Tag: Mark’s Thematic Headline

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