Some Christians say yes, literally. Others read them as true accounts of who Jesus is, told in the idiom of the ancient world. Sceptics offer natural explanations.
• Is the Kingdom of God now or later? Both, most Christians would say — present wherever God's will is done, complete only in the future.
• Can Jesus' demands be lived today? Many Christians take the widow's offering and 'take up your cross' as absolute; others hear them as an ideal that shapes a realistic life of service.

The big ideas to know

You have covered the five themes of CCEA Units 4 and 5. Press Finish to see your score.