Mark

WE’RE number one!... The greatest, stron-

gest, prettiest... champions! Daily such

proclamations boidly assert claims of su-

premacy. Everyone wants to be associated

with a winner. Losers are those who finish

less than first. In direct contrast are the words

of Jesus: “And whoever wants to be first must

be the slave of everyone else. For even the

Son of Man came here not to be served but to

serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (10:44, 45). Jesus is the greatest—God incarnate, our Messiah—but he entered history as a servant. This is the message of Mark. Written to encourage Roman Christians and to prove beyond a doubt that Jesus is the Messiah, Mark presents a rapid succession of vivid pictures of Jesus in action—his true identity revealed by what he does, not necessarily by what he says. It is Jesus on the move. Omitting the birth of Jesus, Mark begins with John the Baptist’s preaching. Then, moving quickly past Jesus’ baptism, temptation in the wilderness, and call of the disciples, Mark takes us directly into Jesus’ public ministry. We see Jesus confronting a demon, healing a man with leprosy, and forgiving and healing the paralyzed man lowered into Jesus’ presence by friends. Next, Jesus calls Matthew (Levi) and has dinner with him and his questionable associates. This initiates the conflict with the Pharisees and other religious teaders, who condemn Jesus for eating with sinners and breaking the Sabbath. In chapter 4, Mark pauses to give a sample of Jesus’ teaching—the parable of the farmer and the illustration of the mustard seed—and then plunges back into the action. Jesus calms the waves, drives out demons, and raises Jairus’s daughter from the dead. After returning to Nazareth for a few days and experiencing rejection in his hometown, Jesus commissions the disciples to spread the Good News everywhere. Opposition from Herod and the Pharisees increases, and John the Baptist is beheaded. But Jesus continues to move, feeding 5,000, reaching out to the woman from Syrian Phoenicia, healing the deaf man, and feeding 4,000. Finally, it is time to reveal his true identity to the disciples. Do they really know who Jesus is? Peter prociaims him Messiah but then promptly shows that he does not understand Jesus’ mission. After the Transfiguration, Jesus continues to teach and heal, confronting the Pharisees about divorce and the rich young man about eternal life. Blind Bartimaeus is healed. Events move rapidly toward a climax. The Last Supper, the betrayal, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection are dramatically portrayed, along with more examples of Jesus’ teachings. Mark shows us Jesus—moving, serving, sacrificing, and saving! As you read Mark, be ready for action, be open for God’s move in your life, and be challenged to move into your world to serve.

Jesus did not arrive unannounced or unexpected. The Old Testament prophets had clearly predicted the coming of a great one, sent by God himself, who would offer salvation and eternal peace to Israel and the entire world. Then came John the Baptist, who announced that the long-awaited Messiah had finally come and would soon be among the people. In God’s work in the world today, Jesus does not come unannounced or unexpected. Yet many still reject him. We have the witness of the Bible, but some choose to ignore it, just as many ignored John the Baptist in his day. Jesus had all the power of God: He raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, restored deformed bodies, and quieted stormy seas. But with all this power, Jesus came to humanity as a servant. We can use his life as a pattern for how to live today. As Jesus served God and others, so should we.

Jesus came as a Servant, so many did not recognize or acknowledge him as the Messiah. We must be careful that we aiso don’t reject God or his will because he doesn’t quite fit our image of what God should be.