Introduction To The GospelsSample

Distinctive Themes in Mark

Throughout his account, Mark emphasized that Jesus was the suffering Son of God who conquered the enemies of God’s people. Mark recorded many instances of Jesus’ miracles showing His power over the forces of evil. Even though Mark is far shorter than Matthew and Luke’s gospels, it records almost as many miracles — eighteen in all.

From the very start of Mark’s gospel we see that Jesus was the conquering and suffering Son of God. In the first chapter alone, John the Baptist prophesied Jesus’ coming, and then Jesus began His public ministry. He was baptized, was tempted in the desert, called His first disciples, drove out evil spirits, and healed many people from various sicknesses. Even a superficial reading of this action-packed, rapid-fire narrative shows that Jesus was powerfully conquering the enemies of God’s kingdom. A closer reading also shows that Mark portrayed Him as the suffering Son of God right from the beginning of His ministry.

For instance, in Mark 1:12-13 we read this account following Jesus’ baptism:

At once the Spirit sent Him out into the desert, and He was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him.

Jesus suffered the onslaught of Satan’s attacks from the first moment of His public ministry. And this picture of Jesus as suffering servant continued to grow throughout Mark’s gospel as Jesus endured persecutions and rejection.

So, how does Mark say that we should follow Jesus, the suffering conqueror? On one hand, Mark’s gospel does not sugar-coat the Christian life. Mark described discipleship as a difficult and often frustrating process in which we not only suffer, but also make mistakes and fail. In fact, a distinctive trait of Mark’s gospel is how often Jesus’ disciples failed to understand Him or to respond in faith. In Mark 4:40 Jesus wondered if His disciples had faith at all; in 6:52, the disciples’ “hearts were hardened”; in 7:18, Jesus accused His disciples of being “dull” because they failed to understand His teachings; in 9:18 the disciples were unable to drive out an evil spirit; in 9:38-41 the disciples mistakenly attempted to hinder an exorcist because they didn’t know him; and in the course of chapter 14, one disciple betrayed Jesus to the authorities, one denied all association with Jesus, and the rest abandoned Him. 

This emphasis in Mark’s gospel teaches us at least two things about following Jesus. First, just like the disciples, we won’t always understand Jesus. In fact, we’re likely to misunderstand many things in the Bible. So, we need to be humble enough to recognize that we all have much to learn. As part of this, we need to receive the Bible’s teaching by faith, knowing that God’s word is true even if it seems strange or wrong to us.

And second, difficulties and suffering are inevitable for Christians. There are many dangers, many temptations to turn away from following Him.  Consider what Jesus said in Mark 8:34-35:

If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it. 

Jesus taught that we need to be faithful in our commitment to Him. We have to be willing to suffer as Jesus suffered, to stand against temptation and spiritual attacks. But notice something else in this passage: Jesus is not only the suffering Son of God; He is also the conquering Son of God. In fact, He conquers through His suffering death. And if we follow Him faithfully in suffering for the kingdom, we will be rewarded with eternal life.