Mark - Notes

 

Mark 1:1

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

This was written to people living in an Empire in which the Caesar proclaimed himself to be the Son of God. It was a radical statement, and while it proclaimed Jesus Christ, in doing so it challenged the prevailing political and cultural ethos of its time. 

Over the course of history rulers have proclaimed themselves to be the sons of God, the embodiment of God, both by direct proclamation and by their actions and attitudes and the powers they assumed to themselves. 

To such rulers, and to people seduced by these rulers, Mark’s first statement can be a shocking challenge. Let’s not forget that the early Christians were persecuted for being atheists (they did not worship the gods, and you could not see the God they did claim to worship) and for not worshipping Caesar. 

Had the early Church also worshipped Caesar they would likely not have been persecuted, at least to some of the extremes that occurred. 

But how do Christians today read Mark’s opening statement? 

Do we read it thinking, “Of course Jesus is the Son of God,” without a sense of worship and discipleship? Is this just something we’ve heard in Sunday school and church, something we’ve grown up with? 

Is this a statement of fact, a piece of information, that has no effect on our affections, our decisions, our daily lives? Do we take it for granted the way we take for granted that Washington and Lincoln and Edison and Babe Ruth once lived? That “Son of God” is a title we assign to Jesus but that it has no direct relevance to our lives?

This is an exclusive statement; Jesus is the Son of God. Do we read this in an exclusive manner? 

In other words, when we read it do we also think, “Well, Ceasar is also the Son of God”? 

Now you may say, “Bob, Ceasar is long dead.”

Thank you for reminding me of that. Let’s put this another way:

Do we think, “My political leader is also [functionally] Son of God. My political, economic, social, national, agendas are Son of God”? 

Let us not be so foolish as to not see that political leaders across the globe, from all spectrums, certainly speak and act as if they are indeed gods, and that includes the expectation that we will functionally worship them and give ourselves to them. The same is true in economics, sports, entertainment…even within Christianity and other religions. Within Christianity, how many “leaders” point to themselves rather than to Jesus? How many institutions seek their own self-preservation and power rather than serving Jesus and people? 

Are we living in a syncretism that blends (what we take to be) Christianity into our political and national and economic and social culture to the point where Jesus Christ is no longer our exclusive Lord and God, where He is no longer the focus of our love and worship and commitment? Have we molded Jesus Christ into our image, our national image, our cultural image, so that Mark’s opening words have become mundane rather than soul challenging? 

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” let’s recall that “gospel” means Good News. The fact that Jesus is the Son of God is Good News, it means that we have a God, a Savior, a Redeemer, who loves us and who has come to restore the image of God within us, drawing us into deep familial friendship with Himself. It means that we need no longer be slaves to the economic, political, national, tribal, religious, and other elements of this world, that we no longer need serve our own foolish lusts and greed and pride and egos – nor those of others. 

Imagine a Ruler who is kind and just and good and holy and righteous and who can always be trusted. (Isaiah 9:6–7; 11:1–10).

Mark’s opening words were radical when he wrote them, and they ought to be radical now. 

Are they radical in my life? 

Are they apparent? Can others see their effect in me?

In our congregations?

In your life?