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Mark--The News About Jesus

CONNIE: Are you a leader, or a follower? The world certainly needs leaders, but in the Bible book we're studying today, we'll discover why it's so important to be a follower--of Jesus that is.

Giving God's trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I'm Connie Jeffery

LONNIE: and I'm Lonnie Melashenko. Today we'll be looking at the book of Mark--the second Gospel in the New Testament. And even though it comes after Matthew in our Bibles, it's widely believed that it was actually the first Gospel to be written.

CONNIE: It's also the shortest Gospel, isn't it?

LONNIE: Yes, just 16 chapters. But each chapter is full of stories about Jesus, and the stories have a particular point. That is, they point toward the events at the end of Jesus' earthly life as the reason for His coming to earth.

CONNIE: It's interesting as we go through the Gospels to look at each one as an individual book. I think most of us, as we read the story of Jesus, tend to kind of fill in the blanks in the story--I mean, when we're reading Matthew, we fill in details that maybe only come up in Luke. But when you look at the each Gospel by itself, you discover that each one paints a picture of Jesus in a slightly different way.

LONNIE: As we look each of these Gospels, we've invited a Bible professor who is especially well acquainted with that particular book to join us to share insights, and today we have Professor Warren Trenchard from La Sierra University to join us, and Ken Wade spoke with him.

KEN: Dr. Warren Trenchard, welcome to our broadcast.

WARREN: Delighted to be with you.

KEN: Now Dr. Trenchard, your area of expertise in teaching there at La Sierra University is in New Testament literature and particularly in early Christian literature which of course includes the gospel of Mark. Tell us a little bit about Mark from your perspective. What is unique? What is particularly interesting about this Gospel?

WARREN: Well, there are a number of characteristics that are interesting and important about the Gospel of Mark. One, of course, is its length. It's the shortest of the four gospels.

KEN: I sometimes called it the USA Today version, just a quick telling of the story or something.

WARREN: In the respect that it has the fewest number of units, that's certainly the case, but Mark is an interesting story teller, and when he tells a story he often has considerably more details in that story than the other writers, so there is a sense in which Mark is the shortest overall, but when Mark tells the story his individual stories are often the longest.

KEN: Okay. Now if we only had the gospel of Mark, you know, if that was our only record of the life of Jesus, there would be some things missing that we know about Jesus, wouldn't there?

WARREN: Certainly, the brevity of the gospel would almost predict that but yes, there are some very significant kinds of things. Mark starts the story out with Jesus as an adult.

KEN: Yes.

WARREN: And his appearance at an event where John the Baptist is preaching. It sets up a scenario where Jesus Himself is baptized, but there's no birth story, no story about the early life of Jesus that you have in Matthew and Luke and certainly nothing about Jesus pre-existence with God in heaven with which we find the fourth gospel starting.

KEN: Is there a particular theme to the stories that Mark chooses?

WARREN: Well, Mark's approach is very kinetic. It's action oriented.

KEN: I noticed for instance in studying through Mark this time how often it's based on movement from place to place.

WARREN: Right. In fact, there is an emphasis on the deeds of Jesus over His words. One of the things missing in the gospel of Mark is the Sermon on the Mount for example, but as far as deeds, miracle stories, Jesus' movement from place to place, that's very prominent. And symbolic of that is his use of the word "immediately." Forty-two times Mark uses this word, more than we find combined in Matthew and in Luke. Eleven of these words occur in chapter one alone.

KEN: Wow!

WARREN: So Jesus is moving with great speed and rapidity from place to place, from baptism to temptation to ministry, etc., etc. It's as though he's on a pace that is extremely accelerated.

KEN: So the telling of the life of Jesus is told in deeds, not in words.

WARREN: There are certainly some important speeches and parables and so forth in the gospel of Mark but overall that would be the case, yes.

KEN: So if you were to recommend the gospel of Mark to someone to read, how would you sell it to them? What would be on the cover of the paperback or whatever? We'd like to encourage all of our listeners to read the books that we are studying. What in particular about Mark would grab them?
WARREN: Above all, Mark is a passion story.

KEN: Okay.

WARREN: Mark is a story that is headed to that final week.

KEN: I see.

WARREN: So while Jesus was moving with great rapidity around Galilee for a few months, that pace slows to a crawl almost for the second half of the gospel of Mark in which He is found in Jerusalem. Those few days are stretched out over a number of chapters. That's where the Gospel of Mark is ultimately heading, and in the middle, in chapter 8, Mark begins to prepare the reader for where that journey is going, and it's in the conversation where Jesus asks His disciples, "Who are people saying that I am?" Jesus asked them and Peter comes back with an answer that greatly satisfies Jesus. He says, "You are the Christ." And Jesus commends him for that but begins at that point, right in the middle of the book to tell what this means. This is extremely important for Mark because for most people, the Messiah was coming as a political liberator. Mark is careful top point out that Jesus instructs His disciples in an understanding of His messianic role that will end in death and resurrection and that this is God's plan. So Jesus begins to unfold that three times then over the next few chapters. Not only preparing the disciples in a historical sense but preparing the reader who now reads Mark to see where this story is going.

KEN: So all of this movement is movement with a purpose for the Savior to die for the sins of the world apparently.
WARREN: Not only die, but to be raised miraculously by God. But everybody died. The resurrection, Jesus is beginning to talk about that complex of cross and empty tomb in the beginning and the middle of this gospel, preparing readers for where this is headed.

KEN: Thank you Dr. Warren Trenchard for your insights.

WARREN: It's been my pleasure to be with you today.

CONNIE: All of Jesus' life was focused on what He would do in those few days at the end--in Jerusalem, at Calvary. Let's listen now as Del Delker sings "Lead Me to Calvary.

"Lead Me to Calvary", Del Delker

LONNIE: The Gospels give us four pictures of Jesus. But what is so important about this Man that He needs four different biographies?
Well, of course the answer to that question is, that Jesus is God, and He came to earth to reveal to us what God is really like.

CONNIE: There was a lot of misunderstanding of God in Jesus' day.

LONNIE: And there still is today. I meet people all the time who don't want to have anything to do with God, and usually the reason is that they've gotten a picture of god that's very negative.

CONNIE: Judgmental?

LONNIE: Yes, and not only that, many people see God as being cruel, capricious--just waiting for a chance to punish us for something.

CONNIE: But that's not the picture of God that we find in the Gospels. Jesus the Son of God--came to earth to dispel those ideas about God, and to help us know that our heavenly Father is a loving, caring God who'll go the extra million miles to help us and save us.

LONNIE: Friend, if you've had questions about what God is really like, I'd like to recommend a book to you, written by my good friend, and associate speaker, Morris Venden. The book is called To Know God--A Five Day Plan. It's very practical, but we're not suggesting that in just five days you can learn everything there is to know about God. Getting to really know someone takes time.

CONNIE: Which is why He's promised eternal life to those who really seek to know Him. It'll take that long to get acquainted!

LONNIE: But this book is--well, maybe we could call it an introductory course--and we'd like you to have a copy. So, why not give us a call at 1-800-872-0055 and ask for a copy of To Know God by Morris Venden.

CONNIE: We'd be delighted if you would call, or write to us, and we'll give our mailing address and other contact information later, after Lonnie shares his message for today, "Mark, Following Jesus."

Mark--Following Jesus

LONNIE: Picture the scene with me, if you will. It's that tragic night at Gethsemane. After partaking of the Passover meal, Jesus has led His disciples out of Jerusalem, across the Kidron Valley, and up onto the side of the Mount of Olives. There's a full moon on that chilly spring night, so it's possible to see forms passing in the street--but not too easy to recognize just who is who.

Now, I'm going to use a little imagination here--I hope it's sanctified imagination--as I piece together what happened that night, as it's recorded in Mark's Gospel.

There's a key part of the story that's reported only in this one Gospel--it's not mentioned by the other three Gospel writers--and that's why many people believe that in this little vignette, Mark has written himself into the story--told us where he himself was on that night, without directly revealing his identity.
Here's the little story, as Mark tells it: "And a certain young man was following [Jesus], wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they seized him. But he left the linen sheet behind, and escaped naked" (Mark 14:51-52, NASB).

How embarrassing! But at least it was night time! I guess you can understand why, if this really did happen to Mark himself, he didn't identify himself in his Gospel.

Can you picture what happened that night? Mark wasn't one of Jesus' inner circle--he's never actually mentioned in the Gospels at all--he comes into the picture later, in the book of Acts and in some of the epistles.
So, Mark wasn't invited to the Last Supper with the Lord. He wasn't in the room when Jesus knelt and washed the disciples' feet, he wasn't there when Jesus passed around the bread and wine as symbols of His broken body and blood. And he wasn't there when Jesus told Judas "What you're going to do, do quickly."

But Mark must have been somewhere nearby. It's just possible that the place where Jesus and the disciples ate the Passover meal was an upper room in Mark's parents' house--in the book of Acts we find that the believers gathered in that house for prayer when Peter was thrown into prison. Or maybe Mark's house was just down the street.

But Mark was definitely interested in what Jesus and the disciples were doing. I can picture him watching as they went into the upper room, maybe even peeking in through a window or a crack around the door jamb, wondering what was going on. But finally the young man grows weary and decides to call it a night. He crawls into bed and wraps himself up in a linen sheet.

He's awakened sometime later by footsteps running down the stairs. He peers out his window and sees one of the disciples hurrying away into the shadows. His curiosity piqued, Mark continues to monitor the scene. Moments later the door opens again and Jesus and the other 11 disciples descend the stairs and go out into the street. Soon they too will be lost in the shadows if he doesn't hurry. There's no time to get dressed, so he just throws the sheet around himself and heads out the door.

He follows the group all the way across the valley, up to Gethsemane, and watches as Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to a separate part of the garden. The details aren't clear among the shadows, but it's obvious that something big is in the wind. Jesus is very troubled. He kneels in prayer, crying out to God in words that float across the troubled scene, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!"

Suddenly there's movement and a trail of lights over on the other side of the valley. Soon a crowd of men with torches comes up the road and marches right into the garden--being led by the same figure that Mark first observed hurrying away from the Passover meal.

Has Jesus sent one of His disciples to gather a militia to help Him establish His kingdom--to fight the Romans and set up the Kingdom of God? This looks exciting, and Mark is glad he left his bed. He wants to be right at the center of the action when it starts!

But then everything goes wrong in a hurry.

There's a brief sword fight in which one of Jesus' disciples strikes out at a man in the crowd, but Jesus quickly quashes the action and ends up being arrested and bound. Mark can't believe his eyes. He watches as the 11 disciples who had followed their Master to the garden fade quickly into the shadows.
What is happening? He has to know.

The mob leads Jesus away, down the hill, toward Jerusalem, but Mark doesn't flee. He starts to follow. A militiaman turns around and spots him. "There's one of His disciples!" he shouts, and several burly men turn around and begin the pursuit. One of them grabs onto the sheet, and Mark, with a burst of speed leaves his only covering behind and sprints off into the darkness.

He had been doing the right thing. He's sure of that. He had been following Jesus. Trying to stay as close as he could. That's what he knew he ought to do.
Take some time to read Mark's Gospel. Focus on the stories he tells. And when you do, you'll probably notice how important the idea of following Jesus is in this Gospel.

Mark's is the shortest of the Gospels. It's kind of like the newspaper edition of the story of Jesus' life--it focuses a lot on the actions of Jesus as He traveled from place to place, preaching, healing, teaching--challenging the moribund religion of the priests, scribes, and pharisees--pouring new wine into new wineskins and bursting the bubbles of those who thought they had religion all sowed up in their old, reliable rituals.

Mark jumps right into the story of Jesus' ministry. Doesn't tell us a thing about His birth or boyhood. Doesn't even dwell on His baptism or the temptations in the wilderness. He's anxious to get to the part where "Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel' " (Mark 1:14-15, NKJV).

The first thing Jesus does when He gets to Galilee is go find Simon and Andrew and invite them to follow Him. Then James and John get the same invitation. He then begins to preach, teach, and heal, traveling around Galilee, gathering ever larger crowds of enthusiastic followers.

It gets to the point where He sometimes has to have a boat at hand so He can escape out onto the waters of the Sea of Galilee to get away from those who press about Him so enthusiastically.

Then one day, He sets out to climb a mountain--and as you can imagine--when you start going uphill, soon some followers drop off. But Jesus keeps on climbing until only those whom He has specifically called are with Him. Here's how Mark tells us about it: "And [Jesus] went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:" (Mark 3:13-15, NKJV).

Notice that Jesus first appointed them to be with Him. That was the job of the disciples--to stay close to Jesus--to follow Him, and to learn from Him.
Soon after that, Jesus began to teach in parables, and the point of His first parable--the parable of the sower who went out to sow--was that it's important to put your roots down deep in the word that you hear from Jesus. Stick with Him, and you'll grow and yield a lot of fruit.

But most of the people in the crowd didn't get the point. They didn't understand what Jesus was trying to teach them. It was only those who stuck with Jesus and persisted in asking Him about the meaning, who learned and grew.

We have no idea whether Mark often found himself in the crowd who were following Jesus. It's possible that he learned most of what he knew about the Savior from the testimony of Peter, the apostle who referred to Mark as his own son [by spiritual adoption] in 1 Peter 5:13.

But when Mark wrote out his Gospel, he wanted us to know just exactly how important it is to follow Jesus closely--to keep Him in view at all times.
When it comes down to the end of Jesus' life, Mark illustrates this theme once again in the little details he includes in the story. He tells us in Mark 15:39 that even the Roman centurion who stood near Jesus as He was dying on the cross was impressed with what he saw--so deeply impressed in fact that he came to believe that Jesus was the Son of God and openly confessed it.

Then Mark tells us about others who were there. Here it is in verse 40: "There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome" (Mark 15:40, NKJV).

But the story of these women who stayed by and watched as Jesus died on the cross doesn't end there.

They continued to want to be near Jesus even after His death--and even before they understood about the resurrection. Mark tells us that it was these same women who came to the tomb early on Sunday morning--and because of their diligence in wanting to be with Jesus, they were the first to receive the news that He had risen from the dead.

Mark, the young man--the young follower of Jesus--tells us the story of Jesus in quick vignette form. He wants to introduce us to the Savior--not just so we'll know about Him, but so we'll follow Him--stick as close to Him as we can. Through thick and thin.

I want to stay close to Jesus, friend, don't you? Won't you resolve to do so as we listen to Merrilou Luthas singing "I Will Follow Thee."

"I Will Follow Thee", Merilou Luthas