LESSON ONE
(Mark 1:1-16)
Background Notes
The answer of the identity of Jesus Christ is at the heart of each of the four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke each produced a general account of the life of Jesus, each with his own special emphasis and added material. Matthew writes as a "preacher"; Mark as a "chronicler"; Luke writes as a "historian"; and John writes as a "theologian." Matthew gives us a Jewish point of view, proving from the Old Testament portion of the Bible that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Mark gives us the Roman point of view, describing Jesus as "God’s Superman," who demonstrates his deity by his miracles. He emphasizes what Jesus did, rather than what Jesus taught. He shows us the war of Jesus against sin and evil in the world. Luke writes "an orderly account" of the things that had taken place. He emphasizes the universality of the "Christ event" as it applies to all mankind, both Jewish and Gentile. Clement of Alexandria speaks of John’s Gospel as the "spiritual gospel." John shows us The Word (Logos) who came down from the invisible God to reveal the Father to all mankind.
Scripture declares to us that Jesus is the Messiah -- the Lord from heaven! It is this statement of fact that makes it possible for us to know Jesus by faith. But how can we learn what Jesus was like when he lived here on earth as a human being? What was it like to be with him? How did he deal with difficult situations? How did he relate to people? The four Gospels give us the opportunity to know who Jesus is and what he is like. Each of the Gospels is a character sketch of Jesus, carefully detailed by someone who knew him (and who was inspired by the Holy Spirit). Only Matthew and John traveled with Jesus in his public ministry. But Mark and Luke drew on eyewitness accounts from Jesus’ first disciples. (And they were guided by the Spirit in their choice of material.) Each of the four Gospel writers knew Christ with a faith full of excitement and with a love that illuminates Jesus’ character forever in the Gospels!
When you have four "pictures" of a person, you can compare one with another, and get a clearer understanding of that person. Perhaps this is why God gave us four accounts. There can be no real doubt that Mark’s Gospel is independent of the others. He also gives us a valuable statement of God’s truth. As we compare the Gospels, we remember some things which Alexander Campbell said.
1. Not one of these four historians wrote with any design of improving upon the others, of detailing the things omitted by them, or of supplying any defects which he observed in their statements.
2. Not one of these historians relates all that he knew of Jesus, nor do they all relate as much as any one of them could have related concerning him.
3. These historians do not always aim at giving the precise words of those they quote, not even of the Savior himself; but only the full and precise sense of what was uttered or written. Campbell adds that Jesus certainly taught the same things many times and worked the same miracles many times. Also that the order of narration does not follow our modern plan of historic writings; but is similar to the Jewish or Oriental way of looking at things. All this helps to explain the "differentness" of the four Gospels.
The probable date for Mark to write is between 60-70 A. D. A statement by Papias (in the second century) has Mark writing at Rome, traditionally around the time of Peter’s death there. But this has been challenged by the discovery among the Dead Sea Scrolls of what may be a fragment of Mark’s Gospel (Bible and Spade, Winter, 1972). This could push the date back as far as 35 A.D. Since Mark clearly wrote by inspiration, such an early date would pose no real problem. Peter has traditionally been identified as the source of Mark’s eyewitness accounts. There is a similarity in the way both word their statements. Compare Peter’s sermon in Acts chapter two. Peter gives a good summary of Mark’s Gospel in these words from Acts 10:38. "You know about Jesus of Nazareth, how God poured out on him the Holy Spirit and power. He went everywhere, doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him."
Mark was very likely the young man who "ran away naked" in Mark 14:51-52. Although not one of the "inner circle," he would have known Jesus at least by sight, if not personally. His mother was Mary, an aunt (sister, KJV) of Barnabas (Col. 4:10). His mother’s home was such a center of Christian activity, that when Peter was released from prison, he immediately went there (Acts 12:12-17). Some think her house was where the apostles stayed just after the ascension (Acts 1:13), and some think the Last Supper was eaten in the "Upper Room" of her house. He was probably born in Jerusalem, and his Jewish name was "John." "Mark," his Roman name, gradually superseded the other (compare the change of Saul to Paul). The "John Mark" of Acts 12:12, 25, and the "John" ("John Mark" in some versions) of Acts 13:5, 13 becomes "Mark" only in Acts 15:39; Col. 4:10; 2 Tim. 4:11; Phm. 24. He was a helper to Paul and Barnabas in their first tour of missions. Johnson thinks Mark did most of the actual work of baptizing people into Christ (compare 1 Cor. 1:14-17). Mark returned to Jerusalem before the first tour ended, and this became a problem (Acts 15:38-39). But this was worked out to Paul’s satisfaction (Col. 4:10). He was with Paul during the first imprisonment, (Col. 4:10; Phm. 24). Later we find him with Peter (1 Pet. 5:13) at Babylon. Still later during Paul’s second imprisonment, he seems to be with Timothy at Ephesus (2 Tim. 4:11). Tradition makes him the founder of the church at Alexandria, and says he died a martyr’s death in the eighth year of Nero.
Mark and the other Gospels cover much identical material, yet there are facts which prove we are listening to an independent statement. The outstanding characteristic of Mark is realism. He does not idealize, but presents the facts as they were, with all the "warts and wrinkles" that might appear. For Mark, Jesus is the Jesus of history and the disciples are simply disciples. Remember that Jesus is the Logos who became a human being (John 1:14; 1 John 1:1-4). Mark gives us the true human personality of Jesus in all its originality and power, and as colored by the time and the place. Jesus is a carpenter (6:3) before he begins his public career. The Spirit drives Jesus into the desert at the temptation (1:12). When Jesus first appears in the synagogue at Capernaum, the people say, "What is this?" (1:27). Before daylight the next morning, he is up and out of the city (1:35-38). We see Jesus so involved with his mission, that his family fears for his sanity (3:20-21). We see Jesus climax his teaching in parables by suddenly leaving the crowd (4:35-36). Toward his last days on earth, Jesus goes ahead of his disciples on the ascent to Jerusalem, and the disciples are alarmed and the people are afraid (10:32). Jesus promised the return of the colt ridden in the Triumphant Entry (11:3). But in everything, mark is faithful to his theme: "This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (1:1).
There are probably no more than twenty-four verses in Mark which are not paralleled, more or less exactly, in Matthew and Luke. Mark tells us: "The Sabbath was made for the good of man" (2:27); his family "set out to get him" by force (3:21); more detail in the healing of the Gadarene demoniac (5:1-20); some detail in the raising of Jairus’ daughter and the healing of the woman with severe bleeding (5:22-43); some detail in the calming of the storm (4:35-41); more detail in the healing of the boy with an evil spirit (9:14-29); "For everyone will be salted with fire: (9:49); that Jesus "would not let anyone carry anything through the temple courts" (11:16); that "The large crowd heard Jesus gladly" (12:37b); the command to watch and be alert (13:33-37); the young man who ran away naked (14:51); the conflict of the false witnesses (14:59); details about Simon who carried the cross (15:21); Pilate’s surprise that Jesus was already dead (15:44); the statement of the women about the stone (16:3-4).
Mark connects Peter with Capernaum (1:29); identifies Levi as the "son of Alphaeus" (2:14); tells Jesus named "Peter" (3:16); that Jesus called James and John, "Boanerges" (3:17); he names "Bartimaeus" (10:46); he mentions that Barabbas was part of a group of rebels (15:7). Mark also preserves words, phrases, and complete statements of Jesus which deserve to be examined: 1:15; 4:13; 6:31-34; 7:8; 8:38; 9:12; 39; 10:21 24, 30; 11:17; 13:32; 14:18-37; 16:7, 15-18.
Any controversy about the different endings to Mark’s Gospel has been solved by further discoveries. Over five thousand manuscripts have now been found. Of the most important ones, the Regius and Athos manuscripts give both endings. The Alexandrinus and Ephraemi Rescriptus give the longer ending, and it must have been in existence at the close of the first century. Both endings are considered authentic, and all Greek Testaments since Westcott & Hort include both endings in the text.
http://www.arm.org/mark.htm Rhoderick D. Ice
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