October 13 - Mark 1:1-15

I have a LOT of scripture rolling around right now.  Yikes!  Tonight I began working through Mark 1:1-15.  This is a VERY rough draft of what has been happening as I have thought through it.  I've posted it to one of my forums, we will work as a team (of about 5 people) and then submit a final piece on Friday.  Whee!!  So ... open your Bible, read the passage - and you can see how I've begun to dig into it.

The author of this Gospel begins with an introductory statement announcing the purpose.  He is presenting the good news of Jesus.  In one sentence, the author tells us who this man is.  His name is Jesus, he is the Messiah (Christ) and he is God’s Son.  We are left with very little doubt about who the focal point of this book will be.

The Old Testament prophecy, while attributed solely to Isaiah actually comes from both Malachi and Isaiah (verses 2-3).  His use of the actual Isaiah passage leads us directly into verse 4 with John appearing in the wilderness.  This seems to affirm that John was the fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy.

Why the author combines the two prophetic passages and applies Isaiah’s name to them raises several questions: Was it simply for expediency – was the author attempting to condense the message?  Was it because Isaiah’s name carried more weight as a prophet? Was the author simply unaware?

People from all over came to hear John’s message and to receive his baptism.  Who were the people confessing their sins to in verse 5?  Did it occur as they were in the process of being baptized?  But, obviously they had to confess their sins to be baptized by John.

John’s clothing and manner of eating were uncommon enough to be pointed out in the text, but the people must have recognized that he was special and had something to offer them.  We aren’t told how long John ministered to the people before the arrival of Jesus, but it was a long enough period of time for a great many people to hear about him and to travel to hear his message.  John could have easily been a celebrity.  The author may have been exaggerating by stating that all of the people from Jerusalem (vs. 5) came out to him, but a great many did so and even more from the entire countryside.

John refused to be a celebrity.  He stopped all of that by fulfilling the prophetic words, claiming his role as the messenger, pointing to the one who was greater than he was and who would baptize with the Holy Spirit (verse 8).

When John first appears on the scene in verse 4, it says that he proclaimed – preached a baptism of repentance.  Then, in verse 5, we find that he begins performing the action of baptism with water in the Jordan River.  In verse 8, he makes a clear distinction between the water baptism that he offers and the baptism by the Holy Spirit that the one who comes after him will offer.

We finally encounter Jesus in verse 9.  He has come from Nazareth to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.  It is as if he also reinforces the prophetic words regarding John as the one who prepares the way by doing this.  John baptizes him with water and then in verse 10, the Holy Spirit descends on him, which refers us back to verse 8 when John draws the two types of baptism together.  They have come together in Jesus Christ. 

In verse 11, the voice from heaven is assumed to be God claims Jesus as his Son, bringing the three members of the Trinity together in the opening verses of this Gospel and circling back to the first verse where the author presents Jesus as God’s Son.

The Spirit wasted no time sending Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.  Maybe it is like pulling a bandaid off – do it as quickly as possible so that we can move forward.

The author assumes that the readers know why John is arrested since there is no immediate explanation for the action.  This would, however, give first century readers a time frame for the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  There would have likely been records kept of the arrest and a time frame could have been established if necessary. 

This passage offers us several instances of repetitive information.

The wilderness is mentioned several times.  It is the place where John begins his preaching (vs. 4), where Jesus is sent to face down Satan and where he was cared for by the wild beasts and the angels (vs. 12-13).  Jesus comes out of the wilderness, returns to Galilee and begins his ministry.

Baptism is proclaimed (vs. 4), performed (vs. 5) and then a distinction is made between water baptism and that of the Holy Spirit (vs. 8).  We see it all come together when Jesus is baptized by John and then the Spirit (vs. 9-10).

Repentance is preached by John (vs. 4) and after his arrest, Jesus continues the call for repentance, but fills out the message with his announcement that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near.

The good news is the message at the beginning and the end of the passage.  We are introduced to the good news of Jesus Christ and at the end of this passage, Jesus proclaims the good news of God, calling all to believe.