Mark--Christ the Servant
Mark--Christ the Servant
Mark gives us the picture of Christ as the willing Servant, yielding active, prompt obedience at every moment of His life. This Gospel is believed to have been written in Italy for the 225Romans, and that Mark received his information from Peter. Peter’s words to Cornelius form a perfect summary of this book: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil: for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). Instead of opening with any record of our Lord’s birth or early years, Mark begins at once with His ministry. His introduction again supplies the key to the book: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” The beginning, but not the end,--through all eternity, it may be, we shall never come to the end of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
One half of this Gospel is occupied with narrative, and only half with our Lord’s utterances; while in Matthew the latter occupy three-fourths, in Luke two-thirds, and in John five-sixths. The words immediately, forthwith, anon, straightway meet us constantly.[*] These are all one in the Greek, and it is deeply to be regretted that our translators and revisers have not rendered the original uniformly in this and countless other places. The lesson for us is a like prompt obedience. Matthew and Luke tell us that our Lord was “led” of the Spirit into the wilderness; but Mark’s words are, “The Spirit driveth Him into the wilderness.” From him too we learn that the temptation lasted the whole of the forty days, and that the Lord was “with the wild beasts.” The four parables of Mark 4:1-41 tell us the working of the Gospel. The parable of the Lord’s return is given only by Mark, and here the Gospel of service is plainly emphasized.
Everywhere Mark gives us the idea of stress of service. Multitudes crowd to hear Christ. The whole city was gathered to the door; so many came and went at times that He could not even eat, or could not enter into the city; men from all the cities ran together on foot to see Him; wherever He went they placed the sick before Him, and as many as touched Him were made whole. Though prompt action ever characterized His ministry He was never hurried in His dealing with those in need. Mark alone tells in two cases of healing, that our Lord took the deaf man and the blind man apart with Himself when He healed them. He alone tells us that He took the little children up in His arms when He blessed them.
These little graphic details are a feature of this Gospel, adding some fresh touch to almost every narrative. Peter’s quick eye had evidently noted them.226 In each Gospel we have the record of the great Sacrifice by which sin is put away. But when our Lord rises from the grave and gives His final commission to His disciples, there is a marked contrast here to the record in Matthew; it rings with the urgency of service: not a corner of the world is to be left unvisited, not a soul to be left out. The book opened with the words “the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Here we have the continuation. The Lord is still carrying on His work, and we are co-operating with Him. “So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.”