A. Mark 1:1-13 The Beginning of the Good News

Mark 1:1 The Title

The beginnings and the endings of stories are important because they send us signals as to what we need to know if we are to make sense of the story. Mark doesn’t have a dust jacket with author blurb and a summary of the story and reader comments. It doesn’t have something that says “This is the Gospel of Mark”: that gets added much later.

What it does have is a short sentence that harbors a host of allusions: beginning of the gospel about Jesus Messiah Son of God.

Before the word ‘gospel’ became a Christian word for a story about Jesus (mid 2nd century) it was used for a story proclaiming the glories of a god-emperor. The Emperor Augustus is honored in a proclamation by the Provincial Assembly of Asia Minor with these words “… the birthday of the God [=Caesar Augustus] has been for the whole world the beginning of the gospel concerning him ..” 'Gospel' was also used for the good news of victory in battle and for significant turning points in the history of the world. Mark could well be saying that his story is significant news and it is about Jesus rather than Caesar. Paul had used ‘the Gospel’ as a cipher for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:1ff.) as the author of the second part of Isaiah had used it to gather up the hope of the exiles (Is. 61:1ff).

Here, Jesus is the subject of the Gospel, rather than the author: the good news is about Jesus (an objective genitive). In Mk. 1:14 Jesus is the one who proclaims the good news (in the sense of Isaiah 61:1) rather than the one who is proclaimed (as by Paul)

Mark is saying that to appreciate the beginning of the gospel about Jesus we need to go back to Jesus’ baptism by John and his proclamation by the divine voice. Subsequent gospel writers will push back this “divine moment” to his conception (Matthew & Luke) or even to before the beginning of all time (John). “Beginning” evokes the bereshith (“in the beginning”) of Genesis 1:1. I don’t think it is merely saying this is the first of the gospels or that this sentence marks the start of the book/story we know as “Mark”

For us as readers or hearers of the story, mention of a “beginning” evokes a question about its ending: where will it all go, and will it ever end? As second or third time readers of Mark we know that Jesus’ commitment to go up to Jerusalem (8:31) has tragic consequences in his Passion. We know too that this is a story without end. There is no resurrection appearance but a relayed call to go on to Galilee where Jesus has already gone (16:7). As readers we know all this because we have gone through this before. We too, live in the absence of Jesus.

The gospel of Jesus Christ Son of God is not a biography of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is the proclaimed one, a god-like figure who lords it over the spirits of the deep (6:47-52) and of whom the crowds say: “What is this? A new teaching — with authority he commands the unclean spirits and they obey him” But here, in the title, this extraordinary figure is described in functional terms as the perfect human figure, the anointed king, the obedient son of God, on a special mission for God. “Jesus Christ” will become almost a proper name. (In our day it will become a phrase used by people who struggle with the rudiments of the English language and with the concept of walking upright.)

So this is how the real story, the real gospel, begins. Not with Caesar Augustus but with the anointed Jesus.


Mark 1:2-13 The Prologue

The privileged position of the readers, particularly those of us who are “in the know” because we are no longer first-time readers, is now established.

The mother of all connections is set up here.

• It is written in scripture is a mixed quotation from Exodus 23:20 (the messenger before your face), Second Isaiah (40:2, the voice crying in the wilderness) and Malachi (3:1, the messenger and 4:5-6, the one coming is Elijah) rather than a single quote from a single Isaiah.
• Elijah is a candidate to return since he never died; Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2)
• Mark is fascinated with Elijah: he returns on stage in the transfiguration story (9:2-8) in company with Moses, whose departure is shrouded in mystery (Deuteronomy 34:6). Post-transfiguration discussion (9:9-13) confirm that Elijah is the coming one and Elijah has already come
• John is the coming Elijah to whom “they did whatever they pleased”. The identification is confirmed by John having the hairy dress of the prophet (Zechariah 13:4) and wearing Elijah’s belt (2 Kings 1:8)
• Jesus is the more powerful one who is coming after John. The strategic connection between John and Jesus awaits us: John’s arrest – Jesus’ preaching – John’s death – Jesus’ going up to Jerusalem. They will “do what they want” with John and then with Jesus. As readers (let’s call ourselves ‘second readers’) of Mark we can’t help ourselves: we know that John, and then Jesus, is arrested and ‘handed over” to the authorities and that the same fate awaits us as we take up his cross and follow him. Much awaits us!

Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee is baptized (i.e. dipped) by John. This is one very special example of the hyperbole of verse 6: “the whole region of Judaea and all the Jerusalemites”. Three special events form a part of the baptism of our main character Jesus in his first scene.

• Immediately (that’s not the special event: that is the first case of Mark using this word to create a sense of urgency) he saw (who saw, the Baptist or Jesus?) the heavens ripped open. We second readers (as we are now known) have just finished reading about the veil of the Temple being ripped open (15:38 – the word is not used elsewhere in Mark. Once again, in his baptism we see his death. This occurs while he is going up (cf. his going up to Jerusalem to suffer and die)
• The dove-like Spirit descends on him. Why “dove-like”? Don’t know! The presence and power of the Spirit of Creation will drive him, minister to him and empower him.
• The voice (of God) speaks from heaven. The voice of God proclaims him as the “beloved son” here: the voice of the centurion will acknowledge him as “truly God’s Son” at the second ripping (15:39)

The prologue has been set in the “wilderness”. This is more a scriptural evocation rather than a geographic designation.

• Where God formed his chosen people
• Where God was alone with his “beloved one” (Hosea 2:14 – cf. Mk. 1:11)
• Where Israel failed the test (Psalm 78. 105. 106)

Here, into this “wilderness”, Jesus is thrown out by the (archetypal good) Spirit, he does battle with the archetypal bad Spirit for the standard forty days. The same battle of opposites will continue throughout Mark: Jesus’ testing continues. To this summary statement, a new Adam-in-Paradise theme appears to be added as Adam is also forty days with the beasts. It is evident to us that Jesus passes his testing and, like Elijah after his forty day flight to Mt Horeb (1 Kings 19:1-8), is ministered to by the angels.

In this prologue, everything points to Jesus. We see, we hear, we remember. This is set to be a very high stakes game. This is no ordinary story and we are no disinterested observers.