“Mark”

 

BIBLE READING : Mark 1-3


     When reading Mark, one notices that Jesus is presented as a man of action, a conqueror of demons, disease, and death. Jesus is shown as a man of action, but his servanthood also shows he is a person of strength and power. (Richards, P. 494) (see Mark 2:18, 7:3-4, 12:18 and 42) It seems as though Mark is writing to the Roman mind. He writes Jewish terms in their Roman equivalents (Mark 2:18 -about fasting and Mark 7:34- about the washing of hands) Jesus seems to take care to explain these common Jewish practices for the reader.

     The church in the first century (Papias, around 140 A.D.) said Mark wrote “with great accuracy”, although he did not write in the order in which Jesus said or did them.

     We learn about Mark in other places in the New Testament: He is also called John Mark. As you study through the New Testament, check off the facts about Mark as you learn them.

o   After Peter was released from prison by an angel, he stayed in the home of Mark’s mother. (Acts 12:12-17)

o   Mark traveled with Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey. (Acts 13.5)

o   Mark abandoned the group at Pamphylia. Later, Paul refused to let him go on the next trip. Barnabas took Mark to go with him and Paul chose Silas. In this way, God had two good missionary pairs. While there was a disagreement, God used it to make a good thing! (Acts 15: 36-41) Barnabas’s name means “son of consolation” and he was instrumental in working for God in this problem.

o   Later, Paul and Mark got back together to work. And Mark was chosen to do the great work of the book that was named after him.

 

      All through Mark’s gospel, he uses the word “immediately”. He wants us to see the story of Jesus as a coherent whole. A servant who “gave his life a ransom for many”. Early on, he (Jesus) is presented as the Son of God.

     As we read through the book of Mark, we see Jesus as a man of authority in both acts and teaching. In chapters 2 and 3, Jesus’s disciples eat as they walk on a sabbath day. Jesus tells the criticizing Pharisees that he is “Lord of the Sabbath”. When they try to trick Jesus because he healed a crippled man, Jesus proclaims that “to do good” is always lawful. (3:1-6)

     Jesus’s family worries about his pace of work, fearing that he has gone out of his mind. His enemies decide he has been “possessed by a demon”. Jesus proclaims he is working by God’s Spirit. What a Savior! Criticism and threats don’t stop him. While healing a paralytic, he forgives his sins. This power is proven by his healing with compassion to forgive sins.

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