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Mark – John Schultz - Bible-Commentaries.comThe Text:I. PREPARE THE WAY: THE PREPARATION FOR THE EVANGEL (1:1-13)A. THE TITLE OF THE BOOK (1:1)1 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of GodR. Alan Cole, in Mark, states about the opening sentence: “The subject of thisgood news is a person named Jesus, a common enough name both in its Hebrew form ofJoshua, in Old Testament days, and in this Hellenized form, derived from the AramaicJeshua, in the New Testament world. Both by common etymology and by historicprecedent, the name meant ‘Yahweh is salvation,’ the name given to the divinelyappointed leader, sent to save God’s people in their hour of need. (Jos. 1:1-2). WhatMoses could not do, Joshua would accomplish: that would make the name ‘Jesus’ evenmore appropriate for the coming savior.Not alone, however, is Jesus to be Savior; He is also to be God’s appointed agentupon earth. This singling out for a particular task is described in terms of being‘anointed,’ as any king or priest of Old Testament days would have been. Both theconcept and the word are very common in the New Testament, occasionally in theSemitic form of Messiah, but more commonly as Christ, or ‘the Christ,’ using a wordderived from the Greek root chriō which has the same meaning as the Hebrew rootmāshah, ‘to anoint.’”There has been some question about whether the words “the Son of God” were inMark’s original manuscript or whether they are an addition by a later editor.The Navigators’ study on Mark states: “Gospel is an Old English word that means‘good news.’ It comes from the Greek word euvangelion. Eu means ‘good’ and angelionmeans ‘message.’”The Gospel could not have been described more concisely than Mark does here.The content of the message John the Baptist preached was that humanity ought to prepareitself for the coming of the Son of God, that is God coming to earth as a human being; theCreator becoming one of His own creations.The Wycliffe Bible Commentary states about Mark’s opening words: “Thesewords stand as a title indicating the content of the book as a whole. The gospel here is notthe book, but the message, the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. The facts ofthe life and death of Christ make up the beginning of the gospel, which implies that theapostolic preaching was the continuation. To Mark, no less than to John, the deity ofChrist is of prime importance, and thus he includes it in the title of his Gospel.B. THE FORERUNNER (1:2-8)2 It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who willprepare your way"—3 "a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straightpaths for him.’"4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism ofrepentance for the forgiveness of sins.7/199

Mark – John Schultz - Bible-Commentaries.com5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, andhe ate locusts and wild honey.7 And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongsof whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."According to Mark, the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ began with theproclamation by His royal herald John the Baptist. The Pulpit Commentary observes: “Ithas been well observed that St. Matthew and St. John begin their Gospels from Christhimself; but St. Matthew from the human, and St. John from the Divine, generation ofChrist. St. Mark and St. Luke commence from John the Baptist; but St. Luke from hisnativity, and St. John from his preaching.”Passing by the birth and early years of Christ’s life, Mark turns at once to theopening events of the Lord’s public ministry. As predicted in the OT, Jesus was precededby a herald sent to prepare men for his appearance. John the Baptist came as the lastrepresentative of the old order with the express purpose of introducing the keypersonality of the new.”Barnes’ Notes writes about Mark’s beginning: “The word ‘gospel’ literallysignifies good news, and particularly the good tidings respecting the way of salvation bythe Lord Jesus Christ. Some have understood the word ‘gospel’ here to mean ‘history’ or‘life-the beginning of the history,’ etc.; but Mark says nothing of the early life of theSavior. The word ‘gospel’ here has reference rather to the preaching of John, an accountof which immediately follows, and means the beginning of the good news, orannunciation respecting the Messiah. It was very customary thus to prefix a title to abook.[The Son of God] This title was used here to attract attention, and secure therespect of those who should read the gospel. It is no common history. It does not recountthe deeds of man-of a hero or a philosopher-but the doctrines and doings of THE SONOF GOD. The history, therefore, ‘commands’ respect.”Referring to John’s ministry as Jesus’ herald, Mark quotes two Old Testamentprophecies, both of which he seems to ascribe both to Isaiah. The first one, however, isfrom Malachi, which reads literally: “‘See, I will send my messenger, who will preparethe way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; themessenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,’ says the Lord Almighty.”10 Thesecond one is from Isaiah: “A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for theLord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.’”11 John quoted Isaiah’swords himself when he was asked by a delegation of priests and Levites whether he wasthe Messiah.12 Actually, all four Gospel writers refer to John’s words, although they donot all give them as a literal quotation.What Mark seems to be saying is that the preaching of the Good News began withJohn the Baptist. By saying this, Mark actually penetrates to the core of the message. It is10Mal. 3:1Isa. 40:312John 1:19-23118/199

Mark – John Schultz - Bible-Commentaries.comtrue that all John the Baptist did was to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. In Paul’swords: “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in theone coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”13 But John did also point out that Jesus was “theLamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”14 So we can say truly that thepreaching of the Gospel began with John.Mark describes briefly that John preached his message “in the desert region,”which must have been at the eastern bank of the Jordan River. From a strategic angle,choosing a desert area as a place to preach seems the wrong approach. A preacher issupposed to go to where the people are, not to expect that people come to him. Johnproved a point, made centuries later by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “If a man preaches abetter sermon, or builds a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to his door.”John the Baptist’s ministry consisted not only of preaching, but also baptizing.This rite must have been an accepted way of demonstrating a person’s determination tofollow up on a decision made. John did not invent the rite; he practiced an accepted ritualthat was understood by all. We could compare it to people’s reaction to a call, such asnowadays would be the raising of a hand in a Gospel meeting. Baptism was obviouslysome more involved than raising one’s hand.Fausset’s Bible Dictionary states about John’s baptizing: “John’s ‘baptism ofrepentance for the remission of sins’ (Luke 3:3) was the pledge his followers took of theirdetermination to separate themselves from the prevalent pollutions, as the needfulpreparation for receiving the coming Messiah, who remits the sins of His believingpeople. The ‘remission’ was not present but prospective, looked for through Messiah, notthrough John (Acts 10:43). John’s baptism was accompanied with confession (Matt 3:6),and was an act of obedience to the call to renounce all sin and believe in the comingRedeemer from sin. The universal expectation of the Messianic king ‘in the whole East’ made all ready to flock to the forerunner. The Jews hoped to be delivered fromRome’s supremacy (Mal 3:1; 4:5-6). The last of the prophets had foretold the coming ofElijah before the great day of the coming of the Lord, the Sun of righteousness, themessenger of the covenant. Elijah was to ‘turn the heart of the fathers to the children, andthe heart of the children to their fathers,’ namely, the disobedient children to the faith andfellowship of their pious forefathers, Abraham, Jacob, Levi, Elijah (Luke 1:17), lestMessiah at His coming ‘should smite the earth with a curse.’”Mark’s description of John the Baptist’s lifestyle emphasizes his choice ofsimplicity. This was demonstrated in his clothing and his daily diet. The Greek word usedhere for “locust” is akris, which may refer to the insect we know or to the top of a certainplant. There is, however, no reason to believe that John the Baptist was a vegetarian.According to the list in Leviticus of kosher insects one was allowed to eat, this kind wasamong the edible ones. We read: “Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid,cricket or grasshopper.”15 Clothes made of camel hair, which probably means camel skin,were probably the cheapest kind of clothing one could wear. John may also have wornthat kind of clothing in order to dress like the Old Testament prophet Elijah whom he was13Acts 19:4John 1:2915Lev. 11:22149/199

Mark – John Schultz - Bible-Commentaries.comsupposed to resemble. Describing Elijah to king Ahaziah, one of that king’s servants said:“He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist.”16Mark does not go into any further detail about John the Baptist’s preaching, apartfrom the fact that John announced the coming of the Messiah, to whom he comparedhimself as being so much lower that he would not even qualify as the Messiah’s lowestslave. John did not belittle the repentance of those who came to him for baptism. He musthave believed in the forgiveness he preached as a fruit of repentance. But he could notguarantee regeneration, which was needed for the new life that God desired. Heunderstood that baptism with the Holy Spirit was needed for spiritual regeneration.The Pulpit Commentary comments on John’s words: “It is as though he said,‘Christ will pour his Holy Spirit so abundantly upon you, that he will cleanse you fromall your sins, and fill you with holiness and love and all his other excellent graces.’ Christdid this visibly on the day of Pentecost. And this he does invisibly in the sacrament ofHoly Baptism, and in the rite of Confirmation, which is the completion of the sacramentof Baptism. John baptized with water only, but Christ with water and the Holy Spirit.John baptized the body only, Christ baptizes the soul. By how much, therefore, the HolySpirit transcend

The Adam Clarke’s Commentary gives the following summary of Mark’s Gospel: “Though the matter of Mark’s work came from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, yet the language seems to be entirely his own: it is very plain, simple, and unadorned; and 1 Acts 12:12, 25; 15:37, 39 2