The Gospel of Mark Unfolded: A Pastor and Therapist explore the life of Yeshua

David Profitt and Sophie Murphy
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

David Profitt & Sophie Murphy slowly work their way through the Gospel of Mark, letting the story of Jesus unfold week by week. Together, they explore who this remarkable man is and the profound impact he had on the lives of those he encountered - and continues to have today.”

  1. Mar 27

    Week 39 - The Gospel of Mark

    In this episode, David and Sophie close out nearly 40 weeks of Mark together. They reflect on what surprised them, what stuck, and where the journey goes from here. David returns to the compassion of Yeshua as the thread that gripped him most, while Sophie traces the arc from her first encounter with Mark as a brand-new believer in college to the fresh view of Yeshua she found again through close reading, the Greek, and sustained dialog. She lingers on the Syrophoenician woman, the brilliance of a man who could shred the Pharisees and tenderly touch a leper, and the gut-punch of his silence before Pilate. They talk about what midrash actually is, why the word matters even when nobody knows what it means, and how the group grew into a rhythm of real engagement with the text. Looking ahead, they announce the Gospel of John as next and tease the question of the Beloved Disciple. They sign off with gratitude for the partnership, the group, and their ten faithful listeners.

    40 min

  2. Mar 21

    Week 38 - The Gospel of Mark

    In this episode, David and Sophie take on the Longer Ending of Mark (16:9-20), the passage that most scholars agree was added later by a different hand. They explore why it doesn't sound like Mark: no "immediately," no spare prose, new language like "the Lord Jesus" that never appears in the rest of the gospel. Sophie argues that the addition serves to institutionalize what Mark intentionally left open, introducing a commission, signs of authority, and a binary saved-or-condemned framework that feels foreign to the riddle and puzzle Mark spent fifteen chapters building. She is particularly sharp on what the Longer Ending does to Mary Magdalene, pulling in the "seven demons" detail from Luke to pathologize her and then having the disciples dismiss her testimony, undoing the dignity Mark's original ending gave her as lead witness. David offers a generous historical reading, suggesting the early church may have felt Mark needed these additions once it became clear Jesus was not returning immediately. The conversation opens into larger questions about scripture, trustworthiness, the Jesus Seminar, and what it means to take the text seriously without demanding inerrancy, closing with Sophie's reflection from the Gospel of Mary: "Do not lay any rules beyond what I have given you."

    53 min

  3. Mar 21

    Week 37 - The Gospel of Mark

    In this episode, David and Sophie reach Mark's original ending, covering the burial and the empty tomb in Mark 15:42-16:8. They begin with Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the very council that condemned Jesus, who takes courage to ask Pilate for the body. Sophie reads him as a person of integrity inside a rotten system. They trace the women's unbroken witness chain from the cross through the burial to the tomb, noting that Mary Magdalene and the others are essentially following Joseph to see where Jesus is laid, still not giving up when every male disciple has disappeared. David surfaces a striking detail in the angel's message: "go tell his disciples and Peter," reading the singling out of Peter as both an acknowledgment that Peter may have separated himself from the group after his denial and a radical hint of redemption. The episode closes with Mark's scandalous final line, ending on a conjunction, with the women trembling in fear and astonishment, and Sophie and David sit with what it means that the earliest manuscript simply stops there, leaving the rest to the reader.

    54 min

  4. Mar 21

    Week 36 - The Gospel of Mark

    In this episode, David and Sophie enter the crucifixion and death of Jesus in Mark 15:21-41, material they both recognize as the heart of the Good Friday story. They trace the ironies Mark builds into the scene: Simon of Cyrene, a stranger compelled to carry the cross, literally does what the disciples were called to do and fled from. They sit with Mark's characteristic restraint, noting that the actual crucifixion gets barely half a verse while the mocking and the garment-dividing get far more space. The conversation deepens around Psalm 22 and the cry of dereliction, the schizō bookend connecting the tearing of the heavens at Jesus's baptism to the tearing of the temple curtain at his death, and what it means that a Roman centurion, a total outsider standing face to face with Jesus, is the one who finally declares him Son of God. Sophie opens up her work on Mary Magdalene, arguing that the women named at the cross represent an unbroken witness chain at the moment every male disciple has exited the story, and that Mary Magdalene's near-invisibility in Mark is itself evidence of how threatening her importance was to the structures that followed. The episode closes with a rich exchange about the torn curtain as both destruction and invitation, connecting the crucifixion to Genesis, to the recovery of women's voices in the tradition, and to what Christianity looks like when you actually follow the thread all the way through.

    1h 25m

  5. Feb 27

    Week 35 - The Gospel of Mark

    In this episode, David and Sophie follow Jesus from the Sanhedrin's judgment seat to the Roman governor's courtyard, tracing how the charge against him shifts from blasphemy to sedition as the religious leaders hand him over to Pilate. They explore Pilate's surprising recognition that envy, not justice, is driving the chief priests, connecting this back to Jesus's earlier teaching that it's what comes from within the heart that defiles a person. The conversation digs into the crowd's role in choosing Barabbas, how institutional power manufactures consent, and what it means that the people who shouted Hosanna days ago may not be the same crowd now shouting "Crucify him." Sophie and David also sit with Jesus's strange silence before Pilate, his refusal to defend himself even as accusations pile up, and what that reveals about the difference between knowing who you are and needing others to validate it. The episode closes with the Roman soldiers' mockery: the purple robe, the crown of thorns, the kneeling, and the devastating irony that every element of their cruelty accidentally enacts the very enthronement they're ridiculing. As Mark's passion narrative unfolds, the people who think they're in control keep inadvertently telling the truth about the one they're destroying.

    37 min

  6. Feb 15

    Week 34 - The Gospel of Mark

    In this episode, David and Sophie pick up the story as Jesus is seized in the garden and the disciples scatter. They discuss the irony of Jesus being treated “as a robber,” the misrepresentation of his words about the temple, and the layered scriptural references in his declaration before the high priest: “I am… and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power.” Together, they unpack why this claim was understood as blasphemy and what it meant for the religious leaders whose authority was being quietly overturned. As the narrative moves between Jesus’ silent endurance under humiliation and Peter’s mounting denials in the courtyard below, David and Sophie reflect on the cost of association, the sting of public shame, and the heartbreak of watching someone you love suffer. They consider why Peter invokes a curse upon himself and what it reveals about fear, loyalty, and human limitation. The episode closes with Peter’s bitter weeping, a moment of painful recognition that leaves listeners sitting with both failure and the possibility of redemption.

    55 min

  7. Feb 11

    Week 33 - The Gospel of Mark

    In this episode, David and Sophie continue their slow walk through Mark’s Passion narrative, beginning with Jesus’ sobering words: “You will all fall away, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.” Together, they explore the tension between the disciples’ bold declarations of loyalty and the quiet unraveling that follows in Gethsemane. They reflect on what it means that Jesus predicts not only betrayal but abandonment, and how deeply human the disciples’ sleep and fear feel in the face of his anguish. David and Sophie also examine the raw emotional language Mark uses to describe Jesus’ distress in the garden, asking what it reveals about his humanity and his loneliness. As the episode moves toward Judas’ arrival, they wrestle with the haunting symbolism of the kiss, why betrayal would come wrapped in intimacy, and how Jesus walks into it without resistance. The conversation lingers in the space between devotion and failure, asking what it costs to remain present when love becomes dangerous.

    1h 15m

  8. Feb 7

    Week 32 - The Gospel of Mark

    In this episode, David and Sophie explore the section of Mark where Judas decides to betray Jesus and the final Passover meal is prepared and shared. They reflect on how Mark places this moment directly after the woman’s extravagant anointing, highlighting a contrast between wholehearted devotion and growing disillusionment. As Jesus names betrayal and impending failure at the table, David and Sophie notice how he does so openly but without accusation, inviting each disciple into self-examination. Together they consider how Jesus redefines Passover, not as a moment of political overthrow, but as a kingdom that comes through suffering, self-giving love, and a meal that remains unfinished, pointing toward God’s future fulfillment.

    45 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

David Profitt & Sophie Murphy slowly work their way through the Gospel of Mark, letting the story of Jesus unfold week by week. Together, they explore who this remarkable man is and the profound impact he had on the lives of those he encountered - and continues to have today.”

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