Mark 1a (7-16-25)

Hello everyone, this is Pastor James and welcome back once again to our midweek Bible study.

Today we're going to start studying the first half of chapter 1 in the Gospel of Mark.

As Mark starts off with John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus to come.

So read with me verses 1-8 and we'll get started.

This is the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.

It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written.

Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you and he will prepare your way.

He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord's coming.

Clear the road for him.

This messenger was John the Baptist.

He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they

had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.

All of Judea, including all of the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John.

And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair and he wore a leather belt around his waist.

For food he ate locusts and wild honey.

John announced someone is coming soon who is greater than I am.

So much greater than I am not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps

of his sandals.

I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

Okay, let's talk about verse 1 and the message that is communicating in this moment.

Verse 1 is very Roman.

The reason why is that when there was news or references of a Roman emperor, there was

a certain understanding of statements that came with it.

For instance, many emperors proclaimed themselves as deities or gods to be worshipped.

And other times, people referred to them as such.

And so references to their birthdays, which were celebrated festivals, came in the form

of joyful tidings and new beginnings.

So when Mark refers to Jesus as the Messiah, and that this was the good news about the

Messiah, the people of Rome would have very much identified the statement as Jesus being

someone of importance that should be celebrated with joy and honor.

Now that's kind of unique because the whole time Mark is going to portray Jesus as a servant,

yet Jesus is still the son of God.

He's still someone who should be worshipped and adored and treated with the greatest respect.

Now Mark does not focus a lot on prophecies as the Romans would not have cared about Jewish prophecies.

We talked about that in the intro last week.

But it is important to know that Jesus was the plan that God had been orchestrating from

the very beginning of time, and that this plan was foretold.

And so while Mark does not spend a lot of time on prophecies, we do see this reference

in verse 2 to help Roman people understand exactly who Jesus was and how God had prepared

his coming even through the special appointment of another person like John the Baptist.

This is the image of Mark.

That Mark wants his readers to maintain throughout the gospel is that Jesus is God.

There has been this great plan to set him in place.

He is very important.

Someone prepared the way for him, just like someone came to announce the coming of an

important political leader in the nation of Rome.

And at the same time, he's also going to be this servant and this regular ordinary man.

So verse 3 also identifies John the Baptist who was an extremely popular person during

his life.

His ministry and odd way of living was definitely something that would have attracted stories

and news about him far and wide.

Many people would have heard of him just like many people had heard about Jesus and all

of his miracles by this time.

His fame had spread far and wide.

John the Baptist was a very popular figure.

Even all the people of Judea and the surrounding area came out to the wilderness to hear him.

And John was probably more popular than Jesus in some ways because he was proclaiming a very

common belief that the kingdom of God was at hand and the Messiah was coming.

That was a very popular thing that all Jewish people believed in.

Now, Jesus received a lot of pushback from especially the religious leaders because he

claimed to be that Messiah and everyone had to decide for themselves whether or not they

believed Jesus was the Messiah.

So as we talked about in verses 4-5, it's important to know that baptism means to immerse

or overwhelm.

That's kind of like the technical definition.

So you don't have to be baptized in water in order to be baptized.

You can be overwhelmed with grief.

So you can be baptized with grief.

You can be baptized with suffering.

You can be baptized with joy.

So you can emotionally be baptized, but you can also be physically baptized with water.

John just happened to physically baptize people with water.

And the symbolism of baptism is to express the immersion of someone into God and the

overwhelming conviction that comes from God to repent of our sinful ways.

So what's interesting is that this concept of washing was already a large part of the

Jewish life of worship.

They would have very much understood the ceremonial washings, the washings of hand, the washings

of items.

Even the priests were washed head to toe, which is pretty interesting.

I'm not going to explain that, but if you want to look that up, you will probably find

that very interesting.

They were washed completely from head to toe before they could serve.

But the idea of water baptism and being completely immersed underwater was unique in a way.

For Jewish people, it was not this idea of submerging and being soaked.

It was more of a ritualistic and symbolic thing in many ways, practical in some ways,

but very lightly applied with ceremonial approaches.

Baptisms in full immersion were practiced in the Jewish community, but they were usually

reserved the full submersion, that overwhelming full soaked dunked in water aspect was reserved

for Gentiles who wished to become a part of the Jewish community.

So it was basically saying that you're an outsider.

You're a very sinful, unclean person.

The ceremonial washings of you is not going to be enough.

We're going to have to fully submersion you in a way that's going to get you really good

and clean so that you can be a part of the family of Abraham, the family of God.

So this idea that Jewish people were coming to John the Baptist to receive this overwhelming

full immersion into water was communicating what John was preaching, repent of your sins

and turn to God.

So what they were saying is that we are like Gentiles.

We are full of sin.

We are filthy and dirty and we need to be fully immersed just as the Gentiles are fully

immersed because we're just as far away from God as the Gentiles are.

And that's a pretty bold statement for a Jewish person to make.

Now, you got to remember that John's message was never meant to be, you are a sinner, but

rather Jesus is coming and you need to be ready for this.

So Jesus is the focal point and this is what we are being prepared for.

So we need to deal with our heart and the condition of our heart in order to be ready

to receive Christ when the opportunity comes.

This is what John is preaching.

So John the Baptist's ministry was highly regarded by most people.

And this is why it says from those from all of Judea and all over Jerusalem, John was

beloved by ordinary people.

He wasn't bothered too much by the religious leaders.

The religious leaders were probably more curious with him than anything, but he didn't

threaten the religious leaders in any way.

The religious leaders also believed that all the people who were going to get baptized

were filthy wretches too.

So they were completely on board with everything that John was saying.

And they also believed that the Messiah was going to come.

Now, the issue is, is when John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the Messiah and

then Jesus begins to do his ministry and present himself as the Messiah.

And that's when things start getting wiry.

But John the Baptist was loved by the masses and they would have heard of him, no doubt.

So John the Baptist even appealed to people like Herod who eventually put him to death.

And so in verses six through eight, these are simple, but yet very clear in three things.

The first thing is John the Baptist was different.

He dressed differently, he ate differently, he lived differently, and people loved him

for that. The religious leaders were very lavish in their lifestyles and their dresses

and the way that they lived, the way they ate.

And so the people thought it was very refreshing and in a pure compared to what the religious

leaders were doing.

So the second thing is, is while John was wildly popular, he never made it about himself.

OK, he always preached the Messiah, which turned out to be Jesus.

But he always preached about the Messiah.

He was very specific about the difference in Christ and the deity of Christ.

And John even said that he was unworthy to be Jesus' lowliest slave and untie his sandals

from his feet.

So John very clearly said, this is not about me, someone is coming who is greater than I am.

The third thing is, is that John was known for his baptism in water.

But Jesus would come and baptized with the Holy Spirit.

And this is much more significant and powerful.

And I think this is really important for us to pay attention to today,

because while John the Baptist baptized with water and he was wildly popular,

there was someone more powerful coming who was going to baptize and overwhelm and immerse

and cleanse us all with the very Holy Spirit of God.

And that's important.

That's where the real change happens inside a believer's life is when the Holy Spirit comes.

So this leads directly into the power of Christ that supersedes anything that John

was doing and could ever do.

And this greatly appealed to the Roman people because they were very much

attracted to power in a lot of ways.

They wanted to follow a powerful person.

That's what they were used to.

So let's read verses 9 through 15 and talk about this baptism and temptation of Jesus.

It says, one day Jesus came from Nazareth and Galilee and John baptized him in the Jordan River.

As Jesus came up out of the water,

he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove.

And a voice from heaven said, you are my dearly loved son and you bring me great joy.

The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan

for 40 days.

He was out among the wild animals and angels took care of him.

Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee where he preached God's good news.

The time promised by God has come at last.

He announced, the kingdom of God is near.

Repent of your sins and believe the good news.

Okay, so here we see in verses 9 through 11 that John's ministry is preparing and leading

into Jesus' ministry.

That's what Mark is communicating and it's happening in a very powerful way.

John baptizes Jesus and the results are just as Mark describes in verse 8.

John baptizes Jesus with water.

But then the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus and reveals Jesus as God's very own son

proclaimed by the voice of God himself.

So we see this progression from water to Holy Spirit immediately as the two men meet one

another in obedience to what God has called them to do and ordained them to do.

The baptism of water has ushered in the opportunity for the baptism of Holy Spirit

to take place.

And in verses 12 through 13, this then describes Jesus' first hardship within his ministry

as the Holy Spirit leads him to be out to the wilderness to be tempted and tried.

So after he was tempted, then God's own servants, the angels came and cared for him

after he remained obedient to God's will.

So this also showed that the angels serve Jesus as he was also God,

as they were called to serve him as well as they were called to serve the father.

And Jesus receives this because he was obedient to God.

So he is also an obedient servant, but at the same time he is also God.

He's also being ministered to by angels.

He's also facing temptations and trials.

Very relatable to Roman people who would have had positions of power,

who also had to answer to people higher than them,

who also felt the need to serve and to be leaders to people around them in their life.

So Mark portrays Jesus as almost waiting for John's ministry to be done before starting his own.

You know, John's ministry comes to an end in the gospel of Mark and Jesus begins.

So there's almost disrespect portrayed in this gospel for John the Baptist to kind of like,

okay, his time's done and now Jesus has taken this and he's moving forward.

We do have other accounts and other gospels that Jesus' ministry begins

while John's ministry was still taking place.

But the way it's worded in Mark's gospel is unique,

as it's almost like Jesus is picking up where John left off.

But we know that not to be true because we have some more chronological

examples or testimonies happening in the other gospels

that give us a more clear idea of the way things happen and in the order that they happen.

So let's read verses 16 to 20 as Mark, as Jesus calls the first disciples

and then we'll be done for today.

One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee,

he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water for they fished for a living.

Jesus called out to them,

Come follow me and I will show you how to fish for people.

And they left their nets at once and followed him.

A little farther up the shore, Jesus saw Zebedee's sons, James and John,

in a boat repairing their nets.

He called for them at once and they also followed him,

leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men.

All right, so Mark quickly goes into the recruitment of disciples.

Simon and Andrew are the first ones.

And this wouldn't be surprising as Mark probably got all of his information from Simon Peter.

So I think it would probably make sense that Peter would be among the first to be called.

And there have been a natural tendency to make Peter the first disciple

as well as a focal character of this gospel,

probably because of his relationship with John Mark throughout the years.

But when you look at the other gospels,

they list Peter being recruited first as well.

James and John are the next pair of brothers recruited

and it just so happens that they are also fishermen.

And this is a really cool portrayal or analogy for Jesus to use

as he's showing people how to reach out to other people

in a way to capture them in the name of Christ.

He's using these ordinary men to do extraordinary things.

Fishermen would have been a lowly position among Jewish people,

but also among Roman people especially.

And so this shows the power of Jesus to use less than ordinary men to do extraordinary things.

And this will reinforce what the Holy Spirit can do in a normal individual,

especially as the New Testament continues on.

And we see how God uses these disciples in the coming days.

So one last thing is you look at the calling of the disciples in Mark 1,

where it's almost like there's just this cold call

where Jesus just shows up and says,

hey, come follow me.

And the disciples just blindly follow him.

But another thing that we see is that this is just a short account

of what happens when Jesus causes disciples.

We find in other gospels that Simon Peter and Andrew,

also James and John have previous encounters with Jesus

before this moment when Jesus calls him.

So there's already a sort of rapport

that these disciples have with Jesus before they make this decision.

It's not like Jesus just shows up

and they've never seen him before, never heard of him before,

and then they follow him.

We know that Peter's brother Andrew

was also a disciple of John the Baptist.

And so he was already following John the Baptist.

He was probably present when John the Baptist

identified Jesus as the Messiah.

He was probably present when Jesus was baptized

and God spoke and identified him as his son.

And so they also had the miraculous catch

when Jesus told them to throw the net

on the other side of the boat

and they caught so much fish they couldn't haul it in.

So they've already had these encounters with Christ

that would have given them a sort of foundation

to put their trust and faith in him

and leave everything they know and follow.

So as we close out today, I just remind you,

you gotta pay attention to all the gospels as you read one.

That's why we have four.

It gives us great insight into other things.

So let me pray with you and I'll let you go.

Father, we love you today.

We thank you so much for the opportunity to serve you.

We pray that you would use your words

to speak into our hearts.

We love you and ask all this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

All right, guys.

Thanks for tuning in for another week.

We love you.

We're praying for you.

And if you can't catch us in person,

always catch us on Facebook, YouTube, and the podcast.

Have a great week.