Category: Reflections In the Gospel of Mark

Reflections In Mark: Commissioning And A Declaration Of War

On By joshnnomiIn Reflections In the Gospel of MarkLeave a comment

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Jesus’ baptism was not your ordinary event. When Jesus comes up out of the water, the approval of heaven comes blaring through like lightning in a dark sky. Immediately we realize this is no ordinary event, this is a commissioning from the Father and a declaration of war from the enemy.

Commissioning

Hundreds of years before Jesus we read Isaiah’s cry to the Lord,

Isaiah 64:1 ESV

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—

If we look throughout the nation of Israel’s history we can picture in our mind what Isaiah is asking for when we look at the story of Moses and the giving of the Law, when the Lord came down and spoke to Moses and shook the mountains with his thunderous voice. Isaiah is asking for the Lord to break open the skies and speak to his people.
In Mark 1, hundreds of years later the answer to Isaiah’s prayer finally arrives. But it isn’t like anything the Lord has done in the past. This time the Lord shows up on the scene in the person of Jesus, God in human flesh. He doesn’t come on the clouds or a royal throne, but through the humble family of Joseph and Mary, growing up in Nazareth. At his appointed time, he approaches John to be baptized and we are invited onto the scene by the Gospel writers.
Mark puts into words to help us visualize the answer to Isaiah’s prayer.  What is interesting in Mark compared to the other Gospel writers that tell them baptism narrative, is Mark uses the word σχίζω/schizo. Schizo describes something torn or split open. Mark is doing his best to describe this event of the Father from heaven splitting open the skies and displaying for everyone God is now here in the person of Jesus.
Mark also describes the Spirit descending on Jesus, the Greek intensifies this union by describing the Spirit coming “into him” indicating Jesus’ complete filling and equipping for ministry. Isaiah points out that one who was to come will but filled with the Spirit and power,
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
The heavens ripped open, the Spirit descended on Jesus and now we have the sweet sound of the Father’s joy from heaven declaring, “you are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.” Mark describes the Father’s love and stamp of approval over his Son, which is also an Old Testament theme.

Psalm 2:7 ESV

I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

Isaiah 42:1 ESV

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

This whole event sums up the commissioning of Jesus and launching him out for ministry. What we discover is after the commissioning we have testing and a declaration of war from Satan.

Declaration of War

This should not surprise us, if you think back to the Garden of Eden, we have the commissioning of Adam and Eve to care for and fill the garden, when lo and behold we are introduced to the serpent who is there to declare war and to tempt Adam and Eve. If we think about the nation of Israel exiting Egypt and God’s hand protecting them and leading them to Mount Sinai, where they will be commissioned through covenant. We discover while Moses is on the mountain the nation is building and worshiping an idol. What we discover through out the Scriptures is whenever there is a commissioning of God on a person or a movement, their is a declaration of war by Satan.

Like Adam and Eve, like the nation of Israel, after the commissioning of Jesus their is a declaration of war on the person of Christ, unlike the other Gospel writers Mark’s description of the event is brief,

Mark 1:12–13 ESV

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

There are important elements in Mark’s telling of history. The first is, Jesus was not alone. Mark tells us the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. In the Baptism narrative we read the Holy Spirit came into him, now we read the Holy Spirit directing him. We see Jesus obediently following the direction of the Spirit, they are working in tandem to defeat an enemy who has waged war on the mission of God. We also read of the angels ministering to him.

We know from the other Gospel accounts that Jesus while in the wilderness for forty days, he was also fasting for forty days. While the other Gospel accounts record three specific temptations, Mark tells us Jesus was being tempted by Satan for forty days. Day after day, Satan is pulling out his bag of tricks trying to defeat the Son of God.

What is also interesting in Mark’s account is the mention of the wild beast in the wilderness. It’s almost as if the wild beast’s were working with Satan. Why would Mark mention this? I find it interesting Mark mentions this and I believe it was important because of Mark’s Roman audience. We know from history that the Romans used wild beasts to persecute Christians. They would immediately associate wild beasts with persecution and suffering.

What does all this mean?

We read in Matthew and Luke Jesus was victorious. Where Adam & Eve failed, where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded. A new Adam has arrived, one who is victorious. His victory was not just for himself. His victory is for all those who will look to him, repent and believe. His first victory was in the wilderness, ultimate victory came when he walked out of the tomb on the third day.

Just like the Father commissioned the Son, the Son has commissioned us to be ambassadors of the Kingdom of God on earth. He left us with a mission to be light in a dark world, to spread the good news of the kingdom to all the peoples of the Earth. His stamp of approval is on us who believe, His Spirit is in us, the words the Father spoke to the Son “you are my Son, you are my Daughter whom I love, with you I am well pleased”, echo throughout time and is spoken over us.

As we serve in our mission for the expansion of the kingdom of God, Satan will wage war on us. We are not alone. We have been empowered by the Spirit, we have ministering angels helping us, but most of all we have a high priests who was victorious, his victory is our victory.

Until Next Time

Soli Deo Gloria

 

 

Meditation Monday: Extra! Extra! Read All About it!

On By joshnnomiIn Meditation Monday's, Reflections In the Gospel of MarkLeave a comment

Meditation Monday will consist of reflections in the Gospel of Mark.

I love headlines, especially the really good ones, they grab your attention and draw you into the article or news story. A good headline creates an appetite inside of you to continue reading or viewing what follows. The Gospel according to Mark doesn’t begin with a genealogy like Matthew and Luke, Mark begins with a thematic headline, a purpose statement, which is intended to grab our attention and let us know the purpose of his writing.

Just imagine you are a person who lived during the time of Jesus Christ, you have heard rumblings through your town of a man who was giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, healing lepers and the paralyzed, transforming lives, this man was crucified, died, buried, but his followers say he is risen from the dead. Or imagine you were a citizen of the nation of Israel, you’ve heard the prophecies passed down for centuries, a messiah is coming, he will make all things right again. Put yourselves in their shoes… now imagine a scroll arriving to your synagogue or home, the messenger unrolls the scrolls and begins to read, the words which come from his lips to our ears are,

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1 ESV)

How would you react? Would it pique your interest? Would you want to keep listening, investigating, reading?

I know I would if I lived in the the New Testament era, I still do in the 21st century. Mark’s thematic headline is his short confession of faith. With this purpose statement, Mark is summarizing for us what he believes about this person who stepped into time and space named Jesus. Mark records, in his style, the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God is not only history but it is his story. Jesus is the Gospel.

The Beginning

If you are a student of the Bible, what do these words remind you of? When I see these words my mind is drawn to the opening phrase from the book of Genesis, in the beginning. Genesis begins this way to record the beginning of creation. Fast forward to Mark 1 and he proclaims the beginning of the Gospel, Mark is letting us know God is on the move. Mark’s allusion to the creation narrative by using the word beginning in his thematic purpose statement is pointing out this Gospel is crafted in the mind of God and implemented in the person of Jesus. In the words of J.R Edwards ” For Mark the introduction of Jesus is no less momentous than the creation of the world, for in Jesus a new creation is at hand.“

The Beginning of the Gospel

The Basic meaning of the word Gospel is good news, so when Mark says “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ” he is saying this is the beginning of the good news concerning Jesus. 
This term “gospel” also has a cultural meaning. When Mark plants this word in the middle of his thematic purpose statement he wasn’t just saying “hey, I have some good news.” In the time of Christ this word gospel had a very specific cultural meaning. A gospel was news of a history changing event, which impacted everyone and everyone needed to respond. For example there is a document in Greek that says “this is the beginning of the Gospel of Caesar Augustus.” This  gospel concerning Caesar Augustus was sent out via heralds (preachers/messengers) of Caesar Augustus, to everyone who was under his rule, they went every where to share this good news. This cultural use of the word gospel carries the idea that this good news was earth shattering, history changing event which effects everyone.
Another famous example of this is in AD 490 the battle of Marathon. The Persians were invading Greece and the Athenian army went out to battle the Persians on the plains of Marathon. Everyone expected the Persian army to win the battle. The people in Athens were in fear because as soon as the Persians broke through, Athens would be defenseless. To everyone’s surprise the Greeks won and as soon as they won they realized we need to communicate this Gospel to Athens. What the people on the battlefield realized is unless the people of Athens knew this gospel there could be panic in the streets, looting, chaos.
So they sent a single runner back, and he ran all the way back from Marathon to Athens, can anyone guess the miles? He ran into the city and all he shouted was REJOICE we’ve triumphed!! Then he fell dead. The Athenians needed to hear this good news and the runner realized the message was more precious than life itself.
When Mark proclaims the beginning of the Gospel, he was saying rejoice the promised messiah has come. His thematic headline was proclaiming earth shattering news to all people. The messiah, the true king of Israel is here, God himself has come in the person of Jesus.

Names and Titles

Mark continues his thematic headline by stating that this Gospel is not just historical facts, or certain truths but this Gospel is a person. This person has a name and titles associated to him which describe who he is and his purpose. Mark says this Gospel is about the person of Jesus, which comes from the Hebrew name Joshua meaning Yahweh saves. This name was given to him because he was going to save us from our sins (Matt. 1:21). We discover Jesus is the one who will save us from sin.

We also see Mark uses the name or title of Christ. Which literally means anointed one, to the Jewish people the term Christ was used to describe the Messiah who was to come. Which adds another layer to Mark’s thematic headline. Jesus is not just the savior, but he is the person promised in the Old Testament, He is the one we have been waiting for. This Jesus is the Messiah.

Which leads us to our final title Mark uses, the son of God. Mark is not mixing words, he wants it to be clear who Jesus is, when he calls Jesus the son of God, he is saying that Jesus is God. We will discover through the book of Mark, the title of son of God is proclaiming the divinity of Christ.

Implications

 By using this thematic headline style Mark is conveying some important news to us the reader. What are some implications we can draw from this thematic headline.

  1. This person called Jesus deserves our careful attention and investigation into his claims. Mark is letting us know the life, death and resurrection of Jesus are claims which need to be investigated. Mark’s thematic headline is is stating what follows is my apologetic, my defense and my case on why Jesus is the messiah, the son of God and why it is good news to the world.
  2. Mark desires his confession of faith become our confession of faith. Mark’s desire is that in the reading and investigating of his book you discover and believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. He wants his confession of faith to become your confession of faith.
  3. Mark’s goal is to proclaim this life changing, earth shattering, historical event known as the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mark is like the Athenian messenger from the battle of Marathon, with an urgent message. Mark’s voice is travelling thousands of years through time and proclaiming the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God to our 21st century ears. This Gospel is still life changing, earth shattering, historical event and the words of God through the Gospel of Mark coupled with the power of the Spirit of God, still can and still does birth faith in us to believe in Jesus.

Until Next Time

Soli Deo Gloria