The Coming
October 14, 2012
Series: “Markers Along the Narrow Way”
Imagine it’s 65 A.D….(about 30 years since Jesus walked the earth)…and now the church he left behind is in big trouble. These “Christ followers” were seen by the Roman government as a potentially subversive and dangerous movement. There were all kinds of misrepresentations and false stories circulating about this new religion & it’s founder. And worst of all…the eyewitnesses, the people who actually saw and knew Jesus were being killed off! If they were all gone, then who would be able to set the record straight? So a man named Mark wrote an account of Christ.
In case you don’t know who Mark was…He’s mentioned 10x’s in the N.T. From Acts 12:12 we learn that he was the son of a wealthy woman named Mary. Her home was kind of like ‘home-base’ for the early church and so young “John-Mark” was at the center of the early church movement. That’s one of the reasons he was chosen by his nephew Barnabas to go with him and the Apostle Paul on their 1st missionary journey. It didn’t turn out so well for young John-Mark because he deserted them and came back home (causing a major issue between Paul and Barnabas). But eventually they reconciled and Mark went on to not only become a trusted friend of the Apostle Paul, but of the Apostle Peter.
In fact, Peter felt so close to Mark that in I Peter 5:13 he referred to him as “my son”. Because Mark spent so much time with Peter, Marks gospel is really just the record of Peter’s sermons. Mark would listen to them and write down what He heard. So in reality, as we work through the book of Mark, we’re hearing Peter’s 1st person account of what happened during the 3 ½ years he was with Jesus. Mark put it all together shortly after Peter’s death as a martyr in A.D.65
It’s really the shortest and the simplest of the accounts of Jesus’ life and words, and so I like to recommend it to new Christians…as the 1st book to read after they make the decision to follow Christ. So just want to give you a kind of overview of the book of Mark this morning by sharing with you 3 Key Things that Mark wants you to know about Jesus when we’re done studying his book…
1st… He wants you to know that…
1. He came as a REIGNING KING
From the very outset of the book, Mark wants us to know that Jesus’ coming was the initiation of God’s rule on the planet earth! It’s not on the way…it’s not coming in the “sweet by and by”…NO! It’s here … right NOW! That’s why in the very 1st verse of Mark is really the title of the book!
”The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God!” Kind of abrupt sounding isn’t it? Well, if you were a Jew it was even MORE abrupt sounding! Because here in the very 1st words Mark is announcing (like a messenger announcing a kings arrival)...”Here is the Christ!” Now, when the average Jewish person reading Marks words would read the words “Jesus Christ” they would say, “Whoa! whoa! whoa! Back-up the “Jesus truck” for just a second!” Because what Mark had just proclaimed was packed with power! “Wait a sec…did I just hear you say…”Jesus Christ, the Son of God?”
See, when we hear the name “Jesus Christ” it doesn’t mean that much anymore! For some people the words “Jesus Christ” are nothing more than a cuss words. Most people think that “Jesus” is his first name and that “Christ” was his last name…(like Chris Kelly, or Jeff Walters, Davin Garcia)…but that’s not what the average Israelite heard! To the greek speaking Jews of that day…the word “Christ” meant “Messiah”!
“Messiah” was the title of the person who would liberate Israel from the Romans! Just the mention of the name would bring a surge of excitement to their minds. Kind of like saying “Justin Beeber” to a crowd of pre-teen girls! They’d go crazy! Most Jews felt that the coming Messiah would be the 2nd coming of Moses! That he would dramatically come on the scene delivering them from their slavery & smashing their enemies! Just like he did when he came the 1st time. This “Christ” (this Messiah) would subdue all the nations in his path, crush their rulers and establish Himself and His heavenly kingdom here on earth! In fact, Mark was soooo adamant at this point that He compared Jesus to Caesar. Everyone knew that Caesar came to power in an 8-stage coronation process…and so starting in chapter 11, Mark organizes Jesus’ last week on earth (Passion Week) by using those SAME 8 stages. What was he saying? He was saying that JESUS is King…not Caesar! You could be executed for saying something like that!
The problem was according to what his readers knew about Jesus…He did no such thing! Which probably caused a little confusion in their minds…because
• Jesus didn’t overthrow any nations.
• Jesus didn’t establish any earthly reign.
In fact, their enemy “Rome” was just as strong now, (if not stronger) than it was when Jesus came on the scene! Besides that…if Jesus was the promised Messiah, then why was he crucified like a common criminal? In the Jewish mind, a crucified Messiah was an oxymoron…(kind of like Airline/food or Accordian/Music) it just couldn’t be!
So for Mark to say without apology that Jesus was IN FACT “the Christ”…the liberator…the one who would usher in the reign of God…the Caesar…the one who reigns triumphantly at the right had of God…was not only bold…it was shocking! Yet that’s exactly who He is! And Mark is going to spend the rest of the book proving that point to you and me!
And so hopefully, at the end of this study, you’ll agree with Him. And not only will you believe it…but you’ll do something about it! That you’ll abandon yourself to Him like you never have before! And that just like Mark, and Peter and Paul…all of your hopes, all of your dreams, all of your goals…your entire purpose in life… will be wrapped up in following this Jesus…the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! And that you TOO will become a proclaimer of this amazing good news!
Now the 2nd thing that Mark wants you to know is that true…this Messiah didn’t come as a conquering tyrant, but that…
2. He came as a REAL PERSON
Even though Jesus will someday rule this world (not just behind the scenes but front and center)…the 1st time He came not as a conquering king…but as a suffering servant. See even though Jesus is the God of the universe…when he came to earth, He came as a a real person. He suffered and experienced trials just like you and I do. When Mark wrote this gospel, the Christians of his day were experiencing horrific persecution…A fire had recently destroyed a whole section of Rome, and the Roman emperor Nero blamed the fire on the Christians. So a nationwide persecution of Christians was starting. Add to this the fact that Jewish revolutionaries were on the brink of sparking a full scale rebellion against the Romans. Since the Christian faith grew out of Judaism, many Christians were confused as to whether they should support the Jewish revolutionaries or not. The 60s were a dark and dangerous time for any true follower of Jesus.
Like I’ve already said, v.1 is actually the title of Mark’s book. So when he says,"The beginning of the gospel " here doesn’t just apply to the intro, but it describes the entire book of Mark. The word “beginning” is translated "origin" or "first cause." Mark is trying to help 2nd generation Christians understand how the Christian faith started 30 years earlier and why it’s so important to remain faithful to Jesus even when the going gets tough... even deathly! We need to hear that today when we’re going through trials and hardships! Not only that Jesus was a real person with real problems, but that He wants to help us through them. But we’ve got to remain faithful to Him IN SPITE of the hardships! Jesus came as a servant and experienced suffering and so will we!
None of the other gospels (Matthew, Luke, John) give such a human look at Jesus as Mark does.
Mark is unusual in that in describing Jesus’ acts he often spoke of Christ’s emotions.
• In Mark 7:34 and 8:12 he “sighed deeply in his Spirit”.
• He was “moved with compassion” in Mk.6:34,
• He “marveled” at people’s unbelief in 6:6.
• Mark is the only one who tells us that He “loved” the rich young ruler who refused to follow Him because he loved his money more than anything else.
Mark wrote about Jesus as a REAL person who knew grief, who experienced anger and compassion. He mentioned Christ’s hunger and His exhaustion in passages like Mark 3:5 & 4:38. He even tells us about Jesus’ anger at situations where sin was destroying innocent lives. At the end of the book, Mark wants us to know that Jesus is a real person who cares about injustice and pain. He experienced it Himself, and He cares about yours too!
Illustration
Lastly, Mark wants us to know that Jesus not only came as a REIGNING King, and a REAL person…but
3. He came as a RUDE AWAKENING
You know, a lot of people want to make Jesus into some kind of a guru who wants nothing more than for us to be kind, smile a lot, think positive and feel good about ourselves. There are a number of TV preachers (whose names I won’t mention) who make Jesus out to be just like that. But Mark wants to explode our false imaginations about who Jesus is and what He taught. As we’re going to find out, the true Jesus and His message is a lot more radical and explosive than we could ever imagine. In fact, I predict that everyone of us is going to feel a little uncomfortable with Him at one point or another in this study. (including me! In fact, I already have!)
Illus: Circus act on youtube. You see, you can’t put Jesus in a box! He won’t fit! the religious experts of Jesus’ day rejected him because he didn’t fit their pre-conceived ideas of what a Jewish Messiah would do. And we make the same mistake today! We want Him to make all the bad things go away & spare us from all trials and pain. But when He doesn’t work that way, we walk away from Him. So the Messiah we meet in Mark is a rude awakening to us when we’re more interested in ourselves than we are in doing His will. The gospel of Mark is the antidote to the distorted Jesus of our minds…we can’t manipulate Him and mold Him into our own image. He wants to mold us into HIS. He wants us to be followers… that means we don’t get to call the shots and pick and choose the parts of the gospel we want and reject the parts we don’t like. Christianity isn’t a smorgasbord! (explain). No, He’s the Lord and we’re His servants. He won’t have it any other way! It’s all or nothing! Our Messiah suffered and died on a cross…and He expects us to do the same! Next week… we’re going to experience that 1st hand as we run smack dab into John the Baptist. He had a radical message that demands we either move with Him…or move out of the way!
