Mark- Part 1: High Christology According to Mark

Introduction

As promised we are going to be reading in Mark today- but I wanted to get your expectations in place for our study through Mark- and to do that I want to give a little context behind me as a person.

I was born into a family that prior to my being born was heavily involved in the Mormon Church. My grandfathers surname is Tanner, the name that I go by, his mothers maiden name was Young, her great grandmothers maiden name was Smith- as in Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John Tanner- the three primary founders and funders of the LDS Church. I was not ‘raised’ Mormon- I was not really raised into any theology at all actually. My family prior to 2020 was Christian in word but not work and that was in part because of misconceptions that had been past to them from both the LDS Church and the Messianic Jewish traditions of my Grandmother. As such- I was taught from a young age that eating pork was sinful, as was keeping the Sabbath on Sunday. I was taught that boys had to be circumcised and that there were levels to heaven and hell alike. The two competing theologies of Mormonism and Messianic Jewish Traditions were my primary theology growing up- and it got even more confusing from there as I began attending my first church when I was in Middle School- a Lutheran Church. There I learned that sexuality was invented by God and therefore should not in anyway be demonized by mankind- for all is permissible if invented by God.

When I started attending Highschool I met a young man named Brigham- who would become one of my closest friends. I have always struggled with my weight and Brigham just didn’t, in fact since graduating he’s won multiple triathlons and runs marathons regularly with his family- my families past time is trying not to get into political arguments. I was new to the idea of being healthy, and Brigham was happy to share all the information I could ever ask for. Shortly after starting working out with him I went from 250lbs chubby to 180lbs lean. I was feeling amazing for the first time in my life- and then Brigham who I would have declared to anyone as my best friend- invited my to go to church with him and his family. He is to this day a Mormon- without knowing any better I went, and then joined.

In the Mormon church there is a LOT of superstition- and when my ancestry was discovered I was given a lot of attention by the leaders. So, I kept at it- going to Seminary every morning, attending mutual twice a week and more than that studying the book of Mormon prolifically. I have always been a strong reader and the book of Mormon was written by an idiot (and I mean that genuinely) and because of that it is really easy to follow- unlike the Bible that you could study for years and find more and more. But the members of the church want to badly for the Book of Mormon to be more than it is that they often overlook a lot of the simple things it says- I didn’t struggle with that because truthfully I didn’t really care what the Book of Mormon said, I just wanted to be able to do whatever it was I was supposed to do to get to wherever I thought I was supposed to be. Because of that I quickly outstudied most of the missionaries and seminary teachers I met with, and very quickly found myself teaching people who grew up in the LDS Church what the Book of Mormon said. So one day I was pulled into the bishops office and told that the LDS Church needed to see growth among the youth. I was asked to begin doing evangelism work with the kids I went to school with. So, he gave me a some copies of the Book of Mormon to hand out along with other literature and I was off. Thankfully- I didn’t get very far. The first person I was dead set on convincing was a young man named Nathaniel Gilstrap. I walked up to him, Book of Mormon in hand and asked him if he would attend church with me on Sunday. He looked at the Book, looked back at me and said “no- your religion in a false religion based on works- that’s not what the Bible teaches.”

That sounds small- and really it is. But remember I had not ever read the Bible at this point, I hadn't even read the opening verses of it. The idea that the LDS Church taught something contrary to the Bible was impossible in my mind- and because of that all I could say was “no it doesn't.” But it does- and Nathaniel showed me that in Ephesians 2:8-9, and told me that there were verses in the Book of Mormon that contradicted that- I knew what verses he was talking about too; the primary one is 2 Nephi 25:23 which reads ‘For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.’ I was determined that it wasn't the case, that Nathaniel was taking the Bible out of context- so I read the Bible. I read the entire New Testament- and I was livid. It took me a couple of years worth of studying but eventually I had a pretty good grasp on the Bible as a whole- and in 2020 I left the LDS Church and gave my life to Christ.

What was it that pulled to Christ? Nathaniel planted a seed, and my studying showed my how illogical it was to stay in the LDS Church but what made my decision to give my life to the LORD was the Gospel According to Mark.

I had everything to lose by leaving the LDS Church, my social status, my friends, at this point I had a child with a woman who is still to this day an active member of the LDS Church- so also my family. What kept me going was the suffering servant that died for me so that I could live. I want everyone to hear what I am about to say, if you get nothing else out of this sermon let it be this: I came to the realization that if Christ could die for me and in doing so lose everything- than I could live for Him and in doing so gain everything.

So, needless to say Mark is my favorite book in the Bible- but my response to it isn't just my response to it. Marks gospel was written to the Romans and in writing it God converted an entire empire to Christ- and God can do it again if only we can have the boldness that Nathaniel had way back in high school- what’s more is the amount of love Nathaniel had to have held for me. Now me and him are friends no- but back then we hardly knew each other. I was a random kid who chose to talk to him based off one one thing- he was the Christian that everyone went to for questions about Christianity. He could have just said no- could have just closed a door in my face but he did something different. He took the time to witness to me the gospel- in the time that I have given my life to Christ I have witnessed the gospel to my grandfather who came to Christ just recently, my mom, my siblings, more than that over a dozen students that were in the youth ministry gave their lives to Christ during my time as their youth pastor; none of this would have happened had Nathaniel’s boldness not been what it was. More than that though- my mom witnessed to my step father, my grandfather to his neighbor, and every student to their friends. Jesus gave a parable in Matthew 13:31-32; the kingdom of heaven is not something that we should keep to ourselves. I know getting out there and evangelizing is hard- its awkward; you might lose friends and family doing so, but it is worth it.

Now, lets start reading Mark

Section 1 Overview (Mark 1:1-12)

Last time we talked we established two important things when reading through Mark, one was whose account the Gospel According to Mark is- which is Peter. The second is how that relates to the decision by the author not to blatantly present Christ as God. The answer was simply this- Peter was preaching in Rome when Mark recorded Peters account of the Gospel, and seeking to meet the Romans where they were Peter chose not to present Christ as God because he wanted to distinguish Christ from the demigod’s and other false god’s of the Roman mythos. Peter’s goal was to showcases a suffering servant to the Roman’s so that there was a clear distinction made between the God of the Christians and the god’s of the Romans. To do this, Peter had to challenge what Rome saw as virtuous- because power and abuse was seen as the foundational necessary virtues of good leadership by the Romans- not because it made those who were being ruled good followers of the powers that be, but because the culture didn’t care to challenge the powers that be if they were forced into submission to them. In fact- this is why Rome very quickly became hostile towards the early church, as all of a sudden there was a new power ruling over this small sect in Rome and it compelled people not to submit to the evil that plagued the government at the time. All of a sudden this group of people no longer worshipped the emperor so the emperor started persecuting them- but much to the governments dismay, that actually only made the issue worse for them. I closed last time by reading Romans 12:21- this command was not just because it is the right thing to do; it’s because its the most efficient way to spread the gospel when being persecuted, how efficient? In

197AD Tertullian, a historian of the early church issued a statement to the Romans magistrate during a time of persecution which is commonly translates into English as ‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed of new life.’

When we read this in our context today we often put our own overtones on it and we look at this and we place a certain melancholy feel on it- we see it as Tertullian pleading with the magistrate to stop the unjust killings- but in context the opposite is true. “For the proof of our innocence is found in your injustice. It is on this account that God suffers us to suffer this. For quite recently, when you condemned a Christian woman to the beastly lust of men instead of to an actual wild beast, you confessed that a stain upon chastity is accounted more heinous with us than any torture or any death. Yet no cruelty of yours, though each were to exceed the last in its exquisite refinement, profits you in the least; but forms rather an attraction to our sect. We spring up in greater numbers as often as we are mown down by you: the blood of the Christians is a source of new life .”- His tone is- bring it on, every person you kill; more will fill their place because you killed them. I would encourage any of you to read The Apology by Tertullian, his boldness is just undeniable.

The fact is- Rome went from being a place where the powerful can pick on the powerless to a place where the powerless found new power in Christ, and their courage came to them because of Peter and Paul's work in Rome. However, biggest difference they made first had to be to challenge the hearts of those in Rome. Our challenge today is just as great a task as the pangs of the world today and in ancient Rome have not changed much. Same sin- different time period. We are reading Mark then to examine how Mark teaches the Gospel- and I would say that if you want to get better at preaching the gospel you may want to take some notes.

We are not going to go through Mark with a fine tooth comb and flesh out every single verse by verse; not for this study there are many books in the Bible were it is extremely beneficial to do this and Mark may be one of those books in a different context- but my goal with this study has one primary motivation; to get every single person in this room comfortable being uncomfortable when sharing the gospel. So- without further ado, lets read Mark 1:1-12.

The Christology of Mark

So, I said that Peter does not blatantly declare the Jesus is God- and that is mostly true, however Peter does something absolutely powerful. He recognizes something about the heart of a Christian and their desire for God’s Word. He knows that any person that responds to his message with a proclamation of faith is going to end up reading or being mentored in the Old Testament- and in doing so will come to the conclusion on their own that Jesus is God, so what he instead does is created a map for them to follow- and that map is genuinely amazing. In just the opening 12 verses, Peter- without saying it, introduces the Trinity, the Hypostatic Union, and sandwiches between it the cornerstone of Christ’s Gospel in both the work of John the Baptist, and the Person of Jesus. Lets unpack it a little bit.

What is The Trinity? (Mark 1:1-3)

Peter starts out in the first verse depicting Christ’s sonship- and then very quickly switches indirectly into the deity of Christ; the reason for this is clear- in ancient Rome and Greek mythos what is someone who is both a god and the child of a god? A demigod- and Peter knows this, so instead of allowing confusion he introduces these two things separately- first about the easy thing for Romans to understand. That Jesus is the Son of God- then for the more complicated move; introducing the trinity, Peter allows for this to be something his audience can learn on their own later on as they read through the Old Testament. If we could apply that today it would look incredibly similar- when we evangelize we don’t have to have all the answers ready to go for someone in case they bring up a objection to turning to Christ within their own sin. We just need to get them to the cross; Jesus can and has throughout all of human history been able to handle the rest through individual witnessing and mentorship. What do you think would be more efficient as a witnessing tactic; standing on the street corner shouting ‘the LGBTQ is condemned’ or bringing a friend who identifies with the LGBTQ to Christ, and then personally mentoring to that person that homosexuality is a sin, after they are in a place that they care enough about Jesus and what He thinks about them to let God fix their issues? This seems to be on par with what Peter is doing in Rome here. He knows that people will shut down if they find out that Peter is asking them to give up everything they know, face persecution and pain, for something that they don't yet believe in, so what does he do? He first gets them to the cross, and then lets God and His Word handle the rest down the road.

We talked about this a little bit last time I spoke, about how the quotations that Mark gives of the Old Testament (Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3) clearly say that the messenger prepares the way fro YHWH Himself. What I didn’t do is unpack what the trinity means.

As Christians the idea of the Trinity can be kind of difficult to talk to people about when they try and dissect it. The truth is most Christian don’t understand the trinity and therefore get caught into word games with people who try and disprove it. So what is the trinity? It is the theological truth that God exists as three persons. Father, Son, and Spirit- and that these three persons have distinct roles within the single deity of God. For it was by the Fathers will that the Son died and by the Son’s authority that the Spirit lives in us. It is not Jesus who dwells in us- his placement post resurrection is next to the Father, it was not the Father who died for our sins- his place was as the one who willed that death of his son, and it was not by the Son’s will that he died- we see that all to clearly in the garden of gethsemane.

Everyone who believes in the Godhead actually affirms the possibility of this (yes even Mormons) as there is one Holy Spirit that dwells within every believer yet no proclaiming believer thinks that this splits the Holy Spirit. Each of us affirm that there is One Spirit that exists in fullness indwelt in mankind- and that is part of the trinity's theology. The deity of God fully indwells each person of the trinity and has done so since the beginning. Mormons will take that claim often and run with it saying ‘so before the beginning then they were separate’ or ‘yeah but the beginning was after God created Jesus.’ These actually make no sense and is a misunderstanding about what we mean when we say beginning. As Christians we affirm a doctrine called ‘creation ex nihilo’ meaning God created everything out of nothing. So- there was no ‘before’ anything prior to creation, as that would imply that God didn’t create time. There is no beginning or end or middle where time does not exist. Time had not yet existed so- if Christ existed in the beginning than he was not created, he could not have been- because we need time to have a starting point. Therefore there was no time ‘before’ the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit.

So, as showcased in the Old Testament, Jesus is YHWH yet; when Baptized we see YHWH speaking to Jesus declaring that this is His beloved Son. Which echo's back to the opening verse of Mark- where Jesus is introduced to us with the Sonship on display. By why is he introduced as Son in the first place if Peters primary point after is going to be introducing the trinity? Because of what the cornerstone of Christ’s Gospel is- this cornerstone is the reason why right after Christ is showcased in the trinity Peter switches gears to John the Baptist in such a way that it almost interrupts the timbre of the Gospel.

What is The Cornerstone of Christ’s Gospel (Mark 1:4-11)

Okay, so Peter paints a picture of this man preparing the way for God’s triumphant entry- and what is really funny is what the Jew’s thought this triumphant entry would look like at the time. They thought that the messiah would come and free them as Cyrus did, but this time from the Roman rule. Which is why many of them didn’t consider John the Baptist was the one who would prepare the way- they thought the way was an epic battle. Yet John was doing what? Baptizing in the wilderness- not just a baptism but a baptism of repentance. Let’s set the scene here- you are a Jew in ancient Israel, a Jew from birth and your close relative turns to you one day and says they (also a lifelong Jew) are going to to into the wilderness and take part in a ceremony that only exists at this time in history to convert gentiles to Judaism- what’s more is the man who is doing this is some no name radical Elijah wannabe who wears animal hide and eats bugs and honey.

Your response would be ‘why’ and rightfully so, why? It does not make sense- at all. Yet- here it is, what’s more is that the author has a audacity to say that this unnecessary baptism was preparing the way for Jesus; How? This genuinely stumped me for a lot of years- and commentaries don’t really help. They all say virtually the same thing ‘baptisms were common outside of this ceremony to align with the message that someone was preaching.’ which is not entirely untrue. Yes it was common for the Essenes (a small group of Jewish monks that lived in caves along the dead sea) but that was 1) a Cult and 2) not really baptisms as much as they were just ritually bathing. But then there was this one commentary that pointed out why Jesus got baptized.

You know its crazy to think that there was a time before Jesus had the Holy Spirit while he was incarnate, but we are told that it was after his baptism that the Holy Spirit led Him- that goes hand in hand with something in Hebrews 2:9 alongside Philippians 2:3-8.

Christ was baptized because of His humility- which was what John the Baptist was preparing in the hearts of those who were to follow Him. The only reason to get baptized as a Jew was to signify a truth that was way ahead of its time- your Jewishness did not mean you were good enough for God- which is why John was baptizing in a baptism of repentance. This is why John is depicted as wearing animal skins and eating honey and bugs- he is the personification not just Elijah showcasing prophetic authority- but also the personification of a teaching Jesus gives us in Matthew 6:25-33. In this passage Jesus is teaching us the cure of anxiety, which is what? the cure is humility in the Lord and trusting in Him. John the Baptist shows us how that works- and Jesus affirms that in his baptism. Humility is crucial to the gospel because fundamentally is it thinking about yourself less- and thinking about others more. How can you be anxious if this is what you do? How can you do this if you are anxious? Anxiety is build off of selfism- which is why it is dangerous- but humility, an ability to see yourself for what you are, a broken soul in need of savior? We must have that to respond to the Gospel positively- to not have it is to have pride, to believe you are good just the way that you are- if that's you how can you even consider a need for a savior?

Humility is the cornerstone of Christ’s Gospel and what is beautiful is that right after we are shown the perfection in Christ’s humility we are shown exactly what Paul is speaking about in Philippians 2:3-8

Immediately after Jesus is baptized he is lead into the wilderness and the text says He is tempted by Satan. But wait- how is this possible? Jesus is God and God cannot be tempted, it says that in James 1:13.

What is The Hypostatic Union?

The last point I want to talk about today is what is known as the Hypostatic Union- it is a doctrine that is so fundamental to Christianity that we know it without even realizing that we know, yet most Christians do not know what it is. It is the doctrine that Jesus has two natures- one of God (we talked about that in relation to the trinity) and one nature that is genuinely and completely human. We MUST affirm this to be Christians. To deny it is to either deny Jesus’s death on the cross or to deny Jesus as God- for how can God die? The hypostatic union clarifies this- Jesus is a human, and Jesus the human died. His flesh, his human nature, all of that died. But Jesus is not JUST human, Jesus is also God, and Jesus the God of all creation did not cease to exist at any point in time. To do so would make him not God. To deny the hypostatic union would be either to deny the word of God as inerrant, or to deny the trinity- as how could God be tempted? Jesus is God, and God cannot be tempted. But, Jesus was not JUST God, Jesus was also a human. With human flesh and a human nature that COULD be tempted. We can further prove this, for how could Jesus right before he is arrested plead with the Father’s will, yet claim to have the same will in his divinity? Jesus is God, and therefore shares in the Fathers will as the Father is God- but Jesus is not JUST God- he is also human with a human nature that derives a human will. That will is in perfect submission to God yes, but it is still fully human. Therefore, Jesus can have a different will than the Father despite having the same essence as the Father.

Mark showcases first that Jesus is God, showcases how much better our God is than the Romans god’s by showcasing our God’s willingness to be humble and live along with us, and then ends it by showcasing our God’s love for us in taking on flesh and a human nature so that our God might experience something that no Romans god would ever dare to face along side mankind- temptation to disobey their own commands. Think of this- had Jesus not done this- had God not been humble we could look to God on judgment day and say ‘you just don’t understand,’ but we cant. Because he actually does understand- he chose to experience it along with us. So have heart in your boldness while Evangelizing- because you do not preach a God that does not understand the suffering and pain of those who deny Him- you preach a God that willingly went through it simply because He loves you, and no one can truly deny that THAT God is worth serving.