Mark | Chapter 1 – Scripture Supply

Mark

“The Servant Ruler”

Chapters: 1:1 – 8:30 The Ministry of the Servant
1:1-1:13 His credentials
1:14-2:12 His miracles
2:13-3:35 His opposition
4:1-5:43 His words and works
6:1-8:30 His challenges
Chapters: 8:31 – 16:20 The Completed Work of the Servant
8:31-9:13 His identity
9:14-50 His selflessness
10:1-52 His kingdom
11:1-16:20 His final week
11:1-13:37 From the temple to the Mount of Olives
14:1-14:52 From the upper room to the garden of Gethsemane
14:53-15:20 From His arrest to His sentence
15:21-16:20 From the cross to the great commission

Mark

“God’s Bulldozer”

1:1-8

Introduction
Vs. 1-3 Road work for God
Vs. 4-5 A radical work
Vs. 6-8 A stranger in the wilderness

Introduction

The gospel is not a discussion or a debate, it’s not good VIEWS; its GOOD NEWS. Each of the gospels present a different picture of Jesus:

Matthew presents Jesus to the Jews as their long waited King.
Luke presents Jesus as the Son of Man to the Greek mind, the Philosophical mind.
John presents Jesus the Son of God and is for the believer and follower of Jesus as it reveals the relational aspect of our faith.

Matthew and John were both disciples of Jesus whereas Luke and Mark were both disciples of disciples, (Luke of Paul and Mark of Peter).

Mark was written for the Roman mind, it contains the most Latin words, it’s a gospel of haste and action which are characteristics of the Roman spirit. It is the briefest of the Gospels as it only has 16 chapters and for that reason is the most translated book of the Bible according to Wycliffe translators. Though not identified, the author is a young man named John Mark (John being his Jewish name, Mark being his Roman name). He accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey but as far as Paul was concerned proved to be less than dependable. It seems at first he didn’t take to the life of a missionary and went with Barnabas. But in the end according to 2 Timothy 4:11 he and Paull serve together. Here is a man who early on in God’s work is thought of as unreliable but over time God use him to record the truths about Jesus. We know that Mark was close to Peter and as you read this gospel we see that Mark writes a lot about Peter’s experiences and thoughts. In fact in 1 Peter 5:13 Peter calls Mark his son in the faith. It is believed that Mark was the son of a well to do woman named Mary who lived in Jerusalem in a home that was often used by Christians. Many believe that it was in the “Upper Room” of this house that the last supper took place and where they were all gathered after the ascension waiting for the promised Holy Spirit. Later on we learn that he was the cousin or nephew of Barnabas. He traveled a lot as he joined the missionary team of Paul and Barnabas in Antioch, went to Perga in Pamphilia, then with Barnabas to Cyprus, served with Peter in Babylon modern Iraq and finally was with Paul in Rome. Tradition also links him with Peter in Rome as well as Egypt where he founded the church in Alexandria and was killed in 68 A.D.

The dating of any ancient literature isn’t an exact science and the way in which you come up with dates is based upon the other accounts and work by a process of elimination. It’s believed that Mark wrote before Luke’s account and we that in Luke’s two volume work in Acts Paul’s first trial in Rome isn’t completed which places the writing of Acts at 63 A.D. Luke wrote his gospel first which places it at around A.D. 58. This date would place Mark’s gospel between 40 A.D. and 56 A.D. with most evidence placing the writing at 50 A.D. That would make this and James the earliest New Testament writings and would mean that it served as the main source for both Matthew and Luke a fact that is further bolstered when you realize that all but about 50 verses of Mark are found in their entirety in Matthew and Luke. The location where it was written is equally as difficult to determine as some say, Alexandria Egypt, others say Antioch in Syria, others Caesarea or Rome.

The evidence that Mark wrote for the Roman reader is seen eternally by the lack of Old Testament quotations, explanations of Jewish customs, absence of Jewish law and descriptions of the geography Jewish land such as the Mount of Olives. Both Luke and John tell us why they wrote their account of Jesus but with Mark we must look for it in what he wrote. Mark’s favorite word in this gospel is “immediately” which occurs 40 times as we see Jesus as a very busy servant. Mark’s emphasis is more upon the “works” of Jesus than upon the “words” of Christ. No genealogy in Mark’s account because no one cares about the pedigree of a servant. As we examine Mark we can see that Mark arranged the gospel both in events as well as geographically:

Chapter 1:1-3 His preparation
Chapter 1:14-9:50 His ministry in Galilee
Chapter 10:1-52 His Journey to Jerusalem
Chapter 11:1-15:47 His final week
Chapter 16:1-20 His consummation

Vs. 1-3 Road work for God

Vs. 1-3 Church tradition says that Mark was Peter’s interpreter and that is believable as this gospel reflects Peter’s personal experiences. He boldly proclaims Jesus Christ is the Son of God to Roman readers, how radical was this statement. The word “gospel” would have meant more to the Romans as it meant “joyful news about the emperor”. In biblical times before a king visited any part of his realm, a messenger was sent before him to prepare the way this included repairing roads and preparing the people for the visit. That is how Mark sees John the Baptist as he highlights John’s work of preparation for Jesus. John’s work was not unexpected, it was written about by the prophets of Malachi in 3:1 and by Isaiah in 40:3. These two prophets both spoke similarly about John’s work describing it as “preparing” Jesus’ way before Him and “making His paths strait”. My father and grandfather were both employed in this occupation as they operated “heavy equipment” operators and worked making roads. That’s what John the Baptists work was, he was a “road builder” a “bulldozer” for Jesus. He removed the debris and straitened the path for Jesus. These two prophets describe the Baptists “road work” for Jesus to come to people and not for people to come to Him. The Baptist worked on the roads of human hearts removing the “junk” and striating the crookedness so that Jesus could come to their hearts. The stuff that John needed to bulldoze was religion that had clogged the entrance of human hearts.

Vs. 4-5 A radical work

Vs. 4-5 Mark says that John’s primary message was “baptism of repentance”. This was totally radical in nature, no one else had done or even suggested it. The only thing close to this was Gentile converts to Judaism. John’s baptism was far different from the Jewish ritual washing from the defilement of the past. The Jews that came out to John were doing something that was never asked of them before by a person unlike they had ever seen before. And they did so in an odd location, the wilderness, this would have summoned in their mind their ancestor’s pilgrimage from Egypt and baptism would have seemed as a preparation for a new covenant with God. When we were in Israel we traveled right to the wilderness spot where John was preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Today it is right on the boarder of Jordan and Israel where ½ the river is in Jordan the other ½ in Israel. It’s still very much wilderness today and very barren even though Jericho is only 10 miles away. That John’s “road work” was done in the wilderness in a forsaken isolated place where people needed to needed to leave their cities, comfort and pleasures to come to this place and travel some 30 miles to hear John tell them they need to change and to symbolize this change by washing. Mark tells us that “all the land of Judea, and those in Jerusalem went out to him”. This describe a steady stream of people who were not indiscriminate curiosity seekers but rather their migration was a deliberate act of people who knew what John proclaimed and what they would need to do to get right with God. The good news that John preached was that religion was no longer a barrier to right living and that message brought such hope that people came in droves to receive this truth. John offered them the opportunity not to go through religious leaders but to go direct to God. Their sin, guilt and fear was bottlenecked by the hands of self-righteous religious leaders who for pride and financial reasons wouldn’t release people.

Vs. 6-8 A stranger in the wilderness

Vs. 6-8 John assumed the style and lifestyle of the prophet Elijah described in 2 Kings 1:8, in life and actions bore out what he was. He was simple, balanced and fearless in his words as his clothing and diet portrayed. Preaching is not the art of making a sermon and delivering it, it is the art of making a preacher and delivering him. Filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb, a Nazirite from birth, totally committed to God, he embodied the message. Without the “Bulldozer” Jesus wouldn’t have had a clear path to hearts as Isaiah in chapter 40 verse 4 tells us that John would need to lift up valleys, make low mountains and hills, level uneven and rough ground. That’s what repentance does as it knocks down our pride, it fills in our excuses, it straightens out the lies we have believed and it smooth’s out the rough places of our lives.

Mark describe John’s character by giving a description of what he wore and his diet, “camel hair with a leather belt and locusts and wild honey”. John was a simple man a basic man both in clothing and diet and as such those things reflect his message. His diet was simple but balanced grasshoppers for protein and honey for carb’s thus he was healthy.

The menial task of a slave was to take off the sandals of the guest and wash their feet as they entered the home. And John the Baptist didn’t want people to get the wrong impression of him as he saw himself below the lowest of slaves. John came only to smooth out lives so that the “ANSWER” people are looking for can come and make His home in our hearts. John would take them TO GOD but Jesus would take them to be WITH GOD. This would require life to be lived in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. There is too much from the pulpits today that is like John’s ministry “designed only to bring people to God” but friends we need more than this we need the power to live. There is a greater baptism and cleansing than water and it is one of fire of the Holy Spirit. Water was the instrument in which John baptized with but the Holy Spirit is NOT the instrument Jesus baptizes with. Jesus’ baptism is the act of the Holy Spirit Himself baptizing or placing the believing sinner into Christ and His body then empowering them for the work He has called them too. That is what we need today!

“The Emperors Credentials part 1”

1:9-11

Introduction
Vs. 9-11 Baptism

Introduction

Any student of scripture faces the greatest challenges from the Bible not when looking at something that you have never seen but rather when examining something that you are far too familiar with. That is where we find ourselves this morning when we look at the first of two very familiar accounts:

Jesus’ baptism, mentions in all 4 accounts
Jesus’ temptation mentioned in all but John’s gospel

Having looked at the road worker (John the Baptist) who prepared the roads into the hearts of people Mark immediately moves to the King of Kings, Jesus, in a sudden simple statement, “in those days…Jesus came..” Those few words mark the only way any life can become better, they are words of radical change and they appear twice is 6 verses as we see them again in verse 14. The picture is clear from Mark to the Roman reader of this joyous news of the Emperor, after the Baptist cleared the debris from the roads to the human hearts “Jesus came” it didn’t matter where He came there were always results when He came. Specifically Mark tells us His initial entrance down the road to human hearts were down two very difficult roads and he does so in the “passive voice” in the Greek which means that these two things were “done to Jesus”. His baptism and temptation were both necessary preparation for His earthly ministry.

Vs. 9-11 Baptism

Vs. 9-11 It is not into the world Jesus comes, He has been in the world 30 years, it is from Nazareth. These words don’t speak of His beginning on this earth but the beginning of His earthly ministry. Nazareth, to Jesus was an ordinary human experience, filled with all the same responsibilities others experienced but in a place of seclusion, Luke records those years as being ones in which “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

All four of the gospels record the baptism of Jesus which suggests to us that the gospel considered this incident is very significant and important in Jesus life. From a Jewish perspective John’s baptism marked a radical spiritual awakening for many in the nation. Thousands of people were leaving their cities, homes and jobs, going down to a secluded wilderness to listen to this Bulldozer of a man who brought them to a place that they needed to make a change as they acknowledged their failures. Those that made the trek to the wilderness went under the water as their forefathers had done a 1,000 years earlier at this same spot when they entered the promise land. Yet in Matthew 3:13-17 when Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee to John, John objected saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” This is a remarkable statement for two reasons:

First from a human perspective: John had known Jesus all his life, they were cousins, and we all know that it is easiest to find fault in folks that we are most familiar with. Yet John says to his younger cousin, “You don’t need to confess any sin, there is nothing in all your life that requires confession and repentance.” Spend any amount of time with any individual and you will very quickly discover that there is no such thing as a “Holy Man” from any descendants of Adam and Eve. Yet, John make this clear distinction in the form of an objection of Jesus request to be baptized by John.
Second, we need to understand this statement in terms of its chronological placement in the text: This statement of John In Matthew 3:14 comes PRIOR to his understanding that Jesus is the Messiah which according to the apostle John’s account in 1:31-34 would happen only after the Baptist saw the “Spirt of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him.” The Baptists own testimony with regards to Jesus being the Messiah is that, “I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water. I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and testified that this is the son of God.” Prior to the sign that God had shown John with full knowledge of Jesus’ life as his cousin John acknowledges Jesus sinless-ness!

Back in Matthew’s gospel he records Jesus’ response to John’s objection in chapter 3 verse 15 saying, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill righteousness.” Clearly Jesus baptism wasn’t the same as the throngs that were coming out from Jerusalem and Judea. So why was Jesus baptized by John the Baptist? Mark speaks of three reasons for Jesus coming to John to be baptized:

INTENT Vs. 9 “Jesus came…and was baptized by John in the Jordan”: Mark first shows that Jesus’ intent in the words, “Jesus came” saying that He did so for a specific purpose. The purpose was not the purpose of the multitudes who had come His purpose was for “INDENTIFICATION” with fallen humanity. In the Greek word for “baptized” was not only used as a symbol of death but it was also used as a word to dye cloth as the fabric was put under the dye thus the cloth would retain the stain that was in the water. That’s what Jesus was doing here as He was put under the water of the Jordan where multitudes had gone under washing away their sin He was put under in a sinless condition and took upon Himself the stain of our sin. He was choosing to be placed under the same water where humanity was confessing sins, having the water that washed over the sin of humanity come upon Him. Simple put “He who knew no sin became sin for us”! This would culminate 3 ½ years later at the cross. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 3:15 “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness”. At His baptism Jesus declared His intent to meet the righteous demands of God by undertaking to pay off all of our debt caused by sin.
POWER Vs. 10 “Immediately, coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove”: It is interesting to note that Mark records the immediate parting of the heavens and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. The results were instantaneous happening simultaneously with Jesus coming up out of the water, no wait and see. Not only does the baptism of Jesus reveal His intent it also reveals that His identification would unleash upon mankind the powerful cure to overcome sin, guilt, fear and death. We can be certain of this as the moment Jesus showed His intent to take our place the Holy Spirits power was visible. It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to live as God has intended! The Spirits descending and remaining upon Jesus is very reminiscent of the anointing oil that would be poured out upon the heads of kings and priests committing them to function in the office. Jesus is being anointed by the Father through the Spirit for the purpose He was called to. In only a few weeks from this time Jesus would quote from Isaiah chapter 61 as recorded for us in Luke 4:18-19 about this anointing saying the “Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” This power wasn’t just for performing power acts but rather so we can live a beautiful peace filled life. That’s why this POWER is symbolized by a dove which is never associated with fierceness, you don’t hear of sports teams being called the “fighting doves”. That’s the kind of power on display LOVE which is the most powerful force there has ever been.
ACCEPTANCE Vs. 11 “Then a voice came from heaven, You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”: This acceptance came with the voice of assurance from the Father. The word “beloved” in the Greek not only declares affection, it also carries the meaning of uniqueness as in “only one”. Those standing around heard the Father say, “This is My beloved Son” as Matthew and Luke record but Jesus heard “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. Humanity needed to know that those previous years of Jesus life on this earth was accepted by the Father and just like the Baptist in his protest of Jesus request to be baptized, they need to hear that there had been not one thing in those 30 years of sin and self-serving. But when Jesus heard the voice of the Father He heard the assurance that what He had just done in identifying with sinful man would be accepted 3 ½ years later on the cross and remove the curse. This is what the author of Hebrews describes in Hebrews 10:5-7 saying that when Jesus came into the world quoting out of Psalm 40:6-8 Jesus said, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, Behold I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.” And because Jesus had that assurance we who have trusted in Him can as well. Each day we need to hear from the Father “You are my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.” That’s not because we are perfect as Jesus is, no it’s because we have placed are trust in Jesus’ perfection not our own!

Jesus began His ministry with this assurance and saints we must as well, as we will be hearing a 1000 lies and hour telling us otherwise, just as Jesus moved from the voice of the Fathers assurance to the shouts of satan’s lies.

“The Emperors Credentials part 2”

1:12-13

Introduction
Vs. 12-13 Temptation

Introduction

The 2^nd part of Jesus’ preparation was his temptation as both Matthew and Luke record this as well, only John leaves this section out. What a comfort it is to realize as the author of Hebrews wrote in chapter 4 verse 15 saying, “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” There is nothing that I face in the flesh or on the world that Jesus didn’t and He did so with complete victory. There is a sense that we can read this section and realize that we need not face temptation alone as Jesus is with us and has defeated what we are facing. Recently Donna and I took the grandchildren to “Jurassic Quest” a full size animatronic dinosaur exhibit. Four year old Nate, was excited, talking about how he wanted to ride one. That was until we got their and saw they were as big as houses, looked real, made horrible sounds and looked as if they had just killed something. The poor little guy was terrified. He wouldn’t turn his back on any of them, afraid he was going to be their next victim. That was until Grandpe took his hand walked over to the fiercest, loudest dino in the bunch and started petting its nose and grabbing its fake blood stained tooth. I then asked Nate if he wanted me to take that dino home and place him on the BBQ for dinner. To Nate I was the dino slayer able to overcome the meanest dino’s that ever existed and because he walked with me he could too. Saint’s what a great section of scripture this is as we walk with our champion through every monster that roars and threatens us knowing that He conquered every one of them and as we walk with Him we can too.

Vs. 12-13 Temptation

Vs. 12 Jesus was identified with sinful humanity at His baptism now He is also identified with us sinners in our temptations. Mark’s account use the least amount of words but the most suggestive words, “the Spirit DROVE Him into the wilderness….tempted by satan, and was there with the wild beasts”. There are three things here about this preparation that Mark implies:

Vs. 12 Eager willingness: Mark (for the 2^nd time) use his favorite word “immediately” but does so in conjunction with something most of us would get excited over a TEST! And not just any test, a test administered by a lying, murder who has designed the test not to see what you have learned but to ensure that you fail! The devil had given other tests to other people like Job but this test was even more sever as again we go to the author of Hebrews in chapter 4 verse 15 where we read that Jesus was “in ALL POINTS TEMPTED AS WE ARE, yet without sin.” “All points tempted as we are” and when examined all of humanity failed at some point but not Jesus. The word “drove” in the Greek implies something very different than what we think it means in the English as we see the word “drove” implying reluctance on Jesus’ part. When we compare the accounts of Matthew and Luke we see that those two writers used very different words to describe Jesus journey into the wilderness to be tested as their word means was “led up” and “was led” which is the emphasis upon the Holy Spirit guiding. Only Mark uses the word that implies Jesus perspective in going which speaks not of reluctance but rather of preoccupation of mind in going. Mark will use the word again in chapter 1:34, 39 speaking casting out or driving out demons. I believe we get the picture of Jesus’ intent as he couldn’t wait to drive out the evil influence. This isn’t a picture of reluctance on Jesus part it is a picture of complete and absolute CONFIDENCE. That is what happens when light comes into darkness it drives out the night. We don’t need to stomp or swing our arms in the dark we just need to turn on the LIGHT!
Vs. 13a Complete examination: The 2^nd thing that Mark points out is the thoroughness of satan’s examination. The word “tempted” is in the “present tense” which speaks of a continuous action. The three temptations that Luke and Matthew record at the end of the 40 days indicate the intensity of the temptations as the end of the 40 days as satan knew his time was short. Mark mentions three things about the tests.
Wilderness: First its location, which one Greek scholar said that the word “wilderness” describes unknown isolation. What is magnified in isolation is that nothing is available in the environment to take a person’s mind off of their circumstances and this intensifies the testing.
Forty days: Second we note the longevity of the test being 40 days and nights. When you look at the number 40 in the Bible you discover something very interesting as the number is almost always associated with testing or judgment.
Noah’s flood: It rained 40 days and 40 nights
Israel in the desert: They wondered 40 years
Moses kept his father in laws sheep 40 years after slaying the Egyptian in Egypt
Jesus: Tested 40 days

Adam lost dominion over nature in Genesis 1:28 here we see the 2^nd Adam Jesus with the wild beasts that will regain their position they lost in our fall. What Adam lost in the garden Jesus won back in the desert. The other accounts of this informs us without food as our Lord was fasting. Though I’m certain that the Spirit sustain Jesus with the food of fellowship satan used that as a temptation, to which Jesus responded that what sustained him was fellowship. Yet still we are told at the end He was hungry!

Tempted by satan: Third, we have the examiner the devil, a word in the Greek that means “adversary”. The word “tempted” in the Greek is a word that means to “pierce in search of”. The word came to mean to, “try intentionally with the purpose to discover weakness, to purposefully solicit a person to do evil.”
Vs. 13b Achieved a 100% on the test: The final note on the preparation of Jesus is that the wild beasts and the angels are mentioned as being present with Jesus.
Wild beast were with Him: Neither, Matthew or Luke record the wild beasts but Mark does as he places the Greek emphasis on the word “WITH” which changes the meaning of the phrase to the fact that Jesus was at peace with the wild beasts. This fact reveals two very important truths:
Jesus enjoyed a relationship with His creation that hadn’t been experienced since before the fall. We are told in Genesis 1:28 that Adam and Eve were to “have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” This indicates that during those 40 days of temptation Jesus remained sinless and always had authority over His creation.
Furthermore we are told that during the 100 year reign of Christ upon the earth. According to Isaiah 11:6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” This also indicates the future fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy as he describes Jesus in chapter 11 as having “The spirit of the Lord resting upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” Jesus went out into that time of temptation with what Isaiah describes as “righteousness as His belt and faithfulness around His waist”. These “wild beasts” saw Jesus as God the Son their creator and therefor worshipped His as such as He will be their liberator as well. Paul wrote in Romans 8:21-22 that “the creation itself also will be delivered from bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of god. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”
Angels Ministered to Him: In the Greek means to serve and is in the imperfect tense meaning that their care was continuous. The angelic creation ministered to Him at the end of His temptation which shows that Jesus not only was Creator and Master of that which was created on the earth, He is both Lord and creator of the heavens as well. They executed the commands of the Father for the Son continually all during the 40 days and nights and Matthew adds that when satan left Jesus they ministered to Him and by this it is referring to Jesus physical needs as they had been attending to eternal needs. This was a test that offered satan’s worst but the there was never a doubt that Jesus would pass the test with 100%.

For forty days Jesus was tempted:

By His hunger to wonder whether the Father cared
By the scope of work, how far He could go apart from the Fathers guidance
By the offer of the kingdoms of the world what He may gain apart from His sacrifice

Where every other person that has ever been failed at every one of these tests, Jesus never once:

DOUBTED LOVE
TRADED TRUST
QUESTIONED HOPE

“The Greatest Preacher”

1:14-20

Introduction
Vs. 14-15 Three elements of Jesus’ preaching
Vs. 16-20 Three effects of Jesus’ preaching

Introduction

The rest of this first chapter will stress the WORK of Jesus as we see His miracles but Mark records that the focus of the work of Jesus was the WORDS of Jesus. Jesus was essentially a preacher who did wonderful miracles that gave credence to His words, not a miracle worker who sometimes had something to say. There are few things that cause more terror then public speaking. Standing in front of people, for 45 minutes with no other conversation, giving a clear easy to fellow presentation of truth. The truth is the best all other pastor teachers can do is teach His teaching. The best teachers are those that don’t try to dazzle their listeners with stories and cleaver opinions but just let Jesus speak. Mark passes over a full year of Jesus’ ministry which is given in more detail in John’s account who is the only one that does. There you will find Jesus famous encounter with Nicodemus and the most quoted verse in all the Bible John 3:16. You will also read of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well, His first recorded miracle at the wedding at Cana and more. Mark knew of these events but to his Roman readers there were two more important things than the events of that year:

Vs. 14-15 The message of the Son of God
Vs. 16-20 The effect of the message on His subjects
Vs. 14-15 Three elements of Jesus’ preaching

Vs. 14 Galilee was no small area according to the Jewish historian Josephus, it was an area 60 miles by 30 miles that had over 204 villages with the smallest having 15,000 people; which means that there were over 3 million folks leaving in this area. It must be noted that Jesus moving from Judea to Galilee was not as some seem to imply, the moving away from danger. Galilee was Herod’s district, Jesus was not moving away from danger but closer to it as it was Herod who had arrested John the Baptist. Jesus actions were saying to all, “You may if you can try to silence the voice of a prophet but you can never silence the Word of God!” It needs to be noted that the summation of Jesus preaching is GOOD NEWS and it would be throughout His life, His words were never about accusation or denunciation as God did not send His Son into the world to judge it but to save it because it was already reeling from the effects of its own judgment.

Vs. 15 When you place this story before us in chronological order Jesus’ coming to Galilee to preach the gospel of the kingdom happened on the same trip that had taken Jesus through Samaria too talk with the woman at the well. Jesus’ message had to do with not with His reign over a land but rather His reign in people’s lives who invite Him in. Mark tells us; (no doubt from Peter’s memory), that Jesus’ preaching had three essential elements to it:

The kingdom of God: Jesus wanted to tell people about a different kingdom then the one that humanity was presently experiencing. He came to set up the “real truth about life”, the good news was that the Kingdom of God was at hand. In human history no matter what earthly kingdom, government or political party, before long the subjects will discover that the “New Regime” offers the same old platitudes and the only New Truth they have is “New rhetoric” with the same old lies! But Jesus’ words were not mere empty promises but a revelation that there was a Kingdom above an earthly one, a spiritual kingdom that supersedes and controls the failed human kingdoms. Jesus’ kingdom controls human history, all of the daily events of our life will bow down to His plan and purposes.
Repentance: Second, Jesus invited people after hearing of a better Kingdom to realize that the kingdom they were currently in was not worth staying in and that they must leave at once. Since the fall of mankind people had risen up, kings and kingdoms had come and gone and everyone revealed to the subjects of humanity that they had fallen into condition that rendered all people hopeless and helpless to correct their condition, life had become IMPOSSIBLE. But Jesus came to proclaim and end this impossible human condition. The subjects of the old failed life must want to leave the human kingdom for the divine! It all really boils down to, do you want “life to master you” or do “you want to master life through the Master”? This is why Jesus declared in Matthews account that “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Belief: Finally, Jesus spoke of the need to trust Him at His word and work as it wasn’t enough to merely acknowledge that you were living in the wrong kingdom and want to leave you would have to trust Jesus and LEAVE! Jesus didn’t preach repentance as that is not enough to save, repentance without faith is nothing more than remorse which in the end can destroy a life as much as the sin as it waits a person down with the burden of guilt. That is why Jesus preached repentance and faith in Him.

Great evangelical preaching must contain those three elements of our Master and if they don’t it doesn’t matter how great a person’s voice, how cleaver their stories or how popular they are as a person, they most certainly are proclaiming something or someone but it is not the gospel that Jesus preached!

Vs. 16-20 Three effects of Jesus’ preaching

Vs. 16 As you read from the 16^th verse to the end of the chapter you notice that each section or vignette is started with words that either continue the narrative or offer a time in which the new event took place. Words like “then, when, now, at evening, in the morning, as soon as…” all indicate that the progression of events chronologically happen on the same day! Thus this section can be called a “Day in the life of Jesus”! That adds to our understanding of the words of the Apostle John in 20:30 that, “truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written… ” and 21:25 “there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if written one by one, I suppose the even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

Again the Jewish historian, Josephus who was once governor of Galilee wrote that there were 330 fishing boats that sailed upon the lake. People seldom ate any meat but fish and most of it salted fish as there was no means to keep it apart from salting it, eating fresh fish was a delicacy. Even the names of the cities that doted the shores of Galilee demonstrate the importance of commercial fishing, Bethsaida means “House of fish” and Tarichaea means “Place of salt fish”. Abraham Lincoln once said, “God must love the common people, He made so many of them.” These fishermen didn’t represent the cream of the crop, they would have been an example of those voted least likely to be effective for the work of reaching the world. This fact was further illustrated in the words found in Acts chapter 4 “when the religious leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And realized that they had been with Jesus.” A person should never think much of themselves beyond what Jesus can make of them and never so little of others than what Jesus thinks of them! It is a wonderful reality to realize that whenever God calls a person to a task He alone assumes the responsibility to fit us for the work by the Spirit of God. That is what impressed Mark when Jesus walked spoke to them saying, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men”. Jesus words announced two things that moment:

He assumed the entire responsibility to their training
He guaranteed success in their lives in an area they had no experience in

Of the 12 men Jesus called as many as 7 were fishermen, which bids the question: What about fishing makes a person a good fit for Christian service, perhaps Patience and Perseverance. Mark records, three effects of Jesus’ preaching:

Made people want to be with Jesus: This is an observation that is made generally over examining Jesus’ three year preaching ministry. When Jesus spoke people not only wanted to HEAR Him, they wanted to be NEAR Him. I believe that ought to be an essential goal in teaching, it ought to cause people who are listening to the message to want to be NEARER Jesus. At its basics the Bible is a navigation system and its essential destination is always first to draw a person closer to Jesus than they were before they heard the message.
Made people want to follow Jesus: The second thing of note is that when Jesus taught people followed. Mark records two such examples in Peter and Andrew as well as James and John. Four fellows who were employed catching fish using a method of nets and they were caught in the net of Jesus words as he hauled them in and they had no choice but to follow. Jesus teaches us that we must first come before we can become! You’ve got to follow the Master before you can become fishers of men. These men were called to the same task only in a different Sea! Jesus’ preaching ministry always made people to want to follow Him, some for the wrong reasons; some at a distance but there was something about His words that made people follow.
Made people want to obey Jesus: Finally we see in these 4 men there was a call to action that went beyond a desire to be near Jesus and even following Him to leaving nets or employment and family. If there is ever a failure in the work He has called us it is always easy to find as it will always be that the person called has failed to “FOLLOW JESUS” in yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit. It needs to be mentioned that these three effects don’t always happen all at once. These four are again an example of this as they wanted to be near Him, and they followed Him but they didn’t obey Him until here in these verses a year later.

The work guaranteed by Jesus with what can only be called “inferior material” is accomplish without taking away the personality of the people. Jesus didn’t change who they were; they started out fishermen and they remained fishermen! What changed is what they now valued as worthy of catching! James and John the brothers were mending nets and so they continued mending nets again what changed is what they were mended for. Jesus never molded the worker into a certain mold, what He does is cause the worker to become fully who He has created them to be in the first place and utilizes the talents, gifts experiences and education into a one of a kind master piece!

“Powerful Preaching”

1:21-34

Introduction
Vs. 21-28 Authority and the comfortable
Vs. 29-31 Authority and compassion
Vs. 32-34 Authority and control

Introduction

Mark records that when Jesus began His earthly ministry He did so by identifying with humanity at His baptism. Then He showed His supremacy over all that defeats humanity during His temptation. But here Mark shows that Jesus comes to humanity as the Great Teacher demonstrating the authority of His words over the things that hold and enslave humanity, physically and mentally. Mark gives this is a “day in the life of Jesus” as we read that on:

Saturday morning Jesus was in the Synagogue
In the afternoon He was at Peter’s house
By evening He was in the Streets outside of that home

The general observation of this one day section is what Mark will record as others observations in chapter 7:37 that Jesus, “does all things well.” Though these events fall into the category of miracles they were nonetheless manifestations of the authority of Jesus’ Word. The geographical region that these took place is also significant, as ten miles from Capernaum was Tiberius famous for its mineral hot springs where people believed they had curative properties. People came from all over to this famous spa to bathe hoping to be healed from various ailments and to this very area came the Great Physician to heal those with various diseases with the Living Water of the Word!

Vs. 21-28 Authority and the comfortable

Vs. 21-22 Jesus was on the Sabbath in Capernaum and today if you visit Capernaum you find only ruins, there is the pillars of the synagogue that was built in the 2^nd century over the floor of the original and a Catholic Church that hovers over like a space craft of what they believe was Peter’s house. But at the time this was written Capernaum was the largest and most prosperous of all the cities in the Galilee in which the smallest city had 15,000.

Synagogues come into existence during the Babylonian captivity because the Jews were unable to worship at the temple. They doted the countryside where ever ten Jewish males lived so they could study, worship and pray. They were not staffed by the priesthood but by rulers in the community and whenever a rabbi came into the area he would be invited to speak on the Sabbath.

The word “taught” in the Greek is one that indicates both His purpose and length as soon as He entered this Synagogue He began to teach for an extended time. The word “astonished” could be translated “blown away” as it expresses shock and amazement during the entire time they heard Jesus Speak. What “blew them away” was the authority Jesus spoke with. The word in the Greek is a legal term that describes “delegated authority” a person who is acting or speaking with authority out of someone else’s authority. Jesus made no reference to any other authority, instead His words were insightful, practical and applicable. The contrast was not between what the scribes said and what Jesus said but rather between the EFFECTS produced by what the scribes said and what Jesus said. This authority was visible not in mere emotions of those who heard His teaching but in its command over those things that possess humanity for their ruin. The authority of His words were seen it the command His words had in renewing natural order over the physical and mental. They were true to the experiences and convictions of the people who heard Him speak. What they heard from Jesus was self-authenticated and created an inner conviction as if Jesus was speaking directly into the life secrets of their hearts that no one could have known save God.

Vs. 23-28 Mark offers an illustration of Jesus authority from an unusual source as it comes from someone who had a natural inclination of opposition to it, an unclean spirit. Here was this man who had been Sabbath after Sabbath without so much as a peep, apparently hearing nothing of conviction that demanded his departure. Yet it is clear Jesus’ teaching tortured the demon with truth, as he broke out in an angry interruption. To which Jesus responds with a rebuke to be silent and a command to come out. Reading this account causes me to wonder about churches today and the messages that are taught. Does the popularity of some teachers include those possessed with unclean spirits as they hear nothing convicting that demands their silence or exodus? Perhaps the church should redefine success in not how many attend but rather in who is no longer comfortable to attend? It is clear that this demon recognized not only the authority of Jesus but three other things:

That they are on the opposite side of truth
Their ultimate end, destruction
Jesus’ true identity, God

Mark indicates that though the people were familiar with truth they had moved so far from it as to be astonished and amazed when confronted by it. Oh where is preaching that demons fear, truth that demands that they depart? Yes it is true that the church wouldn’t be as large or as popular but it would be holy and powerful!

Vs. 29-31 Authority and compassion

Vs. 29-31 The second example Mark offers of the authority of Jesus’ words happened soon after the first at Peter’s house. Here the example of authority is an illustration of what moved His authority, compassion and how quickly what disabled a person from being whole took flight at His words as we are informed that, “immediately the fever left her and she served them”. The English makes it sound as if they told Jesus to heal her but the Greek tells us that it was Jesus idea to do so, it was His initiative and compassion that moved Him to touch her. The Talmud called this ‘a burning fever’ and it was, very common in this part of Galilee. The Talmud actually lays down the methods of dealing with it. “A knife made wholly of iron was tied by a braid of hair to a thorn bush. On successive days there was repeated, first, Exodus 3:2, 3; then Exodus 3:4; and finally Exodus 3:5. A certain magical formula was pronounced, and thus the cure was supposed to be achieved.” Jesus completely disregarded all this superstition with a touch of His hand and His word she was healed.

Her fever would have left her in a day or so, but Jesus respond to her condition even though it was nothing more than mere inconvenience. The authority of Jesus is not reserved for only the big cases, the ones that have come up to such a level as to have no other hope. No, His compassion ministers His words and touch at the small insignificant cases that are only an annoyance. How often have we suffered during our “insignificant conditions” needlessly when our Lord at His word and touch would have had compassion and made us whole? Saints, we have not because we ask not! I would hope this little three verse revelation would cause people to immediately right after this service to come forward to receive a touch from Jesus at His word!

Vs. 32-34 Authority and control

Vs. 32-34 Jesus ministering after sundown at the end of the Sabbath day freed people from the Sabbath restrictions on travel and activity so they came to Him to be healed. And Mark tells us that the whole city gathered at their door bringing with them all who were sick and demon-possessed. Now that’s what I want at my door at sunset don’t you? Mark’s point on the authority of Jesus’ words is upon the VOLUME and CONTROL of His authority. There are several observations about these three verses:

His authority could not be exhausted: Neither by volume nor by variety as we see both illustrated in these three verses.
His authority was selective and controlled: Mark tells us not that ALL who were sick with various diseases and ALL who were demon-possessed were healed but rather that MANY were. Why some and not others? Only that such deliverance wasn’t in the persons or the Kingdoms best interest at that time.
His authority didn’t need promotion: What Mark does say was that all demons were silenced from speaking because they knew His authority. The quarantine was laid upon their advertisement of Jesus’ power and authority which He obviously didn’t want their PR. When you read the multiple other accounts of Jesus’ healings He seems to always be squelching people wanting to promote Him by telling them too not tell anyone. Jesus didn’t want the crowds or the notoriety that the authority of His words generated. The crowds didn’t help His ministry they hindered it. Absent in Jesus’ healing ministry is ALL advertisement as you see no campaigns to bring in huge crowds, there is no record of the use of personal testimonials to increase attendance. Not one single thread of similarity between what we see today and what Jesus did, brings me to the conclusion that what we see today is unbiblical and unnecessary. If God has called you and gifted you to heal than go heal, the streets are full of sick and needy people, so are our hospitals. Do so in such a way that no one knows you or will find out about you so that God will get all the glory and not you. I believe Jesus still heals but let’s put it into perspective any and all physical healing as blessed as they are, are still temporary. Oh you many never suffer from what ails you again in this life but chances are you will suffer from something again. But there is a healing that Jesus longs for every person to encounter and that is the healing of your spirit from dead to alive. The healing of your spirit is a permanent healing that will affect all the ugliness that comes out of us.

“Disobedient Praise”

1:35-45

Introduction
Vs. 35-39 Intimate exposure
Vs. 40-45 Lessons from the leper

Introduction

After a full day of ministry Mark records two more things about the teaching ministry of Jesus the Son of God, having written of Jesus authority.

Vs. 35-39 The source of its authority, communion with the Father
Vs. 40-45 Its chief opposition, success
Vs. 35-39 Intimate exposure

Vs. 35 Someone well said that, “Prayer is time exposure to God, the more we spend with Him the more we bear His image!” Spurgeon was found of admonishing his students, “Look no man in the face till thou hast seen the face of God. Speak thou with none till thou hast had speech with the Most High”. The one thing that refueled Jesus was talking with the Father. Some might be tempted to call prayer the secret of Jesus earthly ministry but if so it is a secret hidden in plain sight, it is only a secret to us because we do so little of it. I believe that Mark’s point in including this is to show that Jesus’ authority came from His intimate relationship with the Father. The apostle John would elaborate on this much more in his gospel writing about that abiding relationship with the Father in John 14:10. Jesus would say to Phillip who had asked “Show us the Father”, to which Jesus responded, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in my does the works.”

Vs. 36-37 The word “searched” in the Greek is a word that means “tracked him down”. Peter’s assumption was that Jesus was missing precious opportunities and needed to be brought back at once. Instead of helping facilitate the time that Jesus would take to be near the Father he and the others became part of the problem. If you want the biblical approach to a hectic life we only need to reverse the order of these verses: “Everyone is looking for you”…… “a long while before daylight go out to a solitary place and pray.” I’m sure that many of you can relate to those five words, “Everyone is looking for you”! It is what almost drove Moses to ruin until his father-in-law suggested that many hands make light work. As true as that statement is Jesus found someone better than “many hands”, the hand of the Father!

Vs. 38-39 There are two opinions as too the meaning of Jesus statement “for this purpose I have come forth”:

That Jesus was speaking geographical and local as if He meant that He came forth from Capernaum. The problem is that He hadn’t been at Capernaum as he was on the hill side giving a rather long teaching session we call His Sermon on the Mount.
The 2^nd interpretation (and I believe the correct one) is that Jesus is speaking essential and eternal and was speaking of His essential fellowship with the Father as He was dependent upon the Father and the Father had spoken and filled His Son for the work that lay ahead.

There will always be someone or something demanding that we drop everything at once but when we come into prayer the Lord directs us to the next towns. Jesus ministry could have only been in one city but through prayer it compassed all of Galilee which meant more people who were held captive were liberated as Jesus went to them instead of them having to come to Him.

Vs. 40-45 Lessons from the leper

Vs. 40 Luke the physician / historian’s account is that the Leper was “full or covered with leprosy”. The disease had run its course. Josephus wrote that lepers were treated as “dead men”. A professor of ancient biblical diseases commented that “No other disease reduced a human for so many years to so hideous a wreck. No other disease was regarded with more terror and pity than leprosy.” Today there are more than 15 million people across the world with leprosy mostly in 3^rd world nations. Matthew also records the healing of the leper but gives the timing of the event as being right after Jesus delivered His long sermon that we call the “Sermon on the Mount”, which makes this the first healing of the day prior to Jesus teaching in the synagogue. There are four things that make this incident to the Roman reader a clear distinction of the superiority of Jesus over earthly Caesars:

Vs. 40 Appeal to Jesus’ will: What is unique in the healings of Jesus is that this is the only recorded healing where the persons request was appealed to Jesus willingness to do so. It seems as though the leper had come to the conclusion of divine purpose as it related to his circumstance. There are two words in the Greek that describe a person’s “willingness”, the 1^st speaks of a desire that comes from a person’s emotions the 2^nd from a person’s reason and the leper used the 1^st word as he appealed not to Jesus’ reason by tugged upon His heart. It is apparent that the leper has no doubt of Jesus’ Power to heal him as he had heard of this ability, what he doubts is his willingness to do so and both the power and the will are necessary. What the leper meant was, “If my healing is not out of line with the purpose of God, then you can make me clean.” A great amount of believers inflected with illness far less than this would not care if it was out of line with the purpose or plan of God, just heal me.
Vs. 41-42 Response motivated from compassion: The 2^nd thing that would capture the Roman reader is that the Son of God was moved with compassion and only Mark adds that Jesus then stretched out His hand and touched him saying, “I am willing, be cleansed”. Very few of us have any familiarity with a person overcome with leprosy but it is a very disfiguring disease. A person’s physical appearance is changed till they no longer resemble themselves. The worse part of the illness is that the patient suffers alone, away from family and friends alienated from society and human contact. There is a rule in Greek grammar that says that: The action of the present tense goes on simultaneously with the action of the leading word, which in this case would be Jesus saying “I am willing, be cleansed” indicating that they happen at the same time He was touching the leper. But here the construction of this sentence points out that Jesus didn’t touch the leper in order to cleanse him, but rather to show him and everyone around that he was cleansed at Jesus spoken word “I am willing; be cleansed”. Levitical law forbid a Jew to touch a leper and Jesus obeyed it and at His word the leper was cleansed and the touch was an act of kindness and revelation of what Jesus had done with the authority of His word. There are 8 such recorded touches in Mark’s gospel alone.
Vs. 43-44 Complete knowledge: The purpose of the healing was that the leper was to be a testimony or witness to the priests. The entire 14th chapter of Leviticus, all 32 verses, are dedicated to probably the least read and used section in the Torah. An elaborate ceremony involving 8 days of examination, 2 turtle doves, 2 male lambs, oil and flour the twice shaving off of all hair, the washing of clothes and the body all while the healed person stays in a tent outside of the camp of people. Had this man done so the priests would have been astonished and would have had to research what to do? “A man healed of leprosy? Why we haven’t had a case of this since… Elisha healed Naaman! And he wasn’t a Jew but a Syrian and commander of their army.” The priests would have known two things about leprosy and its healing:
That it was a symbol of sin as God had used it as judgment.
Prophesies with regard to the healing of a leper being linked to the coming of the Messiah.

Jesus spoke of this when he answered John the Baptists concern with regards to him being the Messiah when Jesus answered in Matthew 11:5 “Tell John the things you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” Yet, as Mark points out this was with the full knowledge of Jesus that this leper’s disobedience would lead to a change in Jesus ministry forcing Him outside of the cities. This fact is made clearer when we place it next to the Apostle John’s statement in 2:23-25 “Jesus did not commit Himself to those at the feast of Passover because He knew all men.” Jesus was not ignorant nor naive of humanity! This causes us to realize that such complete knowledge didn’t over ride Jesus’ compassion as one would naturally think. The only conclusion I can make is that the healing of the man with leprosy was of greater importance than the stated purpose to testify to the religious leaders as to His identity.

Vs. 45 Something better than praise: All of the ministry opportunity lost because of this man’s “disobedient praise”. I could easily come to his defense by excusing his disobedient praise by saying, “This fellow was encased in a loathsome foul disease for a long period of time and we are going to quibble about a little thing like timing of praising the One who healed him?” Obedience is not only better than sacrifice it is better than praise! The greatest form of praise this healed leper could have given Christ was not to run around blabbing what God had done for him after he was told not to do so but rather to have done exactly what the Lord who touched Him told him immediately after his leprosy had left him. His lack of obedient praise had exactly the opposite results as it hindered others from receiving what he had, healing. Unwittingly and unintentionally the healed leper’s praise violated the word whose power had liberated him. Oh what a valuable lesson this is for us as I want no part of disobedient praise.