Episode 24S42 Introduction to Mark ( 10/27/2024 written by Dr. Kip Wehrman)
I hope you had a chance to listen to the music video. The song was “praise you anywhere” by Brandon Lake. We need to have this attitude of praise. Praise God not matter what is happening. Praise God in the Storm. Praise God on the mountain top. Praise God when we graduate. Praise God when our family is struggling. Praise God anywhere, anytime. Or probably its better to say praise God everywhere, every time and every situation. Praise God.
So how did you do with the homework? What is holy? The English word holy comes from the German word “halig” which means blessed. The latin word is “sanctus” which is were we get the English word sacred from. The Greek word is “hagios” which is sacred or holy in English. IN the old testament the Hebrew word is “qodesh” (ko’-desh) meaning apartness or sacredness.
So in the Bible when God is holy, God is one of a kind. He is apart or special
When something or someone is holy in the Bible. It or them are set apart for God’s purposes. They are sacred because God has chosen them for a purpose. So that holy.
Our Scripture was 1 Peter Chapter 1. But before we start. Context.
It is believed that the apostle Peter is the author because that is what the first verse says. Most believe this letter was written in the early 60’sAD. Peter was martyred sometime between 64-67AD, so it has to be written earlier than that. Peter is encouraging Christians to persevere. It seems to be focused on Jewish Christians who are suffering persecution most likely from other Jews. Peter reminds them that there suffering is short compared to eternity. We have Hope.
Our focus verses was 1 Peter 1:13-16 (NIV) 13Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
For it is written be holy because I am holy. Be set apart for my purpose because I am the one true God. Whenever we see phrases like, “it is written” or “the scriptures say”. We need to go find what scriptures they are talking about. In this case is it not for sure because Peter does not quote specifically instead Peter and John tend to paraphrase the old testament scriptures.
So it could be Leviticus Lev 11:44-45(NIV) 44I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. 45I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
Leviticus 11 is talking about the important of purification if you are going to be close to God. This is the Jewish ritual descriptions, but we also need to be spiritually clean if we are going to realize the purpose God has for our lives.
Another option is Leviticus 19:1-2(NIV) 1The Lord said to Moses, 2“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
Here Moses is reminding God’s people that our behavior is important. How we act affects our holiness or our ability to be part of God’s plans.
Either of these old testament scriptures are good cross references with what Peter is telling us. WE have all things wonderful things because we are followers of Jesus. We have hope, joy, assurance. We have been give God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness. But we need to behave the way God wants us to behave to continue to receive those blessings. We must be Holy, or set apart for God’s purposes which means our behavior must match God’s expectations for us. We need to be spiritually clean. But we all sin, we are all selfish. How is this possible. We ask God for forgiveness, we repent or put another way we work hard to never do that bad thing again, and each day we work to follow Jesus the way Jesus wants us to follow Him. Amen. Okay.
Let’s Pray.
Okay today we are going to begin our study of the gospel of Mark. But before we start we need to understand the Context. So today we are going to see how we can put together all the things we have been learning.
I want to start with a visual commentary that shows how the gospels fit into the overall story of the Bible and really how the new testament is that continuation of the God’s story that began in the Old Testament with Israel.
PLAY Bible Project Video (New-Testament-Overview (8:20 min)
It always helps me to remember how a book of the Bible fits into God’s over arching story before I begin a study.
It is also very useful to get a “big picture” of the Book we are about study. So again, I’m going to use the BibleProject overview of the gospel of Mark as a visual commentary to help us see the big picture
PLAY Bible Project Video MARK ( 9:32 min)
I really like these BibleProject overviews. I would not be able to see the big picture unless someone like Tim McKee pointed it out. I really appreciate these. They have allowed me to see beyond the specific verse or story and instead see how each story works together to show us who Jesus is.
Now what other context do we need before we start.
We are pretty certain that the author was John Mark. Cousin of Barnabus, Paull talks about John Mark and it is traditional that John Mark was close to Peter. It is even possible that John Mark knew Jesus, there are a couple of details in Mark that lead us to believe this. Plus we know the Jesus went to John Mark’s home and that his mother was a follower of Jesus. His mother is thought to be one of Mary’s that tended to Jesus during his earthly ministry (Acts 12:12).
How about when this was written.
BibleHub (book summary). Read first part of summary.. AD64
BibleHub also has a timeline for the book mark (timeline)
What about BlueLetterBible (BLB) Bible Introduction
BLB Introduction says Mark was written in the early sixes.
ESV Bible Introduction says Mark was written in the 50’s or 60’s. Read summary.
I am always surprised at how much variation there is in what Christian Scholars think. Since you and I are scholarly we can try to reason out when Mark was probably written based on other things we know of.
So when was Mark probably written. This is actually a common objection of critics that the gospels were written long after the events. Most consider that Mark was most likely the first Gospel account written. We know Jesus’ Death and resurrection was somewhere around AD30 or AD33. None of the New Testament books mention the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD70 by the Romans. This was one of the most significant event of antiquity, so the fact none of the new testament writers mention it is an obvious clue to the dating of the writings. Remember Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple, so it would have been an obvious thing to include and corroboration of Jesus prophetic prediction but it’s not there, so the only reasonable explanation is it had not happened when Mark wrote his gospel. Another point in time we know with some certainty was the Missionary journeys of Paul, the first of which was approximately AD44-46. So when would Mark have written his gospel. What else to we know.
We also know Luke did not mention the destruction of the Temple in either the Acts of the Apostles or the gospel according to Luke. And Luke wrote acts after he wrote his gospel, because he says so in Acts. And almost all Bible scholars agree Luke has borrowed text from the Gospel of Mark, meaning Mark must have been written earlier than either of Luke’s books.
Also, we know that the siege of Jerusalem started around AD66-67. Again the siege is not mentioned in any of the New Testament books, meaning Act, Luke, and Mark had to be written much earlier. But how much earlier
Other major historical events not mentioned in the New Testament are the martyr deaths of Paul, Peter, and James the brother of Jesus. Yet history tells us they were all killed around AD61-65. A critic may say, why would the writer mention these deaths. Well, Luke describes the deaths of Stephen and James the brother of John. So there is no reasonable reason to omit these others deaths, unless of course they had not happened yet. The latest reasonable estimate for Luke writing Acts is about AD57-60 at least a year before the deaths of Paul, Peter, and James. But what else do we have that would help us pinpoint the most reasonable date for Mark’s writing.
What about Paul’s letter to Timothy. 1 Timothy 5:18 (NIV),” For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.” I am sure you are asking why this scripture. Well Paul refers the two phrases as scripture.
The first one is from Deuteronomy 24:4 (NIV) “ Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” But do you know what the second one is.
It is the words of Jesus captured by Luke in his gospel account Luke 10:7 (NIV) “….for the worker deserves his wages”. Paul is references Luke’s gospel as scripture. That means that it must have been written much earlier. Long enough to become considered to be scriptures.
We know with some certainty that Paul wrote to Timothy around AD53-57. So that means Luke gospel must be even earlier to be available to Luke. This puts Mark’s gospel earlier than Paul’s missionary journeys.
Additionally, many believe Luke borrowed phrases from Matthew’s gospel as well. And Matthew’s gospel appears to borrow from Mark. You can see that this leads up to conservatively saying, Mark’s gospel was probably written no later than AD40-45. That is only a decade or so after Jesus’ resurrection. A Mark’s gospel could be even earlier maybe within a few years of the events. Mark was young but educated. He would have been around the Apostles and may have been asked to scribe their early accounts. We don’t know but we have excellent evidence to believe the gospel of Mark was written very early.
So what about our book ends.
Mark 1:1 (NIV) The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God
Mark 16:14-15(NIV) 14Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. 15He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation…
Mark 16:19-20(NIV)…19After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
Context of Mark… Dated most likely in the early AD40’s, because there is no mention of siege of Jerusalem.
Author is most likely John Mark (mentioned in Acts and several other NT books)
The bookends are simple. This is the story of Jesus the Messiah and this good news is to be preached to all of creation, then ends with Jesus going to heaven. Everything between verse 1 and the end must fit that topic and purpose.
What else do we know that will be helpful. The story of Jesus takes place during the time the Romans Ruled pretty much all of the so called known world. The Romans were brutal. The region had many puppet rulers during the life of Jesus and in fact, Israel was broken into at least three regions with rulers that did not get along always. We will try to highlight this as we work through our study.
Remembering that the Jewish ruling class at the time of Jesus was the Sanhedrin; Pharisees & Scribes. Much of the Story takes place in Galilee.
It is probably a good idea to look at a map of the region in the time of Jesus. At the birth of Jesus, Herod the Great is the puppet Roman ruler of this region. After Herod the great died, his three sons became the rulers. What is shown as Judea & Samaria was ruled by Herod Archelaus and after his death the Roman governor Pilate. The regions labels Galilee & Perea was ruled by Herod Antipas, and the region that is not labeled to the northeast of the sea of Galilee was ruled by Philip also a son of Herod the Great. There is another region label Decapolis, or the region of the ten cities which was not ruled by any one ruler but still under Roman rule.
The map is important to understand the movements of Jesus and the rulers are important to understand some of the comments of Jesus. We will try to highlight them as the come up in our study.
We are about to embark in a study of the greatest story ever told. The story of Jesus, using what is thought to be the earliest account of the life of Jesus.
But I don’t think we should look at this story as written by John Mark in isolation. Mark knew all of the original disciples and Paul. I think it is much more likely that this was a collaborative effort, Not just Peter’s account but an early account of what the disciples thought was the most important parts of the story of Jesus.
Later we know Matthew would write his gospel focused on the Jewish issues
Luke would expand on both Mark and Matthew, trying to provide an account with less of the Jewish symbolism in a way non-Jews would better understand.
And John who wanted to stress that Jesus was and is and will always be God.
Now we are ready to begin.
Let’s close and pray.
Don’t forget to do your homework for next week. Read Mark Chapter 1 Also Isaiah 40:1-5 and Malichi 3:1. See you next week.
Before we end. I want you to watch the music video. We have used this video before. It is Zach Williams, “Less like me” This is one of Judy and my favorites songs right now. I pray to God. Help me be a little more like Jesus every day and less like me. The me I used to be.
Thank you and God’s Blessing my friends.
