Mark 1:16-34

In Mark's Gospel, Jesus simply says, "Follow me," and four fishermen drop everything and follow him, leaving family and occupation and security behind. This emphasizes Jesus' authority, and the fishermen's unquestioning and radical obedience. Based on this short account, we expect these fishermen to become the ideal disciples; in actuality, they will turn out to be almost complete failures. Throughout the Gospel, the reader is intended to identify with these disciples--so first they are portrayed quite positively, but as the story goes along their blindness and fear becomes more evident. In the same way, we, the readers, gradually realize we are not as good of disciples as we may think we are.

Verses 21-32 are meant to be a sort of representative day in the ministry of Jesus. It begins with Jesus, on the Sabbath, going into the synogogue in Capernaum (a major fishing village) and teaching the people. Any Jewish male was allowed to "teach" or respond to the scripture readings. But Jesus' teaching is radically different from anything these people have heard before. He teaches with unique, direct, personal authority; not like the scribes (Bible scholars) whose authority comes from their literacy and ability to quote other authorities.

Interestingly, Mark doesn't tell us what Jesus actually taught; instead, he demonstrates Jesus' teaching authority by describing an exorcism! Mark is blending together the teaching of Jesus and the power of exorcism, making them one and the same. In other words, Mark seems to be saying that Jesus' teaching conquers the kingdom of Satan.

This is Mark's theme throughout his Gospel: Jesus is the powerful one who is conquering the kingdom of Satan with the kingdom of God. Nothing symbolizes this better than an exorcism. Jesus is symbolically defeating all the power of evil in the world--even when that evil is hiding in a place of worship!

The demon-possessed man cries out, "I know who you are--the Holy One of God!" The spiritual forces in the world know Jesus' true identity, but the mundane (dare I say "muggle") world is still in the dark. Jesus does not let the spiritual forces reveal his identity; humanity is going to have to figure it out on its own.

Jesus not only teaches and casts out demons, he also heals "ordinary" illness (seen in Simon's mother-in-law). At sundown, at the end of the Sabbath when people are allowed to travel, the whole village begins bringing all of their sick and demon-possessed people to Jesus for healing. The Gospel of Mark (along with the other three Gospels) attribute more healings to Jesus than any ancient source attributes to anyone else in the ancient world. It seems beyond doubt that the historical Jesus conducted healings as a part of his ministry. In a world with almost no real medicine or scientific medical care, in which suffering must have been rampant, Jesus' spiritual "aura" of authority, of directly representing God's presence and power, must have had an immense impact. Significantly, Jesus' healing ministry in all four Gospels is presented without magic rituals or incantations--unlike other ancient healers of whom we have records. He is seen as a unique healer. He does not try to manipulate and coerce spiritual forces (the essence of magic); rather, Jesus himself directly and freely conveys God's healing power.

Mark 1:1-15

The Gospel of Mark is probably the earliest Gospel of the four Gospels. In fact, it appears that Matthew and Luke had a copy of Mark in front of them when they were composing their Gospels, because they often quote Mark word-for-word, and they both follow Mark's basic outline. Clues in the text lead most scholars to believe that Mark was written around the year A.D. 70, just before or just after the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. This Gospel has many surprising features, which we will discover as we go through it. The surprises begin in the first 15 verses.

For those of us who are so familiar with the Christmas story, it is shocking to realize that Mark does not begin with Jesus' birth. For Mark, the story of Jesus begins at his baptism; Jesus' origins and birth are totally unimportant or unknown to Mark. As far as Mark is concerned, Jesus' identity and mission are first revealed, not in his birth, but in his baptism. Like others who are moved by John's preaching to come to the Jordan River to repent, Jesus comes to the Jordan River to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. But now this apparently ordinary human being is revealed to be quite special.

God reveals to Jesus (not to anyone else), "You are my Son ... with whom I am well pleased." This quotation appears to be a combination of part of Psalm 2:7 with part of Isaiah 42:1. To be God's "Son" (in Psalm 2) means to be the king of Israel, representing God on earth and carrying out God's work. (Being God's Son does not, in this passage, mean being related to God or being divine.) To be the one with whom "God is well pleased" (in Isaiah 42)means to be God's special Suffering Servant, who is going to bring healing through his suffering, and who will bring justice through gentleness.

Mark seems to be saying that Jesus, for the first time, now knows his special identity and purpose. He now knows he is the long-awaited messiah (king) who will restore Israel and defeat its enemies, and he will be the servant whose gentleness and suffering brings justice and healing to the earth. These two roles--king and suffering servant--had never been connected before. Jesus will be a radical, unexpected fulfillment of prophetic hopes. He will be the suffering messiah--a seeming contradiction, and an idea so radical that no one in the Gospel of Mark will figure it out till the end.

After a period of testing in the wilderness, Jesus is now ready to begin his mission. His message is that what everyone has been longing for is now beginning: God's kingdom on earth. Jesus is about to start it and be its king.