Gospel, According to Mark
Mark 1:1—16:20
Doctrines. 10:25 –Doctrinal stability, hope, and identity for a confused and frightened body of Christians. By emphasizing five doctrines, the Christians in Rome became confused and frightened when they were singled out for arrest and death in the aftermath of the great fire. The gospel of Mark shows that this had actually been foreseen by Jesus. Jesus had called for a surrender of life to cross bearing and in response to the call of God. People who openly acknowledged that they were Christians were paraded before a roman magistrate who demonstrated confessors. Confessing that Jesus is Lord or Son of God could affirm the lordship of Caesar. Only the Caesars at one time or another had put themselves up as gods. You can see how this is a direct conflict with the teachings of Christ and God. They seal their confession with their own blood. There are many Christian martyrs during this time. In his opening verse, Mark declared his readiness to take his place among the ranks of the confessors. We should more of such people in our churches.
In his writing, Mark brings together two very important Christian confessions:
The first affirms Jesus as the Agent of God who was sent to accomplish the redemption of God’s people and to usher in the promise of a new age. The second affirms that Jesus is qualified to achieve redemption and to mediate the blessings of a new age. Mark gave his pamphlet a confessional structure. The gospel falls into roughly two equal halves. Each half of Mark’s writing is brought to a point with one of these two confessions.
Jesus is the Messiah. The first half of the gospel of Mark, which is chapters 1:1 to 8:30, reaches a climax in 8:29 when Peter, a Jew and representative of the people of a new age, confesses openly that Jesus is the messiah. Each of the incidents recorded in the first half of Mark’s pamphlet of Mark’s gospel prepared his audience for this moment of recognition and confession. Prior to 8:28, those who responded to Jesus’s call did not understand exactly who He was. The popular sense was that Jesus was a prophet but there was no agreement whether He was a recent prophet, John the Baptist brought back from the dead, Elijah who returned to announce the day of restoration, or one of the prophets from Israel’s remote past. Not until Jesus posed a pointed question to the twelve disciples at Caesarea Philippi did He receive the right answer, the appropriate response; and that was, “you are the Christ.”
Jesus is the Son of God. The second half of the gospel clarifies what is meant to confess that Jesus is God’s agent. Each group had their own expectations, but Jesus however had come from God to fulfill God’s mission. He could not permit His disciples to fulfill the designation of messiah with their own ideas. Their own concept of what the messiah was. He immediately began to define the meaning of messiah as God had intended to be all along. He spoke of God’s agent as a suffering rejected individual who would be killed and then after three days rise again. Peter’s sense of outrage at such a suggestion indicated that he had failed to grasp the paradox of the new age and that suffering does precede vindication. Christians participated in this paradox. Each and every one of us do. We are summoned to identify with Jesus even if this means we will share His suffering and rejection. Three times in the central section of the gospel Jesus announced a pattern of suffering that was part of His mission. On each occasion, the twelve failed to understand and each time Jesus called them true discipleship expressed through unwavering loyalty and humble service conceptualizes what it means to be a Christian.
The second half of Mark’s gospel is controlled by the theme of Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem. This is where the prophecy of His suffering, death, and resurrection was fulfilled. A third part of the gospel is centered in Jerusalem where conflict with the representatives of the old order and Jesus as Agent of the new age was intensified. The climax of the account is reached in the of the roman centurion who was actually responsible for the crucifixion. Remember when he stood and looked up and said, “surely, this man was the Son of God.” The Romans represented the gentile world that had been hostile to God. By making the confession of Peter and the roman centurion points of climax, Mark emphasized the Jews and gentiles can be led to join their voices in acknowledging the dignity of Jesus as God’s agent and God’s unique Son.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).