The good news (people, get ready) | Mark 1:1-20 | Notes
No genealogies, birth stories, statements about the Word becoming flesh. Just: ‘The beginning of the good news (gospel) about Jesus the Messiah.’ Mark helped Peter, Jesus' apostle, in his missionary work in the later part of Peter’s life. We’re told by early church writers that Mark made notes of Peter’s preaching and then formed the material into the biography of Jesus’ life we have known as Marl’s gospel. The early church historian, Eusebius, records that Mark wrote this book in Rome before Peter sent him into Egypt to continue his missionary work there. Mark calls his work; ‘The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah’ (1:1) which not only describes the beginning of his book but suggests that the good news would go on after the story in his book finishes (which may be one reason for the abrupt ending in chapter 16).
News or advice?
Good news is the word that was used to announce a victory in battle. A messenger would run into a city to announce the gospel, the good news that the city would not be invaded. It was news about something that had been done for them.
Most of our day to day lives are full of advice. Most religions, philosophies, self-help courses and close friends are full of advice or rules about what we should do. But Christianity is first news. It is about what has been done for us not what we should do.
Q: What is the power of advice or rules to help our lives?
Q: What is the power of news to help our lives?
John the Baptist?
Jesus elsewhere calls John the last prophet of the Old Testament (Matthew 11:11-14) and he appears dressed as Elijah, eating as Elijah and in the area Elijah performed much of his ministry (2 Kgs 1:8) - his lifestyle was not only a typical prophetic lifestyle it was also a visual lesson against self-indulgence.
The reason John caused such excitement and controversy was that until he appeared in the wilderness of Judea there had been roughly a 400 year drought of true prophets. During the period of the Maccabees (between the Old and New Testaments) the high priest regularly took the role of civic leader of Israel because the line of Kings had been captured and no prophet had arisen to lead the people. “And the Jews and their priests decided that Simon should be their leader and high priest for ever, until a trust worthy prophet should arise… (1 Maccabees 14:43). Now, here was John.
Q: Deuteronomy 18:14-22 describes the marks of a trustworthy prophet. Was John one?
Q: Mark introduces John to us by a quote made up of Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. Who was John meant to announce according to these quotes?
Q: How would John’s straight-forward message of repentance be received today?
Q: Why do you think revivals of Christianity have begun with repentance in the church?
Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
Jesus is marked out by the Holy Spirit and the voice of God. This is the problem about God that the New Testament gives us. That there is one God in three persons. The claim is important because it says the heart of reality is a dynamic, unified and loving relationship. If there were three competing gods, or no god, then we'd be assured there was no final truth, meaning or unity to creation (as in contemporary Western thought); if there was one god is three phases then we'd be assured that this world is an illusion we need to escape from (as in traditional Eastern thought). One God in three persons holds several things together that we normally struggle with: Unity and personality, love (three persons) and meaning (one God), significance of the individual and the community.
Q: The Bible claims that we are made in God's image; does the nature of God in the New Testament help make sense of who we are?
For all of Mark's straight forward language he quickly has us dealing with paradoxes, the second of which is how God describes Jesus. God's words are a joined quote from Psalm 2 and Isaiah 42. It is worth reading those passages to see what God combines when describing Jesus - he is the Son of God, the King and ruler but he is also the suffering servant. The King our ruler is our suffering servant.
Q: What are the benefits of entrusting our lives to someone who has both power and sympathy to help?
You may have noticed the shape of the Baptism story and how it parallels the creation story. The Spirit of God hovers over the water, God speaks, the new creation emerges - the second Adam who is then tempted by Satan. The difference being, of course, that this Adam does not fail. His Kingdom does not fall to temptation and thus into ruin.
The history of the Old Testament is a history of waiting for a Kingdom that will not fail. Adam, Noah, Moses, Joshua, Judges, Saul, David, Solomon, Assyrian and Babylon, Rome - the prophets looked forward to a Kingdom that would last and again stand in the open presence of God as human beings once did in Eden. Arguably, most political theories and revolutions have been taken up in hope of achieving a just and peaceful kingdom that will not fail.
Q: When Jesus starts preaching after John's death about receiving a Kingdom - where is the Kingdom he is inviting people to enter by repentance and belief?
Q: How does this kingdom differ from political promises in our own day?
Q: Have you entered that Kingdom?
Calling
The heavens split in a reprise of the creation story - to reveal a dove
Jesus is marked as the Son of God and the Suffering servant of Isaiah - then spends time in the wilderness with Satan and the wild animals
He returns from this testing - to wander by a remote sea and choose fishermen to follow him. The training and development of the disciples becomes one of the main focuses of Jesus’ story.
Fishing for people is normally an image of judgement in the Old Testament (for example: Ezekiel 32:3,4 on the judgement of Egypt).
Q: How is telling the good news to others also a type of judgement on them?
Q: In the New Testament, to follow Christ will mean to die to ourselves and start a new life with him (for example: Mark 8:31-38) - how is this like fishing?
Q: What does it mean for your life right now to follow Jesus?