THE SERVANT WHO RULES
Exploring the Gospel of Mark
Volume One: Mark 1-8
Ray C. Stedman
Edited by James Denney
Also by Ray C. Stedman
Adventuring Through the Bible
Authentic Christianity
Body Life
God's Final Word
God's Loving Word
Is This All There Is to Life?
Our Riches in Christ
Spiritual Warfare
Talking with My Father
Waiting for the Second Coming
Discovery House Publishers
Books, music, and videos that feed the soul with the Word of God
Box 3566 Grand Rapids, MI 49501
THE SERVANT WHO RULES
RAY STEDMAN
EDITED BY JAMES DENNEY
The Servant Who Rules @ 2002 by Elaine Stedman
Discovery House Publishers is affiliated with RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512.
Discovery House books are distributed to the trade exclusively by Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683.
Book Design: Sherri L. Hoffman
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture references are from the New International Version, @ 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stedman, Ray C. [Servant who rules] The servant who rules: exploring the gospel of Mark / by Ray C. Stedman. p. cm. Originally published: The servant who rules. Waco, Tex.: Word Books, c1976. ISBN 1-57293-084-5 1. Bible. N.T. Mark I-VIII-Commentaries. I. Title.
BS2585.3 .575 2002 226.3'07-dc21
Printed in the United States of America 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 /DP/ 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
PART ONE: The Servant Who Rules
1. The Place to Begin (Mark 1:1-8)
3. A Day in the Life of Jesus (Mark 1:16-39)
4. The Healer of Hurts (Mark 1:40-2:12)
5. The Scandal Maker (Mark 2:13-3:6)
7. The Dimming of the Light (Mark 4:1-12,21-25, 33-34)
8. Seeds of Truth (Mark 4:3-9, 13-20, 26-32)
9. Why Are You Afraid? (Mark 4:35-5:20)
10. The Weakness of the World (Mark 5:21-6:6)
11. "Who Is This?" (Mark 6:7-52)
12. When Rite Is Wrong (Mark 6:53-7:30)
13. "Do You Still Not Understand?" (Mark 7:31-8:21)
14. The Turning Point (Mark 8:22-33)
Foreword
An author I read many years ago drew a distinction between those who manufacture servanthood and those who distribute it.
"Manufacturers" derive their motivation to serve from within themselves. They serve because they pity the needy or because they believe they have a duty to give something back to the world (noblesse oblige). Some have a compulsive need to be needed; others serve out of guilt and fear. In any case, "manufacturers" soon find their efforts dreary and empty, and they lose interest; for, as Ray Stedman continues to remind us, "the flesh [human endeavor] counts for nothing" John 6:63).
"Distributors," on the other hand, serve out of an intimate connection to Jesus. They sit at His feet, listen to His words, learn from His great heart, respond to Him in prayer, drink in His love, draw on His power, and distribute His compassion to others. ThatÕs what keeps Jesus' servants going for the long haul. They give away all that He has given to them, a concept Ray weaves through the warp and woof of these studies.
It was my privilege to gather weekly with staff members at Peninsula Bible Church when Ray was first thinking his way through the gospel of Mark in preparation for preaching this material, and then I heard each text taught on subsequent Sundays. More importantly, I saw the texts lived out in Ray's life, for he was truly a leader who served over the long haul. He was my friend and teacher for many years, and I sorely miss him. But like Abel, though now in God's presence, he "still speaks."
David Roper
Boise, Idaho
The Place to Begin
Mark 1:1-8
According to the Wycliffe Bible translators, more than two thousand language groups in the world still do not have any portion of the Bible translated into their language. Those groups are found throughout the world--in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas. Some of these language groups are small; for example, the Dia language is spoken by no more than 1,880 people in a remote section of Papua New Guinea.
I once spent two weeks in Mexico, observing the work of Wycliffe Bible translators. While I was there, I learned that the gospel of Mark is the most widely translated book in the Bible. Almost all Wycliffe translators begin with Mark when they translate the Scriptures into a new language.
Why?
For one thing, it's the shortest of the four gospels, which makes the task of translation shorter and easier. But the brevity of Mark is not the only reason it is so widely translated.
I suspect that an even more important reason is the fact that Mark is an excellent introduction to the gospel story for people of all backgrounds, tribes, and classes. Of the four gospels, Mark is the truly multicultural gospel. It is intended for an international, multiethnic audience. By contrast, the gospel of Matthew is written for Jewish people. That is why Matthew is so rich in Old Testament traditions and Jewish customs. Mark, however, was written for the cosmopolitan Roman world, for people who had no background in the Old Testament. Of the four gospels, Mark is the most easily understood by any audience.
Many scholars think that the gospel of Mark was the earliest book of the New Testament. It was probably written sometime during the A.D. 60s. Scholars differ on whether Mark was written before Matthew or Matthew before Mark, because it is hard to tell who borrowed from whom. We also know that almost the entire gospel of Mark is reproduced in Matthew and Luke (with the exception of a few verses), so it is clear that somebody borrowed from somebody else. But whether Matthew had a copy of Mark's account in front of him as he wrote, or vice versa, nobody knows.
The Author of the Gospel of Mark
We do know that this gospel was written by a young man named John Mark, who figures prominently in the New Testament. His mother was named Mary, and she was a wealthy woman who owned a large house in Jerusalem. In Acts 12, we see that a large group of the early disciples gathered in Mary's house to pray for Peter's release from prison.
Later in Acts, we see that John Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. For some reason, Mark turned back at the city of Perga and returned to his mother's home instead of continuing with Paul and Barnabas to Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Perhaps Mark was afraid of the robbers that awaited unwary travelers in the Pamphylian mountains. Paul was profoundly disappointed in John Mark, evidently labeling him as a quitter.
Later Paul and Barnabas were preparing for another missionary journey, and John Mark became the cause of an argument between them. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them. Paul refused because John Mark "had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work" (Acts 15:38). The disagreement between Paul and Barnabas was so severe that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark with him to Cyprus, and Paul selected a new companion, Silas, and set off north along the Mediterranean coast.
After this, John Mark dropped out of sight for a time. The next we hear of him, John Mark was an associate of Peter. The apostle Peter spoke affectionately of this young man, calling him "my son Mark" (l Peter 5:13). Perhaps Peter, who failed Jesus and was restored, understood something that Paul didn't: A person who has failed can learn and grow from failure and become even more valuable to God than someone who has never failed.
Eusebius, a church father writing in the third century A.D., says that the early Christians were so moved and challenged by the stories Peter told them of his time with Christ that they asked Peter's companion, John Mark, to write them down as Peter told them. Perhaps that is how we got the gospel according to Mark. As you read it, you see that Peter figures greatly in the story, and it is easy to imagine that this gospel might reflect Peter's memories of Jesus.
Another possibility is intriguing to speculate on, although it is nothing more than speculation. There is a scene in the Garden of Gethsemane that only Mark records. It takes place during the betrayal and arrest of Jesus.
Then everyone deserted him [Jesus] and fled.
A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind. (Mark 14:50-52)
This unnamed young man stayed behind, following Jesus even after the other disciples ran away in terror. The soldiers who arrested Jesus tried to seize this young man, but when they grabbed for him, the simple linen cloth he wore came away in their hands. So the anonymous young man ran naked into the night.
Some Bible scholars suggest that this young man was none other than Mark, the author of this gospel. Perhaps, because of his fascination with Jesus, he had been hanging around the fringes of the Lord's disciples, hoping to learn more. The fact that Mark is the only gospel writer who records this incident suggests that the young man may well have been Mark.
Another fascinating story, found in Mark 10, is also recorded in Matthew and Luke--the story of the rich young ruler. It is the story of a young man who, not long before Jesus was crucified, came to Him with a question. He was a wealthy member of the ruling class, an aristocratic young man of culture and refinement. He went up to Jesus, knelt at His feet, and said, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call me good?" replied Jesus. "No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'"
"Teacher," the young ruler answered, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Then Mark records something that neither of the other accounts tells us: "Jesus looked at him and loved him." That personal note, together with the fact that Mark's mother was a wealthy woman with a large house in Jerusalem, suggests to me that Mark may have been that rich young ruler. If this is so, then perhaps the story of the young man who followed Jesus but fled without his clothes is Mark's way of telling us that the rich young ruler reconsidered what Jesus told him and ended up following the Lord. The Scriptures do not explicitly say so, but I strongly suspect it is true.
The Two Halves of Mark
If my speculation is correct--if the author of the gospel of Mark is personally connected with the events he recorded--then that would explain a great deal. For example, it would explain Mark's apparent fascination with two qualities of Jesus that he presents to us in the first verse: "The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
This is a profound statement. Jesus of Nazareth--the human Jesus, the carpenter--is also the Son of God. The fact that Jesus is man and God made a strong impression on Mark. In fact, the book, organized according to these two qualities of Jesus, easily divides into two halves.
Part 1 of the gospel of Mark consists of Mark 1:1-8:26. The theme of part 1 is The Servant Who Rules, and that section deals with Jesus, the Servant who has all authority in heaven and earth. The theme of part 2, Mark 8:27-16:20, is The Ruler Who Serves, and that part deals with the servant attitude of the Son of God, the rightful Ruler who comes to suffer and die for our sakes. The gospel of Mark begins with these words:
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way"--
"a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"
And so john came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Mark 1:1-5)
That is an amazing statement! Mark's emphasis from the outset is the ministry of John the Baptist. This is what he calls "the beginning of the gospel." The gospel begins, says Mark, with the voice of God's messenger calling in the wilderness. This amazingly successful ministry drew crowds from all around that region.
I have visited the wilderness where John once preached. Our group drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho, then up the valley of the Jordan River. That valley is indeed a wilderness, a dreary, desolate, forbidding spot even today. Through that valley flows the Jordan, the only water for miles around. On either side of the river is a parched land rimmed by barren desert mountains.
The people of Jerusalem and Judea left the comforts of their cities, left their recreations and pleasures, and trekked many rugged miles to hear this man preach. Some of them had to walk twenty or thirty miles, yet they went willingly, eagerly, and in such increasing numbers that Mark says, with only slight exaggeration, that "the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out" to hear him.
What is your image of John the Baptist? Most people picture him as a rugged preacher who thundered at his hearers with fire, brimstone, and terrible judgment. But was that how the people of Judea saw him? If that was the kind of message John preached, who would have listened? Who would have walked twenty or thirty miles to be condemned and berated by some wild man from the hills? Nobody goes out of his or her way to be excoriated and flayed, and any preacher with a one-note message of condemnation will not have a following for long.
John did not preach that way. Mark tells us that John's message was the beginning of the gospel: the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ. Good news, not condemnation, brought the people into the desert to hear John the Baptist. John spoke to a universal need in their lives.
What need is that? The same need is universal among human beings today. It is a syndrome that grips the hearts of people everywhere, in every age. That syndrome consists of three elements that always go together: sin, guilt, and fear. Sin produces guilt, and guilt leads to fear.
The Sin-Guilt-Fear Syndrome
What is sin? In the most basic sense of the word, sin is nothing but self-centeredness. We commit sins because we are thinking of ourselves, loving ourselves, indulging ourselves, and taking care that no one gets ahead of us. We all struggle with sin and self-centeredness. It is the curse that hangs over the human race. We were made by God to be channels of His grace, reaching out to others with His love. But we have become so twisted in our slavery to sin that when we reach out, it is not to give to others but only to take for ourselves. That is the selfish nature of sin.
And sin always produces guilt, the sense of self-hatred and self-condemnation we feel when we know that in our self-centeredness, we have hurt others, hurt ourselves, and damaged our relationship with God. Guilt destroys our self-respect and makes it impossible for us to live in our own skin.
Guilt is always accompanied by fear, because fear is self-distrust. Fear is a sense of our inability to cope with life. We become afraid of the forces within us that we cannot control, that is, our appetite for selfishness and sin. And we become afraid, knowing we have earned God's condemnation. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve sinned; their sin produced guilt. In their guilt, they went and hid in fear. That has been the story of the human race ever since.
The sin-guilt-fear syndrome produces an inner torment the likes of which there is no equal.
I once visited the shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico City. At that site, during the sixteenth century, the Virgin Mary appeared to an Indian and healed him. The place became a healing shrine, drawing the sick and infirm from all over Latin America. There are rooms stacked with crutches, left behind by people who have thrown them away, convinced that they had been healed at the shrine, as some may have been. But on any day you go there, you can see people walking on their knees, leaving bloodstains on the pavement. They crawl for miles over dirty, rough pavement to get to that shrine. Why? Because they have been told that their physical pain will relieve the spiritual and emotional pain of their guilt and fear. They believe that bloody knees create a clean conscience.
That's superstitious nonsense, isn't it? Of course it is, but no more superstitious and nonsensical than many of our approaches to guilt and fear. We don't crawl on bloody knees. We are too sophisticated for that. No, we crawl on our wallets. We use philanthropy--giving money to charities--as a way of salving the pain of our guilt and fear. I know of many individuals and organizations that have benefited handsomely from the guilt and fear of wealthy sinners.
Then there are those who respond to the sin-guilt-fear syndrome by turning into rigid moralists. They deny the reality of their sinfulness, thinking of themselves as practically perfect while looking down on the great mass of sinners around them. By condemning others, they place themselves on a high moral plane. That is how many Christians deal with the guilt that lurks inside them.
Isn't there some way to get true, lasting relief from the sin-guilt-fear syndrome?
The Fourfold Ministry of John the Baptist
A rumor swept through the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside. A message was being preached in the wilderness--a message of release from sin, guilt, and fear. That rumor called people out of their homes and drove them into the barren, forbidding wilderness of the Jordan River. The people went in search of a strange man with a new message.
Oddly, the man did not explain how this message of hope worked, or why it worked, or where it came from. He simply announced its coming. Yet word spread from mouth to mouth, from city to city, until people streamed out into the desert to find John the Baptist, to hear his message, and to be baptized by him. Why did John's announcement have such drawing power?
Mark answers by focusing on four aspects of John's message and ministry. One, John's ministry was foretold in the Old Testament; the prophets spoke of it. Two, John appeared in a wilderness, according to Old Testament promise. Three, John announced the way to God. Four, John assured people that his message was true by the symbol of baptism. Let's take a closer look at each of these aspects of John's ministry.
First, John's ministry was foretold in the Old Testament. Mark quotes two of the prophets, although he names only one, Isaiah. The statement "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way" is a theme from the prophecy of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Mark does not mention Malachi by name, so some critics of the Bible have claimed that Mark was mistaken and ascribed the words of Malachi to Isaiah. But Mark was not mistaken or ignorant; he wanted to stress what Isaiah said because what Malachi wrote agrees with it.
So Mark combines the two and begins with a word from Malachi: "I [God] will send my messenger [John the Baptist] ahead of you [Messiah, Jesus], who will prepare your way." Then Isaiah comes in: "a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" In accordance with that prophecy, says Mark, "John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
God took this step of sending John out before Jesus because He knew that human hearts needed to be prepared before God and humankind could come together. The Messiah, God in human form, could not just appear and expect to be received. So John was sent to go before the Lord Jesus and prepare the way for Him by means of repentance. We will examine that repentance soon.
Why a Wilderness?
Why was it predetermined that John should begin his ministry in the wilderness? That makes no public relations sense. If you want to make an impact on the population, you have to go where the people are--to the cities, not the wilderness. But God doesn't take advice from public relations experts. He does what human wisdom least expects. So God sent John the Baptist out to the worst possible place for ministry. And it worked.
Why did God choose the wilderness as the starting point for the gospel? Because it is a symbol of where we are as human beings. We are in the wilderness, the desert. John's message went into the wilderness of human sin, folly, and fallenness. The desert is a picture of our dry, empty, barren, weary lives.
How many times have we heard of famous Hollywood couples who supposedly had the ideal marriage, only to hear later of their breakup and divorce because their relationship became boring and empty? If the lives of Hollywood's rich and famous can be dry, empty, barren, and bored, what hope is there for the rest of us? If fame, wealth, travel, and an endless swirl of parties can become a desert existence, then the human condition is a wilderness indeed.
A Christian friend told me about his longtime neighbor, a bright and wealthy man who seemed to have everything going for him. One day this neighbor sat at my friend's kitchen table, buried his face in his hands, and said despairingly, "I am so bored!" Two weeks later he took his life.
That is the desert of human existence. That is where people live. And that is why John went into the wilderness. John's appearance is God's symbol to us of the hope that will spring up, even in the midst of our desert of hopelessness and desperation.
The Meaning of Forgiveness
"And so John came," says Mark, "baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." This was an astounding message, a thunderbolt of good news. John's announcement was that human beings come to God by means of repentance, and the result of repentance is the forgiveness of sins. The greatest blessing we can experience is to have our sins forgiven. The people of Judea knew that they were lost in their sins, so when a message of forgiveness thundered forth from the desert, they streamed out of Jerusalem to hear it.
Forgiveness is something few of us understand well. Most of us have grown up with the idea that you forgive people only after they apologize, but that is not biblical forgiveness. Few broken relationships would ever be restored and reconciled if forgiveness began only after an apology had been offered. Biblical forgiveness begins before the offender comes to you with an apology.
We find the perfect model of forgiveness in the story Jesus told of the prodigal son. A prodigal is an ungrateful and careless spendthrift. The prodigal son in the story left his father, went to a far country, spent all that he had received from his father, then returned home broken and humbled, ready to live as a servant in his father's house. But when the father saw the boy; his arms opened wide in love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Before the son could say a word, the father kissed and hugged him and ordered a party in his honor. That's biblical forgiveness, God's forgiveness--forgiveness that is offered before even a single syllable of apology is uttered.
Forgiveness stands ready to forget the hurt, to blot the offense from memory. True forgiveness never brings up the subject again. Biblical forgiveness treats the offender as if the offense had never happened. The basis for God's forgiveness is the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross enables God to forgive us because it maintains His justice. But the basis on which we are called to forgive is different. Our basis for forgiving others is the fact that we have been forgiven.
That is why Jesus told the story of the man who had been forgiven a tremendous debt. After being forgiven, that man went to another man who owed him a paltry sum, grabbed him by the throat, and demanded, "Pay back what you owe me!" (Matthew 18:28). That, Jesus says, is what we are like when we do not forgive those who offend us. We have been forgiven a huge debt, and on that basis we are to forgive others. Forgiveness begins with a change of attitude in the heart of the one offended.
But forgiveness can never be complete until there has been a change of heart in the offender. It is not enough for forgiveness to be offered; forgiveness must also be accepted. The offender must acknowledge guilt and remorse. That is the repentance John the Baptist talks about. The offender must change his or her mind about the offense, stop justifying it, and admit he or she has been hurtful and wrong. Only then can the forgiveness that was offered be received.
John came preaching repentance because the place of repentance is where God meets humanity.
God's Bulldozer
The Old Testament prophet Isaiah predicted that the message of John the Baptist would be like a great bulldozer, building a highway in the desert so that God would be able to come reach isolated human souls in the midst of the wilderness. "Every valley shall be raised up," says Isaiah 40:4, "every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain." Without a road, you cannot drive out into the desert to help those who are wandering and lost. So John was the highway builder who made a path in the desert with the message of repentance and forgiveness.
Repentance is the great leveler. It fills in the valleys and depressed places of our lives--the places where we beat ourselves down and torture ourselves with guilt--and lifts them up. It also brings down all the high peaks of pride that we stand on when we refuse to admit we are wrong. Repentance takes the crooked places, where we have lied and deceived, and straightens them out. And it makes the rough places of our lives plain and smooth. Isn't that beautiful imagery to describe the role of repentance in our lives?
Mark goes on to describe the appearance of John the Baptist:
John wore clothing made of camelÕs hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. (Mark 1:6)
Why does Mark include these details? The rugged prophet John was no fashion plate, with his camel's hair clothes, leather sandals, and leather girdle around his waist--all very much like the Old Testament prophet Elijah. John's diet was simple: locusts (grasshoppers) and wild honey. These details are important, or they would not have been included. They are symbolic of an important truth. But what do they symbolize?
Above all, these details suggest simplicity. You cannot wear any more simple clothing, or eat a more basic diet, than John the Baptist did. These details are representative of his ministry, which was one of simple beginnings. This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it begins with a simple man preaching a simple message of repentance, heralding the coming of the Son of God.
John's diet, by the way, was balanced. Grasshoppers are protein, and honey is carbohydrate. John's diet was in beautiful balance, so he was a healthy man. But it was an elementary, rudimentary sort of diet, just as his ministry was elementary, rudimentary, and simple.
It is important to see that, as John states, his ministry was incomplete.
This was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (Mark 1:7-8)
John is honest and humble. He says, in effect, "Don't look to me for answers beyond what I have already told you about repentance. Anything beyond that must come from another, who is coming right after me. He is so far above me and beyond me that I am not even worthy to untie His shoes. The sign of His greatness is that, although I can baptize you with a baptism of outer cleansing, He will cleanse you inwardly with the Spirit of God" (see Matthew 3:11; John 1:15).
John is saying that he could bring people to God, but he could not lead them into a daily experience of life in the Spirit of God. Only Jesus could impart the life of the Spirit. John came to announce that Jesus was coming. And when Jesus came, He would baptize people with the Holy Spirit so that they could live, day by day, in the transforming life of God.
So much of Christian preaching today is on the same order as John's ministry. It is incomplete, designed only to bring people to God and nothing more. The message often stops at the point of the initial decision, and people are not taught how to live beyond that point. They have John's baptism, but they have never been baptized with the Spirit of God, with the reality of Christian living that is to come after John.
John the Baptist brought people to Christ by the only way anyone can come: acknowledgment of sin and guilt. When people come this way, God meets them, cleanses them, and forgives them. John demonstrated this truth by the baptism he performed. But there is a greater baptism, and that is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. On the Day of Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, the apostle Peter stood and offered two things to the people: forgiveness of sins and the promise of the Spirit. God still offers His forgiveness and His Spirit to every person who will begin at the beginning, that is, the place of repentance.
The Place of Repentance
Have you repented? Have you changed your mind, stopped defending yourself, stopped blaming others for your failures and sins? Have you said, "I have no excuses, no scapegoats, no one else to blame, Lord. The sin is all mine, the guilt is all mine, and only you can take it away"? That is the place of repentance. That is the place where God will meet you. At the place of repentance, He washes away our guilt, cleanses us from sin, and forgives. If you have never repented, I urge you to do so now. In the quiet of your heart, where God alone hears, say to Him, "Lord, I repent. Send me the Holy Spirit through Jesus the Lord."
And He will.
If you are a Christian with a desert area in your life and you can't find your way out of it, this is the place to begin. Repent, acknowledge the emptiness and barrenness of your life, and God will meet you there and wash it all away. He does not have a word of condemnation for you, just a word of cleansing--if you meet Him at that place of repentance.
Jesus Came
Mark1:9-15
The grandfather entered the child's bedroom. A wide grin brightened his kind, warm face. "Davy!" he said, spreading his arms for a hug.
"Grampa!" shrieked the delighted two-year-old from his playpen. "Grampa, hug!"
"Sure, I'll give you a hug, Davy," said the grandfather. And with that, the old man reached out to his grandson and scooped him up out of the playpen, snuggling the boy in his strong arms. After a big hug, the grandfather set the boy down outside the playpen, among his Fisher-Price¨ toys, and they began to play together.
Minutes later, the boy's mother walked into the room. "Davy!" she said sternly. "You know I put you in the playpen because you've been naughty! You shouldn't have told Grampa to take you out!"
Davy's eyes puddled up, and he began to cry. The grandfather instantly felt terrible. He didn't know that his grandson had been given a time out in the playpen as a punishment. Now he had made a bad situation even worse for his little grandson.
"Grampa, play with me!" the boy said in pitiful voice that broke the old man's heart.
But the mother was unbending. "Davy, you know you have to go back into the playpen." She lifted the boy up and put him back in solitary confinement. The boy wailed in despair.
What could the grandfather do? He knew he couldn't overrule the boy's mother. But his heart went out to the poor boy.
Then the grandfather had an idea.
"Dad!" said the mother. "What do you think you're doing?"
"The only thing I can do," said the grandfather as he climbed into the playpen with his grandson. The child was being punished, and rightfully so. The only way the grandfather could show mercy to the boy was by descending to Davy's situation and taking Davy's punishment onto himself.
And that is what happened in your life and in mine the day Jesus came.
Jesus walked into the wilderness of our lives, becoming one with us, accepting the restrictions of life in human form, accepting our punishment, and suffering our pain. Jesus came so that we could have life--abundant life. In Mark 1:9, we read,
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
Note those two little words near the beginning of that verse: "Jesus came." Those words are a formula for dramatic, radical change.
In the next two paragraphs, Mark 1:9-15, the phrase "Jesus came" occurs twice. "At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee" (Mark 1:9). "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God" (Mark 1:14 RSV). Mark says that when Jesus came, He came in this twofold way. Verse 9 begins the record of the baptism and temptation of Jesus. Jesus came, He was baptized, and He was tempted, says Mark. Mark puts the latter two in the passive voice; that is, baptism and temptation were acts done to Jesus. This indicates that they were acts in preparation for His ministry.
After that, says verse 14, Jesus came into Galilee preaching. In that one word, we see the activity that marked the career of Jesus: He came preaching.
Let us look at the two acts of preparation Mark records at the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus.
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." (Mark 1:9-11)
All four gospels record the baptism of Jesus, so the importance of this event in the life of our Lord is underscored. Yet there is something strange about this baptism.
Notice the context of this event. A remarkable spiritual awakening has broken out in Israel. Literally thousands of people have left homes, jobs, and families. Crowds stream from the cities and into the desert to hear the preaching of a strange, rugged prophet, John the Baptist. John baptizes all who repent and seek forgiveness. That is the emphasis of John's ministry. He baptizes as a sign of God's cleansing on the confession of sin and guilt.
But something strange happens when Jesus comes out of Galilee to be baptized by John. When Jesus presents Himself for baptism, John protests. In Matthew's account of Jesus' baptism, we see that John says to the Lord, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" (Matthew 3:14). That is a remarkable statement, especially in view of the fact that John did not know at this time that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact, John's account tells us that John the Baptist knew this only when he saw the Spirit of God descending on Jesus and remaining on Him, for that was the sign God had given to John. Only then did John realize that Jesus was the one who was to come, the one he had been announcing (John 1:32-34).
John had known Jesus ever since boyhood, for they were cousins. (And if you can't find fault with your relatives, whom can you fault?) Yet when this relative comes, John says of Him, "You don't need to be baptized. I do! Why are you coming to me?" All the other people who came to John had been baptized on their repentance and confession of sins, but John had never seen any sin in Jesus' life, so there was nothing for Jesus to repent of.
Jesus answered John in a remarkable way, recorded in Matthew 3:15: "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Why was Jesus baptized by John the Baptist? In this brief account, Mark suggests three reasons.
Jesus' Baptism: An Act of Identification with Us
First, Jesus' baptism was an act of identification. Jesus associated Himself with us. Like the grandfather we met at the beginning of this chapter, Jesus climbed into our playpen with us. He took our place, not just on the cross but first of all in baptism. This was the first step leading to that moment when He would be made sin for us, when He would become what we are. When He was baptized with a baptism of repentance and confession of sin, even though He was sinless, Jesus willingly took our place as sinners.
I like the way Dr. H. A. Ironside explained this. We are like paupers who have accumulated so many debts that we cannot pay them. These are our sins. These claims are made against us, and we cannot possibly meet them. But when Jesus came, He took all these mortgages and notes and bills we could not pay and He endorsed them with His name--a sign of His intention to pay our debts for us. This is what His baptism signifies. This is why Jesus said to John the Baptist, "It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus declared His intention to meet the righteous demands of God by undertaking to pay all our debts. So the baptism was an act of identification with us.
Jesus' Baptism: An Empowering Moment
Second, Jesus' baptism was an empowering moment. Mark writes, "As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased'" (Mark 1:10-11). It is significant that at the moment Jesus begins to take our place, the Father gives Him the gift of the Holy Spirit. There is no greater gift God can give than the gift of His Spirit.
This is not the first time Jesus had the Spirit. We must not think of it that way. The Bible tells us that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. And if that was true of John, it was true of Jesus. Our Lord lived by the Spirit during those quiet years in Nazareth. He submitted to His parents, grew up in a carpenter's shop, and learned the trade. Through those uneventful days, living in ordinary circumstances in that little village, Jesus lived by the power of the Spirit in His life. There is no question about it.
What happens, then, when the Spirit comes on Jesus like a dove? He is given a new manifestation of the Spirit, especially in terms of power. To use the language of Scripture, Jesus was anointed by the Spirit at this point. In Old Testament times, kings and priests were anointed for office in a solemn ceremony that involved pouring oil on their heads. This is the picture of what now occurs in Jesus' life. God, through the Spirit, anoints Jesus with power to meet the demands of His coming ministry. The Spirit is always associated with the coming of power into a human life.
Luke tells us that some weeks after our Lord is anointed with power by the Holy Spirit, He goes to the synagogue at Nazareth, stands before the congregation, and reads Isaiah 61:1-2, a passage He applies to Himself:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the LordÕs favor." (Luke 4:18-19)
If you look over the three-and-a-half-year span of Jesus' ministry that follows, you see that this passage from Isaiah precisely describes what Jesus was about to do. His public ministry was beginning, and it began with the anointing power of the Holy Spirit.
Do not think of God's anointing as something remote from your experience. God also anoints ordinary human beings like you and me with the power of His Spirit. That is the thrust of our Lord's teaching. Jesus took our place; therefore, what happened to Him can and must happen in us.
That is why Jesus, standing with His disciples after the resurrection, said to them, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Amazing thought! The Spirit of God must come on us. The gift of the Holy Spirit must be given to us so that we can live as God wants us to live.
Why does God anoint us with His Spirit of power? Not for us to use performing, dramatic, showy acts that bring glory to ourselves. No, God gives us His Spirit so that we can experience a new quality of life, a life that is irresistible in its beauty and attraction, yet at the same time quiet and gentle. The symbol God uses to display this new kind of power is significant: a dove.
Why did God choose a dove? Football teams use birds of prey as emblems of power, strength, and aggression. The National Football League includes such teams as the Atlanta Falcons, the Baltimore Ravens, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Philadelphia Eagles--all fierce and regal predators. But no football team would ever call itself the Doves.
In Matthew 10:16, Jesus talks about being "as innocent as doves." A dove is a gentle bird that does not resist, does not fight back, and yet is irresistible. That is the new kind of power Jesus describes--the power of love. Love can be beaten and battered, tortured, and put to death, yet it will rise again and win the day. That is the power Jesus came to model for us and release in us. It is the greatest force in the world, yet it does not intimidate or destroy. Love only attracts and heals.
As Christians, we are not called to seek power and dominance over others; instead, we must seek humility. "The greatest among you will be your servant," said Jesus (Matthew 23:11). And Peter put it this way: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (l Peter 5:6). Humility brings all of the power of God into our lives; pride makes God our enemy.
Jesus' Baptism: A Sign of Assurance
Third, Jesus' baptism was a sign of assurance. There came a voice from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11). In Matthew it is stated a little differently: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). This was said as a testimony to those who were watching the scene. But Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:22 report that the voice addresses Jesus, saying, "You are my Son, whom I love." There have been quarrels among various Bible scholars and critics over which version is correct, and those quarrels show how little we understand the ways of God.
I believe both versions are right. Those who stood nearby heard the voice say; "This is my Son," which was God's stamp of approval on the thirty years Jesus had spent in Nazareth, those quiet years of Jesus' life about which Scripture is silent. Some people have wondered, "Wasn't Jesus a sinner like everyone else? As a child, wasn't He sometimes disobedient or rebellious? He didn't live a perfect life as a boy! Who knows what kind of trouble He got into during those years the Bible doesn't tell us about?" God knew! And His testimony was clear: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." It was God's testimony to the purity of those years.
But when Jesus heard the voice, it said, "You are my Son, whom I love." These words were addressed directly to Him as a message of assurance and security. We must not think that because Jesus was the Son of God, He was automatically empowered against all obstacles, threats, and fears. He was fully human, as we are. That is what Scripture says. He needed the assurance of the Father's love and approval. He needed a message from the Father, telling Him who He was.
Psychologists tell us that if we do not know who we are, we have little poise and confidence. We have to know who we are before we can be effective and authoritative in our speech and actions. This is what God gave to Jesus at His baptism: the security of knowing His identity as the beloved Son of God.
God now makes this same bold statement about our identity in Him. The amazing good news for you and me as followers of Christ is that God views us just as He viewed Jesus, as His beloved children. As Paul writes, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory" (Romans 8:16-17). What an amazing statement! Because of our identification with Christ, God says to you and me, "You are my child, whom I love. With you I am well pleased." That is the source of our security and identity.
Jesus began His ministry with a sense of assurance from the Father that all was well in His life. That assurance empowered Him to withstand the first great test of His ministry on earth.
Tested in the Wilderness
The first act of preparation in Jesus' life was baptism. Next Mark shows us the second act of preparation, Jesus' temptation.
At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. (Mark 1:12-13)
Part of Jesus' preparation was the temptation He went through in the desert. Mark records this event, as do Matthew and Luke; John omits it. But it was necessary that our Lord experience this testing. Notice the strong language Mark uses in his brief but powerful narrative. There are three key elements of the story to be understood.
First, the Spirit immediately ("at once") sent Jesus out into the wilderness. The meaning of the original language is that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. That means Jesus felt a strong inner compulsion, a powerful urge to go into the wilderness and face the tempter on his own ground.
I vividly recall my first high school football practice. It was something I felt eager to do, something I felt I had to do to prove my manhood. Yet I was also a bit scared and anxious. I didn't know what football would do to me. Would I measure up? Would I perform well? Would I get injured? Although I was inwardly concerned, I would not admit my fears. Although I was afraid, I was still eager to jump into the game and prove myself.
I suspect that this is a faint glimmer of the feelings Jesus faced as He approached His testing in the desert. He felt a strong inner urging to prove His manhood before taking on the ultimate test at the cross of Calvary. He had to be tempted and tested for His sake. He did not dare go out to a ministry while He was yet untried. In order to know what was in Himself--what He could and could not stand--He was driven by the Spirit to this lonely place. This was intended to toughen Him. This is what God always does with His own. He toughens them by driving them out into these kinds of experiences.
In the wilderness, Jesus went through forty days of hunger, thirst, and deprivation. Forty days is a long time to go without food. I have sometimes fasted for as long as three days and have found it endurable. For a day or two, hunger increases; then, after a while, it fades. But wait a while longer, and it returns in an intensified form. Imagine forty days without food. Take out a calendar and count back forty days. Think of what you were doing forty days ago. It seems like ancient history, doesn't it? Now imagine you have not eaten one bite in all that time.
Reading carefully, we see that Mark suggests something that we don't find in the other gospel accounts. Throughout that forty-day period, the devil was there at Jesus' side, trying to break Him, coming at Him with every means of attack at his disposal. Satan attacked Jesus in His body, soul, and spirit. He probed and assaulted and sifted Jesus. He bombarded Jesus with every thought and temptation human beings are subject to. The accounts in Matthew and Luke gather up only the final temptations, the final horrific tests that Satan gave to Jesus. But Mark suggests that Satan was tormenting and testing Jesus throughout the forty-day period.
Most of us would have found the physical hunger by itself to be unendurable. One wonders if Jesus knew, when He went out into the wilderness, that He would be there for forty days. In any case, He expected that God would supply His needs. Yet His privation went on, week after week, while His body grew weaker and weaker. The tempter would come and say; "God doesn't care for you anymore. He's abandoned you. You say you're the Son of God? Why, He's made no provision for you!" After days of such attacks, the tempter would make a subtle suggestion: "If you are the Son of God, why don't you turn the stones into bread?" (see Matthew 4:3; Luke 4:3). That is how Satan works. He comes to us in our low points, when we wonder if God is there, when we are discouraged, defeated, depressed. At those low points in our lives, Satan offers us a way to be comforted. But that is not God's way to comfort; it is the path of sin, leading to guilt and destruction. That was the temptation Jesus faced.
Then imagine the loneliness Jesus felt after forty days without human companionship. Such isolation can tempt a man to want to prove himself before masses of people and even to seek their admiration. In the depths of His loneliness, the tempter came and set Jesus on a high pinnacle of the temple and told Him to cast Himself down. Matthew records:
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
'''He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.''' (Matthew 4:5-6)
Here Satan quotes Psalm 91:11-12 and suggests, "People will follow you, Jesus, when they see God support you and sustain you in this supernatural way." And don't think Jesus wasn't tempted. He was! Here was an opportunity to gain the approval of the masses by the exercise of power apart from the will of God. And aren't we all tempted that way? I have been. I'm sure you have too.
Then comes the last temptation. As Jesus reaches the depth of His torture and vulnerability; the devil suggests a way Jesus can gain what He wants without having to go through the crucifixion. He takes Jesus to a high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world. This is Jesus' goal: to come into His kingdom and rule it as the Messiah. God's plan would take Jesus to His goal, but only after He had passed through the shadow of the cross. Satan's plan is a shortcut, a way to circumvent the cross. Satan's offer to Jesus is simple and compelling: "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me" (Matthew 4:9).
Jesus is our example in times of temptation. He answered temptation in the same way that we are to answer: by simple reliance on God's Word. Three times Jesus answered Satan with the words "it is written." In Matthew 4, we read:
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4; Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3)
Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.''' (Matthew 4:7; Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:16)
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.''' (Matthew 4:10; Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:13)
Three times Jesus answered the devil with Scripture. In times of physical, mental, and spiritual torment and temptation, our emotions will rise and fall, but the Word of God stands firm. It is written. It stands written. It is changeless and sure. God's Word is our rock when we are under satanic attack.
You may ask why God allows temptation to come into our lives. When we are tempted, we are tested. God allows us to be tempted and tested so that we can be toughened and strengthened. Many years ago, I came across a poem that powerfully expresses what God is doing in our lives through times of testing:
When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man,
And skill a man;
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part,
When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways--
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects.
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows, converts him
Into trial shapes of clay
Which only God understands,
While his tortured heart is crying,
And he lifts beseeching hands.
How He bends but never breaks
When His good He undertakes.
How He uses
Whom He chooses,
And with every purpose, fuses him,
By every act, induces him
To try His splendor out.
God knows what He's about.
--Dale Martin Stone
It's true. God knows what He's about during times of temptation and testing in our lives, just as He knew what He was about during the temptation of His Son.
Attended by Beasts and Angels
Mark records one other thing about Jesus' temptation. Let's take another look at Mark's brief but eloquent account of that wilderness experience.
At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. (Mark 1:12-13)
Jesus had no human companionship or help. The only voice He heard in the wilderness was the voice of the enemy. Yet He was not alone. He was sustained by a ministry of comfort that came in unusual ways. He was with the wild animals, and the angels came and ministered to Him. What picture enters your mind when you imagine Jesus in the wilderness, surrounded by wild animals? Do you suppose that Jesus was afraid of being attacked by them? The beasts of that wilderness probably included leopards, lions, bears, and other carnivores. But all beasts are gentle beasts in the presence of the one who created them. They were His companions. They comforted Him and helped Him. I can easily picture Jesus, His body thin from hunger and cold from exposure, snuggled up between two mountain lions, being physically ministered to by the wild but friendly beasts.
Further, the angels ministered to Him. That means His thought life was sustained, His emotions were upheld, His mental faculties were kept clear. That is the ministry of angels, creatures who are invisible yet real. Many of us have experienced the ministry of angels without knowing it. When your spirits are suddenly uplifted and you do not know why, that is often the ministry of angels. Jesus was upheld that way.
Preaching of the Kingdom
God had been preparing Jesus for His public ministry. First, Jesus was baptized and equipped by the Spirit. Second, Jesus was toughened and tested in the wilderness. Now we come to a transition point as Jesus enters Galilee to begin His public ministry.
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1:14-15)
Here Mark passes over a full year of Jesus' ministry. The details of that first year are found only in John's account: the miracle at the wedding at Cana, His encounter with Nicodemus, His conversation with the woman at the well, and so forth. Mark passes over all of this, beginning his account of the ministry of Jesus with the calling of the disciples by the Sea of Galilee. But notice two things Mark underscores about Jesus.
First, Jesus came preaching the gospel of God. His method was preaching. I do not think preaching will ever be superseded by anything else, because good preaching is, at its most essential, the revelation of reality. True, honest, biblical preaching allows people to see what life is really about. Paul describes his preaching in 2 Corinthians 4:2: "by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." That is true preaching, and that is what Jesus came to do. He came to open the eyes of the people to the true nature of human and spiritual reality.
Second, Jesus' message was, "The kingdom of God is near." What did He mean by "the kingdom of God"? By this phrase, Jesus speaks of the fact that we are surrounded by an invisible spiritual kingdom. From that realm, great forces, evil and good, act on our lives. In that kingdom, Jesus is Lord and reigns supreme. That kingdom governs all the events of history and all the events of our daily lives and circumstances. As citizens of God's kingdom, we are connected to the ultimate force that governs all of reality, from the details of our daily lives to the infinite reaches of time and space.
Jesus came with the good news that all the power of God is now available to break the helpless deadlock into which humanity has fallen. Scripture tells us that in our natural condition, we are helpless. We like to think we can save ourselves and correct our condition, but the truth is that we are hopeless without the merciful intervention of God. The good news that Jesus announced at the beginning of His public ministry is that God's power has broken through, the kingdom of God is at hand, and the King has come. The power of God, through the Holy Spirit, can change lives, taking the worst sinner and transforming him or her into a model of Christlikeness.
That is the kingdom of God. As Paul writes, "The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). God is available and open to all who are willing to acknowledge their need of Him. That is why Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3).
Do you want to enter the kingdom of God? Do you want to experience the righteousness, peace, and joy of God? The kingdom of God is near to you. And the place to enter that kingdom is the place of repentance.
A Day in the Life of Jesus
Mark 1:16-39
In his semi-autobiographical novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn spends roughly 150 pages detailing the miseries and horrors of one day in a Soviet prison camp. Ivan is an innocent man falsely imprisoned, a former Russian soldier who escaped from a Nazi prison camp. On his return to Russia, his government imprisons him for ten years, accusing him of defecting to the Nazis and then coming back as a spy. In blunt, simple language, Solzhenitsyn describes one injustice after another as Ivan and his fellow prisoners try to survive the extreme Siberian cold, the brutality of the guards, the torture and drudgery of the forced labor, and the grinding misery of hunger. The title underscores the fact that this day of unrelenting horrors is just one day of the 3,653 days of Ivan's sentence. At the end of the book, we find that Ivan has survived that day, but we know that tomorrow, the struggle for survival begins all over again. And it will continue, day after day, until the last day of his unjust imprisonment or his death--whichever comes first.
It has become a popular literary technique to create a portrait of a character by tracing the events of one day in that character's life. Solzhenitsyn used this approach effectively, and so did Jim Bishop in such books as The Day Lincoln Was Shot, The Day Kennedy Was Shot, and The Day Christ Died. As we approach Mark 1:16-39, we see that Mark uses a similar literary approach in his gospel as he traces for us a day in the life of Jesus.
The day begins in the bright sunshine of a Galilean morning when Jesus walks out alongside the lake. Then it moves into a midmorning visit to a synagogue in Capernaum, for this day was a Sabbath day. Then the story proceeds to an afternoon visit at the home of Peter and Andrew. Next it traces the events of a busy evening in that city as thousands gather to be ministered to by Jesus. The account of this day concludes with a solitary midnight prayer vigil in the hills, a vigil that continues through the lonely hours of the early morning. Thus a full twenty-four hours is given to us in this account, assembled from the eyewitness memories Mark had of Jesus, plus the stories Peter had told him.
One theme is apparent as we read the account of this day: the authority of Jesus. Mark sees the authority of Jesus as descending from the servant character of Jesus. This was a radical concept for Mark's era, just as it is a radical idea today. A servant is a person of lowliness, of little or no authority. How could authority arise from the role of being a servant? Yet that principle flows throughout the Old and New Testaments. From the Old Testament story of Joseph, who was enslaved and imprisoned in Egypt, then exalted by God to a position of national leadership, to the New Testament story of Jesus, we see this principle proven again and again: God bestows authority and power on the one who voluntarily serves.
Mark records six marks of Jesus' authority that are revealed on that one day. The first mark of His authority is given to us in Mark 1:16-20.
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.
When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
This is not the first time Jesus ever saw these men. They were disciples of John the Baptist, and Jesus had met them earlier in Judea. They had even followed Him for a time as His disciples. This is not the story of their first encounter with Jesus but of the day they received their official call to a deeper and continuous level of discipleship. He said to them, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." He assumes full responsibility for training them to be effective leaders and ministers of the gospel.
At the moment Jesus calls them, these men are fishers of fish, not fishers of men. They are simple Galilean fishermen, rough, unlearned, governed by passions and prejudices, narrow in their outlook. Before they could become fishers of men, they needed to become universal in their view. They needed to learn how to walk in reliance on the power of the Spirit of God. Jesus assumes the responsibility for molding them into fishers of men.
Whenever Jesus calls us to any task, He assumes responsibility to equip and prepare us for that task. If we follow Him, yield to Him, and cooperate with Him, He will make us useful channels for His blessing, useful agents for His eternal plan.
God's Power and Your Unique Personality
It is instructive to notice the individual character and personality of each man in this story and how the task he is doing as a simple fisherman symbolizes the ministry he will have after Jesus has trained and equipped him. Peter and Andrew were casting their nets into the sea, which symbolizes that they would one day become great evangelists who would throw out spiritual nets and bring in huge hauls of human souls. We see a foreshadowing of how Andrew will lead many people to Christ, even as he brings his brother Peter to meet Christ. And Peter will become a great evangelist on the Day of Pentecost, when three thousand people respond to his gospel and become Christians.
But Mark shows that James and John were not fishing when Jesus called them. Instead, they were preparing their nets (some translations say "mending their nets"). The Greek word for "mending" or "preparing" is the same word that Paul uses when he says that pastors and teachers in the church are "to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up" (Ephesians 4:12). Just as James and John were preparing their nets and getting them ready when Jesus called them, so they were later found to be preparing people for ministry after Jesus had mentored and taught them. When our Lord calls us, He prepares us for service. Yet He does so in such a way as to retain the nuances of personality that marked our lives before we answered His call.
Once, while I was visiting Wheaton College in Illinois, a student came to me at the close of a chapel service. "All week long," he said, "you've told us how Christ wants to work through us that He will do the work if we just allow Him to be Lord of our lives. My question is this: How can Jesus work through us without destroying our personality?"
In answering him, an illustration came to my mind. "When you prepare breakfast," I said, "you can plug an electric toaster and an electric mixer into the same outlet. The same electricity will power both appliances. Does that mean that they will both perform the same task?"
His face lit up with understanding. "I see what you mean," he said.
When God's power flows through two different people, He is able to work through them both. But no two people are alike. The way He energizes your life will produce different results from the way He energizes mine. Jesus is the one who lives in us and manifests Himself through us, but the result always reflects our individuality and personality.
Many books, video and cassette tape products, and seminar speakers will promise you unlimited power of some sort--the power to move you toward your goals, the power to make you a better salesman or executive, the power to make you rich and famous and sought-after. If you sign up for one of these courses or buy one of these books, you will be subjected to a standardized process designed to fit you into a mold. Everyone who buys the book, listens to the tapes, or attends the seminars will emerge thinking, talking, and acting much like everyone else who did the same. Unfortunately we do this to people in Christian circles as well. We subject people to our Christian programs in the way we'd feed meat to a sausage grinder. What comes out the other end of the sausage grinder? Identical little sausages!
But Jesus does not do that. He fills us with His power, and He acts through us, but we don't lose our individuality. Instead, we retain our individuality while gaining His.
The Comprehension and Insight of Jesus
Mark then records the second mark of Jesus' remarkable authority, His comprehension and insight.
They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. (Mark 1:21-22)
Notice the first word of that passage: "they." This refers to Peter, Andrew, James, and John, who accompanied Jesus into Capernaum.
In this passage, Mark is impressed by the comprehension of Jesus--the vast scope of His knowledge and insight into human life and the human condition. Mark was particularly impressed with the authority with which Jesus spoke. In fact, he notes that all who were present were astonished at His authority. Jesus did not teach like the scribes, who would say, "Now, Hillel says this, and Gamaliel adds that, while other authorities contend something different altogether."
Jesus did not cite any authority but Himself. Yet His words were so insightful, so true to experience, so sound and meaningful, that those who heard Him couldn't help but nod in agreement. To hear Him was to know that He spoke the truth. His words had the ring of truth; they were self-authenticating and corresponded to the inner conviction of each person who heard. No earthly authority has the right to judge the teaching of Jesus; instead, every earthly teaching must be judged and measured against what Jesus taught. He is the true authority.
During the Vietnam war era, when campuses across the United States were being torn by unrest and riots, I went to a Christian college to speak to a student gathering. I was surprised and dismayed to discover that even this Christian campus had not been spared from the worldly "question everything" attitude sweeping the land. I was invited to teach a class on current events, and we discussed various issues of the day: rampant immorality, capital punishment, civil rights, and the Vietnam war. I was dismayed to hear student after student cite the opinions of secular experts and authorities on these issues, yet no one was citing the answers given in God's Word. Finally I stopped the discussion and said, "You know, this is a Christian college. Yet no one in this class has made any reference at all to what God has to say about these matters. I submit to you that ultimately His viewpoint is the only viewpoint that counts. And it is in what He says that the truth lies."
Truth is what you find in the teachings of Jesus. We are not to assess the Word of God in light of modern psychology and philosophy. Rather, we are to correct our psychology and our philosophy by the truth that God has set forth in His Word. When we accept Jesus as our ultimate authority, we discover that the truths He first spoke some two thousand years ago demonstrate a depth of insight that secular doctors of the soul are only now beginning to grasp. As the American psychiatrist J. T. Fisher once observed,
If you were to take the sum total of all authoritative articles ever written by the most qualified of psychologists and psychiatrists on the subject of mental hygiene--if you were to take the whole of the meat and none of the parsley, and if you were to have these unadulterated bits of pure scientific knowledge concisely expressed by the most capable of living poets, you would have an awkward and incomplete summation of the Sermon on the Mount. For nearly two thousand years the Christian world has been holding in its hands the complete answer to its restless and fruitless yearnings. Here. . . rests the blueprint for successful human life with optimum mental health and contentment.
(J. T. Fisher and L. S. Hawley, A Few Buttons Missing (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1951),273.)
Now we begin to see why the people in the synagogue at Capernaum were astonished at the teaching of Jesus. As I read through the Scriptures and see the things Jesus said, I confess that I too am frequently amazed by the wisdom and psychological insight He displays. He is the authority on all things pertaining to life, relationships, meaning, peace, and happiness.
The Response to Jesus' Authority
The third mark of Jesus' authority is the remarkable response His teaching stirred that Sabbath morning.
Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"
"Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching--and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee. (Mark 1:23-28)
Mark sums it up for us in the response of the people in the synagogue. They were astonished and said, "What is this? A new teaching--and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." The unclean spirit obeyed the command of Jesus. Our Lord's insight was so piercing and penetrating that it shone an unbearable light on the demon that lurked within the man. Tortured by the intensity of the truth that Jesus revealed, the demon angrily interrupted Him: "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!" And Jesus commanded the demon to be silent.
This account presents us with our Lord's first recorded encounter with the phenomenon that is popularly called demon possession. The Greek New Testament never uses the words "demon possession," although the New International Version does refer to a man who was "possessed by an evil spirit." "Demon possession" is a popular term that was coined aside from the Bible and may or may not be accurate from the perspective of Scripture. The word in Scripture is always "demonized." Whether it means possession or control or influence, this is the word that is used.
When The Exorcist (1973) was released, audiences streamed to the theaters to see it, and many people emerged from the darkened theaters screaming, crying, vomiting, or fainting. After watching the film, some people worried that they had become demon possessed. I never watched the film, but I have read several reviews. It is the story of a girl inhabited by a demon, an evil spirit. She is supposedly set free (exorcised) by two men who intercede on her behalf. But although the girl is freed (temporarily, perhaps) from the evil spirit, the story does not end in the triumph of good over evil. It is the demon who triumphs, for he destroys the two men in the process. The Exorcist is an evil and frightening film.
It is instructive to contrast the story of The Exorcist, a popular, secular notion of demon possession, with the biblical account of Jesus' encounter with a demon, as recorded by Mark. When Jesus confronts the evil spirit, the demon is driven out of the man. The word of Jesus is victorious from the start. There is no moral ambiguity, no partial victory. While the evil spirit is reluctant to go, as demonstrated by the way it convulses the man and cries out with a loud voice, the demon has no choice. Jesus speaks a command, and the evil spirit is overwhelmed by an infinitely superior power.
Throughout all the centuries since that day, the only name demons have ever feared is the name of Jesus. Jesus sets people free and delivers the oppressed. It is well to remember, when we face the forces of spiritual evil, no religious mumbo jumbo, no church ritual or chants or Latin words, no religious talismans or symbols or amulets have any power to set people free. It is Jesus alone whom demons fear. He has the authority to command unclean spirits.
So amazing was this event that, as Mark records, "news about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee." When Mark says "quickly," he does not mean in a few days or weeks; he means in a few hours. This was such a remarkable situation that within hours the word spread like wildfire all through the region. By evening, people by the scores were bringing the sick and demonized into the city to be healed by Jesus, as we will soon see. When the people heard that here was one who commanded the spirits of darkness and they obeyed, they had to see for themselves.
The Compassion of Jesus
The next event in this day in the life of Jesus is the account of a simple event in the home of Simon and Andrew.
As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. SimonÕs mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. (Mark 1:29-31)
It is early afternoon, and Mark's emphasis is on the compassion that moved Jesus. Simon and Andrew had invited Jesus, James, and John home with them, only to find that Simon's mother-in-law was sick. So they mentioned the woman to Jesus and explained that she was unwell. From the English phrase "they told Jesus about her," you might get the idea that they also asked Jesus to heal her. But the Greek makes it clear that they mentioned to Jesus that the lady of the house was not feeling well and would not be able to offer any hospitality. Simon and Andrew had seen Jesus command an evil spirit out of a man, but they had never seen Him heal anyone. It almost certainly didn't occur to them that He could. Healing the woman was Jesus' idea, not theirs.
When Jesus heard about the woman's illness, He took the initiative, approached her, and laid His hand on her. Immediately the fever left her. Out of a grateful heart, this restored woman ministered to the needs of Jesus that afternoon.
It wasn't necessary that Jesus raise this woman up. She was not particularly sick. The fever doubtless would have run its course, and she would have recovered in a few days. But this incident speaks of the compassion of Jesus. Minor though her suffering might have been, Jesus responded to this woman's plight and restored her to joyful service. Mark records this event because he wants us to know that Jesus is compassionate and ministers with tenderness and love.
The Gathering Crowds
Now we come to the evening of the day, the culmination of all the events that have occurred in the morning, noon, and afternoon. The word of Jesus' amazing works has spread throughout the region, and this, as Mark records, is the result:
That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. (Mark 1:32-34)
At sundown the Sabbath ended, and the people from all around began to bring the sick and demonized for Jesus to heal. Mark tells us the "whole town gathered at the door." If you visit Capernaum today, you will find only a small town, perhaps a half-dozen houses. The ruins of a synagogue are there. Some scholars believe it was the synagogue where Jesus taught. Although most scholars and archaeologists date the ruined synagogue from the second century, it was probably built on the site of the synagogue described in Mark's account. In Jesus' time, Capernaum was a flourishing lakeshore town, one of the largest in the region. It is where Jesus made His home.
The people brought their sick and demonized to be healed. What a busy, full evening Jesus spent there in Capernaum! Mark records for us the amazing control Jesus exercised over the demons that were brought before Him. He would not permit them to speak, and they obeyed because they knew Him. This is significant in that it shows that Jesus, far from wanting to be known as a wonder worker, wanted to deemphasize the spectacular, to keep it under control, to play down deliverance from demons and physical healing. On a number of occasions, Jesus told those He healed, "Go, and tell no one." Yet they invariably disobeyed Him, and in time He could no longer minister in the city because of the enormous crowds that followed Him. Jesus did not seek out the crowds, but He could not keep the crowds from seeking Him.
Contrast Jesus with the so-called healers of our day. They are masters of advertising, electronic media, and showmanship. Unlike Jesus, they want big crowds--the bigger the better. When we look at the physical healings that Jesus performed, and later, the healings performed by His apostles, we always see that the spectacular aspect is played down, not trumpeted or advertised. There is no record in Scripture of people giving public testimonials in order to increase the crowds, or dramatic displays of crutches lined up to impress the masses. The exploitation of healings for donations or human ego gratification is unbiblical and unlike Christ.
Does God still heal today as He did in Jesus' day? Of course God heals, and we should thank God for physical healings. But we must keep this issue in perspective. Physical healings are only temporary blessings at best. What Jesus continually emphasizes is the healing of the soul and spirit of people--the healing of sin, bitterness, faultfinding, hostility, lust, gossip, anger, worry, and anxiety. This is what God wants to deliver us from, because spiritual deliverance is eternal deliverance, not merely a temporary blessing. That is why Jesus turns His back on popular acclaim.
The Interrupted Prayer of Jesus
It has been a long and busy day in the life of Jesus, but it is not over yet. Mark details for us one final event of that day.
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"
Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. (Mark 1:35-39)
After this full day, Mark records that early in the morning, before it was daylight, Jesus went out alone, climbed the mountainside, and prayed. But even there He was not safe from intrusion. His disciples interrupted His communion with the Father to tell Him the crowds were already seeking Him. Jesus reveals the heart and substance of His prayer in what He says in reply: "Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." He prayed for open doors and open hearts in the cities to which He would go next.
Why did Jesus take time alone with the Father while He faced so much pressure from the crowds and a busy schedule? He wanted to make clear to us that His authority came not from Him but from the Father. Again and again throughout the four gospels, Jesus makes this point: He acts only on authority given Him by the Father.
We should never water down the deity of Christ, for He is fully God as well as fully man. But neither should we compromise the amazing truth, which He stressed again and again, that He lived a life derived entirely from God the Father. In John 5:19, He said, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." Again He says, "Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work" (John 14:10). How can we ignore what He is saying to us? Yes, He is the Son of God, but the power He manifests is the power that flows through Him from God the Father.
Why is this such an important point? Because Jesus wants us to understand that we are to operate on the same basis that He did. Whatever we face in life must be faced in total reliance on God. This is the secret of the Christian life. All power to live the Christian life comes not from us but from Him. Power is given to those who follow, those who obey. The Father is at work in the Son; the Son is at work in us. As we learn this, God's power is able to flow through us to meet the demands of our lives and the needs of the people around us.
This is why Jesus was up on the hillside praying. He wanted to build such an intensity of relationship with the Father that there would be no hindrance to the flow of the Spirit of God through Him as He went out to minister. What a difference it makes when we begin to understand this principle and when we derive our lives from God instead of operating from our easily depleted strength.
Once, after I had been teaching on this principle at a Christian college for a week, a student came to me and said, "I went back to my dorm last night with that message going through my mind: 'Everything coming from God; nothing coming from me.' I tried to concentrate on my studies, but my mind kept going out to my father, who was not a Christian. Finally I phoned him and said, 'Dad, there's a Billy Graham film playing in town. Why don't we go see it?' He said, 'Thanks, son, but I'm really too tired to go out tonight.' But I kept urging him, and finally he said, 'Okay, son, we haven't done anything together in a while. Let's go.' So we went--and my dad received the Lord as his Savior. I can't tell you how happy I am that I let God work through me that night!"
This is the truth we need to grasp. We strategize and organize and make our human plans. When we pray, it is not so much to seek God's power as to inform Him of our intentions and ask His blessing on our efforts. No wonder we fail! We leave no room for God to operate.
But Jesus knew the secret of effective living, and He modeled it for us. He showed that God will work in a unique, wonderful, and powerful way if only we let Him. We can achieve the unimaginable, if only we will become willing instruments in the hands of our awesome Creator.
That is the secret that impressed Mark: the secret of the authority of the servant. The one who serves is the one who rules. That is the great truth God seeks to teach us. If we will live as Jesus lived, drawing on the power of God as Jesus did, then God will work in us and through us.
On January 21,1930, King George V of England was about to address the opening session of an international arms control conference in London. It was an event of intense interest around the world. The First World War had ended less than a decade and a half earlier, and the people of the world were anxious to prevent another world war. King George's speech was about to be carried around the globe by a relatively new technology called radio, but America almost didn't get to hear it.
Just minutes before the king of England stepped up to the microphones, a technician in the control room of the Columbia Broadcasting System tripped over a cable and severed the connection. The CBS control chief, a man named Harold Vidian, didn't even stop to think about what he was doing. He reached out, grasped the ends of the severed cable with his bare hands, and restored the circuit with his body.
Instantly Vidian was jolted by several hundred volts of electricity. He managed to hang on as King George's message was broadcast across the North American continent. Vidian survived--and the king's voice was heard.
That is an electrifying image of what our lives are to be like. We are the channels, the conductors of God's power. When we allow His power to course through us, then the voice of the King will be heard throughout the world.
The Healer of Hurts
Mark 1:40-2:12
In his autobiography, Timebends, playwright Arthur Miller talks about his tumultuous marriage to screen idol Marilyn Monroe. In contrast to her "dumb blonde" screen image, Miller found her to be a bright and thoughtful woman who was often in the grip of deep depression and despair. Although Marilyn had been reared in a conservative Christian home and Miller was reared Jewish, neither believed in God anymore.
Marilyn regularly went to a well-known psychoanalyst who prescribed large amounts of barbiturates for her. Perhaps because of the drugs, she was becoming increasingly paranoid, fearing that someone was trying to kill her. One night, after the doctor had given Marilyn a tranquilizer to help her sleep, Miller stood over her bed, watching her. It seemed to him that the only peaceful moments she ever knew were when she slept. He reflected,
I found myself straining to imagine miracles. What if she were to wake and I were able to say: "God loves you, darling." And what if she were able to believe it? How I wish I still had my religion and she, hers.
How tragic! For the truth is that we don't have to strain to imagine miracles. The miracle worker has come. God does love us. And He brings hope and healing to broken lives and wounded hearts.
Jesus is the Healer of hurts.
Jesus' Knowledge of Our Humanity
We come at this point to a natural division in Mark's gospel, one of several such divisions. The first section is Mark 1:1-39. Each division of Mark's gospel ends with a summary statement, such as this one in Mark 1:39: "So he [Jesus] traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons." The theme of the first division of Mark is the authority of the Servant--the authority Jesus exercised as He commanded the disciples to follow Him, and they followed; as He commanded the evil spirits to be silent and depart, and they obeyed; as He commanded illnesses to vanish and fevers to subside, and they did.
The next natural division is Mark 1:40-3:6. The theme of this second division is Jesus' knowledge of our humanity. In this section, we repeatedly see His perceptive understanding of who we are and why we act the way we do. The apostle John expresses this same facet of Jesus' character in his gospel:
Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need manÕs testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. (John 2:23-25)
That significant statement means that Jesus knew every individual who came to Him. That is why He could say to Nathanael, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you" (John 1:48). That is why He could tell Nicodemus that he needed to be born again (John 3:3) and why He could say to the woman at the well, "The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband" (John 4:18). He had a deep knowledge of people He had never met. Why? Because He knew what was in a person. He understood our humanity, how God made us, and who we are. That is the theme Mark develops in the second division of his gospel.
This division opens with two incidents in the life of Jesus: the healing of a leper and the healing of a paralytic. These incidents are linked by the way they reveal a deep truth about humanity and the way they reveal Jesus' perfect knowledge of our human nature. The story of the healing of the leper is found in Mark 1:40-42. Comparing this passage with the parallel passage in Matthew, we find that Matthew places the healing of the leper immediately after the Sermon on the Mount. As Jesus was coming down the mountain, this leper met Him. Mark describes the incident in this way:
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean. "
Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. (Mark 1:40-42)
In this scene, Jesus heals a man who is infected with leprosy, a once common plague now known as Hansen's disease. Mark highlights two impressive things about this miracle: the appeal of this leper to the will of Jesus, which is unique among the recorded miracles of Jesus; and the compassionate response with which Jesus answers the leper's appeal. It is significant and instructive that the leper says to Jesus, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
"If You Are Willing, Lord"
A young man once came to me with the issue of healing on his mind. He had been influenced by the teaching of the name-it-and-claim-it movement that had swept many churches. This movement teaches that God always heals if we ask in faith, that it is wrong (and even a sin) to be sick, and that we never have to ask God whether or not it is His will to heal us. The result of this teaching is that if a person becomes sick and is not healed, then he or she is accused of lacking faith or having sin in his or her life. The pain of accusation then is added to the person's physical suffering.
This young man told me, "When we pr