Mark 1:1-8 reads (my translation):
1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God.
2 Just as it was written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Look! I send my messenger before your face,
Who will clear the road for you;
3 A voice shouting in the desert,
Prepare the road of the Lord,
Make his paths straight.”
4 John the Baptiser appeared in the desert, announcing a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
5 And all from the region of Judea and all the Jerusalemites were coming out to him, and they were being baptised by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
6 And John was clothed in camel hair and a leather belt around his waist and he was eating locusts and bush honey.
7 And he was announcing, “One more powerful than me is coming after me, who I am not fit to bend down and loosen his sandal strap.
8 I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you in the Holy Spirit.
This is the opening of Mark’s biography about Jesus, the most important person to walk the earth. And as Mark shows in virtually every page of his book, Jesus was not just a person - but he was also God. And it’s not really a biography, as it doesn’t follow the conventions of a formal historical treatise or biography from the 1st century. It might be more correct to call it a “witness-document” (1), a proclamation about Jesus and who he is.
Scholars believe that Mark was the first of the four gospels to be written - he was the one who invented the genre of the “gospel”. Most scholars date Mark to 60-70 A.D., just 30 years after Jesus’ death.
I think that sometimes we tend to overlook Mark. It doesn’t have the details and descriptions of fulfilled prophecies like Matthew, or the careful arrangement and historical details of Luke, or the clear divine presentation of Jesus like John. Mark seems a bit like the Sparknotes version of Matthew or Luke, so why would we bother studying it when we can look at the “real” gospels? This is not just a modern problem. In the late fifth century A.D., Victor of Antioch complained that there was a total absence of commentaries on Mark, so he compiled one based on earlier writers who incidentally mentioned Mark in their commentaries on Matthew, Luke and John (2).
However, this view of Mark comes from a lack of understanding and appreciation for what he writes and how he writes.
Early church history (from the second century) is unanimous that Mark was closely associated with the apostle Peter, and thus his gospel primarily represents Peter’s recounting of what happened. A church elder from near the start of the second century said, “Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatever he remembered of the things said and done by the Lord, but not however in order.” (3)
An introduction written for the gospel of Mark from ca. 160-180 A.D. says that Mark was “called “stump-fingered”, because he had rather small fingers in comparison with the stature of the rest of his body” (4).
So who was this Mark, the stump-fingered? Early church history also strongly indicates that the author of this gospel was John Mark, a Jewish Christian from Jerusalem, whom Barnabas and Saul took along with them on their missionary journey in Acts 12:25. Mark returned to Jerusalem before the end of this trip (Acts 13:13), leading to argument between Paul and Barnabus, with Paul refusing to let Mark come on a second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-40). However, John Mark was later reconciled with Paul, as he was with Paul during his imprisonment in Rome (Phlm 24) and was sent by him to the Colossian church (Col 4:10). When Paul was again in prison later in life, he instructed Timothy to bring Mark to him in Rome, “because he is helpful to me in my ministry” (2 Tim 4:11). Mark also worked with Peter, who described him affectionately as his son in 1 Peter 5:13.
It seems that Mark was a skilled Greek writer, who wrote his gospel primarily for a Gentile audience. This can be seen in his numerous explanations of Jewish customs (e.g. Mk 7:3, 14:12, 15:42), translation of Aramaic words and phrases, his preference for the use of Latin technical terms over Greek words, his use of Roman ways of recording time, and the climactic point of the gospel where a Roman centurion confesses Jesus’ deity (Mk 15:39). His clear message is that the gospel is for everybody - not just Jews, but also Gentiles.
So, let’s see what we can learn from the beginning of the gospel of Mark .
1 Ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ [υἱοῦ θεοῦ].
1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God.
Mark opens his writing with a single Greek word: Ἀρχὴ “beginning”. This may be best understood as a description/title for the following verses - i.e., the appearance and preaching of John the Baptist in vv. 4-8, in accordance with the prophecy of Isaiah (vv. 2-3), was the beginning of Jesus’ gospel ministry and story.
Now, if you put on your Bible hat and hear the word “beginning”, what does this conjure up? It has very strong Biblical overtones, in particular with Genesis 1:1. There is very similar language in John 1:1 where it talks about Jesus being present in the beginning, prior to creation. However, this “beginning” language is also woven throughout other portions of the Bible, such as Hos 1:2 (“the beginning of the words of the Lord to Hosea” LXX) and Prov 1:7 (“the beginning of wisdom is fear of God” LXX). So too, here we have the beginning of a new and significant event in history.
This is not only an event in history, it marks a new stage in history. The beginning in Genesis marks the creation in the world - the beginning of history as we mortals perceive it. But the coming of Jesus, the son of God, marks a new beginning, the start of re-creation of the world and the start of the re-creation of the hearts of his followers. All of the faithful church, all of the prophets, all of creation has been straining forward to try and catch a glimpse of this event. And now it has come. It is a new beginning. This new beginning is so significant, that even now - 2000 years after the event - we start our calendar from the birth of Jesus.
Now this word not only shows us the significance of the events which are about to be related, but it also reminds us that it is God who initiates redemption on behalf of men (5). The beginning of the work of redemption was God sending his son, incarnate in human form. It wasn’t from men beginning to seek God out, or beginning to follow his laws better, or beginning to ask for a saviour. No, when there is a beginning worth speaking about, it always comes from God.
As we continue on in verse 1, we come to the good news, or the gospel, of Jesus Christ. This was not a new word; it had significant use amongst both the Roman and Jewish sections of society.
In the Roman world, this “gospel” meant “joyful tidings” and was mainly associated with the cult of the emperor. The emperor’s birthday, attainment to majority, and accession to power were celebrated as festival occasions for the whole world (6). An inscription from around 9 B.C. has been found in the city of Priene in Greece, which refers to the emperor Augustus (Octavian): “the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings [εὐαγγέλιον] for the world that came by reason of him”. Thus in the ancient world, a “gospel” meant “a historical event which introduces a new situation for the world” (7). This inscription is actually very similar to the start of Mark’s gospel, where he refers to the beginning of the good tidings - but this time regarding Jesus, the true God. The humble rabbi on the cross is described with the same language as the Roman emperor - both are a “gospel” to men, but in very different ways.
At the same time, Jewish society had their own associations and use of the word “gospel”. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament which was in widespread use at the time of Jesus, this word “gospel” was used to translate a Hebrew word meaning “to announce good news”, especially of victory (see 1 Sam 31:9, 1 Kgs 1:42, Jer 20:15). In the prophets, the content of this good news was “the in-breaking of God’s kingly rule, the advent of his salvation, vengeance, vindication” (8).
Its use in Isaiah is particularly pertinent in this context, as Mark goes on to immediately quote from Isaiah in the next verses of this passage. In Isaiah, the Hebrew term for “good news” is specifically used concerning the announcement of future salvation, or of the time of salvation.
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news [proclaim the gospel], who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings [the gospel], who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they should for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.”
(Isa 52:7-10).
Similarly, in Isaiah 61:1-2b, which Jesus read from in the Nazareth synagogue at the beginning of his public ministry: “The spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news [to proclaim the gospel] to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour…”
Here in the account of Mark, the future good news becomes present good news. Unlike the Roman gospel which is retrospective and about an event in the past, John is proclaiming that God’s good news is here and now. Now what is this good news? Well, it is the gospel concerning Jesus Christ - he is the newly crowned ruler. God has in-broken into the world - and it will never be the same. It is the start of a new era, linking back to the new beginning previously mentioned.
2 Καθὼς γέγραπται ἐν τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ τῷ προφήτῃ,
Ἰδοὺ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου,
ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου·
2 Just as it was written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Look! I send my messenger before your face,
Who will clear the road for you;
3 φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ,
Ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου,
εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ,
3 A voice shouting in the desert,
Prepare the road of the Lord,
Make his paths straight.
Here, Mark provides a composite citation from three passages of the Hebrew bible, all relating to “wilderness” or “desert” settings. The first line is from Ex 23:20, followed by a line from Mal 3:1. The end of this Malachi verse - not included here in Mark - says that “suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple” - a very vivid description of Jesus’ coming. The final portion of the quotation is from Isa 40:3; hence why Mark refers to this composite citation as coming from Isaiah.
It seems clear that the “messenger” being referred to here is John the Baptist, as he came before Jesus and prepared the way for him. John would also be “the voice” shouting in the desert.
When I was studying this passage, I noticed a reference to the divinity of Jesus which I’d never seen before. In verse 2, God is talking to someone (“you”) and saying that God is sending his messenger (John) to prepare “your road”. We know that the messenger (John) was going before Jesus’ face and preparing the way for him. Consequently, verse 2 is addressed to Jesus.
But then in verse 3, whose road is it being prepared? It is very clearly the “road of the Lord”. So the road for Jesus in verse 2 is the road for the Lord in verse 3, which only makes sense if Jesus is actually God, and God is talking to the second person of the trinity here. On every page of his gospel, Mark is acutely aware that he is bearing witness to a divine Jesus.
4 ἐγένετο Ἰωάννης [ὁ] βαπτίζων ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ κηρύσσων βάπτισμα μετανοίας εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν.
4 John the Baptiser appeared in the desert, announcing a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
John’s location in the wilderness/desert is significant - not just a location far away from the cities. It recalls Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness after they were rescued from slavery in Egypt, a time which was associated both with Israel’s disobedience but also with God’s grace and mighty works. From Hos 2:19, there grew a tradition that the Messiah would appear in the wilderness and God’s final salvation would take place there. There had been a 400 year period of silence with no prophetic voice from God prior to the time of the New Testament and now John was here with a powerful message of repentance and forgiveness, announcing Jesus and ushering in the decisive turning point in the history of salvation. Hence God returned to the wilderness once again, to show his mighty works and grace to a still-rebellious people.
In Israelite thought, the message of repentance was also strongly linked to the wilderness. The prophets repeatedly called for Israel to turn back to their original relationship with God. We often think of repentance as saying sorry or being sorry. If we try really, really hard to be sad enough about what we have done, then we think that is repenting properly. Being sorry for past sins and actions is certainly part of repentance, but it is more than that. In classical Greek, “repent” meant to change one’s mind, as well as be sorry, regret. In the Hebrew bible, the “return” to God demanded by his prophets involved “a matter of returning to Yahweh with one’s whole being and in all decisions taking Him absolutely seriously as Israel’s God” (9). Thus this idea of repentance was one of thinking and acting differently in every area of life.
This is what the gospel should do to us, if it is the true gospel. Perhaps you have heard others say the phrase “Jesus loves you” as a form of ‘proclaiming the gospel’. If that is all, then it is severely lacking. The true gospel points out our sin and calls for repentance, it calls us to live differently in light of what we now know, it calls for change. That is worth considering. Are you changed by the gospel? Does your life look very different than it would if you weren’t following God? Are you different to who you were last year - are you closer to God?
5 καὶ ἐξεπορεύετο πρὸς αὐτὸν πᾶσα ἡ Ἰουδαία χώρα καὶ οἱ Ἱεροσολυμῖται πάντες, καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ ποταμῷ ἐξομολογούμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν.
5 And all from the region of Judea and all the Jerusalemites were coming out to him, and they were being baptised by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
John’s baptising in the Jordan River seems to have been a novel innovation. There was a Jewish tradition of baptising proselytes (Gentiles who converted to Judaism); however, it is not definite that John’s practice was derived from this; commentators are divided. If it was related to proselyte baptism, then this would have been a remarkable pill for the Jews to swallow. Essentially John would be saying that Jewish people did not have a right to membership in the people of God just based on their ancestry. Through their sins they had become like Gentiles to God, and they too needed to repent and rejoin God’s family through this act. He was awakening them from their false sense of security, which is seen over and over in later passages describing the Pharisees.
Confessing their sins may have been a verbal confession prior to being baptised. Regardless, the act of submitting to baptism was in itself confessing their sinfulness.
6 καὶ ἦν ὁ Ἰωάννης ἐνδεδυμένος τρίχας καμήλου καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐσθίων ἀκρίδας καὶ μέλι ἄγριον.
6 And John was clothed in camel hair and a leather belt around his waist and he was eating locusts and bush honey.
John was a true man of the wilderness, as shown by his attire and unconventional diet. A hairy garment was considered to be a prophet’s attire, as Zech 13:4 shows. Furthermore, the leather belt around his waist and hairy garment seems to draw an obvious connection to the prophet Elijah (2 Kgs 1:8), who also spent much of his time in the desert. This foreshadows later in Mark, where John the Baptist is explicitly identified as the “Elijah to come”.
7 καὶ ἐκήρυσσεν λέγων, Ἔρχεται ὁ ἰσχυρότερός μου ὀπίσω μου, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς κύψας λῦσαι τὸν ἱμάντα τῶν ὑποδημάτων αὐτοῦ.
7 And he was announcing, “One more powerful than me is coming after me, who I am not fit to bend down and loosen his sandal strap.
8 ἐγὼ ἐβάπτισα ὑμᾶς ὕδατι, αὐτὸς δὲ βαπτίσει ὑμᾶς ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ.
8 I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you in the Holy Spirit.
In these verses, John draws a clear comparison between himself and Jesus. John is just the messenger to say that Jesus is coming; he is the herald announcing the presence of the king. We can see here his vast humility, as he recognises his position.
To take someone’s shoes off or carry them was the work of a slave. Even then, according to the midrash (rabbinic literature), Hebrew slaves were not required to do this for a Hebrew master. And yet in comparison to this coming one, John doesn’t see himself as a Hebrew slave. Even more remarkably, he doesn’t consider himself to have the status of a Gentile slave. He sees himself as lower than a Gentile slave in light of this coming powerful one.
John didn’t know exactly who he was looking out for, and he didn’t use traditional messianic terms here. He only knew that this greater one - a new baptiser - was coming soon. If we compare the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke, it is clear that John’s message was not only one of the approaching redemption of the true Israel, but he was also acutely aware of coming judgement.
The final part of this passage is the prophecy that Jesus will baptise his followers with the Holy Spirit, not just water like John was. The concept of God’s Spirit has strong links to the wilderness. Isaiah describes the Spirit as giving the people rest in the wilderness (Isa 63:14) and guiding their journey (Isa 63:11). He also looks forward to a second exodus with the Spirit being poured out again (Isa 32:15, 44:3). So it is fitting that in this desert setting, John appears, announcing the appearance of Jesus who would ultimately pour out the Holy Spirit on his disciples on the day of Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit is the final key part in John’s message that he was preaching. His call to repentance - to think differently; to fully return to God with all of your being and acknowledge his role in every area of life - is only possible if we are given the new heart that God promises in Ezekiel 36:26-7: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
As Peter says in Acts 2:38-39, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call.” The Holy Spirit - the third person of the trinity poured out after the coming of Jesus, is promised to all of us who believe, and it is He who reshapes us and our desires, giving us a new heart which longs to serve God.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Mark’s gospel is not just an abridged version of Matthew or Luke. As we have seen here, he is a skilled writer weaving together citations and allusions to the Hebrew bible, presenting Jesus as the Messiah of Israel and saviour of the world.
In these verses, we can see:
The coming of Jesus is a new beginning for the world.
Hearing the gospel (when we hear about the work of Jesus) is also a new beginning for us - we have a choice whether to follow or not. Our lives cannot be the same after that, we must either reject him or accept him.
John the Baptist had a twofold message: repent, and listen to the guy who comes after me.
Jesus brings with him the Holy Spirit, who gives us a new heart to love and serve God - because we are unable to manufacture this new heart for ourselves.
References
1. Lane, W.L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. William B. Eerdmans, p. 1.
2. Ibid., p. 3.
3. Papias, in Exegesis of the Lord’s Oracles, cited in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. III. xxxix. 15. See quotation of this in Lane, op. cit. p. 8.
4. The Anti-Marcionite Prologue
5. Lane, op. cit. p. 42.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid., p. 43.
8. Cranfield, C.E.B. (1959). The Gospel according to St Mark. The Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary. Cambridge. p. 35.
9. Würthwein, E. T.W.N.T. iv, p. 981.