The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God
Introduction
Have you ever had some news that you have been absolutely bursting to tell someone? Something good had happened and you were not able to rest until you had told somebody, perhaps it did not matter who you told, anybody would do? Maybe you had discovered that you were going to be a parent or a grandparent, or you had got a new job.
It could be something for which, before it could be understood, some background had to be explained, which you rushed over to get to the main point as quickly as possible. Reading Mark’s gospel gives the feeling that Mark is in just such a rush. He seems to want to get down to the point as soon as he can. It is the shortest of the four accounts of the earthly life of Jesus in the Bible, with only sixteen chapters, of which the last five are concerned with his last week of his earthly life.
The other three gospels give a gentle introduction, setting the scene before they bring Jesus onto centre stage. Matthew gives Jesus’ family tree, tells us how Joseph was informed in dreams what would happen, the visit of the wisemen, Luke tells of Mary being visited by an angel, the census, Jesus’ birth and the shepherds, while Mark starts abruptly. His gospel is a helter-skelter to Calvary, where Jesus was crucified. He blurts his main message out in his very first sentence. The first few chapters of the book have as the main question, “Who is this?” but Mark cannot keep it secret and leave us in suspense, he blows the gaff in the first sentence – “…Jesus Christ the Son of God”
It is interesting to note that it is believed by most scholars, and there is evidence for this from other sources, that Mark’s gospel is really Peter’s account of the life of Jesus, that is based upon information given to Mark by Peter in Rome, in the lead up to his martyrdom. We often see Peter blurting things out, rushing about and jumping to conclusions – this seems like just the commencement to a gospel that Peter would have had, as does the rapid movement and the frequent use of the Greek word ‘euthews’, meaning ‘immediately’ or ‘straightaway’.
The beginning
The very first phrase of the gospel is ‘the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’. At first glance this seems like just being a way of starting his account, and that he is referring to the beginning of his book, something akin to ‘once upon a time’
However, it is far more likely that he is in fact referring to the whole of what follows in the book as being the beginning of the gospel and of the work of Jesus. He saw the earthly life of Jesus as just being the start of the gospel. In a similar way, Luke wrote a two-volume work, Luke and Acts. He saw the books of Acts, the record of the beginning of the early Church, as being just as much part of the life and work of Jesus as his time in Galilee, preaching to the crowds. He starts Acts with:-
The former treatise have I made unto thee O Theophilus of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach.
After Jesus was crucified, resurrected and ascended he remained active in the world. It has often been suggested that ‘the Acts of the Apostles’ should be called ‘the Acts of the Holy Spirit’, others have said, referring to the opening of the book, that a more accurate title would be ‘the continuing Acts of the resurrected and ascended Christ’. The growth of the early Church was through the power of Christ and his Spirit, in heaven. He still is active today.
That is why the gospel is still relevant today, because we do not preach stories about a dead man, or meet to discuss the ideas of a teacher of the past, instead we have a living Lord, who has risen from the dead. Other religions have dead teachers; we have a living Lord! The empty tomb is our guarantee of eternal life.
But he goes back further than the birth of Jesus. The gospel really started in the mind of God, before time began, before he had created the universe, he had planned the gospel. Mark tells us that he then told his people through the prophets. Then came John the Baptist, just before Jesus started his earthly ministry. I am sure that you have met people who are very what is politely referred to as ‘spontaneous’. People who will do things on a whim, make decisions based on passing feelings without thinking of the long-term ramifications and consequences, who will take on responsibilities and start hobbies, make promises, then quickly tire and get bored of them and drop them. The gospel of Christ was not a spur of the moment decision by God; it was a total, planned, commitment that he will not backtrack on.
So the long-term planning of God and the centuries of preparation he made for the coming of Christ speak to us of our eternal security.
Good News
The first thing that Mark tells us is that the coming of Jesus is good news. That is what the word ‘gospel’ literally means. He is bursting to tell it, we see throughout the book how Mark is excited about Jesus.
He gives us the crux of the matter a bit later on in chapter one, in the teaching of John the Baptist.
We said earlier how keen Mark was to get to what he considered to be the most important part and how he was desperate to tell the good news. So often we who are living in the midst of a world that is perishing, just as much as Mark was, are slow on the uptake, shy, scared, embarrassed or just never think of telling others this wonderful news.
I have often heard my Mum tell about her childhood during the Second World War when there was rationing and the supplies of food from overseas were badly unpredictable because supply ships would be sunk, and those that could get through were needed to bring materials for the war effort. Sometimes a neighbour would come to the door with the urgent message “There are oranges in Co-op!” Granny would immediately run out of the house, with her coat flying behind her and the children’s ration books in her hand, telling everyone as she went the exciting news “there are oranges in Co-op!” She would then queue up for ages, with all the other mothers in the town, to buy one the orange permitted for each child, adults were not allowed any.
We have a message that is far better news than even “there are oranges in Co-op!” But so often we seem coy about letting people know, we were discussing this in Essentials on Friday night. Perhaps we should be as keen as Mark to tell our message.
Of Jesus Christ the Son of God
We sometimes sing a song with the line in it “it’s all about you, Jesus”. Here Mark tells us that the gospel is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It belongs to him and it is all about him. We often talk and act as if the gospel where about us, that we are the whole point of it. Well, we aren’t! The point of the gospel is Jesus!
It was He who came, it was he who died and it was He who rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. It is He who is enthroned in heaven, who loves His Church and is working in the world today through His Spirit. We have a good news of eternal salvation and security, which we can receive through faith in Christ and repentance for our sin, but it is Christ’s salvation through and through, we can take no credit for it.
But he goes on to tell us that this Jesus Christ was not just a prophet or a good man or a guru, but the Son of God. The very Son of the Lord of eternity.
Conclusion
The first sentence of Mark’s gospel might seem to be a bit boring and not contain much. But we have seen how it points to great truths. We have a living Lord, not a dead guru or ‘prophet’, a gospel of good news for all who trust and believe in the author of the gospel, Christ.
