A couple of years ago I did a Bible study project on the Gospel of Mark.  It was so insightful and challenging to me as a Christ-follower and as a pastor.  In particular, it started me on a journey to a fuller understanding of the good news or the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As I shared in part 1 and part 2 of this series, the gospel is typically identified with two major issues: sin/forgiveness and heaven/hell.  These two central issues framed the gospel presentation to me all through my growing up years. I assumed that since this was presented to me by people I trusted and because they had verses to “back up” what they were saying, it must be true.  To be clear, sin/forgiveness and heaven/hell are a part of the gospel message.  In that sense, the people who presented it to me were telling me the truth.  But after my study of the gospel of Mark, I have to conclude that they weren’t telling me the full truth.

In this post I want to set the stage in Mark 1 for the presentation of the gospel or good news of Jesus Christ.  To do that you need to understand a key idea from the Hebrew Scriptures, an idea that carried through the culture right up to the time of Jesus.  Something could be established as truth if it could be confirmed by the mouth of two or three witnesses.  If you found two people who could corroborate your story, it was most likely true.  If you could find three, you were as close as possible to guaranteeing its truth.

With that in mind, understand that Mark writes his Gospel to make a case for Jesus being the Messiah.  The first half of the book is focused on proving his Messiah-ship and the second half is focused on what the Messiah does for humanity through his death and resurrection.  So Mark starts his gospel with an intro, an opening argument, if you will to begin to make the case that Jesus is the Messiah.

With that in mind, read Mark 1:1-13.

How many voices do you hear?  I think there are at least three…

Voice #1: The Prophet Isaiah (Mark 1:1-3)

Voice #2: John the Baptist (Mark 1:4-8)

Voice #3: God the Father (Mark 1:9-11)

If something can be established by two mouths, you can be pretty sure it’s true.  If three people can confirm it, it’s as close to a sure thing as you can get.  But when the third voice is God himself, this thing is true!

Mark wants his readers to understand right from the outset that Jesus is the Messiah and that he should be listened to.  What is the message Jesus will share with the world?  Find out in the next post. :)

Questions:

1.  What is special about the three voices Mark uses to affirm Jesus’ identity in this passage?

2.  Mark begins his intro with this phrase, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah…”  What can we learn about the good news from Mark 1:1-13?