Mark 14:32-42 –Gethsemane…

Lesson Focus:

Jesus is deeply anxious about doing the work of his Father.  Because we get anxious about doing the work of the Father, too, Jesus encourages us to pray for strength to do the will of the Father.

Lesson Outcomes:

Through this lessons students should:

1.     Recognize the emphasis that Mark is placing on Jesus’ humanity.

2.     Understand that Jesus’ prayer is a model for us as we pray.

3.     Be encouraged to pray “not what I want, but what you want.”

Catch up on the story:

Jesus and his disciples have just celebrated the Passover meal together.  The identity of the one who will betray Jesus to the religious authorities has been revealed.  It is in this setting that Jesus begins to instruct his followers on how they are to remember the events that will soon take place.  The Lord’s Supper re-imagines and re-interprets the Passover meal so that it becomes a remembrance of what God is going to do through Jesus.   

The meal ends and they travel outside the city to the Mount of Olives.  The disciples will soon abandon Jesus.  They will be scattered like sheep are when the shepherd is attacked.  They are not to fear, though; they will be gathered back together.  Peter, for his part, wants to hear no talk about desertion.  Not only will Peter abandon Jesus, he will deny him three times!  The most trying part of Jesus’ ministry is just ahead.  If he is to be faithful, he will need to spend some time in prayer.   

The Text:

Jesus and the disciples make their way to the Mount of Olives and more specifically, to a place called Gethsemane.  Only John in his gospel refers to Gethsemane as a garden.  The name itself, however, has its roots in the Hebrew and Aramaic word for “oil press.”  It’s plausible to assume that the place Gethsemane was in fact a garden, and more specifically, a garden for olive trees.  It was common at the time for an oil press to be located within the grounds of an olive garden.[1]

The group enters the garden, but Jesus only wants to take Peter, James and John deeper into the garden with him.  It’s at this point that Mark gives us a group of three words that describe Jesus’ physical, emotional and spiritual state.  The first, ekthambeo, means someone becomes excessively affected by emotions, either fear or wonder.  The NRSV and NIV both translate it as “distressed.”   The NIV, more appropriately, adds the modifier “greatly.” This is the only time in the gospels where this word is linked to Jesus.  The word, as it is used in extra biblical sources, is often associated with the fear or dread that happens before an impending emergency.[2] Jesus’ trial and crucifixion is close on the horizon and Jesus is afraid.

The second word follows closely after ekthambeo.  Ademoneo is translated as “agitated” (NRSV) and “troubled” (NIV).  Both translations are rather week in comparison to the force of the Greek, which means to become subject to extreme mental or spiritual anguish, at times even to the point of losing one’s composure.  Not only is Jesus afraid, but also he is physically showing signs that the imminent crisis has him quite rattled. 

Finally, Mark states that Jesus is “deeply grieved, even unto death.”  The NIV has the better translation while more literally following the Greek, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”  In Jesus there is a deep grief and sorrow that has consumed him over the events that must now take place.  The “my soul” portion of the quote is possibly a reference to Psalm 42:5 and 43:5.  

      Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my help ⁶ and my God.

It is possible that Jesus’ eventual and complete acceptance of the will of the Father during this moment is owed to his familiarity with the Psalm, where a mood of deep despair eventually gives way to a calm trust in God.[3]

Jesus instructs the trio to sit and keep awake while he goes a little further to pray.  He wanders a few more feet into the garden and then throws himself on the ground and begins to pray.  The image that Jesus throws himself on the ground is quite startling.  It may be that in his great distress, his fear and his sorrow, that Jesus is quite unable to remain standing.  For those of us who have experienced great tragedy, trial or adversity these feelings and this scene may be one we have experienced.  It may also be that Jesus is taking a physical position that is one of lowliness and service before the one to whom he prays.  Jesus is prostrate on the ground earnestly praying that what is about to happen may not happen. 

We are told that Jesus prays that, if it were possible, the cup and the hour might pass from him.  Jesus is hoping and praying that the will of the Father might be accomplished in another way other than his death.  We must remember what the church has confessed from the very beginning, that Jesus is both fully God and fully human.  In this moment in the narrative, Jesus’ humanity cries out for deliverance. 

Here Jesus uses the Aramaic word, Abba.  It is often supposed that this term is the most familiar term a child might use to refer to his or her father.  There “is nothing childish about the special relationship implied (it was also used, for example, by disciples addressing their rabbi)…The term conveys the respectful intimacy of a son in a patriarchal family. And in that sense Jesus’ use of this form of address to God is striking and unparalleled.”[4]  Jesus is pleading with his Father that the mode of his mission might be changed.  Even in his humanity, however, Jesus remains singularly focused on the will of the Father.  Jesus will unswervingly do what the Father wills. His human will aligns with the divine will. His human “want” unites with God’s “want.” 

Jesus gets up and goes to the three that followed him further into the garden, but he finds them sleeping.  He calls to Peter using his personal name, Simon.  Jesus wants to know how it is that Peter could be asleep at a time like this.  Jesus then admonishes Peter, and the other two, presumably, to “Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial…”  Here, Jesus is encouraging the disciples, and us too, to be alert, awake and in prayer.  Why are we to do so?  We are to do so that we may be kept from trial or temptation.  The call here is to keep out of temptation all together, to not get into it in the first place.  Watchfulness and prayer seem to be keys to remaining faithful to the will of God.  Indeed, the Spirit of God that can be received through prayer and devotion is strong and able to help us remain faithful.  Without the Spirit, in our flesh we are weak. 

Jesus goes back to pray twice more and each time he returns he finds the trio sleeping.  By this point the disciples are dumbfounded, they just do not know how to respond in the face of their own weariness.  The third time Jesus returns he chastises them again for resting.  They have had enough sleeping and resting; the time has come for Jesus to be betrayed.  Judas is near.           

So What…?

Two things are important for us as we read this story.  The first is that we see and recognize Jesus in his great distress.   It is important for us, as we approach Holy Week, to highlight Jesus’ humanity along with his divinity.  Here we are shown the vulnerability and distress that God faces as a result of becoming one of us.  We confess that Jesus is both fully human and fully God.  We see his humanity being shaken by his forthcoming torture and death.  He is physically shaken in ways that you and I know all too well.  And yet, in that place of vulnerability, in that fear of all that will come, Jesus is able to pray “not what I want, but what you want.” 

Sure we might be able to say, “He was human, but he was God too, so that kind of obedience should be easy for him.”  To say that misses the point of the incarnation and the cross.  The early church settled the debate that Jesus had two wills, a fully human will and a fully divine will. His divine will did not overwhelm his human will. Nor did it give him some kind of advantage over us. He had to bring his human will faithfully in line with the divine will, just as we all do. That is what it means for him to be fully human.  Jesus, in his distress, in his humanity, chooses God’s will over his own. 

The second thing I think that is important is how this passage should shift our attitude about prayer.  Certainly Jesus has faith that God can change his current situation.  It is not that God refuses to answer Jesus’ prayer.  Jesus’ prayer is answered by Jesus bringing his will inline with his Father’s will.  We should view prayer the same way.  Prayer consists not necessarily in changing God’s mind about things and events, but in finding our own place in alignment with God’s will.  Prayer is the way by which our desires come into line with our heavenly Father’s will.

As we prepare to enter the last week of Lent, let us take comfort in the fact that the God who created and sustains the entire universe became one of us, living like us in every way, suffering like us in every way.  It is through this complete identification with humanity that Jesus is able to bring about our salvation and redemption.  Thanks be to God for his steadfast love and grace which brings us from death to life! 

At the same time, however, let us confess that we often use prayer as a way to manipulate God into giving us what we want.  Sometimes our prayers reveal a deep-seated mistrust of God.  We pray too often for our desires and less about our daily bread.  As we enter Holy Week, let us pray that we might have the strength that Jesus had, who, in the face of torture and death, was able to pray, “not what I want, but what you want.”  This prayer never gets easy, but it is possible through the grace of God.          

Critical Discussion Questions:

1. What does God look like in this text/Who is God in this text/What is God doing in this text? 
1. God in Jesus Christ became human.  He is afraid; he is shaking and distressed about the future.  Yet, he is committed to us and to do the will of the Father over his desires.  Jesus models for us a form of faithfulness that is difficult but not impossible.   

2. What does holiness/salvation look like in this text?
1. Holiness is praying “not what I want, but what you want.”  It is not enough to simply pray those words, but to allow ourselves to be led to possibly unpleasant places by God.  What helps us as we pray this prayer is the knowledge that God vindicates Jesus through the resurrection.  Jesus doesn’t stay dead.  The will of God for our lives may, for a time, lead us into discomfort and possibly suffering, but on the other side of that suffering there is the life-giving power of God.  

3. How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?
1. We should examine how we pray.  Our prayers should help us orient our will and desires so that they will be inline with the will of the Father. 

Specific Discussion Questions:

Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly.  Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.

1.      In verse 33 Mark tells us that Jesus is “distressed and agitated.”  A fuller translation of the original Greek could go something like this: “[Jesus] began to become greatly frightened and apprehensive about the coming events so much so that he physically lost his composure.”  When have you felt this way?  What does this description of Jesus have to say about Jesus’ humanity?

2.     What do you think Jesus means when he says that he was “deeply grieved, even unto death?”

3.     Describe a time when you have been so distressed that you have been unable to remain upright?  Why does Jesus “throw himself on the ground?”  Is there a possible reason Jesus chooses to pray from the ground other than his distress?

4.     Jesus prays that “this cup” be removed from him.  What is “this cup?”

5.     Mark tells us that Jesus prays three times that the cup of his suffering might be removed from him.  Each time he declares “not what I want, but what you want.” Why does Jesus need to pray this prayer three times?  Was it hard for Jesus to do the will of the Father?

6.     What would it look like for you to pray, “not what I want, but what you want” and really mean it?  How would that prayer affect your daily life or your future plans? 

7.     Jesus encourages his followers to keep awake and pray so that they might not enter into the time of trial.  What do you think Jesus means by that?  What kind of temptation do you think Jesus is referring to?  What kind of connection might there be between prayer and staying out of temptation?

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[1] R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 581.

[2] Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 4.

[3] France, 582.

[4] Ibid., 584.

Mark 1:29-39 –Jesus Heals, We Serve

Lesson Focus

Jesus heals us so that we might engage in active and intentional Christian ministry.

Lesson Outcomes:

Through this lesson students should:

1.     Comprehend that our healing from sin and death prepares us to engage in Christian ministry.

2.     Examine their lives to see if they are ministering as a result of their healing.

3.     Examine the ministries of our church to see if they are faithful to our mission of bearing witness to the kingdom of God in word and deed. 

Catch up on the story:

Mark’s narrative is off to a fast start.  He introduces us to John the Baptist, a preacher who begins to prepare the way for Jesus’ coming.  John the Baptist, and the context in which he is set, places the narrative that follows squarely within the scope of Israel’s hope for the future found in the Old Testament.  Jesus, then, is seen as a continuation of what God has been doing for Israel in the past.

Jesus is baptized at the hands of John.  It is his public commissioning.  Even though the crowds do not hear the voice of God proclaiming his pleasure with his Son, we, the readers, hear it.  There can be no doubt that Mark wants us to understand that Jesus is the divine messiah who has come to set Israel free.  Immediately after his baptism Jesus goes off into the wilderness and is tempted by the devil.  While the narrative is sparse, Jesus does not succumb to the temptation and emerges from the wilderness to begin his public ministry.  Jesus begins to preach about the coming kingdom of God.  He also begins to call men to follow him and be his disciples.  His mission will consist of preaching and healing.  Both of these things he will do, not as the crowds have experienced others doing these things, but as one with authority.   

      

The Text:

The setting of our text for this week is the small city of Capernaum.  Jesus, his followers Simon, Andrew, James and John, have been in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  Jesus has begun to teach and cast out unclean spirits.  Word is beginning to spread about this Jesus fellow.  His authoritative teaching and his works of power begin to be known in the surrounding area. 

Scene #1:

While the passage takes place entirely in Capernaum, there are three distinct scenes.  Scene one is the home of Simon’s mother-in-law.  Jesus and his entourage enter the home and we are immediately told that Simon’s mother-in-law is in bed with a fever.  A few things need to be noted here about fevers.  They were not seen as a symptom but a terrible force that could bring about death.  A simple fever could become life threatening very quickly.[1]

Simon mentions the ill fortune of his mother-in-law to Jesus upon entering the home.  There are a few possible reasons that Simon could have chosen to point out the situation.  First, it could have been a veiled attempt to ask Jesus to heal his mother-in-law.  Although at this point in the narrative, Jesus has yet to heal anyone.  He has cast out an unclean spirit so it might stand to reason that the disciples believe he has the power to heal as well.  Second, Simon may have mentioned the fever as a precaution and warning for his guests.  Contact with a sick person was frowned upon, not from our normal understanding of contagions, but because it would have made the individual ceremonially unclean, and thus keep the person from full participation in community life.  Finally, Simon could have mentioned the fever as an excuse for the lack of hospitality that would normally have been provided by his mother-in-law. 

Whatever the reason may have been, Jesus acts immediately and decisively to rectify the situation.  Jesus takes the sick woman by the hand and lifted her up.  Immediately the fever left her!  No words were spoken, no spell was cast; Jesus’ touch was enough to make her instantaneously well.  As we have already mentioned, touching a sick person would have made Jesus ceremonially unclean.  In the same way, men did not touch women who were not a part of their family.  Additionally, Jesus performs this healing on the Sabbath, which could be constituted as work.  Thus, Jesus touches an unrelated sick woman and heals her on the Sabbath.  In performing this act in the way he did he breaks more than just a few social and religious taboos.[2]  Mark, however, does not believe that Jesus is doing anything wrong, but that he is faithfully bringing about God’s kingdom. 

Excurses: Sabbath

Touching a woman, a sick woman at that, could be overlooked.  Working on the Sabbath was a greater offense, one that would land you in serious trouble with the religious authorities.  A proper understanding of Jewish Sabbath theology is important to grasping why Jesus heals on the Sabbath.  For the Jewish people, the Sabbath had become a symbol of rest and peace (shalom -wholeness) that would happen when the messiah finally arrived ushering in the age to come.  Creation, and all it’s inhabitants, would be relived of all the turmoil, disease, destruction and death that existed as a consequence of the fall. This rest and peace was much anticipated and longed for by Israel and her religious leaders.  Honoring the Sabbath was a mini preview of the peace and wholeness that would accompany the coming of God’s dominion. 

Jesus, by beginning his work of healing on the Sabbath, intended it to be seen as the first act in bringing about the end-time Sabbath rest and wholeness here and now.  What better way to honor the Sabbath than by offering healing to a woman who was in the midst of suffering?  Like the exorcism that took place earlier in the chapter, Jesus’ healing of Simon’s mother-in-law is part of the breaking in of the kingdom of God.[3]  Unfortunately, Jesus’ actions on the Sabbath would not be seen this way by the religious leadership.  

After Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law, she immediately gets up and begins to serve Jesus and his companions.  There is no trace of the fever or the malady that might have caused it.  The word that Mark uses here for “serve” comes from the word diakonos.  In Mark, and the larger Christian tradition, this word, from which we get Deacon, is associated with Christian ministry.  Simon’s mother-in-law is healed and immediately sets about serving Jesus and his companions in response to her healing.  In many ways, this should be a model for us as we experience Jesus’ healing in our lives.  As we are healed, our response should be to rise and engage in Christian ministry!       

Scene #2:

Word begins to spread quickly of Jesus’ deeds of power.  He has taught with authority.  He has cast out unclean spirits and now he has healed a woman of her fever.  Not only has word spread about his actions, but about his whereabouts as well.  At sundown on the Sabbath people begin bringing their sick and demon-possessed.  They begin to gather at sundown because sundown marks the end of one day and the beginning of another.  This is unlike our conception of time with the beginning of a new day beginning at dawn.  The crowds, now that the Sabbath was over, did not have to fear that they were breaking the Sabbath by bringing their sick to Jesus.  Realistically, some of the sick would need to be carried, constituting work.

Mark tells us that the whole city comes out to the door of the house where they were staying.  It is unlikely that they showed up en masse, but perhaps as a steady stream of those seeking help from Jesus.  Regardless, Jesus heals many people with various kinds of diseases and casts out many demons.  The demons were instructed not to speak because they knew whom Jesus was.  Why would Jesus need to instruct the demons not to speak?  It could possibly be that it was not yet the right time for Jesus to proclaim who he was.  Or, Jesus may not have wanted the proclamation about who he is coming from the mouths of demons.[4]  Either way, Jesus shows his power over the demons by not only casting them out but by keeping them from divulging what they know. 

Scene #3:

We are not told how long into the night Jesus was with the crowd.  It may have been late into the night due to the large crowds.  Mark tells us though, that Jesus gets up early in the morning while it is still dark and sets out to find a place to pray.  He arrives at a deserted place, perhaps one that he had used before.  Soon enough, Simon and the others realize that Jesus is not in the house where they had been staying.  They set out to find him and upon doing so they encourage him to come back into town. 

The reason that Simon and the others use for a return to Capernaum is because everyone is looking for him.  Behind this suggestion may be an urge to stay where they are because they have enjoyed success there.  Jesus’ reputation is growing among the people.  Greatness can be achieved when you have the support of the people.  Perhaps Peter is already thinking about the positive political ramifications of a man who has such great power. 

Jesus, however, refuses to go back to Capernaum.  He tells us that his primary mission is preaching the message of the kingdom of God.  Jesus insists that they must go to the neighboring towns (which were not bigger than Capernaum, but smaller) to preach.  This is, after all, what he has been sent to do.  So, we are told, Jesus heads out throughout the region of Galilee preaching the message of the kingdom of God.            

       

So What?

I think two things are important for us as we consider this text.  First, the way Simon’s mother-in-law responds to her healing and second, Jesus’ laser-like focus on his mission. 

As soon as Simon’s mother-in-law is healed she gets up and serves Jesus and his followers.  As we have said above, the Greek word that Mark uses carries with it the sense that as she was caring for Jesus’ needs she was engaging in intentional ministry in service to the kingdom of God.  Whether or not she totally understood her actions in that way is, perhaps, inconsequential.  For this is how Mark wants us to read her response.  Mark has been up front with us, his readers, about who this Jesus really is.  He is the divine Son of God.  While the characters in the story will need some time to figure this out, Mark’s narrative is largely about helping us to discover what it means to be faithful disciples of Jesus. 

Our faithful discipleship begins with our healing.  For some, in early Christianity, anything that has enslaved us, any sin, any addiction, was seen as life-sucking fever.  “For each and every one of us suffers from fever.  When I grow angry, I am feverish.  So many vices, so many fevers.”[5]  Christ has come, however, and touched our hand, lifting us up and freeing us from our fever.  We are never freed just from our fever, though.  We are freed so that we might serve.  In our healing we are given the immediate opportunity to get up and to serve in Christian ministry.  We become more mature disciples of Christ when we are actively and intentionally engaged in serving in some kind of Christian ministry. 

Secondly, our passage indicates Jesus’ laser-like focus to his mission.  Jesus could have stayed in Capernaum while word of his deeds of power spread throughout the land.  No doubt many would have made a pilgrimage to him so that their loved ones might be healed.  From this he could have begun to garner great political support as well.  Jesus, however, was not tempted by this initial success and the desire to build on it.  He knew the plan.  The plan was to proclaim the kingdom of God throughout the land. 

At times, we are not as laser-like focused on our God given mission as Jesus was.  Too often the tendency is to stick with whatever is causing us to have success.  In fact, the temptation is to spend a lot of time trying to find that one thing that will bring us successes.  It’s not wrong to be successful, but we can be tempted by it to neglect our real mission of bearing witness to the kingdom of God in word and in deed. 

Critical Discussion Questions:

1.     How does this text reveal to us the nature and character of God/What is God doing in this text?

a.     God is beginning to bring about the pace and rest that we long for.  Through healing and exorcisms, Jesus is, in a small way at first, allowing creation to rest. He is granting us freedom from the various things that plague us. 

2.     What does holiness/salvation look like in this text?

a.     Our growth as disciples is contingent upon our response to the healing we have received at the hands of Jesus.  Like Simon’s mother-in-law we are to rise from our infirmities so that we might begin to engage in active and intentional Christian ministry. 

b.     Our growth as disciples also means that we resist the temptation to chase after all that might be successful at the cost of being faithful to our mission of bearing witness to the kingdom of God in word and in deed.  While we are committed to excellence in ministry, we are also called, at times, to focus our energy on things that might not be seen as wise in the minds of the world around us. 

3.     How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?

a.     This passage calls us to respond to the healing we have received at the hands of Jesus and engage in active and intentional ministry.

b.     It also calls us to examine our ministries as a church to see if they are true to the mission of bearing witness to the kingdom of God in word and in deed.  

Specific Discussion Questions:

Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly.  Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.

1.     What are the possible reasons why Simon informs Jesus of his mother-in-law’s sickness? 

2.     What is significant about the way Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law?  Keep in mind; it would have been taboo for a man to touch a woman who was not related to him. 

3.     Some early Christians looked metaphorically at the fever that Simon’s mother-in-law.  The fever was a stand in for anything that causes us to sin.  What kinds of “fevers” have plagued your life in the past?  What kinds of fevers do you suffer from now?  How has Jesus healed you from those things in the past?  How might Jesus heal you now?  

4.     Simon’s mother-in-law’s first response is to get up and serve Jesus and his followers.  What is this important?  Have you gotten up after your healing and begun to serve?

5.     Why might Simon really want Jesus to stick around in Capernaum?  What reason does Jesus give for moving on? 

6.     Jesus exercised laser-like focus on his mission to proclaim the kingdom of God all around.  He refused to be tempted by the immediate and initial successes he enjoyed in Capernaum.  As a church, are we ever tempted to go with whatever is successful at the expense of faithfulness to our mission?

7.     Jesus had a single-minded focus on his mission of preaching the kingdom of God. Simon’s mother-in-law, once healed, became a servant of Jesus and supported his mission.  As a church, the third part of our mission statement is to bear witness to the kingdom of God. List some of the ministries in our church that help us do that.

8.     What keeps us from focusing on and participating in those ministries?

9.     Have an honest conversation about whether or not you are like Simon’s mother-in-law. Are you one who has been healed by God’s grace and is now serving and ministering? What would it take for you to take the next step toward faithful service and ministry?

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[1] M. Eugene Boring, Mark: A Commentary, The New Testament Library (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox   

   Press, 2006), 66.

[2] Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B.  

   Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2001), 98.

[3] Ibid., 100.

[4] R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 110.

[5] Jerome, Corpus Christianorum, LXXVII, 468 quoted in Lamar Williamson Jr, Mark: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 55.

Mark 1:4-11 – “With You I am Well Pleased…”

Lesson Focus:

We are called to live into our baptism with a sense of God-given mission.  

Lesson Outcomes:

Through this lesson students should:

1.     Become familiar with some of the connections that Mark makes between the Old Testament and the story he is beginning to tell.

2.     Identify Jesus as the Son of God, the one for whom Israel has waited.

3.     Recognize that in Jesus’ baptism he is confirmed as God’s Son who is to embark on God’s mission of redemption and salvation for the world.

4.     Recognize that as Jesus has been sent through his baptism, so we have been sent through ours.

5.     Seek to live into his or her baptism by finding ways to practically participate in Jesus’ mission of redemption and salvation for the world. 

Catch up on the story:

Mark begins his account of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection in a manner that will be quite characteristic of his writing: concise and to the point.  Unlike Matthew, Mark does not give us a genealogy for Jesus.  Unlike Luke, we have no nativity story.  We begin literally with “the beginning” as Mark’s first words.  What is beginning?  The answer: a story of the gospel: literally, the good news concerning Jesus.  Right off the bat we are told in no uncertain terms the point that Mark wants his writing to make, that Jesus is the Messiah, the very Son of God.  While in Mark’s narrative the disciples will be very slow to catch on, Mark wants us to know exactly who Jesus is.  By the end of this week’s passage there will be no doubt as to Jesus’ identity. 

After this short description of the nature of the narrative that will follow, Mark sets about quoting Old Testament prophets.  Verses 2-3 are a combination of quotes from two different prophets.  The first half of verse 2 is from Malachi 3:1 while the rest is from Isaiah 40.  The identity of the messenger who will appear is none other than the first character we meet in Mark’s drama, John the Baptist (or baptizer, as we find it in verse 4).  Indeed, John is a voice of one calling from the wilderness.  Why the wilderness? “For the wilderness was a place of hope, of new beginnings. It was in the wilderness that Yahweh had met with Israel and made them into his people when they came out of Egypt.”[1]  It is now, from the wilderness, that the good news will be heard once again.  God will come and meet Israel, and all people, to form them into his people.

Finally, Mark is placing this narrative about Jesus squarely in line with Old Testament salvation history.  John, in his role as one that prepares the people for the coming messiah, connects Mark’s narrative with all that took place in Israel since creation. John is the beginning of this good news, the good news that Israel had been longing for for so long a time. 

The Text:

Just as soon as Mark gets done quoting Isaiah and Malachi, John the Baptist shows up on the scene (literally, “appeared”).  We are not given any background information on John and his relationship with Jesus as we get in other accounts.  What we are given, however, is an immediate thumbnail sketch of what John is doing.  He is “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  While it might seem, at first glance, that baptism itself is the focus of John’s message, it is not.  France notes that John’s “object was not simply to get people baptized, but to call together the repentant and restored people of God…”[2] John is bringing together baptism and the forgiveness of sins with a continued citizenship in the Kingdom of God.  Baptism had been practiced in wider Jewish circles before John, but that baptism was for ritual cleansing and was repeatable.  The baptism that John proclaims is much different.  In some sense, it is an initiatory event, which brings the one being baptized into the family of God.  Entering into a new family often requires a major readjustment in behavior. 

We are not told exactly where John sets up shop, but it is likely in the southern portion of Israel along the Jordan River.  The text tells us that a good number of people were coming to John to be baptized from the Judean countryside and from the capital city of Jerusalem.  The Jordan River meets the Dead Sea roughly inline with Jerusalem.  This is an important point.  Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish world.  Jerusalem was the home of the Temple, and the Temple was where God’s presence dwelt.  Here, however, we have a new movement of God through John that comes, not from the expected centers of power, but from the wilderness.   

In times of national distress or of infidelity in Israel’s history, a prophet often came from the wilderness.  It was from outside the centers of established power that a call for renewal and repentance usually came.  Mark, giving us a vivid description of John’s dress and dietary behavior, further places him inline with some of Israel’s greatest prophets, namely Elijah.  Indeed, in Israel, there was a tradition that linked Elijah with the coming messenger talked about in Malachi.  It was thought that in the last days, before God would come fully and finally, Elijah would return to prepare the way.  Later on (in 8:28), Mark will explicitly make the connection between John and Elijah. 

Mark, in identifying John with Elijah and the above quoted Malachi, seeks to pick up where the Old Testament left off.  Malachi was copied with a group of prophetic literature known as the “Book of the Twelve.”  There is good evidence that Mark was using the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, in which Malachi is the last book.  One commentator believes that “If Mark thought of [Malachi] 3-4 as the concluding words of Scripture, John’s appearance as the promised Elijah is all the more significant: his book begins where Scripture let off, and as its continuation and fulfillment.”[3]  John, and thus Jesus whom we will meet shortly, are part of God’s continuing salvation for Israel and for the world. 

In verse 7 we learn that John rightly understands his place in this unfolding drama.  He has no allusions to his own greatness or importance.  He is merely a messenger who has been sent by God.  Indeed, there is one who is coming after John.  In keeping with Mark’s sparseness in regard to some details, we do not get the information that John and Jesus are cousins.  John obviously knows whom Jesus is and that the beginning of this ministry is near.       

John declares that one is coming who is “more powerful” than himself.  The one who is coming is so great that John is not even worthy to stoop down and undo his sandals.  This image would have helped the original readers understand exactly what kind of “powerful” is being dealt with here.  The removal of someone’s sandals, perhaps a guest as they enter the home, or of a master who returns after a long day, was a job for the lowest of servants.  A Jewish master could not make his Jewish slave undo his sandals; it was beneath even the Jewish servant’s dignity.  John is declaring that the one who comes is very great indeed. 

John, and the crowds who gathered to hear him preach, would not have expected this coming one to be human.  Rather, they would have expected him to be divine.  In both of the Old Testament passage quoted at the beginning of the chapter, the one for whom the messenger prepares the way is God himself.  This speaks volumes about who Mark believes Jesus to be: he is God incarnate.[4]  This coming one, as God, will not baptize in the same way as John has done.  No, the coming one’s baptism will not be with water, but with the Holy Spirit. 

As the text moves forward we immediately shift into a new scene depicting Jesus’ baptism.  While verses 4-8 depict, in general, scenes of John’s baptismal ministry, verse 9 shifts to a specific date.  We are told that Jesus comes from his hometown of Nazareth to be baptized by John.  That Mark includes the place from which Jesus comes is important.  Nazareth was located in the region of Galilee, which was in the north.  Separating Judea in the south and Nazareth in the north is the area of Samaria, which good Jewish folk liked to avoid.  Nazareth, for its part, was an insignificant little town.  It is unlikely that anyone in the south would even have heard of it.  In fact, there was a general distrust of the Jesus’ home region of Galilee by those in the south, especially in regards to any religious issue.  Remember, John’s main audience was comprised of people from Jerusalem and Judea.  That Jesus comes from such an insignificant and distrusted region is important.[5] Once again, God’s coming is often from unexpected places.

As fast as Jesus comes, John baptizes him.  Again, Mark is sparse with the details.  We are not told about John arguing with Jesus about his ability to baptize Jesus.  Rather, John baptizes Jesus and immediately (one of Mark’s favorite ways of marking time) upon emerging up out of the water we are treated to a divine display. 

The “he” of  “And just as he was coming up out of the water” refers to Jesus.  We are not sure, but we assume that what will follow is not visible, nor audible to those around Jesus.  This revelation of who Jesus is, the words of God to Jesus, are for Jesus himself and for us as Mark’s readers.  While the characters in Mark’s narrative will struggle with Jesus’ identity, from the outset we know who he is. 

Mark tells us that Jesus saw “the heavens torn apart.”  The opening of heaven is a theme that reoccurs throughout biblical literature.  It indicates that a vision of things beyond our earthly sphere is happening.[6]  The only other time that Mark will use the word for “torn apart” will be in 15:38 when the Temple curtain is torn apart at Jesus’ death.  This tearing apart is, in fact, what we have cried out for God to do way back in the first week of Advent.  Our cry then was that God would tear open the heavens and come down, like he did in days past when he did great deeds that we did not expect (Isaiah 64:1-3).  

Jesus is also the only who sees the Spirit descending down on him.  The Spirit descended like a dove on him fulfilling the prophetic expectations for one who is sent by God to do God’s saving work.  It was common in the Old Testament for God’s Spirit to rest on specific people for a time while they accomplished God’s work.  For example, God’s Spirit rested on Gideon and King David.  Both were instruments of salvation for God’s people through the power of the Spirit.  Though, the Spirit’s involvement in Jesus’ life is not situational as it had been for others. Jesus has been in unity with the Spirit from all eternity.  The Spirit is part and parcel with who Jesus is as he accomplishes the work that he and the Father have agreed upon. 

As soon as the dove descended upon Jesus, Jesus hears a voice from heaven.  The voice declares Jesus to be God’s Son whom he loves very much.  The phrase is a quotation which combines Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1.  “Psalm 2:7 evokes the royal imagery and inauguration ceremony of the Judean king, who was declared to be God’s Son…The citation of Isa 42:1 is from the first of the Servant Songs, with the immediate context referring to the Servant’s diving endowment with the Spirit to bring God’s justice to the Gentiles (42:2-4)…”[7] There is no doubt left who the speaker is, it is God himself (that is, God the Father; as the term Son implies Father), and the one he addresses is none other than the divine Son of God who will, nevertheless, be unrecognized as the one sent to take away the sins of the world.

It might be easy, at this point, to view Jesus’ baptism as an adoption of sorts. That view would say that Jesus receives the Holy Spirit and God declares him to be his son.  This is not, however, what Mark wants us to believe.  Rather, Mark has acknowledged from the very opening lines of his story that Jesus is the divine Son of God. Thus, Jesus’ baptism is not the beginning of his divine sonship; rather, it is a confirmation of his divine sonship.  We are told outright what the characters of Mark’s story will need to discover for themselves, that Jesus is the messiah, the savior, the one we have been waiting for.  Jesus is baptized to mark the beginning of his ministry.  In this way, Jesus is connected to what God has done in the past in Israel and is connected with all of Israel’s deepest hopes about what God will do in the future.  Jesus, now that he has been baptized, moves onto the mission that he has been given.      

So What?

Something happens when we are baptized.  Sure, baptism marks our repentance, our turning from our sin and old way of life, but it is more than that.  Baptism not only marks our movement away from sin, it marks our movement toward something as well.  Some will argue that it marks our movement toward purity and holiness as we seek to allow the Holy Spirit to baptize us as well.  They would be right, of course.  We come up out of the baptismal waters clean, washed of our sins and ready to continue to walk toward Christ.  Some will also say that in our baptism we walk toward inclusion in a new family, the family of God known as the church.  We have been adopted as children of God.  They too, would be correct.  These images are important for us as we seek to live our faith.  There is, however, another thing that we move toward as we emerge from the baptismal water, our God-given mission. 

We stand at the beginning of a brand new year with new challenges and new goals.  Many of us will create a list of resolutions, goals which we would like to keep in the coming year.  Let us add one more: living into our baptism with a sense of God-given mission.  Our passage depicts for us Jesus’ baptism, and it is in that baptism that we have revealed to us the identity of Jesus.  We see the heavens ripped open wide.  We see the Spirit of God rest on this Jesus to signify that Jesus will indeed be the one who comes to be our rescuer.  We hear the very voice of God proclaim that he loves and is well pleased with Jesus.  What we do not hear, explicitly anyway, but we do pick it up in the verses that lead up to Jesus emerging from the water, is that Jesus baptism marks the beginning of Jesus’ divine mission.  Mark takes pains to connect Jesus with God’s work in the past and to Israel’s hopes for the future.  Jesus is up to something.  In Mark’s narrative Jesus will be on the move, doing God’s work and preaching God’s message. 

It is the same way with our baptisms.  We may not visibly see the heavens tear open.  We may not see the Spirit of God descend upon us and we may not hear the words of God himself declare us to be his sons and daughters, the children he loves and is pleased with, but that does not mean that this is not what is happening.  As we emerge from the baptismal waters we begin our journey.  Yes, it is a journey away from sin and the death that is a result of our sin, but we also begin to take the first steps in fulfilling the mission that Jesus has given us.  And what is our mission?  It is the same mission that Jesus embarked on after his baptism: it is the mission of salvation, the mission of bringing good news of release for those imprisoned, healing for those who are sick and broken, comfort for those who are sad and mourn.  It is a mission that declares that there is one who is coming who is stronger, stronger than all that seems to defeat us day in and day out, the small things and the large things.   

Like Jesus, as he began his mission we will be tested and tried.  We will be told that the way of Jesus is not practical, that it does not work.  We will suffer as Jesus suffered.  We will go unrecognized as ones who know the truth about the world and how it should work.  We might even be called upon to die.  But we will be vindicated by the resurrection power of God. 

As we move into this new year, may we walk toward fulfilling our mission.  May we do so knowing that the one who has called us, loves us, is pleased with us, and will help us on our way. 

Critical Discussion Questions:

1.     How does this text reveal to us the nature and character of God/What is God doing in this text?

a.     Mark wants us to see very clearly that God is the same God who has been working in, through, and for Israel. This same God now walks among men as Jesus.  Israel’s hope for salvation can now be touched and felt.

b.     God is in the process of sending Jesus to fulfill his mission.  God sends us too.  

2.     What does holiness/salvation look like in this text?

a.     Prior to the sending that takes place at our baptism, we must first repent and confess our sins.  This is a turning away from the old life and mindset to a new life and a new family.  As we turn from our old life we turn toward our new life with our new identity and new mission.

b.     We are defined by our status as beloved children of God.   

3.     How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?

a.     Children, good ones anyway, do the will of their Father.  Our baptism signifies our adoption as children of God.  We are shaped by this new identity.

Specific Discussion Questions:

Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly.  Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.

1.     Have you been baptized? Why or why not? What happened at your baptism?

2.     Why does John the Baptist appear in the wilderness?  Why does his ministry start and largely remain there?

3.     Mark tells us that the content of John’s messages was that people should repent and have their sins forgiven.  John specifies that this repentance and forgiveness happens in baptism.  Why does John bring together baptism with repentance and forgiveness?

4.     John proclaims that one is coming after him who is very powerful.  Whom do you think John’s original hearers might have thought was the identity of the one who was coming? 

5.     John says that the one who is coming will baptize with the Holy Spirit, unlike his baptism of water.  How might John’s baptism and Jesus’ baptism be similar?  How might they be different?

6.     Right after Jesus’ baptism we are told that the heavens were torn apart.  Read Isaiah 64:1-4.  How does what happen in Jesus’ baptism relate to the hopes of Isaiah?

7.     Why does the Spirit descend on Jesus?  Why does God say what he says at the end of the passage?

8.     Jesus’ baptism is a public sending.  Jesus is commissioned to go on his mission of redemption and salvation for the world.  Is our baptism similar or different than Jesus’?  If similar, why?  If different, why? What is our mission after our baptism?

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[1] R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 57.

[2] R. T. France, 65.

[3] M. Eugene Boring, Mark: A Commentary, The New Testament Library (Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 41.

[4] France, 70

[5] Ibid., 75

[6] Ibid., 77

[7] Boring, 45