The Gospel of Mark (2) - Who is Jesus?

     Who is Jesus?

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

     It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way --  a voice of one calling in the desert,

      'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"


     And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching.
                                  -- Mark 1:1-4



This is how Mark begins his record of Christ's life -
not with genealogies showing the lineage of the Messiah, not with the eternality of Christ, but with a clear, abrupt statement: "...Jesus Christ, the Son of God."

(Recognize Peter's familiar words here - from Matthew 16:16 - when Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say I am?" and Peter's immediate, unqualified announcement, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!")




Matthew begins his gospel record with "A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1). Jesus's human family history. A descendant of Abraham and the heir of the throne of King David.

Luke begins his record stating that he has heard the accounts of eyewitnesses to Jesus' life and now has "carefully investigated everything from the beginning." Now he can faithfully report to and assure the "most excellent Theophilus [to whom his account is written] the certainty of the things you have been taught" (Luke 1:1-4). A historian's detailed research.



John starts his gospel reminding his readers that Jesus, the Word, was and is God, and was the One through whom "all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made" (John 1:1-3).

Nothing ever created was created without the initiation of Jesus Christ, the eternal, always-existing Creator God!



Mark begins simply with the pithy statement: "Jesus Christ, the Son of God."

(What does "pithy" mean?  Marked by the use of few words to convey much information or meaning. A word that certainly fits here.)

Christos was a Greek word meaning an "anointed royal figure."

It was another way of referring to the "Messiah," the one who would come and administer God's rule on earth. Not just a king, but The King!

Mark goes further - the Son of God.

This was a bold statement that goes beyond the popular understanding of the Messiah at those times.

It is a claim of outright divinity.


Prepare the way for the Lord

Then Mark goes even further and quotes the well-known words of Isaiah and associating John the Baptist with that "voice" calling out in the desert.

"Prepare the way for the Lord," the voice calls out.

In doing so, Mark not only associates John the Baptist as that long anticipated "voice," he also identifies Jesus as "The Lord" Himself, the Almighty God, the long-awaited divine King.

God and Jesus - they were somehow one and the same, Mark is saying.




Timothy Keller, in King's Cross, Chapter 1, says:

"In making this audacious claim, Mark roots Jesus as deeply as possible in the historic, ancient religion of Israel.

Christianity, he implies, is not a completely new thing. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the biblical prophet's longings and visions, and he is the one who will come to rule and renew the entire universe."



That's the Savior Messiah God Mark is introducing us to!

And if Jesus is God, then God is like Jesus! And that's the God Mark wants us to know.