Mark 1 – MIT Lesson Notes 26th November
The gospel of Mark does not identify its author – but it is believed that it was written by a man named John Mark, or Mark the Evangelist. It is said that he was Simon Peter’s translator. Mark was not a direct follower of Jesus, as Matthew and John were. One historian, Clement of Alexandria, reported that Mark wrote his gospel by taking notes from Peter’s sermons and recording them in a logical fashion.
Contemporary scholars believe that the Gospel of Mark was written first of the four gospels, although traditionalists believe that it was second.
It is one of the synoptic gospels as with Mathew and Luke, and it is suggested that all three are written from the recompiling of the same source.
However this book was written, like all scripture we know it to be God breathed and profitable (2Tim 3:16) because the very term God breathed means that it is inspired by God who works in man – or the Holy Spirit.
Mark writes in a style that is particularly punchy – or quite bullet-pointed. It has been suggested that this is because this gospel was particularly intended for a Roman audience – a people who are almost defined by their desire to get to the point – straight roads and straight aqueducts being the shortest distances between the source and destination – and even their language is said to be completely logical (unlike our flowery and oftentimes non-sensical English).
Mark 1: 1-8
Mark 1:1 – The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ the Son of God.
Pulling no punches, Mark is starting this book with some massive statements.
The beginning although missing out ‘In’, this is how the bible commences – In the beginning... He’s starting with a big bang (pun intended) by comparing this, the coming of Jesus to the very start of creation.
The word gospel literally means ‘good news’ and would only be used in massive situations – such as the birth of the sons of emperors! And so what Mark is saying is something like;- A situation comparable to the very creation of the world has started, it is massive, world-changing good news and it is that of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Today, we’re used to saying Jesus Christ, Son of God. It’s joked about on Family Guy and the Simpsons, and it is in every third Christmas carol, but remember that in the days in which this was written, you have a lot of things going on. In Israel, claiming to be the Son of God could be taken to being blasphemy and worshipping someone who is not God is blasphemy at this time, punishable by death. And so in the very first verse, we have John Mark stating that this is either the largest or second largest thing to ever have occurred (depending how you look at it) and that he is now going to talk about God coming to earth as man – and although this is hugely important, as we’d expect - that this is good news!
In verses 2 and 3, Mark then goes on to quote Isaiah. We have to understand at this point that if John Mark was Simon Peter’s scribe, then he would be following Simon Peter around. Simon Peter was known as the Jewish evangelist/apostle, in the same way that Paul was the apostle for the Gentiles (or non-Jews). Mark would therefore be reaching out to the Jews of his day.
By quoting Isaiah, a highly-regarded prophet in the scriptures, Mark is adding historical weight and claiming this prophecy as being fulfilled in Christ Jesus. He is indicating that this is a part of God’s great plan and again, he is claiming huge things of Jesus.
V 4-8
Baptising – Some references to sanctification in the OT has its roots in ceremonial washing – Muslims are still very enamoured with it today (and I assume Jews are too, though I don’t know for sure). Those who came to Judaism from outside (called proselytes) would have to be baptised into the faith. By baptising the Jews themselves and preaching repentance, John was almost saying that the traditions of the Jews simply weren’t good enough for God – and this preparation of hearts and minds is a prelude to Him who would then take up those who in repentance sought God.
Desert/Jordan – Once again, many important historical events in Israel’s past are to do with the desert – the 40 years of wandering, the crossing of the Jordan by Joshua, Lot’s time in the desert – John’s very location pointed back to much of the history of Israel. There was also a belief in place that the saviour would return to Jerusalem from the desert places.
Note that although ‘The whole Judean countryside, and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him,’ John still states that there is one much greater than he coming. Think about this – if one man baptised the entire of Norfolk, you would consider him a pretty great man. Not a huge amount is known about John’s preaching except that it was on the topic of repentance - he must have been a powerful speaker.
John, like Mark is pointing the way forward to one greater than himself, one so much greater, that he feels himself unworthy to do something so little as to remove this man’s shoes.
Then Jesus arrives.
V 9-13
In verse 9, there is a sense of expectation or drama in the wording;- At that time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. The language here speaks of journey – Jesus came from Nazareth to then be baptised to then...
In verse 10, we have contrasting language – heaven being torn open, and then the spirit descending like a dove. This contrast may be used for hyperbole, but is also an indicator of who Christ is. He is the one who loves us, holds his hand out toward us, ready to receive – he is gracious and kind and loving, and yet he hates sin. His death on the cross was violent, so that our accepting of his spirit and his work lead us to an eternal life that is not.
In verse 11, we have God’s approval of Jesus. This would have been done to signal to the men of God around Jesus that here is the one for whom they have waited – even though many don’t accept this and John already knew it – but also, remembering that those spirits that are not of God are finite and not all-knowing, God’s word to His Son will have sent massive reverberations throughout the spiritual realms – and it is following this accreditation that Jesus is tempted by Satan (v12-13).
Mark obviously doesn’t consider that detail of Jesus’ temptation important to his target audience and doesn’t even feel it necessary to state that Jesus although tempted, did not sin. Perhaps it was expected that his listeners already knew this, or perhaps Mark was leaving it to the teachers to explain this. Once again, we have Mark’s militaristic moving-on to the next point.
v14-20.
Jesus calls people who are not really worthy. In first century Israel, the office of Rabbi was a highly-esteemed one – this is largely why it was so difficult for Jesus’ enemies to kill Him – as a public figure, He was known about by many people, and highly regarded. The followers of a Rabbi were his disciples, and a disciple would go through rigorous training from a young age in order to be worthy of being a disciple to a great teacher. This training involved memorising the first 5 books of our bible, and understanding the many varied concepts hidden within each one. Most young boys did not measure up to this standard and so would go and work for their fathers.
In vs14-20 we see Jesus meeting fishermen. These were ordinary, coarse men who worked hard for their living – fishing was (and today largely still is) a dangerous job, where bad weather or misfortune could kill you. Men in this trade had to be much tougher than they are today in our health and safety conscious world. Their jokes would have most likely been crass and their humour quite basic, they would have stunk of fish and would have had heavily calloused hands. Their muscles would have been strong, their bodies lean, and their skin tanned dark. Often seafaring men have beards – I’m not sure why, I think it’s something to do with keeping your face warm – or it may just be that the absence of women around mean that men feel little inclination to be tidy. There would be little time or energy left for reading and studying God’s word, for meditating on His truths and for philosophising with learned men about what this great God of ours was actually about.
And Jesus picked four of them in this passage. The wonderful thing about this small chunk of scripture is knowing that Jesus picks real people. He could have looked for the learned boys who could memorise scripture with ease and understand their meaning – and it would have been expected that He did so, but instead, Jesus looked for ordinary men, spoke to them in a metaphor close to their heart and they followed.
Jesus is often portrayed as being a bit fay – limp-wristed, soft, effeminate, always in flowing white robes, and yet these tough warehousemen types heard Jesus called them and immediately they left their jobs, their ‘career’, their family and their livelihood and they followed. They didn’t grumble about where the next meal would come from, or how they would support a family (this is a responsibility of all men, and not one to be overlooked) but they heard the call of Jesus, and they unhesitatingly followed.
V29-31
In this passage, we find Jesus in an awkward social situation – He was often in this position, as with His first miracle (water into wine). Middle Eastern society has many customs that are not easily understood in the west and once again we find ourself in the midst of one being broken.
The mother of Simon and Andrew would have been expected to make food and wait on her sons and their guests. As homemaker, it was her duty to provide food and comfort for these men whose duty it was to bring provision back to the home. This is not so easily understood in our post-modern, post-feminism, equality culture, but it was the norm for the women to look after the home, raise the children and tend to the men when they returned from work.
Unfortunately, Simon and Andrew’s mother is not in a fit state to fulfil her role, and has been knocked out of action. Jesus and the men could have rolled up their sleeves and gone about doing what was necessary – making the dinner, washing the plates, etc. and would probably have performed these tasks adequately. However, on learning that the woman of the house is ill, Jesus then proceeds to heal her so that she can get back into her role not simply so Jesus and the lads can put their feet up, but so that there is no social awkwardness and embarrassment on the part of His hosts. He is freeing people to do what they instinctively know to be right and correct – it is by His grace that Jesus does this – He is setting the house back to order so that life can continue normally and harmoniously.
V40-42
A man with leprosy was ceremonially unclean. He was seen as spiritually dirty and would never have been accepted back into normal society – it would be assumed that his disease would have been an affliction handed to him by God as punishment for sin. Any man who touched one afflicted with the disease would also have been labelled unclean. Jesus, in a foreshadowing of His work on the cross was able to touch an unclean person, and instead of being made unclean himself, was able to absorb all the sin and dirt of this man’s life into Himself without being made in any way less holy.
Note that Jesus reaches out in compassion, not to prove a point, not in pride, not in anger or disappointment, but in love. This is how we are to reach out to those around us who don’t yet know Him.
In Summary;-
- Mark wrote to the Romans in a very brief style
- Jesus is the Son of God
- John was a great man in his own right, but nothing in comparison to Jesus
- Jesus was approved and appointed by God, his father
- Jesus chooses real people
- Jesus heals to bring normalcy
- Jesus can absorb our uncleanliness
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