The Gospel of Jesus as Messiah and Son of God

Overview of the Gospel According to Mark:

Who was Mark?

John Mark was not an apostle (Acts 12:12f; Col. 4:10; Acts 15:37-39; Philemon 24; 2 Timothy 4:11; 1 Peter 5:13; Mark 14:5f; Acts 10:36-42), but the son of Mary, a woman of wealth and position in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). His cousin was Barnabas, the discipler and encourager and early companion of the Apostle Paul (Acts 13:2; 4:36; Colossians 4:10).

Mark was a close friend of the Apostle Peter and the interpreter for Peter (1 Peter 5:13). Most scholars agree that Mark received much of his information from the eyewitness of the Apostle Peter. With this authority as the source of information the Gospel was never challenged in its inclusion in the Canon. John Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas on the First Missionary Journey but dropped out and returned to Jerusalem. Therefore, Paul refused to take John Mark on the second journey (Acts 15:38-40). Ten to twelve years later we find him with Paul (Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24). In the end Paul will ask Timothy to pick up Mark and bring him along with him to Paul in Rome, for he has found him useful for ministry (2 Timothy 4:11).

Mark would have been one of the last individuals to have seen Paul before he died.

When was Mark written?  

In attempting to fix the date of Mark’s gospel account, dates range from A.D. 44 to A.D. 68. Dr. W. Graham Scroggie writes: “It seems certain, therefore, that this Gospel was written between A.D. 40 and A.D. 56. Greek scholar, Dr. A.T Robertson states that "the evidence as a whole points to A.D. 60 as the most probable date." If this is true, then Mark is the earliest of the New Testament Writings, with the possible exception of James.

Mark's account of Jesus’s life is presented to us in two equal acts:

1. His Royal Identity as King Over All the World - Mark 1-8;
2. His Redemptive Ministry as Savior of the World - Mark 9-16.

Tim Keller divides Mark’s gospel account into two parts - "The King” and “The Cross" - each part consisting of eight chapters, with each chapter exploring a key part of this story told in Mark's Gospel.

Mark does not read like a dry history. It is written in the present tense, often using words like "immediately" to pack the account full of action. “Immediately” or “straightway” is used 42 times, conveying a sense of vividness and excitement! Notice just a few examples from chapter one (Mark 1:10, 12, 18, 20, 21, 23). The Gospel of Luke, which is much longer, only uses “immediately” seven times. We also see that 2/3 of the verses begin with “and” to communicate the speed at which the Savior ministered (notice Mark 1:29, 35, 40, 2:1). Mark has been called “a moving picture of the ministry of Jesus.”

You can't help but notice the suddenness and breathless speed of the narrative. This Gospel conveys, then, something important about Jesus. He is not merely a historical figure, but a living reality, a person who addresses us today. In his very first sentence Mark tells us that God has broken into history. Mark’s writing style communicates a sense of crisis, that the status quo has been ruptured. We can't think of history as a closed system of natural causes anymore. We can't think of any human system or tradition or authority as inevitable or absolute anymore. Jesus, the King has come and brought his world with him, i.e., the kingdom of heaven.

Mark wants us to see that the coming of Jesus calls for decisive action. Jesus is seen as a man of action, moving quickly and decisively from event to event. Mark focuses more on the works of Jesus and less on His words. There is relatively little of Jesus’s teaching in the Gospel of Mark - mainly, we see Jesus doing. In fact, Mark records nineteen miracles, but only four parables. Interestingly, each of these parables has serving as its key theme. 

Brian Bill notes that the language Mark uses is emotive (arousing or able to arouse intense feeling) and often abrupt.

We read in 8:12 that Jesus “sighed deeply” and that He was “moved with compassion” in Mark 6:34. He “marveled at their unbelief” in Mark 6:6 and in Mark 3:5 He looked “around in anger.” At the same time, when He saw the rich young ruler in Mark 10:21 we read: “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him…”

We also see that people had strong reactions to Jesus. There are at least 15 individuals who committed to follow Christ when coming face-to-face with Him. People were never passive about Jesus or bored with Him. There’s no way to just ignore Him. He either made people angry or astonished or amazed or in awe. People fought against Him or they put their faith in Him. The same is true today. You will reject Him or you will receive Him. There’s no middle ground.

Consider these 12 reactions that people had to Jesus and see if you can remain neutral.

1. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves (Mark 1:27)
2. And they were filled with great fear (Mark 4:41)
3. He ran and fell down before Him (Mark 5:6)
4. And they were overcome with amazement (Mark 5:42-43)
5. And many who heard Him were astonished (Mark 6:2)
6. And they took offense at Him (Mark 6:3)
7. For they all saw Him and were terrified…and they were utterly astounded (Mark 6:50-51)
8. The people ran about the whole region (Mark 6:54-55)
9. And they were astonished beyond measure (Mark 7:37)
10. And they were amazed…and afraid (Mark 10:32)
11. For they feared Him because, because all the crowd was astonished (Mark 11:18)
12. And they marveled at Him (Mark 12:17)

In these opening verses of Mark’s Gospel, we encounter what Mark Galli described by the title of his book - “Jesus: Mean and Wild”, subtitled: “The Unexpected Love of an Untameable God”. He writes, “Nearly everywhere we turn, in the gospel of Mark … we find a Jesus who storms in and out of people’s lives, making implicit or explicit demands and, in general, making people feel mighty uncomfortable.” 

For example, Jesus “sternly charges” or “strictly orders” people he heals (Mark 1:43; 3:12; 5:43; 8:30); he looks upon religious leaders with “anger” and “grief” (Mark 3:5). He destroys a herd of swine while showing no regret, providing no compensation to the owner (Mark 5:1-20); He overturns the money tables in the Temple in a moment of rage (Mark 11:15-17); He rebukes Peter as demonic (Mark 8:33). He is “indignant” with the disciples (Mark 10:13-14). He says the Sadducees are biblically and spiritually ignorant (Mark 12:24), He describes his entire generation as “faithless” (Mark 9:19). Jesus repeatedly makes it clear that following him will entail suffering and death (Mark 9:35-37, 43-50). On one occasion, his ‘appeal’ to the crowds included this promise, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35). 

This is not Jesus "meek and mild" of Charles Wesley’s well-known hymn. This is Jesus the consuming fire, the raging storm, who seems bent on destroying everything in his path, who either shocks people into bewilderment or frightens them so that they run for their lives.

Nothing has changed since almost 2,000 years ago. Once you encounter King Jesus in the scriptures or through some form of the presentation of the gospel, you can’t remain neutral toward him. We are called upon to respond actively and immediately. To not respond or to try to ignore or postpone a response to the King’s call for total surrender to him is a decision.

Paul Tripp writes, “The central character and eternal hope of the biblical narrative is Jesus. All the promises of God balance on his shoulders. Everything that we need is supplied in and through him. He is the hope of the Old Testament and the conquering hero of the New Testament. By grace our little stories are embedded in his great victorious narrative. The Bible is the biography of Jesus. It is the revelation of his character, power, wisdom, holiness, and redeeming work. At the center of all the promises of God is the promised Son.”

The Continuation of the Unfinished Story of Israel

Mark 1:1–13 is the prologue that gives an outline of what Mark is going to write about in the remainder of his gospel account. He informs us that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. The Anointed Prophet, Priest, and King, confirmed by Scripture, anointed by the Spirit, affirmed by the Father, and victorious over Satan. It sets the tone for the rest of the Gospel: a story of authority, conflict, suffering, and ultimate triumph.

The four Gospels that stand at the head of the New Testament are not the beginning of a story but are the continuation of a much longer narrative coming out of the Old Testament. They constitute the climax of the story of the God of Israel, as Jesus indicates at the opening of Mark: "The time has come,' he said. The kingdom of God has come near" (1:15). We must understand, therefore, what that story is about and where Mark is situated in that larger drama.

For Mark the introduction of Jesus is no less momentous than the creation of the world, for in Jesus a new creation is at hand. What an exciting juncture in human events to come to the point of the Incarnation – the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God – This is epic; this is huge; we are in on the beginning of the story of this new age.

1. Setting the account of Jesus within the story of Scripture with his opening line: "The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah" (v. 1).

The word “beginning” recalls Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1. Something new and exciting has occurred. The word gospel means a message of good news or of joyful tidings. It speaks of the coming Savior who would provide salvation promised by the prophetic word. The time of God's salvation has arrived! God has kept His promise to send a Messiah.

Rather than telling a new story, this is a continuation of the unfinished story of the God of Israel that is awaiting its climax. "Gospel" (euangelion, "good news") situates Mark's work in terms of the hopes of Israel as expressed in the prophets. The Hebrew term (basar) for "good news" appears in several pivotal passages in Isaiah that anticipated God's future rescue of Israel (Isaiah 40:9; 52:7).

The Greek word euangelion (good news or gospel; evangelium in Latin) was not originally a Christian word at all. It was a street word common enough in the Roman Empire (often in the plural form euangelia — like our "news" for "new things") for a public announcement of some event that had taken place and was claimed to be good news for everybody.

This Messiah is "Jesus Christ, the Son of God." "Jesus" is the Greek name for the Hebrew Joshua: "Yahweh is salvation." "Christ" is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Messiah: "the anointed one." Initially a title, "Christ" would become a common part of the name of our Lord. "Son of God" is a crucial title for the promised deliverer. It takes Christology to a higher level. Son of God reveals Jesus' unique and unparalleled relationship with God. It is the favorite title of Mark for identifying Jesus (1:11,24; 3:11 [cf. 1:34]; 5:7; 9:7; 12:6; 13:32; 14:61-62; 15:39), and when Mark was written, it conveyed to the Christian community idea of both preexistence and deity (cf. Phil 2:6-8; Col 1:15.)  One cannot avoid the inescapable conclusion that Jesus is indeed God!

The apostles had a euangelion to proclaim that far surpassed any announcement by the Roman Empire. Their good news was not about some claimed achievement by a mere Caesar. Theirs was good news about something the one, true, living God had done in the course of eye-witnessed public events in real history. It is important to realize that the word we translate as "gospel" has this primary meaning: the announcing, as good news, of something that has already happened, actual events that you need to know about, events that are for your benefit if you respond rightly to the announcement.

It is so easy for a man-centeredness to creep into our way of thinking and talking about the gospel itself. We use the word as if it is all about us, when in fact it is first good news about God and what God has done. That's why Paul can speak of it categorically as "the gospel of God" (Rom. 1:1), which means it is "good news from God and "good news about God." Either way, it is God's good news! That is what makes it such good news for us, when we hear it as something God has done that we receive with thanks, joy, faith, and love. And, of course, it is good news primarily about what God has accomplished in the historical events surrounding Jesus of Nazareth.

1. The promise of Scripture fulfilled (1:2-3).

While John and Jesus may seem to appear out of the blue, this citation of Scripture makes it clear that they appear out of the blueprint of God's plan. This story is the beginning of the good news, but every beginning is a consequence. By cross-referencing Scripture Mark makes it clear that the gospel is bound fast to the promise of God in the Old Testament and is a continuation of the story of God's saving activity.

“It is fascinating to see where each Evangelist starts his story of Jesus. Matthew begins with Abraham, Luke even further back with Adam, while John links Jesus directly to the eternal God Himself. But Mark starts with the Exile - with Isaiah 40 - by identifying John the Baptist as the "voice in the wilderness preparing the way of the Lord". This bizarre prophetic figure lures the people to a barren landscape and urges Israel to start afresh with God. To that end, John preaches national repentance and national forgiveness, inviting Israel, through baptism, to repeat, as it were, the original Jordan crossing and so to enter the new promised land of God’s long-awaited Messianic kingdom!

“John prepares "the way of the Lord" also by consistently pointing beyond himself to the One whose arrival will inaugurate the Messianic era of salvation characterized by outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God. Himself prepared by the Spirit’s anointing and the Father’s approval, and His way prepared by John, Jesus finally enters Galilee, with God’s good news. At last, God’s time has come! God’s age-old plans have come of age! The day Isaiah saw is here!

God s kingly rule is no longer a contemplative dream but a close-up reality to be encountered head-on by repentance and embraced whole-heartedly by faith” (Philip Greenslade).

This passage is the only place in Mark where the narrator tells us that Scripture is being fulfilled (the others are spoken only by Jesus). It comprises a mixture of texts from Exodus 23:20, Malachi 3:1, and Isaiah 40:3, Exodus 23:20 contains God's promise to send his messenger before the Israelites on their exodus through the desert to Canaan. Isaiah 40:3 speaks of a second exodus through the desert to the final deliverance prepared for God’s people. Malachi 3:1 warns that God will send a messenger to prepare the way before him prior to the coming of the day of judgment. Using a familiar technique in post-biblical Judaism, Mark blends these texts that originally had nothing to do with each other.

Three individuals are mentioned in Mark 1:2: the one who will send the messenger, the messenger who will construct the way, and the one whose way is prepared ("your way"). Three individuals are also in view in 1:3: the one who is crying in the wilderness, the Lord whose way is made straight, and the one, or ones, who are addressed. The narrative that follows clarifies who the referents are. "I [God] will send my messenger John/Elijah] ahead of you [Jesus], who will prepare your way." What is new is that the messenger no longer is paving the way for God as in Malachi, but for another powerful one Jesus, who is now to be acknowledged as the Lord. This means That God's coming in salvation and judgment, promised in scripture, takes place in Jesus.

The gospel of Jesus in the Gospels is about the kingdom of God, not first and foremost about your sins or my sins, but about how God’s kingdom is arriving through Jesus’s kingship. There are four Gospels but one message. That message is the gospel, which is why we call them "Gospels;”

Over and over in the Gospels the reader is summoned to answer one simple question: Who is this man? The primary question is not, How can I get saved? Nor is it, how can I go to heaven when I die? No, over and over the question is about the identity of Jesus.

If we turn to Luke’s account of the gospel, we see how he presents an orderly narrative of "things that have been fulfilled among us” (1:1, NIV), but it is about Jesus or points to him repeatedly. And then in the fourth gospel, John, writes in a way in which you couldn’t get more Jesus-centered: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1, NIV).

The content of the message in the Gospels is that the kingdom of God has drawn near because Jesus is the king. The gospels’ primary purpose follows from that: we need to know who the king is and to become loyal and faithful to him. As the installed king, King Jesus saves and rescues and justifies and sanctities and glorifies. Those acts don’t make him the king. Those acts are because he is the king.

What a story! What a Sovereign Savior! What a “so great a salvation!

All hail King Jesus - All hail Emmanuel - King of kings and Lord of lords - Bright morning star