Galations 5:22

Intro to Mark

John Mark the cousin of Barnabas wrote this gospel. Although Mark does not directly take credit for writing it, we have the account of Papias the bishop of Hierapolis in AD 130 that confirms Mark as the author. Eusebius the early church historian further confirms this in AD 326.

The gospel according to Mark is older than Matthew and Luke, and has been believed over the centuries to be borrowed from by both Matthew and Luke. It is believed that this gospel was written early to mid 50 AD with some thinking it was a bit earlier and others thinking it was a bit later. IN fact there are less than 40 verses in Mark that are unique from Matthew and Luke.

It is believed that Mark wrote this account from Italy and mostly from Rome. That is one reason why it is said that Mark is the gospel to the Roman, Luke is the gospel to the Greek, Matthew is the gospel to the Jew, and John is the gospel to the christian. With all that said it is clear that the gospel is for the whole world to read and receive by faith the message of Jesus Christ.

It is also believed that Mark wrote this gospel from the accounts that he heard from Peter. So we might say that this is Peter’s recollection but written with Mark’s pen.

Mark was a disciple of Peter’s who traveled with him in his efforts to spread the gospel. He is mentioned at the end of Peter’s first epistle...

1 Peter 5:13 ESV

13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son.

While this gospel is the shortest of the 4 gospels it is the most vivid in it’s description. For instant we will find terms like green grass in the feeding of the 5,000 in chapter 6, or we see that there were 2,000 pigs in the story of the demons cast out of the man and driven into the pigs who all jump off the cliff in chapter 5, where the other gospels are less descriptive of the environment and focus more on the events themselves.

Mark’s account also uses more Aramaic and Latin terms than any of the other gospels. We will see those terms peppered throughout as we go through this book.

One very interesting thing is that the Mark who wrote this seems to be the same (John) Mark that left in the middle of Paul and Barnabas’s 1st missionary journey that caused the big dispute in Acts 15...

Acts 15:36–40 ESV

36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” 37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

But as you know by the time Paul wrote Colossians and 2 Timothy it would seem that Mark had proven himself to be a faithful minister of the gospel by the things that Paul says about him...

Colossians 4:10 ESV

10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him),

2 Timothy 4:11 ESV

11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.

Mark’s 2 main focus points in his gospel account is the ministry of Jesus in the Galilee which we will find in the first 9 chapters, and the last week of Jesus which takes place in Jerusalem in chapters 11-16.

What we will find in Mark that is different at least from Matthew and Luke is that the emphasis is not on the teaching ministry of Jesus, but on the active ministry of Jesus. Because it is so action packed and vivid in descriptions, some have suggested that Mark should be the first gospel that children read. But perhaps we should say that most should read this first in the current culture of short attention spans we live in haha.

Mark does not write with a strict chronology putting things in order as they happened, but instead he writes by grouping teachings and events according to themes. In fact Mark doesn’t even give us an introduction or any background information about Jesus, he just jumps right into the life of Jesus assuming the reader already knows who this Jesus of Nazareth is.

Verses 1-5

Another interesting thing about Mark is that it is the only gospel account that calls itself a gospel.

Gospel = good news - we get the origins of the phrase from Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 40:9, 41:27, 52:7, 61:1

Isaiah 52:7 ESV

7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

Isaiah 61:1 ESV

1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

The Jews understood the term to mean good news or good tidings, but to the Romans it was a term that while meaning good news was associated with the worship of the Emperor. So for Mark to call this a gospel and to stet repeatedly that Jesus Christ was the true Son of God, God the Son, miracle worker, forgiver or sin, and Savior…He is making a very clear and forceful statement to the Roman world and specifically to those living in Rome at the time that Mark wrote this.

My messenger - This messenger (prophetic voice) was John the Baptist. He was the first prophet since Malachi in 400 years for the people of God the Israelites.

Now please pay attention to what Isaiah prophesied. Don’t miss this, because it’s important. If John is the messenger that Isaiah prophesied about then Jesus is the Lord in Mark’s mind and he got that idea from the Apostle Peter who had first hand eyewitness experiences with Jesus.

make his paths straight - knock down the high spots and raise up the low spots - but this is about preparing hearts not physical roads.

Judea and all Jerusalem - God gave John the Baptist an incredible influence and reach in calling people to prepare themselves for Jesus the Messiah and Lord to come. They were baptized not because John told them they were all going to hell, they were baptized because they heard Messiah was coming and they knew they needed to repent in preparation for His arrival. In the same way today as we see so many clear indications that Jesus is returning for us, we too should have the desire to make His paths straight.

Verses 6-8

If you have been here or listening in to our Wednesday night Service you will remember how similar John the Baptist is Elijah in boldness and clothing style. Both of these men were called to a bold ministry of calling people to repentance.

Mark 2. John the Baptist: The Man and His Message (6–8)

Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose: This might sound like spiritual exaggeration on John’s part. But John said this because in his day, the rabbis taught that a teacher might require just about anything of his followers, except to make them take off their sandals. That was considered to be too much. But John said that he was not even worthy to do this for Jesus.

Even the Babylonian Talmud said...

“All services which a slave does for his master a pupil should do for his teacher, with the exception of undoing his shoes.”

Verses 9-11

Immediately - euthus - we will see this word more than 40 times throughout Mark’s gospel account.

Notice verse 11. This was God who spoke, and His voice was heard by those there that day.

We have experienced some pretty neat things during baptisms, but the tearing open of the sky and the audible voice of God is not one of them.

You see as Jesus was baptized, He was identifying Himself with us sinners, but when God spoke He was was identifying Jesus as something far greater than any mere man. He was making clear that Jesus was the very Son of God, and thus was also God the Son. This is a powerful and profound statement that really sets the stage for the rest of the gospel of Mark.

Mark does not give us the same background information as Matthew, Luke, or John, but he opens up his gospel account with just enough information about Jesus to cause the reader to pause and reflect on just Who this Jesus of Nazareth from Galilee is.

Please note that if God did not speak from heaven that nobody would have known who Jesus was. He didn’t glow in the dark, float over the ground, or have a shiny gold halo over His head. He came fully as a man, while at the same time fully retaining His divinity.

Also don’t miss how all of this came together. It wasn’t merely the voice of God (though that would have been enough. God was here making a full statement about His presence as the Father spoke at the baptism of His only begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit fell upon Jesus all at the same time.

You are no doubt aware that we have just seen the triunity of God being made manifest for the world to see as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit make such a wonderful appearance before normal people.

Non of this happened in a palace or at the temple, nor did it occur in front of very important people. This all took place in a very normal unremarkable place surrounded by common people, because Jesus came to save sinners.

Nazareth was no place special. In fact after Jesus called Phillip to follow after Him and Phillip ran to tell his brother Nathanael about Jesus we read his reaction to the news that Jesus was from Nazareth...

John 1:45–46 ESV

45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

The Galilee was a non spiritual place. It was a place where fishermen lived and worked. It was a common place with common people.

The Jordan was nothing to write home about either. In fact the Mishnah said that the Jordan was disqualified as a place for purification.

I do not know what the Jordan was like 2000 years ago, but I can tell you that when I was doing baptisms and getting baptised in the Jordan River it was not something I wanted to go under in. It was a sandy muddy place. So sandy that it turned everyone’s clothes tan.

And yet, this common place was the location of this most uncommon event that let the world know that the Messiah had come to take away the sins of the world.

Guzik points out...

“ So far in the Gospel of Mark we see four witnesses, each testifying to the identity of Jesus. What more evidence do we need?

• Mark said Jesus is the Son of God (Mark 1:1).

• The prophets said Jesus is Lord (Mark 1:2–3).

• John the Baptist said Jesus was the One after me who is mightier than I (Mark 1:7–8).

• God the Father said Jesus is the Beloved Son of God (Mark 1:10–11).” (David Guzik)

Verses 12-13

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.