Mark 1-3:6
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INTRO:
Author: Mark
Shows up in Acts as John Mark (Acts 12:12, 25)
Cousin of Barnabas (Col 4:10)
Deserted Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:13)
It was the tension over whether or not to take Mark on the second missionary journey that led to the separation between Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:38-40)
Later proves his worth, even to Paul (2 Tim 4:11)
Referred to by Peter as “my son” (1 Peter 5:13)
Mark’s Authorship
Universally affirmed by the early church Fathers
Believed to have recorded things through Peter’s perspective
Papias, bishop of Hieropolis, ca. 140 AD: “The [apostle John] said this: Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied him. But afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities [of his hearers], but with no intention of giving a regular narrative of the Lord’s sayings. Wherefore Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he took special care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictitious into the statements.”
Justin Martyr ca. 150 AD: “the memoirs of Peter”
Irenaeus ca. 185 AD: “the disciple and interpreter of Peter”
Generally believed to have written between 50-70 AD
Mark’s Audience
Roman/Gentile believers
Translated Aramaic phrases (Mark 3:17, 5:41, 7:11, 34)
Sometimes used Latin phrases (Mark 5:9)
Used the Roman system for time (Mark 6:48 - “fourth watch”)
Takes time to explain Jewish traditions and customs (Mark 14:11 - “when they sacrificed the Passover lamb”)
Fewer OT references
No genealogies
Possibly the late 50’s to mid 60’s when Christians in Rome would have been suffering under Nero’s reign
Christians in Rome would have been severely persecuted
Dressed in animal skins and fed to lions in the Coliseum
Dipped in tar and crucified and lit on fire to provide light to Nero’s evening parties
Regardless of this or some other event prompting the persecution of Roman believers, Mark was writing this gospel to encourage and exhort these Christians to follow Jesus
Mark’s Theme
Jesus as the Suffering Servant of Yahweh (Mark 10:45 - “came not to be served but to serve”)
Mark’s encouragement to the suffering Roman Christians came in the form of showing them their suffering Christ
1/3 of Mark’s gospel is focused on the death of Jesus
EBC: “On this understanding, the implication for the church is clear: faithfulness and obedience as a follower of Jesus Christ will inevitably lead to suffering and perhaps even death.”
BODY:p
Mark 1:1
The Anti-John introduction
No birth account
Focus was on Jesus as the servant of God
No “need” for a birth account to accomplish his purpose
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ
Mark knew what he was doing
This is not one gospel among many, but it is the gospel of Jesus Christ
Mark 1:2-8 = John the Baptist’s introduction
Mark 1:9-12 = Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation
Mark 1:14-15 = Jesus Begins His Ministry
Mark 1:16-20 = Jesus Calls His Disciples
John’s account is helpful here because this wasn’t their first encounter with Jesus (John 1:29-51)
Instead this was Jesus’ formal invitation for them to become his disciples
Mark 1:21-28 = Jesus Teaches, Expels, and Amazes
Capernaum
Teaching in a way that astonishes (Mk 1:22)
with authority
not like the scribes
Rebukes and expels the unclean spirit (Mk 1:23-26)
Word spreads quickly from those who were there and his fame grows (Mk 1:27-28)
Mark 1:29-34 = Jesus Heals The Masses
- Simon’s Mother-in-law (Mk 1:29-31)
- All who were sick or under demonic influence (Mk 1:32)
- All of Capernaum was gathered there to benefit from Jesus (Mk 1:33-34)
P1: Put Yourself in Peter’s Shoes (Mark 1:1-34)
Imagine this! Jesus bursts onto the scene healing people and teaching with an authority like no one else had done previously.
We get so familiar with all of the stories about Jesus, but this would have been amazing to witness!
One of the benefits in studying the gospels is that we can shock ourselves out of a lulled familiarity if we’re intentional about it. Think about what it would have been like to be there!
What are some historical moments you would have liked to be present for?
I know people here often talk about meeting under the sycamore tree or meeting at the Jewish temple
There’s a sense in which you wish you were there, at least I do
Do you feel that when you read about Jesus staying up late into the night with his disciples healing people and casting out demons?
I picture them being there on the doorstep of Peter’s mother-in-law’s house just seeing one person after the other
It would have been crazy!
Part of worship is awe, and we should definitely feel a sense of awe when we read these early days of Jesus’ ministry.
END P1
Mark 1:35 = Jesus Gets up and Prays
Mark 1:36-39 = Jesus Reveals His Purpose
- To preach (Mk 1:38)
P2: Be Sure You’ve Come to Jesus for the Right Reason (vv. 35-39)
Illustrate: My family and I lived in MO for a few years after seminary, and one thing about MO is that it snows…a lot. Our first big snow hit and I realized that I didn’t have a shovel to clear the driveway. So, I thought I’d just jump in the car and drive to the Walmart around the corner to pick one up. I ended up digging my car out of my driveway with a hockey stick. That’s not what it was meant for. That’s not its purpose.
Jesus gets up early to go and be with the Father
The disciples are freaking out because they’ve lost Jesus
When they find him they’re eager to bring him back to the crowds who are still gathering and waiting for him to heal them
Jesus brushes that off and tells the disciples to pack up because they were heading out because he had a different purpose.
“Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out."
People were coming to Jesus in droves, but they weren’t coming for the right reasons.
John helps us understand this response from Jesus over in John 2
John 2:23–25 (ESV) — 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Jesus didn’t come for the primary reason of dealing with our physical maladies but our spiritual malady. He didn’t come with a message of hope in being made well on earth but living eternally after this earth. He didn’t come to entertain but to redeem.
And at this stage of his ministry, that meant he was going to be preaching the same message that John had preached: “Repent and believe for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That’s the only thing that would save.
Why did you come to Jesus? Why are you here tonight? What is it about Jesus that is appealing to you?
Is it like the crowds in Mark, are you looking for what he can do for your life here and now?
Did you come to Jesus because you hoped it would make things better at home?
Did you come to Jesus because you expected your life to start going better if you put some God-equity into it?
Did you come to Jesus because of some santized westernized view of Karma?
Jesus wants you to come to him in response to the message that he’s preaching: Repent and believe.
Illustrate: When I first came to Jesus it was to make other people happy. It was to make other people impressed with me. It was so that my parents would say they were proud of me. But it wasn’t in line with why Jesus came and why God wanted me to come.
END P2
Mark 1:40-45 = Jesus Heals a Leper
Jesus feels pity for this man (Mk 1:41)
Jesus touches the man (Mk 1:41)
Mark 2:1-12 = Jesus Heals a Paralytic
Back in Capernaum (Mk 2:1)
Jesus is famous and many are there waiting for him (Mk 2:2)
Friends bring the man because of Jesus’ fame (Mk 2:3)
Jesus establishes his identity as God by forgiving the man’s sins and validating it through healing his malady (Mk 2:5-12)
The people are once again amazed at Jesus (Mk 2:12)
Mark 2:13-17 = Jesus Recruits Matthew
Calls him from his tax booth outside they synagogue (Mk 2:13-14)
Jesus goes to Matthew’s house and eats with tax collectors and sinners (Mk 2:15)
Jesus confronts the Pharisees’ outgrage by telling them he had come for sinners (PURPOSE) and not the righteous! (Mk 2:16-17)
Mark 2:18-22 = Jesus is Doing Something New
Jesus is asked why his disciples don’t fast like the disciples of John and the Pharisees (Mk 2:18)
Jesus replies that they can’t because he was still there, it was a time of joy
The old system that anticipated his fulfillment was passing away
Jesus was now there, and his new message of repentance and faith wasn’t meant for the old system of self-righteous works
Mark 2:23-28 = Jesus was There to Change Things
Jesus’ disciples eat grain on the Sabbath drawing the Pharisees’ ire (Mk 2:23-24)
Jesus reminds them of how David and his men did the same (Mk 2:25-26)
Jesus teaches that the Sabbath was for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mk 2:27)
Ultimately Jesus establishes his authority as Lord
Mark 3:1-6 Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
Again, Jesus confronts and reorients the religious elite’s misplaced emphasis on the act of obedience rather than the heart of obedience
P3: Rejoice in the Newness of Life in Christ (vv. 1:40-3:6)
Illustrate: Imagine working at Starbucks and being told to man the cash register no matter what. Your job is to be on that register, even if no one is in the store, so that if someone comes in, they’ll be helped promptly. But while you’re standing there at the register, under strict instructions not to leave that spot, you see an old lady trip and fall right outside the store, and you notice there’s no one there to help her up. She looks to be shaken up and possibly hurt, and you feel like maybe you should go help her, but your boss told you not to leave the register. What do you do?
The Pharisees weren’t going to leave the register. In other words, they had made obedience to the law an end in and of itself rather than a means to the end of devotion and worship of God.
Jesus was there to begin to transform the people’s understanding of the law and righteousness and God’s expectations of them.
The moralistic legalism of the Jewish leaders had put burdens on the people that they were never meant by God to bear, and Jesus was going to turn that around.
Matthew 11:28–30 (ESV) — 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus was not anti-law at all, but the law had a purpose, and that purpose was that it would be a means through which the people would express their devotion to the Father. Obedience to the law was not the entry-point into a relationship with the Father, but it was the hallway that you walked between that entryway provided by grace and the exit into eternity in the presence of the Father.
CONCLUSION:
Jesus burst on the scene early in his ministry confronting the status quo and calling people to realize what true devotion to the Father should look like. People had been subject to following the lead of these religious leaders for so long, and now Jesus was there calling people to himself, and calling people to follow his lead instead.
That’s what this study of Mark is really going to hit home on. Mark wants to show us Jesus, the suffering servant of Yahweh, and to help us understand through this biographical sketch of our Savior, what it means to be one of his disciples.
Application Questions:
Read Mark 10:45 and 1 Peter 2:21-25. We rightly focus most often on the atoning element of Jesus’ death, but Peter explains another purpose in this passage. What was that, and how does that comfort you as you suffer now or may suffer in the future?
If you’ve read the gospels multiple times the content can lose its impact. What are some practical ways you can keep things fresh as you study the gospels in your DBR or as we study Mark in The Bridge?
Read Mark 1:35. Given the context of what preceded this verse, what stands out to you about Jesus’ actions here? What should we learn from this? What does this suggest for our own devotional lives? What are we communicating if we aren’t making time to spend time with God in our daily lives?
Read Matthew 11:28-30. What is Jesus saying about himself in this passage? How did this contrast with what the Pharisees taught? How does this resonate with you personally?