Mark Series

October 09, 2021

On to the book of Mark.

Mark does not identify himself as the writer of the book that bears his name and the earliest attribution does not occur until the 2nd Century.

Mark:

• Is the shortest and most action packed of the Synoptic Gospels. The word “immediately” is used over 34 times throughout the book. Jesus seems to be rushing around Palestine trying to accomplish as much as He can in the time He has – He has a lot to do and not much time to do it in.

• Was written in Greek, likely before 70 AD, to a non-Jewish audience - he explains Jewish customs and includes original Aramaic words and their translations:

o Mark 5:41 - He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" {which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"}.

o Mark 7:34 - He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" {which means, "Be opened!"}.

• Is heavy on miracles = 17 named miracles in the 1st 10 chapters.

o 1st - Casting out unclean spirits = Mark 1:23-26

o 2nd - Healing Peter’s mother-in-law = Mark 1:29-31

o 3rd - Healing the Leper = Mark 1:40-45

o 4th - Healing the Paralytic = Mark 2:3-12

o 5th - Healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath = Mark 3:1-5

o 6th - The wind and waves obey Him = Mark 4:35-41

o 7th - Restoration of Demoniac = Mark 5:1-20

o 8th - Woman touches Jesus’ garment = Mark 5:22-34

o 9th - Raising Jairus’ daughter = Mark 5:35-43

o 10th - Feeding of the 5,000 = Mark 6:34-44

o 11th - Jesus walks on water = Mark 6:45-52

o 12th - Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter = Mark 7:24-30

o 13th - Healing of deaf-mute = Mark 7:32-36

o 14th - Feeding of the 4,000 = Mark 8:1-9

o 15th - Blind man healed = Mark 8:22-26

o 16th - Jesus heals possessed boy = Mark 9:17-27

o 17th - Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus = Mark 10:46-52

• Does not mention of Jesus’ birth or early life, yet devotes a full 1/3 of the book to the last week of Jesus’ life.

• Makes only a quick mention of John the Baptist and Jesus’ preparation for ministry {Mark 1:9-11 and Mark 1:12-13}

Which brings us to My Favorite Thing About MARK ---- “Teachable Moments”.

As Jesus raced around Palestine healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead and feeding the masses, He took time to teach. Here are some of those Teachable Moments………..

Sabbath – Mark 2:23-28

One Sabbath, Jesus and His disciples were walking through a grain field. The disciples were hungry so they plucked some of the grain, rubbed the heads together and ate. “OOOOH ---- Gotch-ya,” said the Pharisees, who had been trailing along, “Your disciples are working!! They have broken the Sabbath!”

“Let’s have a history lesson”, replied Jesus. “Remember in the Chronicles of Samuel {1 Samuel 21:1-6} when David, your favorite king, and his men came to the house of God and ate the consecrated bread ---- because they were hungry? As you know, they were breaking the law, because only the priests were allowed to eat the consecrated bread. Hmmmm…. The Sabbath was made for man, not the other way around and, by the way, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

As Creator of the Sabbath, it is God who decides what IS Sabbath Keeping and what IS NOT. He set apart Sabbath to be a blessing to man – a delight, therefore, meeting the needs of others is ALWAYS in keeping with the principle of Sabbath Keeping.

Traditions – Mark 7:1-23

Once again, Jesus found Himself surrounded by religious leaders. On this occasion, Jesus’ disciples were eating with “unclean” hands – they had not ceremonially washed before eating.

The Jewish leaders were very careful about following traditions and Ritual Purity was a biggie. Ceremonial washing had nothing to do with hygiene. There was no biblical requirement to wash hands before eating. Washing was a way for pious Jews to “purify” themselves in order to make sure they didn’t break any of the 613 “Laws of Moses” by accident. Contact with a Gentile…. Wash. Contact with a sick person…. Wash. Not sure…. Wash.

It was all about the outward show of “purity” and these religious leaders saw an opportunity to trap Jesus: "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"

Jesus responded: "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ {Is. 29:13} You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. Here is an example: “Moses said to ‘honor your father and your mother’….. HOWEVER…. You have said that if a man tells his parents that the funds he might have used for their care have been gifted to God {the “Corban”}, he is off the hook and is no longer responsible for them. By doing that, you have replaced the Law of God with human tradition….. It is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean, but what comes out his heart. Because out of a man’s heart comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. It is these things that make a man 'unclean.'”