Imagine that you are sound asleep in bed at home. It’s warm and comfortable, and you’re completely out to it. Suddenly your bedroom door bangs open, the light flashes on and someone shouts “Wake up – Get up – You’ll be late – He’s here!!” and promptly throws a glass of cold water in your face.
That’s what the beginning of Mark’s Gospel is like. Mark’s message is that God is here now – in Jesus. And John the Baptist was like a glass of cold water in the face of the Jewish people of his day. All the wonderful promises of God coming back to rescue his people from sin are being fulfilled right now. Wake up and realise it!
Jesus, according to Mark
Mark’s telling of who Jesus is, is incredibly interesting. It’s like this big mystery. Is Jesus the promised Messiah, a powerful teacher who does fantastic miracles with great power and authority; or is He really powerless, experiencing rejection, suffering and death? How can He be both?
It’s interesting that three times Jesus predicts His death (Mark 8:31-32; 9:31-32; 10:32-34). Each time the disciples respond with pride and misunderstanding (Mark 8:33; 9:33-34; 10:335-41). And Jesus follows each of these incidents with teaching about servanthood and cross-bearing discipleship (8:34-38; 9:35-37; 10:42-45). That’s the message of the Gospel of Mark in a nutshell.
Everything in this Gospel points to the cross – because the way of the cross is the way of victory. Jesus is both the Servant who goes through incredible suffering and death, and the almighty, all-powerful King who rules with power and authority.
Mark wants all his readers to explore and grasp both of these aspects. And, like Matthew, Mark begins with the Old Testament in order to show the bigger picture regarding who Jesus is.
Mark and Isaiah
Many scholars have pointed out that in many ways Mark’s Gospel echoes the themes of Isaiah chapters 40-55.
Isaiah 40 opens with the voice of one crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the coming Lord. The glory of the Lord will be revealed, and and He will come as a compassionate shepherd who heals and cares for people. Yet He will also come as a righteous judge declaring that He alone is Creator and Lord. Isaiah also tells of a mysterious suffering servant who brings salvation to Israel. Throughout, the people remain blind and deaf to what God is doing.
In Mark we find that John the Baptist is the voice in the wilderness crying out “prepare the way of the Lord.” At Jesus’ baptism, the heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends and the Father affirms that Jesus is His beloved Son. In chapters 1-8, Jesus shows compassion like a shepherd as he heals and provides for people’s physical needs. He also acts as a righteous judge as He confronts evil, commands demons to leave and forgives sins. All the while He is demonstrating the power and authority of God and calling people to respond.
From the end of chapter 8, like Isaiah’s suffering servant, Jesus tells them that He, too, must undergo great suffering. He will be mocked and spat on and finally killed. He is actually giving His life in our place. Yet like the blind and deaf in Isaiah, the disciples continuously fail to understand.
Hearing, seeing and following
In fact, a failure to hear, see and understand flows all the way through Mark’s gospel. In chapter 4, Jesus says that He speaks in parables because in their hearts the crowd do not really want to repent and follow (Mark 4:10-20). They are happy to settle for watching and listening without engaging in Jesus’ message. They don’t want to change.
In chapter 8, it’s the disciples who fail to understand (Mark 8:17-18). And their conversation with Jesus is book-ended with two miracles of healing, where a deaf man hears and a blind man sees. All the miracles Jesus performs actually reflect Old Testament themes, so the disciples have a front row seat as Jesus continually reveals who He is through what He does. He is surprised they still don’t understand.
It’s the final healing miracle that Mark records that provides the final example for the disciples. Bartimaeus (the only recipient of healing that is named in Mark’s Gospel) hears that Jesus is coming, and begins to shout out to Him. He calls Jesus “Rabbouni,” an Aramaic word meaning “my teacher.” He is willing to listen and learn from Jesus. Jesus immediately restores his sight, and Bartimaeus follows Jesus “on the way.” Yet “on the way” is not travelling with him on the road, but directly to the cross!
Bartimaeus finally provides an example of one who hears, listens, sees and follows Jesus to the cross.
The message of the cross
Mark’s Gospel ends very abruptly at Mark 16:8, with trembling, bewilderment and fear. (The next 12 verses weren’t originally there. They are great verses, and they are acknowledged as Scripture, yet they also have a slightly different tone from the rest of the Gospel. Finishing at verse 8 therefore seems more in keeping with Mark’s presentation of the gospel message.)
So where is the triumph? Where is the victory? Mark’s emphasis is on the suffering and death of Jesus. We miss the point if we move too quickly past it. Ultimately, Jesus is the compassionate Shepherd and the righteous Judge. He is the anointed Messiah and the suffering Servant. And He is our Lord and King.
Mark’s gospel does not call us to a comfortable gospel, but to discomfort. It calls us to something radical in our day. Receiving the kingdom means dying to self and living for God. It calls us to journey with the disciples through the questions and challenges Jesus raises. But ultimately, to follow the example of Bartimaeus all the way to the cross.
