Good News For a Bad World - Studies in the Gospel of Mark - 1
Mark 1:1
Nowadays, if we want we can watch 24/7 wall to wall live news broadcasts from all over the globe. There’s only one problem. Most of the news we get is nearly always bad news. Bad news followed by even more bad news.
Well, thankfully with so much bad news on the go, I’m glad to be able to tell you that the theme of Mark’s Gospel is good news. The word “Gospel” actually means good news. So here we have good news … good news for a bad and broken world.
In this series we want to look together at Mark’s Gospel. And to begin with I want to highlight a few things really by way of introduction. This time Mark’s Gospel … its Hero and its Heartbeat and next time Mark’s Gospel … its Haste and its Hope.
Here we go. To start with MARK’S GOSPEL … ITS HERO.
Underline 1:1 … this is the good news of WHO? Of Jesus Christ, the Son of God …
This good news is all about Jesus Christ. It’s His biography, His story.
The name “Jesus” means deliverer, rescuer, Saviour. “Christ” means promised One, anointed One, Messiah. And the title “the Son of God” refers to His deity, His Godship.
And right away that’s who Mark directs us to. Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Messiah, the Saviour, God’s Son.
From whatever angle we come at this we find that He’s the great Hero of this Gospel. And we really shouldn’t be shocked or surprised by that. Because after all He’s the Hero not just of this Gospel, but He’s the Hero of the entire Gospel.
Please, whatever else you do, as we look at these pages of God’s Word I don’t want you to miss Jesus Christ the Son of God. If you do miss Him you miss it all. You miss forgiveness, salvation, blessing, meaning and purpose for living and you miss heaven.
But thankfully, when you have Him you have everything. Everything you need in this life and the next.
And so there’s the first thing. Its Hero.
Next, MARK’S GOSPEL … ITS HEARTBEAT.
It’s important to understand that the 4 Gospels come at Christ from 4 different angles. In Matthew we see Him as the King. That’s why the word “Kingdom” is all over the place. And so in Matthew’s account the spotlight falls on His Royal Highness King Jesus.
In Luke we see Him as the Son of Man. The One who cares and understands and sympathises and even empathises with us in our times of greatest hurt and pain. That’s Luke’s focus.
In John of course, we see Him, not as the King or as the Son of Man, BUT as the Son of God. He’s Divine. All that He says and does proves that He’s God. The different “I AM’s.” I am the bread of life, I am the door, I am the way, the truth and the life, I am the good Shepherd, I am the resurrection and the life … All claims to deity. “I Am” has clear divine connotations.
And so, that’s the basic thrust and focus of Matthew, Luke and John.
But what about Mark? Well Mark talks about Christ the servant. The selfless servant. And the key verse is chapter 10:45 – “Jesus said, I didn’t come to be served, but to serve ...”
Willingly and humbly He became a lowly servant. Sacrificing His own comforts and ambitions and rights even for the sake of others.
Just watch Him as He wraps a towel around his waist and gets down on His knees in front of His disciples and washes their feet.
A task reserved for the most inexperienced household servant. The lowest rank got the horrible, demeaning job of washing the dust from the visitor’s feet.
And yet, the One who scooped out the oceans and the One who decided that water should be made up of 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen took a basin and got down on His hands and knees and washed their feet.
Think of it. He’s the King of kings and the Lord of lords and YET He becomes a humble servant. Not living for Himself BUT living for others.
And so as we read this Gospel we’re going to learn how to serve like Jesus with humility and dignity. That’s the Heartbeat, the heart-throb of this whole book.
Well there we have it. Mark’s Gospel … its Hero is Jesus and its Heartbeat is servanthood.