Mark 1:1
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Summary Sentence : Jesus, as the Son of God has come in the flesh teaching with authority to our amazement.
Our study is more than just an attempt to familiarize ourselves with a text. It is not less than that but it certainly is more than that. Our goal to met and know Jesus through the inspired writing of Mark.
“These words must be considered the title of the entire Gospel of Mark…the glad news which tells about Jesus Christ. This is exactly what Mark’s Gospel presents, telling about Jesus’ person, teachings, works, death and resurrection.”
R.C.H.Lenski Interpretation of St. Mark’s Gospel p. 21
“Since Mark heads his work the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, it might be possible to take this as a title for the whole work, and to understand him to mean that his whole account of the life and ministry of Jesus is the beginning or basis…of the good news.”
M.D. Hooker The Gospel According to Saint Mark p. 33
Context /Introduction
“…according to tradition this Gospel was composed to satisfy the urgent request of the people of Rome for a written summary of Peter’s preaching in that city…In writing it did Mark intend merely to supply information…Was it his purpose, as some maintain, merely to record a narrative,…How did he view Jesus? Merely as a very interesting personage…Or did he primarily regard Jesus to be the mighty conquering Savior King, to whom all men should turn in humble faith? Surely the latter!” William Hendriksen The Gospel of Mark p. 16-17
“If the Gospel of Mark was written sometime during the period A.D. 65-67, this passage from Tacitus sheds much light on its life setting. The Roman church was experiencing the fires of persecution. Even martyrdom was not unknown among its members. Mark addresses himself to this situation. His purpose in writing was “not historical or biographical, but it was intensely practical. He was writing a book for the guidance and support of his fellow Christians in a situation of intense crisis.” Walter Wessell The Expositors Bible Commentary vol. 8 p. 610
“…derision accompanied their end: they were covered with wild beast’ skin and torn to death by dogs; or they were fastened on crosses, and when daylight failed were burned to serve as lamps by night. Nero had offered his Gardens for the spectacle, and gave an exhibition in his circus.”
Tacitus Annals 15.44
Mark 1:13 And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.
One of the differences between Jesus and those to who Mark writes is; For Jesus during his time of temptation angels ministered to Him, for us in our time of temptation Jesus ministers to us. And that ministry comes in one form through the Gospel of Mark.
It appears that Mark is someone who may have know Jesus both personally (limited 14:51-52) and through Peter (substantially). (1 Peter 5:13) She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.
Mark is the shortest of the Gospels. It contains a vocabulary of a little over 1200 words. Approximately 80 of which are unique to Mark. Mark uses those 1200 words down in such a as to produce some very definite themes. These themes are detected through both repetition of words, phrases and descriptions. There are at least 5 themes that are very obvious and emerge immediately.
Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is the Son of Man, Jesus came to proclaim and to be proclaimed. Jesus produces amazement, Jesus is the authority.
Our purpose at this point is not to explain the significance of these themes, but simply to demonstrate their existence. This will give us a frame work thought which to understand Jesus as Mark presents Him. “…Jesus Christ, the Son of God…”
Mark 3:11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are the Son of God!"
Mark 8:27 Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, "Who do people say that I am?"
Mark 8:29 And He continued by questioning them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ."
Mark 15:39 When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"
Jesus is the Son of Man
This phrase occurs at least 14 times through-out Marks’ gospel. All, with the exception of 2 (2:10,28) occur in the last half of the book. While presently we are not seeking to give full explanation of this phrase we do offer this a couple of brief points;
Compassion; 1:41, 6:34, 8:2, Anger; 3:5, 10:14, Wonders; 6:6, Rest; 6:30-32, Sighs deeply; 8:12, Love; 10:21, Hunger; 11:12
“…the beginning of the gospel of Jesus…”
This phrase “…Son of Man…” is related to our opening verse by the fact that it is Jesus as the Son of Man in His suffering that produces the gospel.
Mark 9:31 For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later."
Daniel 7:13 "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.
While the gospel begins with suffering it ends in a kingdom. That is good news.
“…the gospel of Jesus…”
This gospel is both a message and a man, the man Jesus. And it is apparent from Marks’ writing that this message about this Man is to be proclaimed/preached. I prefer the term proclaimed, for it implies simply the declaration of truth. The significance of preaching/proclamation in Marks’ gospel is apparent in two ways. One through repetition, he uses the term at least 14 times. And secondly how he uses the term.
1:14 Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,
1:38 He said to them, "Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for."
3:14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,
13:10 "The gospel must first be preached to all the nations.
Here we may see yet another aspect of Mark’s intention when he used the phrase “…beginning of the gospel…”, While Jesus began the preaching, it is we who will finish it.
Last two themes are related to this proclamation. They have to do both with what was proclaimed and how it was proclaimed. That is the themes of Amazement and Authority.
Through out the gospel of Mark Jesus is presented both as an amazing and authoritative figure.
The amazement that Jesus produces is revealed by two different words that are found in Mark’s writing. Combined they make up some 16 references. This amazement can be seen in all but 5 of the 16 chapters. We see one of these words in chapter one;
Mark 1:22 They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
evkplh,ssw only pass. in the NT impf. evxeplhsso,mhnÈ 2aor. evxepla,ghn (1) be amazed or astounded, be struck with astonishment (MT 7.28); (2) be overwhelmed, be
Zodiates : To strike, force out by a blow, but found only in the sense of knocking one out of his senses or self possession.
Vine : To strike, lit. “to strike out”, to be exceedingly struck in mind, to be astonished.
BAGD : Amaze, astound, overwhelmed, (lit. to strike one out of senses)
Thayer :To strike out, expel by a blow, to cast off by a blow, to strike one out of self-possession.
While these definitions seek to explain a phenomenon that was effected by Jesus they are lacking. The truth is that what Mark is here describing is existential an experience that shared by those who have met Jesus and heard what He has to say. In short, what we to understand what Mark describes is not an explanation, but the experience itself. Mark is seeking to present Jesus in his writing so that we may experience Him.
The last theme of Mark’s gospel that we consider at this point is also contained in 1:22;
Mark 1:22 They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Jesus teaches with authority;
“…He was teaching them as one having authority
Jesus has the authority to cast out demons;
1:27 They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying,"What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him."
Jesus has the authority to forgive sins;
2:10 "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic,
Jesus has the authority to question authority;
Mark 11:27 They came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him, 28 and began saying to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?"
11:29 And Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 11:30 "Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me."
11:33 Answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things."
This is a classic human response that seek to preserve one’s present position. They are being incredulous in their answer. The answer is obvious and has been previously stated in Mark’s gospel;
Mark 2:6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7"Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?"
2:10 "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic,
The Authority of Jesus is self authenticating. The real question for ourselves is; What will we do when we meet Jesus in our study of Mark? How will we deal with His authority? Especially when He questions our presumptive authority over our own lives. Will we submit or will we like the Scribes, Priests and Elders simply refuse to answer?
