Mark 1:1-20: Spoiling the Ending at the Beginning
(1) Bible Study Questions
Discuss: Are you the sort of person who reads the last few pages of a mystery novel first? Or do you watch the same videos over and over again? Why do you do it, or why can’t you stand it?
1. Why do you think Mark tells us who Jesus is at the very beginning of his account?
2. Who is Jesus according to Mark (v. 1, for background, see Pss 2, 110; 2 Sam 7)
3. Mark explains that Jesus’ coming fulfils a prophecy found in Isaiah. What hints does Mark’s use of the Old Testament give us about Jesus’ identity?
Note: Mark quotes from Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1-2. In the New Testament there is a convention of citing two prophets under the name of one, usually the greater. See also Matthew 27:9-10 with its use of Jeremiah 32:6-9 and Zechariah 11:12-13.
4. Compare Mark 1:2-3 with the Old Testament passages he quotes below.
A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; makes straight in the wilderness a highway for our God." (Isa 40:3)
See I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant whom you desire will come’, says the LORD Almighty (Mal 3:1-2)
4. What was John the Baptist’s job? (vv. 4-5, 7)
5. Why do you think John the Baptist had such an unusual dress sense? (2 Kgs 1:8; Zech 13:4)
6. Who does John the Baptist think that Jesus is? (vv. 7-8)
7. Who does God think that Jesus is? (v. 11)
8. Why do you think Jesus was baptized, given the purpose of baptism? (vv. 9-11, 4, cf. Matt 3:13-17)
9. What is the significance of Jesus being tempted by Satan for 40 days? (cf. Deut 8:1-5)
10. What are the two responses Jesus expected of his hearers, given the good news that the kingdom of God is near?
11. How has the kingdom of God drawn near?
12. What is amazing about the account of Jesus’ calling the two sets of brothers ? (vv. 16-20)
13. It is likely or possible that Jesus had previously known the four fisherman?
14. What did it cost the four brothers to follow Jesus?
Discuss: While we don’t necessarily need to leave our family and business to follow Jesus, what costs do you think you will face in following Jesus?
(2) Sermon Script
Introduction
Are you the sort of person who reads the last few pages of a mystery novel first? Or do you watch the same videos over and over again? Some people do that with ‘The Sound of Music’, for example. I do it with many of my favourite movies. I have a friend who read Jane Austen novel’s each year—but she already knows the ending. Perhaps you enjoy watching or reading Agatha Christie, even though you know the ending?
I really don’t like surprises. So I prefer to play movies I’ve already seen, where I know the ending. They are like old friends. You know them well, but there are some new little tit-bits that you pick up along the way.
It means I don’t really like murder mysteries—that is, murder mysteries where I don’t know the answer to ‘who did it?’ I quite like watching a Poirot or a Miss Marple when I do know who did it. I don’t mind rereading a novel, or re-watching a movie. That's good.
And I think Mark the writer of our Gospel would have been like me. I don’t think Mark would have been a good mystery writer. I don’t think he really cared very much for unanswered questions, for loose ends, for surprise heroes to emerge unexpectedly along the way. For Mark tells exactly who the subject of his Gospel is in his very first verse.
The Answer Is In The Title (v. 1)
The first verse of Mark's Gospel is actually the title for his whole book, the Gospel of Mark. Verse 1:
1:1The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God.
Mark has written for us a ‘Gospel’. A ‘Gospel’ is a message of victory and good news. It is announced by the appointed and designated messengers sent to proclaim it. In the Old Testament, 600 years earlier, Isaiah had promised that a time was coming when such a message of good news would be proclaimed (Isa 52:7-12). We will see that Jesus is both a herald, but also the content, of this Gospel (cf. v. 15). Here in verse 1, Mark tells us exactly who Jesus is, and why he deserves this Gospel being written about him.
We are going to see in Mark’s first 8 chapters that people will keep asking, ‘Who is this man?’ Who is Jesus? But we as readers already know. We know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. At no point in Mark’s Gospel does he want us in ignorance, in the dark. He spells out who Jesus is clearly, in the language of the Old Testament.
The ‘Christ’ means ‘Anointed One’. The kings of Israel were anointed with oil as part of their coronation. The Old Testament builds up an expectation of the Messiah, the anointed one, coming to save God’s people. He will be a human, a Son of the woman, the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the one to whom the ruler’s staff belong, the shepherd of God’s people, the promised king in the line of David, who is greater than David himself as his Lord (Psalm 110:1-2), who God himself claims and installs as his own Son (Ps 2, 2 Sam 7).
In the Old Testament, the ‘Christ’ and the ‘Son of God’ were virtually synonyms. However, in the New Testament, we learn that the Son of God is not just an exalted title for the Christ. It speaks of who Christ is, of his very essence. For Jesus will take to himself and claim for himself to be God himself—God the Son. And those who know their Old Testaments will see this clearly as we work our way through Mark’s Gospel.
The Forerunner Foreshadowed, the Lord Will Then Come (vv. 2-3)
Who is the most important person that you have had over at your house? What did you do to get ready for them Once I met the Governor General, Ninian Stephens, at the Ipswich Jamboree in 1982. I was very surprised to be asked to go from my troop, because I was in trouble and had been confined to the camp for the day. But they gave me the choice of either not going to see the Governor General, or be confined to barracks for a day. So I submitted to a boring day in the hope of seeing the great man. It was to be breakfast with the Governor General. Wow. If it was anything like RSL Club breakfasts after ANZAC Day marches, I didn’t want to miss out. So what did I do? I had a shower. That was quite and achievement, because that might have been one of the only showers I had at the Jamboree, because all the shower were cold, and you had to get undressed in front of people. I remember after I got home and mum sent me immediately to the bath, that I was able to make shapes in the dirt I was washing off my legs. I had no idea I was so dirty, I just thought it was my tan, the colour of my skin.
Perhaps that’s why the leaders sent me to see the Governor General: they wanted me to have a shower. Anyway, I had a very quick shower, cleaned my teeth, got up early in the morning, and went to the place where the great one was going to meet us. We were standing waiting, waiting, with great expectation, me and the handful of other boys, from different parts of Australia, strangers to one another. He was coming by helicopter, but his helicopter was late. He was late, and he couldn’t stay. In fact, we didn’t have breakfast with him. There was no breakfast at all.
And when he finally came, he shook the hands of our small party, and he was whisked away. A thin little old man in a grey suit with glasses, not very big or tall. I felt I was almost as tall as him at 12 years old. I expected a big, imposing figure. My brief brush with greatness was very disappointing.
Every great visitor bids us prepare for his coming in a manner appropriate to his person. For a thin suited man, it would be a shower and a scout uniform.
Special people are frequently announced so that others will get ready for their arrival. Kings and Queens and other royalty will have a trumpet sounded. Movie stars get the red carpet and the flash of papparazi cameras. Sports stars get a ticker-tape parade. And Jesus gets John the Baptist, his older cousin.
The two Old Testament quotes Mark gives us predict that, before the great day of the Lord’s coming, God would send a messenger. The messenger would prepare Israel for the day of the Lord (Mal 3:1-2, 4:5).
The prophecies identify the Lord who is coming with God himself. ‘The Lord’ who is coming is actually Jesus. We understand that this is what Mark is telling us by going back and reading the Old Testament passages he is talking about and using.
In Mark 1:2-3, we read the citation as, "I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way – a voice of one calling in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him." (NIV) This is actually a quotation not only from Isaiah 40:3; but also from Malachi 3:1. There is sometimes in the New Testament a convention of citing two prophets under the name of one, usually the greater (cf. Matthew 27:9-10, with its use of Jeremiah 32:6-9 and Zechariah 11:12-13). But the passages Mark is citing as we find them as they exist in the Old Testament, appear a little differently, and Mark's adaptations show how he understands the prophecy. Isaiah originally said, "A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; makes straight in the wilderness a highway for our God." (Isaiah 40:3 NIV) Here also is the bit that Mark added from Malachi?: "See I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant whom you desire will come’, says the LORD Almighty "(Malachi 3:1-2 NIV)
Mark is quoting passages where God speaks about himself-- "Prepare the way of the LORD Yahweh., Make a highway for our God"--and then Jesus comes along the highway. This is saying that ‘Jesus is God’. Jesus is the ‘me’ when God speaks. Mark is identifying Jesus with ‘the LORD, Yahweh’, and ‘our God’ of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus is Yahweh, the God of Israel, who was to come. The Son of God is God himself. He has a relationship with God that is of a Son to the Father. For Jesus is not merely the Old Testament ‘Son of God’, but he is also revealed in the New Testament as ‘God the Son’. He fills the title in greater way than David could.
And the prophets identify that a messenger will come who prepares the way before the Lord. He is referred to as ‘Elijah’ (Mal 4:4-5). After this second Elijah’s coming, the much-expected Lord himself would suddenly arrive in his temple. Mark identifies this ‘Elijah’ figure as John the Baptist (cf. v. 6; 4:15; 9:11-13).
Meeting the Messenger Going Before the Lord: John the Baptist (vv. 4-7)
So let’s meet the messenger who goes before the Lord, John the Baptist (vv. 4-5, 7). Mark mentions the crowds who come out to John from all Judea and Jerusalem. They fulfill Isaiah’s promise that a needy Jerusalem would seek the forgiveness God had promised (Isa 40:1-2). John prepares Israel in ways reminiscent of their exodus from Egypt and their entrance into the Promised Land. Israel was coming out and returning to the point of entry for Israel into the Promised Land. It was a returning again to the beginning. John the Baptist brought a fresh start and new beginning to the people of Israel.
The appropriate thing to do when God the Son comes, when the Christ appears, is to repent. That is confess your sins and renounce them, for whoever conceals his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them finds mercy. Repentance involves a change of mind, to be renewed in the attitude of your mind so that you can test and approve what God’s will is. And the promise is that there is forgiveness for all who repent. Those who confess and forsake their sin find mercy. God himself removes our sins from before his face. He hides his face from our sin. He washes us clean. That’s why baptism, to be dipped and washed in the Jordan river, is such an appropriate sacrament or outward sign of the inward reality. God’s forgiveness means that we are washed clean in his sight.
Do you need a new start, a fresh beginning? We all do. Jesus is the one who gives us new beginnings. That’s what forgiveness is. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning. Great is your faithfulness O LORD."
Mark describes John the Baptist’s unusual dress sense (cf. 2 Kgs 1:8; Zech 13:4). John had an interesting fashion sense and diet and undoubtedly they were unusual either for his contemporaries. I cannot imagine that clothing made of camel’s hair, a leather belt around his waist, would be the first choice of clothing , nor locusts and wild honey being at the top of the menu. John wore exactly the same clothes as Elijah, the prophet who lived during one of the worst times in Israel’s history. His clothes and food say I am a prophet. The garment of camel hair with a leather belt was the prophet’s dress, and Elijah is specifically described as wearing exactly those clothes. And Elijah was the prophet who would return before the coming of the LORD (Mal 4:4-5). The last verses of the last pages of our Old Testament tell us to expect Elijah, who will turn people’s hearts. And John comes in the desert, where Elijah was, looking like Elijah, with the message of Elijah. As Jesus says, "he is the Elijah who was to come." (Matt 17:12)
John not only baptizes, but Mark portrays him as a preacher. John the Baptist prepares the people by preaching the one who was to come. He also uses a rite, the symbol of baptism, to prepare God’s people. This involved God's Old Testament people, the Jews, coming out to the wilderness and the Jordan River, and to submit to a ritual washing in the Jordan River. Prior to John the Baptist, only proselytes—converts to Judaism from the pagan Gentile nations—were required to submit to baptism. Now John requires it of everybody, including God's special Old Testament people. Being Jewish is not enough. The forgiveness of which John speaks will come through the one for whom he prepares his people. Forgiveness will only be found in the coming one and his unique authority on earth to forgive sin.
John the Baptist Preaches Christ (vv. 7-8)
But as mighty as John is, he knows his place. He knows his limitations. He knows his place is to point to someone greater. He is a simple picture frame that focusses the mind on a magnificent work of art. John has come to point to Jesus., verses 7 to 8:
And this was his message: ‘After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptise you with water, but will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. (NIV)
By John’s own admission, the coming one is greater and worthier than him. John regarded himself as not worthy to untie the strap of Jesus’ sandal. At this time, a student was expected to perform every service for his teacher except the untying of the sandal. But John regards himself not only as not a student, but indeed, John is not worthy even to be Jesus’ slave. John’s ministry is to point away from himself to Jesus, the greater one.
Jesus will bring a different baptism. John will baptise with water, which is a useful and effective sacrament as a visual aid demonstrating the washing away of the sins of the penitent. But Jesus will baptise with the Holy Spirit. John only baptises with water. It is ritual and symbolic. Jesus Christ will baptize them with the Holy Spirit. It is powerful to bring changed lives and enable powerful proclamation of the gospel (cf. Acts 1-2). He will pour out the Spirit from heaven as the risen King on the day of Pentecost after his resurrection. He does it now. He sends the Spirit, the Counselor to convict of sin, righteousness and judgment. He so thoroughly gives the Holy Spirit that we can think of ourselves, we who receive the Spirit, as having been immersed in the Spirit. Jesus is far more mighty than John—and John is pretty amazing, the greatest born of women and most magnificent Old Testament prophet.
Friends this baptism of the Spirit, that John spoke about, and that Jesus would bring, is what each of us needs to be a Christian and be saved. We need to be born from above, born again. It is not water baptism, but the baptism to which water baptism points. It is such a radical, God wrought change, washing by the Spirit that it is nothing short of a miracle. It is the miracle of new birth. And wherever there is someone baptised in the Spirit, there is a miracle of new creation.
And I can tell you where it has happened. It has happened where someone is a Christian, confessing Christ, trusting him, and repenting. These are the marks of Spirit baptism. And no one need miss out. There is the wonderful promise of Jesus that he gives his disciples: “If you though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to whoever asks.” (Luke 11:13 NIV). Whoever asks receives. It is free. And that is what Jesus came to bring.
The Baptism of Jesus: Son of God, Servant of the LORD (vv. 9-11)
Mark has already told us who Jesus is? This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We know exactly ‘Who is this man’? Well, Mark wants to make sure we understand. One more time for the dummies. So not only does he tell us who Jesus is—Jesus Christ, the Son of God—but he allows us to listen to God the Father himself say who Jesus, the Son of God is. This news is so important that Mark wants to make it clear that we can’t leave his first chapter without fully understanding that Jesus is God’s unique and precious Son.
Jesus was himself baptized by John the Baptist, not for himself. Jesus had no need of repentance nor forgiveness. Rather, Jesus as Christ and Son of God needed to fulfill all righteousness (vv. 9-11, 4, cf. Matt 3:13-17), That is, Jesus was identifying with his people, sinful Israel, entering into their experiences completely. He had to be everything that Israel in its sin could not be. And he is not ashamed of identifying with us, calling us sinners his brothers and sisters. What a friend we have in Jesus. He fulfills all righteousness by taking on all the obligations to which his people are subject. And that included baptism. Jesus goes through everything his people goes through. He is in truth our brother.
Isaiah had hoped for the heavens to be split asunder and for God himself to descend (Isa 64:1). In verse 10, Mark tells us that this happens when Jesus came. At Jesus’ baptism, the heavens are torn open and God himself comes down from heaven when the Spirit descends onto Jesus.
Our knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God from verse 1 is confirmed in verse 11 by the voice from heaven. God himself says that Jesus is the Son of God. This is a quote from Psalm 2:7. This too indicates that Jesus is Son of God in a way that goes beyond merely the statements in the Old Testament. No king in the line of David had the heavens torn open and the Spirit visibly and bodily descend upon him as a dove. Jesus is the unique Son of God, whom God addresses personally and miraculously.
Moreover, when God’s voice indicates that he is pleased with Jesus the beloved Son, this is a reminder, for Jesus and those who can hear, that Jesus is the servant of Isaiah (Isa 42:1). This makes the baptism a sort of commissioning, that Jesus will be both the Davidic Son of God, and Isaiah’s suffering servant. Jesus will have to be God’s suffering servant and unique Son where Israel has failed. He also must set his face to the task of fulfilling the work of the suffering servant.
Jesus only ever pleases the Father. His obedience to God fulfills the law, and God is pleased. Later in Mark’s Gospel, we will see that Jesus is obedient to death on a cross. This too will please God, because it is the way God will rescue his people. Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Then he will rise and be seated at God’s right hand, alive and able to help all his people. And the same Spirit who dwelt on him at his baptism, he will send to all who turn to him and trust him as risen king and Lord.
Jesus’ Temptation in the Wilderness (vv. 12-13)
Like Israel in the Exodus, and Jerusalem coming out to John the Baptist, so too Jesus also goes out into the wilderness. He does this immediately after his baptism. The reference to ‘forty days’ reminds us of the forty years of Exodus wandering. The number forty reminds us of the testing that God put Israel through (e.g. Deut 8:1-5). Jesus like Israel will be tested. He is driven by the Spirit into his testing. It is a forceful word—Jesus is cast out by the Spirit. The temptation of Jesus is all part of the will of God for the suffering servant and for the Son of God. Just as the commissioning is God’s will, so is the suffering of temptation.
Satan enters Mark’s Gospel in verse 13. He is the enemy of God and his people (e.g. 1 Chr 21:1, Job 1-2), an evil and hostile spirit who energizes the kingdoms of this world, secretly guiding them into evil (cf. Lk 4:6). His evil plans and purposes come to the surface in the Gospels, and Mark’s Gospel is no exception. Satan shows his hand to engage in conflict with the Son of God when he comes. It is what Jesus will do in this Gospel that will disarm Satan. If Satan is a strong man, Jesus is much stronger. This Gospel is the story of how Jesus disarmed him.
Jesus too must endure the testing in the wilderness, and he must succeed for us where Israel had failed. If Jesus’ testing is of a lesser quantity than Israel’s forty years in the wilderness, it will be of a more exquisitely painful quality. Satan will throw everything at Jesus. Jesus endured more harsh testing than anyone else precisely because he never yielded, not for a moment. Satan hasn’t needed to do that with us or any other human. He did it with Jesus, and he failed. And indeed, Jesus does not fail, but successfully avoids giving in to temptation. We see that in truth Jesus is the pleasing Son of God by his obedience.
Jesus is with the wild animals. In the book of Daniel, the powerful kingdoms were likened to grotesque beasts who threaten God’s people Israel. Here, Jesus is with the actual beasts rather than the symbolic ones. Angels were ministering to him, reminding us that he has not been abandoned by God. He remains the beloved Son and servant, despite his suffering and temptation.
Our proper response to what Jesus did is to thank hi in im. He took on all these obligations for us. And now he can help us, because he has been tempted in every way as we are, but is without sin. We can go to Jesus taking our sins and burdens, asking for help in our time of need. He has shown he is for us, so together, lets go to the risen Jesus.
Jesus: the Message and the Messenger (vv. 14–15)
Mark then tells us that John was put in prison. This news is ominous. It tells us that the kingdom that God is bringing in with his King, Jesus Christ, will be subject to opposition, undoubtedly from Satan and his underlings. Its messengers will suffer as they convey God's message to the people. The fate of the forerunner, John the Baptist, suggests that Jesus' will likewise suffer as a criminal unjustly.
The first thing Jesus does after he endured Satan's testing for forty days was to preach, just as John the Baptist did. Jesus' message is Gospel, good news of victory (v. 15). The message begins in Galilee, Jesus' home region. This again is an example of the first being last and the last being first.
Jesus' coming is for the purpose of fulfilling the Old Testament promises. For this reason, the message is urgent. "The time has come". This suggests that the people too have been waiting--or should have been. If we seek a more specific understanding of the Gospel, or news of victory of the king, it is that the kingdom of God has approached in the coming of the Christ.
The long awaited kingdom that God had promised is at hand. It is near, though it is not here. The kingdom approaches because the king has come, but it is not yet here, in that Christ has not yet returned to bring an end to the current evil age. The kingdom is both present (in that the king has come) and future (in that the kingdom is near not here). This is the now-not yet of New Testament eschatology. The future note is also seen in the Lord's Prayer, in which we ask, "Let your kingdom come". Both aspects will be apparent in the coming of Jesus, as the kingdom breaks into the present evil age, and yet Christ has not yet fulfilled the promises of putting all his enemies under his feet.
The first instance of Jesus' teaching in verses 14-15 sets the tone for the later teaching. This response required here is basic to everything Jesus requires of humans. Jesus requires two response from all his hearers, in the first instance, the Galileans. The first command is to repent, a change of mind leading to a change of action. The second command is to believe the Gospel. This is a call to trust.
Jesus' First Followers (vv. 16–20)
Jesus' baptism was a sort of commissioning. He is the Spirit endowed Messiah. He is declared at his baptism as the Son of God. He is Isaiah's servant of Yahweh, who brings God's kingdom near. So immediately after his first act of public ministry, of preaching the Gospel (vv. 14-15), Jesus then calls four Galilean fishermen, the brothers Peter and Andrew, and their partners James and John. They are appointed to become fishers of men (v. 17). They immediately leave their jobs, nets, fishing boats, and families. Their response reflects who Jesus is, and prefigures the response of the demons, sickness, and nature. They are an example of repenting and believing the Gospel, and inform Mark's readers what this response looks like. It is a radical and costly response.
Conclusion
Jesus is the Christ, the long awaited King and Lord of the Universe, to whom every human being will bow and confess. He is the ‘Son of God’, the heir of Psalm 2 and Psalm 110. He is also God who was to be met along the highway. He himself is endowed with the Spirit, and he will bestow the same Spirit. He calls on all people to repent and believe the Good news that the time of waiting is now over, and that God's promised Messiah is revealed.