Content for Mark

Galilee

Galilee is where it will all start. The Kingdom of God is inaugurated here and then it will start again so to speak back in Galilee an angel tells the frightened women in chapter 16 to back to Galilee to meet the Risen Lord and to start telling the Good News of His victory. The region of Galilee and the Sea of Galilee is where a whole bunch of Jesus ministry is going to take place throughout this Gospel.

Mark 1:39 ESV

39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Mark 14:26–28 ESV

26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

Mark 16:6–7 ESV

6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”

New beginning in Galilee. The final scene points back to Galilee, back to the beginning of the story, back to the place where the rule of God had been so welcomed. The young man’s message to the women at the grave with instructions for the disciples to go to Galilee suggests a fresh start for the disciples and for anyone in the future of the story world who chooses to follow Jesus. Furthermore, Galilee points toward the Gentile nations, where Jesus had said “the good news is to be proclaimed.”

https://www.angel.com/blog/the-chosen/posts/jesus-in-galilee#

Tree of LIFE

And in that garden, God planted two trees, one the tree of life and two, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The purpose of the tree of life stands for the reward that God will grant and give them to live with Him for eternity if they pass the initial test and keep things in there proper place with God being their king. They demonstrate that by their obedience to His commands. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was to allow Adam to reflect God by discerning between that which is good and that which is not good.

Just as God distinguished between light and dark, Adam was to discern what was good or bad and say yes to the good and no to the bad. The ability to discern is one of the ways that humans reflect God.

So as the pages of the Bible open up we see God pre-existing and the powerfully bringing about the creation of which He was King. After 6 days of creation, God rests on the 7th (not because of exhausting), but because He had established His Kingdom with order and was able to rule over the creation comfortably having given dominion to Adam. With all things in place and all things in order and all things “very good,” He sits down so to speak on His heavenly throne and rests. God Created, Put things In Order and Sat Down and Rested as the Sovereign King. And we read this as chapter 2 begins.

Genesis 2:1–3 ESV

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Benediction

Ephesians 1:15–21 ESV

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

Ephesians 1:22–23 ESV

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Colossians 1:13–14 ESV

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Why didn’t He say, I am king?

Why didn’t Jesus just come out and say, “I am king?”

In a country ruled by Rome, self-proclaimed, rival kings and messias tended to be promptly executed. (Rememer the Magi and Herod (28) years before (massacre of the innocents)

He so he spoke indirectly it's kind of like it was in code. Kind of like the secret Messiah ship. He didn't want to generate too much suspicion too quickly from the government. We already hear that John was in prison period this is a foreshadowing of Jesus own trajectory. Also Jesus wanted to radically affirm the Old Testament concepts of the Kingdom of God in the age to come while also rapidly reshaping the notions of the Kingdom that his contemporaries held. He was not coming to lead an army of billion and liberation that would have obliterate the Romans as many hoped. He had something much more astonishing in mind and that is what his coming public ministry will be all about.

The point is that internalizing the gospel has everything to do with who we are because again the core of the problem we struggle with is our identity. We are born with a sense that something is wrong with us. Sadly throughout our lives, the experiences that confirm this message have more and more influence over who we are. But we can't fix our problem of identity on our own. Instead, the good news of the gospel is that Christ gave his life for us, affirming our identity as his masterpiece. Though we are not yet perfect, we are fully accepted and loved by the most powerful, wondrous being in existence. Can you imagine how he sees you? Can you imagine how he feels towards you? He came to us in human form to give us a tangible, physical experience of his love for us. He saw us as worthy of his suffering and death on the cross. When we can see our reflection in his eyes, we can know who we are and be who we are made to be.