the gospel according to mark it's one of
the first accounts of the life of jesus
and our earliest historical traditions
link this book to a christian scribe
named mark or john mark he was a
co-worker with paul and a close partner
with peter and in fact an ancient church
historian named poppius he recalls that
mark had collected all of the eyewitness
accounts and memories of peter and then
shaped them into this account but mark
didn't just randomly throw the pieces
together he's carefully designed this
story of jesus in the first line of the
book mark makes this claim about jesus
it's the beginning of the good news
about jesus the messiah the son of god
now what's interesting is that this is
the only time mark is going to tell you
what he thinks for the rest of the book
he's going to influence you by simply
putting jesus's actions and words in
front of you and showing you how other
people react to him now marx designed
the story of jesus as a drama with three
acts the first one set in galilee the
third one is set in jerusalem and the
second act shows jesus on the way from
one place to the other and each of the
acts focuses on repeated theme so in act
one everybody is blown away by jesus and
they're wondering who is this jesus in
act 2 it's the disciples who are
struggling to understand what it means
for jesus to be the messiah and then in
act 3 we watch the surprising paradox of
how jesus becomes the messianic king
let's just dive in and you'll see how it
unfolds
after the opening line mark begins with
a quotation from the ancient prophets
isaiah and malachi who said that god
would send a messenger to israel to
prepare them for when god would show up
himself to rescue his people and become
their king and mark introduces john the
baptist as that messenger and then right
when you expect god to show up
personally mark introduces jesus and as
he comes onto the scene the heavens open
god's spirit descends on jesus and god
says you are my beloved son
after this mark places in front of us a
summary of jesus core message he went
about galilee announcing the good news
that god's kingdom has come near
jesus is carrying forward the story from
the old testament scriptures about god's
rescue operation for his world through
jesus god is restoring his reign over
the world by confronting and defeating
evil and its hold on people's lives and
then by inviting them to live under his
reign by following jesus from here
mark's given us a big block of stories
showing us jesus power as he brings
god's kingdom he goes about healing
people whose bodies are sick or broken
or under the oppression of dark
spiritual powers and jesus even does
something that for jewish people only
god has the right to do he forgives
people's sins and jesus actions here
produce lots of different responses so
some people follow him and become his
disciples other people don't know what
to think and still others reject him
completely especially israel's leaders
who accuse him of blaspheming god and
being empowered by evil but jesus isn't
surprised by these responses in fact he
draws attention to it in chapter four
mark has collected many of jesus's
parables about the hidden mysterious
nature of god's kingdom and jesus says
that his message is like seed falling on
different types of soil some are
receptive some are not or it's like a
mustard seed that's very tiny it seems
insignificant but then it grows huge and
surprises everyone jesus's point is that
he really is the messiah bringing god's
kingdom but it doesn't look like what
anybody expected and this growing
confusion about jesus among the crowds
is connected to a key idea mark
emphasizes at the end of act 1 that even
among jesus's disciples there's
confusion even they are struggling to
grasp who jesus really is and that
brings us to act two it begins with a
crucial conversation jesus takes the
disciples aside and he asks who do you
all say that i am and peter speaks up
saying you're the messiah but it becomes
clear that for peter this means that
jesus is a victorious military king from
the line of david who will rescue israel
from the romans but for jesus to be the
messiah means that he's the suffering
servant king of isaiah 53 who will bring
god's rule by giving up his life in
jerusalem and the disciples they don't
get it they think following king jesus
is going to mean fame and status and
importance and jesus makes it clear that
following him is actually like dying
like carrying your own cross it means
rejecting violence and pride and
selfishness and giving one's life out
for others in acts of service and love
he has the same conversation with them
two more times and it all culminates in
jesus important statement that the son
of man did not come to be served but to
become a servant and give his life as a
ransom for many
the disciples still don't get it they
respond in confusion and fear and so
here in act two mark has placed another
key story that echoes the book's
introduction jesus takes three of his
disciples up to a mountain and he's
suddenly transformed he's radiating with
light and glory and the cloud envelops
them now this is just like the glory of
the god of israel that showed up long
ago on mount sinai and then the two
prophets who stood in god's presence on
mount sinai moses and elijah they
appeared next to jesus as god announces
again this is my beloved son
now by placing this story in the middle
of all these conversations in act 2 mark
is making an astounding claim
that jesus god's son is the physical
embodiment of god's own glory and in
jesus the glorious god of israel is
going to become king by suffering and
dying for the sins of his own people
it's a puzzling claim that confuses and
scares the disciples as they leave the
mountain which brings us to act three
jesus makes a very public royal entry
into jerusalem for passover people are
hailing him as the messiah then he
enters into the temple courtyard and he
asserts his royal authority by running
out the thieves and crooks and stopping
the sacrificial system
then this kicks off a whole week of
jesus debating and confronting the
leaders of israel condemning their
hypocrisy and so they set in motion a
plan to have him killed and jesus warns
his disciples predicting that jerusalem
and its temple will be destroyed within
a generation and his disciples will be
persecuted just like him until he
returns one day to bring god's kingdom
fully over the world and it all leads up
to the final night jesus has his last
passover meal with the disciples a
symbolic meal that told the story of
israel's liberation from slavery through
the death of the passover lamb and jesus
takes these symbols and he gives them
new meaning they point to the liberation
from sin and death that will happen
through the death of the suffering
servant messiah from here the story
rushes forward to jesus arrest his trial
before israel's priests and the roman
governor pilate all resulting in jesus's
crucifixion and it culminates in a key
scene that matches the important scenes
from acts 1 and 2. except this time it's
darkness that descends not a cloud and
instead of the divine voice from heaven
it's jesus's voice crying out before he
dies
and then most surprising is that it's a
roman soldier who sees jesus die who
grasps and then announces who jesus is
this man was the son of god he's the
first person in the story to recognize
the story's shocking claim about jesus
identity that it's the crucified son of
god who's the messiah jesus of nazareth
who died for his friends and for his
enemies
after this jesus body is placed in a
tomb and on the first day of the new
week two women from his disciples come
to the tomb and they discover that the
tomb is empty the stones rolled away and
then angelic man informs them that jesus
isn't here that he's risen from the dead
and so he orders them to go and tell
this good news to the other disciples
that jesus is alive that he'll meet them
back up in galilee and the women they're
freaked out mark says that they fled
from the tomb in terror telling no one
for they were afraid
and that's how the book ends with jesus
disciples showing the same kind of fear
and confusion that concluded acts 2 and
1. now if you look in your bible you'll
see that the gospel of mark has more to
its ending where jesus appears he speaks
to his disciples but there's also a note
there telling you that that ending is
not part of the original book that it's
only found in later less reliable
manuscripts now it's possible that the
original ending got lost or that mark
actually never finished writing his
account but it's more likely that this
abrupt ending is intentional to make a
point the entire story has focused on
the shocking claim that puzzled jesus
disciples from beginning to end that is
the suffering crucified and risen jesus
who's the messiah the son of god that
god's love and upside down kingdom were
revealed as jesus died for the sins of
the world and so this story ends without
closure and it forces you the reader to
grapple with this very strange and
scandalous claim about jesus and are you
going to run away like the disciples or
are you going to recognize jesus as your
king and go and tell the good news and
only you can answer that question and
that's what the gospel of mark is all
about