The Gospel of Mark Session
1 December 3, 2016
Introduction & Chapter 1:1
Mark 1:1 The beginning of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The gospel of Jesus Christ, the title is found
in 1st verse. Why this
Gospel.
Christians needed to be reminded of the
sufferings of Jesus as an example and inspiration to them in their own
persecution. This Gospel was also
called, a Gospel for Martyrs’.
When the last eye-witnesses to the life of
Jesus were being killed or were dying, it was essential that the fact of his
life should be set down in writing for the benefit of the early church.
Why Four Gospels?
We will cover all four Gospel and will start
with the Book of Mark.
Jesus took
these four individuals and prepared each of them to tell the story of
Jesus’ life, each in his own way. The oral Gospel had to be taught and had to
learn, but it had to be written down before they all die out.
Let’s look at the design
of the 4 Gospels.
The Gospel of Mark is the
second of the four gospels in the New Testament, written by John Mark to
Gentile Christians in Rome as an evangelism and discipleship manual. It
recounts many of the events of Jesus' life in narrative fashion and focuses
significant attention on the final week of His passion in Jerusalem.
The Design of the
Gospels – scholars believe written between 54 AD and 70 AD. These are 4 witnesses who wrote down what
they saw and heard.
Matthew: The Promised One is here, see His Credentials
Presents Jesus as: the Messiah
Mark: Snapshots in the
story, This is how He worked, see His
Power
Presents Jesus as: the Servant
Luke: more of a Narrative This what He was like, see His Nature
Presents Jesus as: Son of Man
John: This is who He
really was, see His Godship
Presents Jesus as: Son of God
Matthew: Genealogy:
Abraham (Jesus legal line)
Mark: Genealogy: No
Genealogy
Luke: Genealogy: Adam
(blood line)
John: Genealogy:
Eternal (Preexistence)
Matthew: focus on What
Jesus: Said
Mark: What Jesus: Did
Luke: What Jesus: Felt
John: What Jesus: Was (deity)
Matthew: Writes to the: Jew
Mark: to the: Romans
Luke: to the: Greek
John: to the: Church
Matthew: Ends with: Resurrection
Mark: Ends with: Ascension
Luke: Ends with: Promise
of Spirit ( sets up his squeal, Acts)
John: Ends with: Promise of Return (sets up his
squeal, Revelation)
Mark’s Uniqueness (Greek, from
Latin “large hammer”)
John – Jewish name, Mark – Roman name (Marcus)
Acts 12:25 And
Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their
ministry, and they also took with them John
whose surname was Mark.
Acts 13:5 And
when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues
of the Jews. They also had John as their
assistant. Why Mark calls himself,
lowest of lowest of servants.
Assistant:
hupēretēs hoop-ay-ret'-ace means to row; an under oarsman, servant, lowest position in a ship, the common
workhand, the subordinate.
Uses for
Mark
Mark’s Background
John Mark was the son of a wealthy woman named Mary, probably a widow, whose home was large enough to serve as a meeting
place for many of the early disciples
after the Pentecostal outpouring.
Acts 12:12 So, when he had considered this, he
came to the house of Mary, the
mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together
praying.
Mark includes a detail that Matthew and Luke failed to mention: “And Jesus looking upon him loved him...”.
This hints at the possibility that young John Mark himself
may have been that rich young man.
When the rich young ruler questioning Christ
about what he needed
to do to inherit eternal life.
Mark 10:21-22 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you
lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." (22)
But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great
possessions.
An early
church tradition suggests that it was Mark who was the certain “young man” who followed Christ right up to His entry into the house of the high priest and then, when the guards tried to lay hold of him, left the
linen cloth that he was clothed with in their hands and fled naked
Mark was the only one who included
this incident.
Mark 14:51-52 Now a certain young man followed Him,
having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young
men laid hold of him, (52) and he left the linen cloth and fled from
them naked.
Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas to Cyprus, but later returned
to Jerusalem, which deeply
disappointed Paul.
Really upset Paul and felt betrayed.
about 46 AD.
Acts 12:25 And
Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their
ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.
Acts 13:13 Now when Paul and his party set sail from
Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them,
returned to Jerusalem.
Acts 15:37-39 Now Barnabas was determined to take with
them John called Mark. (38) But Paul insisted that they should not take
with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone
with them to the work. (39) Then the contention became so sharp that they
parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus;
Having felt
abandoned, Paul refused to take him on the second journey, and thus began a bitter quarrel between Paul and Barnabas, to whom Mark was related: probably
a cousin—not “nephew” the way in was written.
Paul and Mark later reconciled when Paul was in prison in Rome. Mark served as his aide and then as a delegate on an important
mission to Asia Minor.
Philemon 1:23-24 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ
Jesus, greets you, (24) as do
Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my
fellow laborers.
Colossians 4:10
Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions:
if he comes to you, welcome him),
Mark is a cousin
of Barnabas. KJV said Marcus (another
name for Mark), is sister’s son to Barnabas.
Later Paul would ask Timothy to bring
Mark back with him to Rome because
he was useful in service
2 Timothy 4:11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.
about 56 AD
When Peter was writing 1st Peter, he affectionately called Mark “his son”
1 Peter 5:13 She who is in Babylon, elect together with you,
greets you; and so does Mark my son.
It may have been Peter that originally led him to Christ. It was Mark’s intimacy
with Peter that resulted in this intimate portrait of Christ.
Many people regard the Gospel of Mark as
Peter Gospel with Mark acting as a secretary or scriptwriter. A strongly held view.
Papias (60-130), bishop of Hierapolis in Asia
Minor, states that Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, set down
accurately though not in order, everything that Peter remembered of the words
and actions of the Lord.
Irenaeus, about 185, wrote, after the deaths
of Peter and Paul, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, himself handed down
to us in writing the things that Peter had proclaimed. Mark was probably still in his early fifties.
Eusebius wrote that Mark around 42 AD found
Peter and traveled with Peter as a companion and interpreter. Mark wrote down the sermons of Peter, thus
giving him the information for the Gospel.
He also states that Mark went to Alexandria and founded the church and become
its first bishop around 49 AD. He is
known as the founder of Christianity in Africa.
Hippolytus of Rome
in his writing, “On the Seventy
Apostles” said Mark is also known as Mark the Evangelist (2 Tim 4:11),
Luke 10:1
After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them
two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.
Someone went first for Jesus.
According to tradition, Mark was born in
Cyrene in North Africa (modern day Libya).
Tradition death: the city resented Mark efforts to
turn the Alexandrians away from the worship of their traditional gods and they
placed a rope around his neck and dragged him through the streets until he was
dead.
On Easter Sunday, some of those who
worshipped the pagan gods dragged Mark through the streets with a rope around
his neck. They had him under their control and could have killed him that day,
but they did not. They let Mark go free. They had to wait a day to see if the
Roman government would object. The next day, they again dragged Mark through
the streets with a rope around his neck, but this time they did not stop until
he was dead.
A Gospel of Action
Mark’s gospel is that of a shooting
script, as for a movie or a teleplay. It moves rapidly
through a series of scenes
or visual images, emphasizing action. Mark continually uses
words immediately, straightway, forthwith, etc. and appears over 30 times, words of
actions.
Mark uses
a form of expression, the “historical present
tense” 150 times:
Jesus comes, Jesus says, Jesus heals—express
it is happening right now, all in the present tense.
There are more miracles recorded
in Mark than in the other Gospels,
despite its being shortest Gospel. [Matthew’s gospel seems longer because he includes the many and long discourses—probably verbatim, having the skill to take them down in shorthand
(as a customs official). Removing
the discourses, it is shorter than Mark’s.]
It takes only 20 short verses in Chapter 1 to describe the ministry of John the Baptist (Jesus Cousin), Jesus’ baptism, His temptation in the wilderness, and the call of the disciples.
Mark’s purpose was to write down the Gospel
as Peter had presented it to Romans, that the Gospel was for Gentiles, can be
seen. Mark translated many Aramaic
expressions, explanation of Jewish customs, the Law is not mentioned and the
Old Testament is only quoted once in Mark’s own narrative.
This Gospel may
be divided as follows:
The Introduction
of the Servant to His Public Ministry (1:1-13)
The Work
Accomplished by the Servant (1:14-13:37)
The Servant’s
Obedience unto Death (Chapter 14-15)
The Resurrection
and Ascension of the Victorious Servant (Chapter 16)
Mark was a close
associate of Peter, from whom he received the tradition of the things said and
done by the Lord
This tradition did not come to Mark as a
finished, account of the life of our Lord, but as the preaching of Peter,
preaching directed to the needs of the early Christian communities;
Mark accurately preserved this material. The conclusion drawn from this tradition is
that the Gospel of Mark largely consists of the preaching of Peter arranged and
shaped by John Mark.
Mark does not talk about Christ birth or
genealogy
gives a Graphic perspective of an eyewitness
(names, times, locations)
was Peter’s shorthand writer (translated from
Aramaic). Evidence of
Mark told Peter’s story and wrote it with
Gentiles in mind:
·
Explanation of Jewish practices,
etc.
·
interprets Hebrew (Aramaic) words
(5:41; 7:11,34; 14:36)
·
uses Roman time rather than traditional
Hebrew time (6:48; 13:35)
·
uses Latin (5:9; 6:27; 12:15,42;
15:16,39)
·
use of unique words “and Peter” in 16:7
·
Uses detail in his narrative to
heighten the sense of being there (names, pillow in the boat, wild beasts in
the wilderness, nicknaming of James and John, etc.)
·
Emphasizes Jesus’ action more than his
teaching (18 miracles, and 4 parables).
·
No mention of walking on the sea;
·
Shows Jesus has sovereign power over
all: disease, disability, demons, nature.
·
Show the effects of amazement, fear and
awe that the miracles of Christ had upon the people.
·
Only 4 parables are given in Mark.
·
19 miracles are recorded in rapid
fashion.
·
Did not conceal the failures of the disciples.
·
Shows disciples had a hard time understanding many of Jesus' teachings (4:13;
7:18;
9:10,
32;
10:10
et al.).
·
Quick to show the shortcomings of his own personal friend, Peter.
·
Reveals Jesus' rebuke of Peter (8:32-33), and then
Many believe Mark
was written at Rome, with hints in the writings.
Mark thrusts his
theological premise before his readers in the very first verse, declaring it to
be the beginning, origin,
or basis of
the gospel, asserting that Jesus is not just the long-awaited Jewish Messiah,
but the very Son of God.
Mark portrays
Jesus as a sympathetic man, identifying with men, demonstrating compassion for
them, and sharing their sufferings.
Mark 1:1 The beginning of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
What a statement. This is where we will pick up next time. Chapter 1.
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