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Jesus: The Man From Nowhere
Mark 1:1-45
Pastor Tom Fuller
Mark is Peter’s gospel. We get that from a quote written just after the turn of the century. The early church historian Eusebius quotes from Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis:
“Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatever he remembered of the things said and done by the Lord, but not however in order.”
It was written from Rome, at a time when severe persecutions were breaking out in Rome, and many eye witnesses were being executed – so writing down what Jesus said and did became very important.
Peter himself said this:
Acts 2:22-23 Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
This, in a nutshell, is an outline for the gospel of Mark as told by Peter to the crowds in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
Mark is the “plain Jane” of the gospels – not a lot of frilly speech – just the facts, ma’am. This goes well with Peter’s personality – Peter wasn’t a trained writer or speaker, but he had a passion for Jesus that few matched.
Each gospel has a personality – in Matthew, Jesus is the king, the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah.” In Luke He is the “Son of Man,” while in John Jesus is the Son of God. Mark portrays Jesus as the servant.
Some other things that set Mark apart:
A. One of the most unique features of Mark’s Gospel is his omission of some of the most important events in the life of Christ. There is...
• No mention of the virgin birth;
• No mention of the visit of the wise men;
• No mention of the Sermon on the Mount;
• No quotation about Jesus from the Prophets (1:2);
• No mention of Divine Titles;
• No mention of His work being finished;
• No mention of the Kingdom Parables;
B. Six of the 15 times the word Gospel is used in the four Gospels are found in Mark.
C. Twelve of Marks 16 Chapters begin with the word “And”.
D. Mark only records four parables.
(from Travis Moore – NewSong Community Church)
Who is Mark? Many believe he was John-Mark – about 12 years old when Jesus died, first introduced to us in Acts 12:12. It was to Mark’s home that Peter went to after an angel freed him from prison. Mark’s uncle was Barnabas – Paul’s companion on many missionary journeys.
Mark left Paul and Barnabas – and it caused a real problem between them. Later, Paul asks for John-Mark to come to him, and many believe it was while Mark was with Paul in Rome that he wrote the gospel – probably the earliest of the 4 gospels, written around 63AD.
So what are we going to see in this first chapter of Mark?
• A strange announcement by a strange man
• The beginning of Jesus ministry through baptism by John
• A very scant account of the temptation – focusing more on the wilderness
• The calling of two sets of brothers
• The first teaching – and 1st miracle – an exorcism with a hint at Jesus’ true identity – and a stern warning to be quiet
• Jesus priority of prayer, and inability to be “managed”
• His first physical healing – again with the warning not to reveal it
• The anonymous man from nowhere now has nowhere to go anonymously
1:1 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Mark doesn’t begin with the birth of Jesus, but with the “gospel” of Jesus – His ministry, not his family. Mark writes about Jesus as the servant – no one cares where a servant comes from. His pedigree doesn’t matter. In fact, Jesus is like someone who appears out of nowhere – and yet Mark gives it the weight of prophecy:
2 It is written in Isaiah the prophet:
"I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way"- 3 "a voice of one calling in the desert, ’Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’"
It kind of sets the stage for this stranger, Jesus – “one calling in the desert.” The prophecies are actually a combination from Isaiah, Malachi, and Exodus.
4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
John’s baptism was one of realization and preparation – realize you’ve got a problem with God – and its sin. Then preparation that God has a plan to deal with sin and its Jesus. John “softened up the battlefield” in a way for Jesus.
It doesn’t mean that every single person came from Judea and Jerusalem but that a cross section from the entire region came. Mark describes John’s wardrobe and diet – I know that the Atkins diet is very popular these days, but what about the John the Baptist diet – locusts and wild honey?
John’s clothing would have reminded the Israelites immediately of one man – not Isaiah, Malachi or Moses – but Elijah. In 2nd Kings he is described as a man wearing a hairy garment with a leather girdle around his loins. A strange guy, for sure, but it may explain why John was so popular – Elijah come back.
Also note – to go to John was to leave the comfortable place and travel to the wilderness, where you were going to hear an uncomfortable message. That’s the beginning of receiving the gospel – realize you’ve got to leave the comfort of your life, and go to a place where you’ll be challenged to rethink your position.
John’s message about Jesus was two fold: Someone important is coming, but I’m not He, and that this is only the first step as you encounter something beyond the physical – a complete change from the past, through the Holy Spirit.
So here Jesus comes on the scene:
9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
Here’s a good picture of the Trinity – the Son coming up out of the water, the Spirit descending on Him, and the Father speaking. Again, Mark doesn’t waste any space on things like the conversation John and Jesus have or anything – and then with no gap, Jesus is sent right out to be tempted.
12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13 and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Luke and Matthew offer us a lot more detail of what happened during the temptation by Satan – Mark is brief and to the point. In the desert with the wild animals – certainly the wildest was Lucifer himself. It perhaps represents the place of desolation and danger. But Jesus has an ally on His side – the angels. We know from Matthew’s gospel that after Satan left, the angels came and helped Jesus.
So now Jesus is about to begin His public ministry:
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
Herod Antipas was the one who arrested John – because John was calling into question his marriage to his half sister. Its interesting that Jesus waited until John’s arrest – perhaps to avoid competition between ministries or for a smooth hand-off.
Look at what Jesus says – this is the gospel straight and simple – “There is a kingdom outside of your control or knowledge – God’s kingdom – and He is now intervening in the affairs of men so do a turnaround and believe this good news!”
So now Jesus calls men to help spread the good news. Mark’s gospel shows us that He called two sets of brothers, both in the fishing trade.
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
Contrary to what you might think from reading the text – Jesus didn’t walk along the shore one day and spy four strangers and say “you – you’re with me” and they got up like zombies and followed “Yes Master.” John’s gospel tells us that Andrew had met Jesus and brought Peter to Him – so these guys had been hanging out with Jesus – this was really the calling to full on discipleship – and they were ready.
Sometimes we hang out on the periphery of Christ, coming to church, singing the songs, but haven’t made a commitment. Perhaps Jesus is calling you to leave your nets and follow Him. Or maybe you are already a Christian and He is calling you to a full on ministry for Him. Don’t be afraid – if He calls you, He has a purpose. Jesus didn’t tell them what they were going to do – just that they would be following Him – that’s all He asks of us too – He fills in the details as needed.
Notice that John and James had “hired men” so these guys were from a wealthy background – we know too that John was politically connected with the religious in-crowd in Jerusalem.
So now five- the group heads out to Capernaum, which was on the north side of the Sea of Galilee and was Peter’s home town.
21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.
Jesus wrote the book, He didn’t just interpret it. We go to classes and study Shakespeare – and you think “boy if only Will were here to tell us what he meant by that” – and if we had Shakespeare around we could ask him direct questions and understand his plays a lot better. Well, Jesus is the Word of God, so it makes sense that when He spoke the Word it would make incredible sense.
I like the order here in Mark – the first thing Jesus does is speak, to teach. Miracles are great and its wonderful to see God move – but the most important thing is what Jesus says – that should be our primary focus as well, otherwise we get too caught up in the experience.
And like in our lives, the enemy always seeks to attack the teaching of God’s Word – to pervert it or draw attention away from it – watch what happens:
23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24 "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!"
Man, what a scene that must have been – imagine the ushers trying to figure out how to handle this guy! And look what Jesus does:
25 "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
Why did this happen? It’s almost as if the enemy is trying to get Jesus to reveal too much about Himself at once – these people were not ready to hear everything – what He wanted them to concentrate was on their own relationship with God, not the enemy. So Jesus tells it to “shut up.” We’ll see this again in a moment.
27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching-and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
I can imagine the people talking to each other about this – the gossip mill going full steam.
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
Now Jesus was not in need of a waitress and so he healed Peter’s mother-in-law – and we won’t make any mother-in-law jokes here. What we see is Jesus’ compassion, and the discipleship of Peter’s mother-in-law.
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
You’d have been at Peter’s door too if you’d been in that town. Jesus this time doesn’t allow the demons to speak at all.
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"
Jesus’ habit was to do this – and I am finding more and more in my own life that I can’t just do – just go and go and go. I need to pray, I need to bathe my days and my life and my marriage and my work and this church in prayer. I still don’t grasp fully why – why can’t God just answer without me asking – but we see the example of Jesus praying over and over – tending to His relationship with the Father daily – and we should do the same. It was hard for Him to do it because of the demands of the people – and again Jesus wants to focus on the gospel, so He leaves that place.
38 Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else-to the nearby villages-so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 "See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
Again Jesus tells someone to be quiet about who He is. Why? It’s because faith based on miracles is not saving faith – only faith in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus didn’t want a bunch of people wanting to have their belly’s full and their diseases healed, yet not saved. The leper here didn’t heed the warning.
Conclusions
• How much emphasis do you place on God’s Word as compared to seeking His blessing or power or miracles?
• Are you willing to be as anonymous as Jesus when His power flows through you?
• The Gospel is simple – don’t overcomplicate it
• When the Lord calls you, are you willing to “drop your nets” and follow Him – even if seems ridiculous?
