Mark 1:1-8

For several thousand years now, we are familiar with the concept of a Gospel. The Gospel is quite simply a message of “good news.” However, the book of Mark is the first time a structured account of the life and words of Jesus is given. Mark was the first of a new literary form we refer to as “Gospel.”

Mark jumps right into the ministry of Jesus. Jesus does not waste any time. Mark does not give us a birth narrative. Mark shows Jesus going from action to action. Jesus is busy doing the work of being the Messiah. The words of Jesus are not emphasized as much as the deeds of Jesus.

Let’s look at Mark 1:1, “In the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” This Good News is the commencement of a new beginning. We have a beginning in Genesis 1:1 but this beginning marks a new era. This beginning suggests a foretold and appointed time. It was in the fulness of time politically, historically culturally and spiritually. In all of these realms, it was time for a “beginning”. It was time for something as yet unknown to take place. It was time for the “Good News.” Mark is making a proclamation that the “good news” begins here. Mark is telling us that the material that follows should be understood as good news. Mark knows the people to whom the good news is written will suffer and are suffering but this good news is the silver lining to all the clouds. A persecuted church needs to remember that in the midst of the shadow of the cross, resurrection comes.

1:2-3 “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”

The Good News begins with the fulfillment of prophecy. The people had waited for centuries for the prophecies concerning the long awaited, coming Messiah and the Kingdom of God. Mark is telling us the fulfillment begins now.

Jesus was the coming Messiah and King, and John the Baptist was the one crying in the wilderness. Through his message of repentance, he worked to prepare the way of the Lord. “We often fail to appreciate how important the preparatory work of the Lord is. Any great work of God begins with great preparation. John wonderfully fulfilled this important ministry. “John was God’s bulldozer to build that highway.”

1:4-6 “John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.”

Verse 4 tells us how John will prepare the way. He came baptizing. John the baptizer is a better way to describe John. The people of Israel were used to baptisms. Jews often participated in ritual baptisms that normally dealt with uncleanness. However, there was one ceremonial immersion practiced when a Gentile wanted to convert to Judaism. The Gentile had to be completely immersed. The person’s old identity would die and when the person rose from the water, he/she would be changed and rise as a Jew.

While Jews were familiar with the idea of purification by water, what John was doing is different. John’s baptism was transformative. John’s baptism marked a turning point in one’s life. It marked a turning away from sin. John’s baptism wasn’t something that had to be repeated over and over. Rather, it was a one-time event that was connected with repentance and the forgiveness of sin.

John is saying God is coming. It’s time to get your sins forgiven. After all, that’s what Jesus’ ministry is, the forgiveness of sin. John’s baptism was about forgiveness of sins in that it pointed to Jesus, who was the means for that forgiveness.

1:7-8 “And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Some of those people coming to John from all over the land, may have thought he was the Messiah or maybe even Elijah. John goes out of his way to say, “it’s not me. I am not the Messiah.”

One other note on verse 7, Removing and carrying sandals was the work of slaves. Recall the disciple’s horror when Jesus bent down and removed their sandals and washed their feet. John is saying that he is not even worthy to be the slave of the Messiah.

The statement John makes and the place where John is, brings the Jewish mind to thoughts of the Exodus. This whole section of Mark is like a new Exodus. This Exodus doesn’t lead to 40 years in the wilderness but rather it leads to Jesus: the fulfillment of the law.

Verse 8 differentiates the baptism of John and the baptism with the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism was an opening to what Jesus would bring. The Messiah would bring an immersion in the Holy Spirit that would supersede immersion in water that demonstrated repentance.  John’s baptism could not truly cleanse a person from sin, and it could not impart the Holy Spirit in the way Jesus would after His work on the cross was completed.

[1] Guzik, D. (2013). Mark (Mk 1:1–5). Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik.