Matthew, Mark and Luke wrote their accounts of the Gospel
from a very similar perspective and a very much in contrast to
the perspective that John takes in his account of the gospel and
therefore Matthew, Mark, and Luke are oftentimes referred to
as the synoptic gospels from the same perspective or from the
same point of view. But while these three accounts
of the Gospel of very similar, there are some things about Mark
that make it unique, or makes it different, for example.
Obviously, just at first glance Mark is much more compact than
Matthew and Luke, Luke is the longest of all the, the gospels.
Luke has 1147 versus Matthew is. Next has 1068, Mark has only
661, and one of the reasons that Mark's gospel is more compact
than both. Matthew.
And Luke is that Markowitz virtually all of The Parables
that Jesus taught. Now I know that you can kind of
classify a parable. Maybe a little differently, but
most everybody agrees that Mark, only recorded about four of The
Parables that Jesus taught Matthew recorded 19, Luke
recorded by far, the most with 27.
Now, in a different, some of these Parables were rather
lengthy. So I think you can see that just
by omitting, the bulk of The Parables that Jesus taught that
Mark was going to be much briefer.
Now, in addition to that of the six or seven sermons, that Jesus
preached that are recorded in the Gospels.
Marc records, only one and that's in Chapter 13.
The sermon about the last days or the last things.
This is also recorded by Matthew of much lengthier in Matthew in
chapter 24 and 25. So, I think you can see that,
just by eliminating most of the Parables that Jesus taught by
eliminating, all of the sermons that are recorded that he
preached with the exception of just.
One, obviously marks account is going to be much briefer, than
those by And Luke. But now, while Mark recorded,
fewer of the sayings of Jesus than, than did Matthew and Luke
Marc records, very many of his Parables and you'll find that
when both Matthew and Luke records, the same pair of our
are the miracle. I should say, whenever Matthew
and Luke record the same miracle that Marc records, usually Mark,
relates it in more Vivid detail, go and that's one of the things.
About Mark that really I think is unique and that is his, the
vividness of his style notice. For example, Matthew, and Mark,
both tell us about Jesus taking the little child and set him in
the midst, in Matthew, 18 and verse to Matthew says, and Jesus
called a little child unto him and set him in the midst of
them. Marco adds one detail that just
lights up the whole scene in Mark 9, verse 36, he says, and
he took a child And set him in the midst of them.
And when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them.
Now in the touching Narrative of Jesus and two children, Jesus
rebuked his disciples for keeping the children from him.
Only Mark finishes with these words in Mark 10 and verse 16.
And he took them up in his arms, he put his hands upon them and
he bless them. So it's these little touches of
detail. These Vivid flashes, if you
will, that just makes the the tenderness of Jesus, come alive.
I don't think the vividness of of marks writing is any more
apparent though, than in the story of the stilling of the
storm. Now, this was recorded in a mark
for beginning at verse 35. It's also recorded in Matthew
chapter 8, beginning at Verse 18 and in Luke chapter 8, beginning
at verse 22, I want to reach you though, 10 phrases that are
taken from Mark's narrative about the stealing.
Storm and I would read just these these phrases to you sort
of like a list, listen. When the evening was come, they
sent away the multitude. They took him even as he was,
there were also with him. Other Little Ships waves beat
into the ship in the hinder part of the ship on a pillar carest.
Thou not peace, be still. Now if you're familiar with that
story at all, you know, they're just the whole scene.
Scene comes to mind just by raising those reading those ten
phrases in list form, you know, what is remarkable to me,
though, is not really that. Mark use such vivid detailed in
describing that event, but what is remarkable?
Is that both? Matthew?
And Luke tell the same story and they use.
None of these phrases. Another characteristic of Mark,
that adds to the vividness of his account is his use of what
is called, the historic present tense of Herbs.
Now I can illustrate that for you suppose that I told you that
I knew a man. Who walked up to a house, he
knocked on the door, he opened the door, he walked inside, he
looked all around, he walked over to the window, he opened
the window. Well I think you can pretty well
picture that scene in your minds as something that might have
happened as some point in the past.
Now I want to change it and put it in the present tense I don't
you to see the difference that it makes in the narrative.
He walks up to the house, he knocks on the door.
He opens the door, he walks inside, he looks all around, he
walks over to the window, he opens the window you see by
putting the narrative in the present tense.
It's as though, you put yourself right there in the middle of the
scene and that this scene is unfolding before your very eyes.
Well, that's what distinguishes marks, narratives from both
Matthew, and Luke, Mark uses this It's 151 times and he also
uses the imperfect tense very often and it gives the same
effect. It's as though you're right
there in the middle of the scene as it unfolds before your very
eyes. Now in addition to that Mark
uses the, the adverb immediately very often in his narratives and
sometimes is translated. Straightway sometimes is
translated for With with sometimes Anon.
But these four different translations come from the very
same word. And, you know, the one were most
familiar with is the word immediately, but what he does is
he will give you a, he will relate a very Vivid narrative
and then at the end of a narrative, he will say and
immediately, and then he'll begin another narrative.
And at the end of that narrative, he'll say and
immediately, and then at the end of that narrative and so on, and
he does that over 40 times in his Of the gospel and that is
more than that. Word is used in the rest of the
entire New Testament combined. Now what that does is it gives
us the impression that regardless of how varied and
detailed the Lord's Mission must have been that.
He was always hurrying to some destination that he could see
that other people could not see. Now in addition to that, it
makes the narrative move rapidly, it demands the
audience's attention. Tension.
It is perfectly suited, for those with a short attention
span, you know, very probably Mark's account of the Gospel was
initially written for the Romans and the Romans were a very busy
aggressive. People that really were not all
that impressed with people's words, but they were impressed
by decisive action. And for that reason, Mark
doesn't record a lot about what Jesus said.
He doesn't record. His his lineage because the to
the the Romans were not impressed with Jewish lineage or
ancestry. He doesn't put much from the Old
Testament, they had no understanding of that.
But what he does is he focuses in upon the decisive actions of
Jesus, his powerful Miracles. And this is something that was
impressive to the Romans, and should be impressive unto us
today. Mark, portrays Jesus as being
Incessantly active during his ministry, we mentioned the other
evening. And mark, the third chapter Mark
is the only one of the writers of the gospels who points out
that Jesus was so immersed in his Galilean Ministry.
In Capernaum, teaching the people Healing The Sick, causing
the blind to see the lame to walk.
Cleansing lepers casting out demons and so long that word
filtered back to his folks in Nazareth, his mother, his
brothers and his sisters Jurors that he wasn't eating.
And that he wasn't sleeping and that he was beside himself.
You know, I get amused. I see some of these poor Trails
of the Lord, on television about this time of the year of rev.
Do, you know, story books to Children about the life of
Jesus. And so often Jesus is portrayed
as someone who just sort of, you know, a peripatetic teacher just
kind of casually and slowly strolled along and and would
passively leaned against a rock or sit down in the boat and
instruct his disciples who set a trap detention I'm riveted to
every word that fell from his mouth.
Well that's not the way that Mark portrays the life of Jesus
at all. You know what I think about
really when I think about marks portrayal here, I've seen a I've
seen a Movie on television, I don't know half a dozen times, I
guess I've seen parts of it. Anyhow half a dozen time.
I think I've seen it enough times that about got it all put
together but it's it's called the Raiders of the Lost Ark and
you I know you've heard of it. It's about a fellow whose
archaeologist and he's searching for, he's searching for
archaeological treasures. And first time I ever saw that
it was, he was in a cave at the very beginning of the program of
the film and he was in there in search of archaeological
treasures. And This this place had booby
traps at every turn and I mean, he would just narrowly escaped
one booby trap, and before he could, you know, kind of catch
his breath, he would be confronted with another and he
would just narrowly escaped that one and he would be confronted
with another. And it was just like that
repeatedly, he was almost crushed by a gigantic Boulder.
And finally, he's got the archaeological treasure and he
runs and Dives out of the cave. Just saving his life by the skin
of his teeth, and he rolls over. And before he can catch his
breath, he looks up and he's surrounded by a bunch of
hostile. Natives that have got bows and
arrows and Spears pointed at him and when it gets away from them
and he runs and dives into the water where an amphibious plane
is waiting for him. He barely gets on it before it
lifts off and just as he starts to climb into his seat, he comes
nose-to-nose with a gigantic boa constrictor.
I mean, it was like that all the way through by the time that
film was over. I was exhausted.
Austin. I mean there was never a point
where you could catch your breath.
I mean, one narrow Escape after another and then he was
confronted with another still. Yeah, well, that's the way,
Mark, portrays the life of Jesus.
At least his Galilean Ministry when he was in Capernaum.
He was, he was mobbed by multitudes.
We've already pointed out in Chapter 2, he was in a house
teaching some people, the crowd was so thick so great that it's
surrounded. The place.
There were four men who came carrying a policy Man in hopes
of getting them in there to the master whom I could heal him,
and the crowd was so great. They couldn't get to him, not to
be denied, he went up on the roof and tore a hole and lowered
him down through the roof. When his parents, when his
mother and his brothers and sisters went from Nazareth up to
Capernaum to get him. When they heard that.
He wasn't eating, he wasn't sleeping.
They got there. He was teaching a multitude of
people in the crowd was so great.
They couldn't even get in the building and had to send word
through the crowd, the Bible Port points.
Out there in in Galilee. Well, it was sort of like, you
know, what you see on newsreels today about some rock star who's
being mobbed by a group of people.
That's the way it was for our Lord in Galilee.
He there were, there were mobs of people that were constantly
demanding of him, pleading with him, grasping at him asking
something. There were those who were
demon-possessed, who repeatedly would run and fall.
At his feet and in order to get from one point to another point,
he would have to push through the crowd and step over people
and around people. And that's the reason that he
had his disciples keep a boat out there at the Sea of Galilee
in the ready all the time. So that just to get a little
relief, he could go out and get in the boat and shove it away
from the shore and get a little distance.
One time he went out and got in the boat, he talked to the
multitudes who assembled on the seashore for a day at the end of
the day, he was exhausted and he knew that if he went back to
shore, he would be mobbed again with demands and pleadings and
requests. And he told his disciples, he
said, let's go to the other side of the of the sea just to try to
get a little respite and they saw what he was doing and the
multitudes ray. And around the northern shore of
the Sea of Galilee and beat him to the other side and were
waiting for him when he got there.
One writer said that to read the gospel in a single sitting is to
feel him. Then by the crowds, we read by
their demands and besieged by the attacks of demons.
Another characteristic of Mark is that he very often retains
the very Aramaic words that Jesus spoke.
Now, the New Testament is written in Greek, but Jesus
actually spoke Aramaic, which was a dialect of Arabic or a
dialect of Hebrew actually. And oftentimes in marks account,
he retains the actual Aramaic words for example, in Mark 5 and
verse 41, he said to Jay irises dead daughter He said, talitha
koum, I which means damsel or a little girl arise get up and she
did in chapter 7 and verse 11, the dedicated gift became core
bomb in chapter 7 and verse 34. Jesus said to the deaf man who
had an impediment in his speech Etha, which means be loosed in
the garden. 14:36 he said, aww. Which means father and then in
chapter 15 and verse 34 on the cross, he cried aloha.
Aloha, why Lama sabachthani Then another thing about Mark, that
makes it unique is its abrupt beginning and also its abrupt
ending. It ends just about as abruptly
as it begins, but these 16 chapters really are pretty much
divided into two general divisions, two major divisions.
And the first major division is an effort to establish the
identity of Jesus. You know, it's really
interesting to me that you can and turn over to acts the 10th
chapter and take a look at the outline of the sermon that the
Apostle Peter, preached at the household of Cornelius.
And then go back over and look at the arrangement of Mark and
it's almost identical to the outline of Peters sermon to the
household of Cornelius. And it's, you know, it's sort of
like a you've got to establish the identity first because if
you don't, I establish his identity as the Son of God, then
really his death is inconsequential.
To you, for that reason, the first half of Mark focuses upon
the powerful workings, the miracles of Jesus that
established him as the powerful Son of God.
And then, after having established his identity, then
the second half of the Gospel deals with the passion.
Now, these two major divisions can be subdivided into seven,
very brief subdivisions, the first subdivision is in chapter
one. And it go is the first 13 versus
you. Take a look here, you'll see
that there is no genealogy. The preaching of John is stated
in his bare elements of the Temptation is not narrated
narrated in detail, the entire section deals with the
credentials of Jesus. He's baptized of John anointed
by the Holy Spirit and tested in the wilderness.
Then the second section begins at 1:14 and runs through. 6:13.
And at first glance this, second section here, looks like a just
a list of unrelated Miracles that Jesus performs, but you
take a little closer look and you'll see that what Mark has
done here. Is he has listed these miracles
in order to establish the authority of Jesus as being
Divine. The Son of God notice in Chapter
2. For example, I mentioned this a
moment ago, he healed the palsy A man that was brought to him in
Capernaum. They lowered him down through
the roof to Jesus below but the very first words that Jesus
spoke to him were thy sins. Be forgiven thee.
Now, the leaders of the religious Pete Jews, they were
there on that occasion when they heard those words ever shocked
and they thought to themselves who can forgive sins, but God
only and they were convinced, he was guilty of blasphemy, but
what he was doing was establishing his authority to
forgive. Sayings.
Then in Chapter 2 toward the end of the chapter, Jesus gets into
a debate with the Pharisees because his disciples were
eating Grain on the Sabbath day. And then at the first part of
chapter 3, he heals a man in the synagogue, on the Sabbath day, a
man, with the withered hand and he gets into it with the
Pharisees over that. And you remember that he he
tells them in conclusion that he is the Lord of the Sabbath, what
he was doing there was establishing his authority to
regulate religion, then in chapters 3 through chapters
fight. Chapter 5, there are several
examples of his casting out, demons a casting out, evil
spirits and this establishes his authority over Satan in chapter
4. We have the narrative about his
calming, the wind up on the Sea of Galilee The Tempest and that
demonstrates. His power over nature, and then
in chapter 5, we have his raising Jay irises daughter from
Death, back to life, demonstrating his power over
death. So, all of these examples very
carefully, establish his authority, to forgive sins, to
regulate religion his authority over Satan, his power over
nature and his power over death. Now, in chapter 6, we come to
the third section, beginning at verse 14, and it runs Through
8:26. Now in this third section, we
have the introduction of conflict.
John, the Baptist is beheaded by Herod Antipas.
Jesus can feel the very real threat of Antipas as well.
It's also, in this section, when Jesus fed the multitude on the
eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, you know, with the
Loaves and Fishes, a multitude of over 5,000.
And you remember on that occasion that the people were so
thrilled. And so impressed by this
powerful Miracle display their ready to make him their King
right there. Jesus however, though, recognize
this as the same Temptation that the devil had made to him,
rioters, baptism in the wilderness.
The idea that he could be the king without having to go to the
cross. And then, in addition, he gets
into it with the Pharisees over their traditions and he
denounces their traditions because they actually violate
the law of God. Now, in this section, on two
occasions, Jesus withdrawals, or he Retreats from confrontation,
and he tells his disciples, the reason is because the time is
not yet, there's going to come a time when he was not going to
retreat, and he was going to have a conversation.
Aaron tation with his enemies and it was going to result in
his crucifixion. But the time was not yet, then
the fourth section. And really, this is the pivotal
Point as far as Mark is concerned in his account of the
Gospel. The fourth section begins at
8:27 and it runs through 10:52. Now, it is at this point that
Jesus takes his disciples about 30 miles up north of the Sea of
Galilee to a region called caesarea Philippi Far away from
Jerusalem, far away, from the temple away from the threats of
Herod Antipas away from the constant demands of the
Pharisees, the Sadducees, a very Hellenistic region, he takes his
disciples up there. And for the first time he
questions them, specifically about his own identity.
We talked about this the other night he said whom do men say
that. I the son of man a.m. now he had
been in his his Earthly Ministry two-and-a-half to three years at
this point. And multitudes had seen his
incomparable Miracles. They had heard his incomparable
teaching, his authoritative teaching.
They shook their heads, in amazement and they said we've
never heard anybody talk like this man.
Jesus wanted to know that anybody out there seen in Me,
God. And he said, whom do men say
that? I, the son of man and well, his
disciples spoke up and said something that you're John, the
Baptist, something that you're Elijah others.
Think your Jeremiah, or one of the prophets and then, he asked,
whom, do you say that I am? And Peter said it the cold and
Oracle, he said, Thou Art the Christ in Matthew's account.
He says, Thou Art the Christ, the son of the Living.
God, Jesus accepted that confession from Peter and
blessed him for it. You know, right after that he
took Peter James and John up down up on are probably Mount
Hermon up on a mountain anyway and there he transfigured
himself, he gave him, gave them a glimpse of his glorious nature
and that sort of galvanized, the confession that Peter had made
establishing his identity as the Christ, the son of the Living
God and it was only after they had that.
He told his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and
suffer, many things at the hands of the chief priests, the elders
and the scribes and be killed and raised again, the third day.
Well, the fifth section chapters 11, 12 and 13 in here.
We have The Narrative of the dramatic return of Jesus to
Jerusalem his Triumphal entry into the holy city, you know,
there's not going to be at this point.
There's not going to be any more Retreats, there's not going to
be any more withdrawals, but in fact Jesus is going to force the
action. It's sort of like he throws Down
The Gauntlet. The time is now he's going to
die but he's not going to die in some remote obscure or corner of
Galilee. He's going to die in the holy
city of Jerusalem before thousands of jerusalemites.
And thousands of pilgrims who have come from all over the
world for the Passover. And he allows his disciples to
do something that he had never allowed them to do before he
allowed them to give a public demonstration in his armor.
He sent a couple of disciples over to Beth veggie and they got
the Colt of a donkey. They brought it back to him and
had never been written before. Didn't have a saddle.
And so, a couple of disciples took off their clothes, their
Road, their coats, and put them over the back of the donkey made
sort of a makeshift saddle. And Jesus climbed this prattle
of it, donkey and began to make the two mile Trek from Bethenny
over the Mount of Olives into the holy city.
Now, the disciples knew that this was a strategic moment in
the history of Israel, but they didn't really fully understand
at that time. What this was all about, you
know what they thought. Rome had been in Palestine with
occupational forces, 100 years? And the Jews.
Absolutely despised it. I mean, everywhere, they looked
they saw Roman occupational forces and that was bad enough.
If something that chafe them even more than that was, the
fact that they had to pay taxes to Rome, they had to pay a
poll-tax and there were many of them that believe, that, that
was unlawful. And what they had in mind was
that Jesus was going to be a deliverer sort of like Moses.
Who had freed their ancestors from the oppression of the
Egyptians who had now come as going to free them from the Yoke
of Roman oppression. That just seen him raise a dead
man, Lazarus and Bethany. They were convinced that this
powerful Prophet who could perform Miracles that he was
going to go over into the city of Jerusalem that he was going
to oust the Romans he was going to sit down on the throne of
David and re-establish the world Prestige of Israel.
They were out of their minds with enthusiasm and
anticipation. The Bible says that, that
someone took her clothes off and threw him down on the ground
before the donkey. That was carrying the Savior,
others pulled green leaves off of trees and made sort of a
carpet of green before the That Again, Usher him toward the
summit of the Mount of Olives, they broke out into spontaneous,
singing and praying. They cried for Santa to God.
And that really is a prayer. And it means Lord, Save us.
What they were asking, was God to use the powerful Prophet to
remove the boot of Oppression from their throats.
They reached the summit and descended toward the other side.
Whether it already been a pilgrims that have gone into
Jerusalem, that is seen Jesus raised Lazarus over in Bethany.
They would have learnt old. The people that the great
prophet From Galilee is en route right now.
And there was a multitude that poured out of the Eastern Gate
of the city, went up that side of the slope of the Mount of
Olives waiting palm branches, which was typical of receiving,
a king returning in Victory, Singing and shouting and
praising God, they ushered him triumphantly into the holy city.
but, you know, when it got into the city, He didn't say anything
about a revolution. He didn't say anything about
ousting, the Romans, he didn't organize a militia, he told them
to pay their taxes. This is not what they were
expecting out of him. And then he went out and spent
the night on the Mount of Olives, and he came back the
next morning and he cleansed the temple, he turned over the
tables of the money changers, and the seats of the dove
Sellers, and he drove them out of the temple.
And that infuriated, the chief priests because they were
getting a cut of the profit and it just caused him to redouble
their Ian to put into death. You know, this this part of the
life of Jesus is is narrated by Mark in such vivid detail in
contrast to the earlier part of his gospel.
That a lot of times people have said that marks account really,
is just a passion story with a lengthy introduction in red.
That's pretty accurate. Because this is the part that he
really focuses in on With detail and then in chapters 14 and 15,
of course, he gives us The Narrative of the passion.
He talks about Jesus instituting, the Lord's, Supper
he tells us about his arrest and about his being placed before
the Sanhedrin that had been illegally convened at night
about the mockery of that trial about the temple guards, beating
him to a pulp with her Fists. About him, being turned over to
the Roman cohort. A group of over 600 men who took
him into the common Hall and treated him like a buffoon.
Scourged him within an inch of his wife.
And then made him walk the Via Dolorosa the, the, the trail
from his condemnation to gotha where their Mark in profound
understatement says in chapter 15 and verse 25 and they
crucified him. You know, all of this is
arranged by Mark to leave the reader incredulous. now, I mean
here was a man who never did anything but good, He fed the
hungry. He gave drink to the Thirsty, he
healed the sick. He made the lame walk.
He he caused a leopards to be cleansed.
He cast out demons. He taught them about eternity,
about life Everlasting. He never did anything but good.
How could anybody conspire to kill him?
That's the effect, but the story doesn't end there.
It ends in chapter 16 and we have the thrilling account of
the Resurrection. Mark begins chapter 16 the
talking about the women, who were en route to the tomb to
further anoint, the body of the Savior and remember what was
Paramount upon their minds at that time?
How are we going to roll that stone away?
There is a manuscript of the Bible that dates from the 2nd
Century in the says that it took Joseph of Arimathea and 20
servants, 20 male servants to roll that stone in place and
seal Jesus body in the Tomb in here.
You got a little handful of women frail, women that are
making their way out there and all they can think about is how
we're going to roll a side that stone.
No. But when they got there, early
in the morning upon the first day of the week, the stone had
already been rolled away and the tomb was empty.
Now they've been all kinds of efforts to explain away the
empty tomb since the very beginning.
But I'm going to tell you tonight.
The only explanation that deals with all the circumstances about
which we know is that Jesus did just exactly what he said he was
going to do. And that is early in the morning
upon the first day of the week. He arose from the grave Glory to
God in the highest. The tomb of our founder remains
empty and that's what makes Christianity different from
every other religion in the world.
You can't say that about Buddha. You can't say that about
Mohammed, you cannot say that about Confucius.
The tomb of our founder remains empty.
But I'll tell you after the Glorious.
Resurrection Mark, brings his account of the story very
quickly to a close, he talks about just a couple of things
and then he portrays Jesus gathered with his disciples just
before his sins back to heaven and the Lord tells his disciples
in essence. Now you understand.
Now, you got it all put together, you understand.
Now about my incarnation. you understand about my life, you
understand about my teaching, you understand about my
suffering, my death, my burial, and the resurrection, you
understand it and therefore, I want you to take this message
throughout all the world and I want you to tell it to, every
living person, And whoever believes it and is baptized will
be saved. And then he ascended back to
heaven. Well, friends tonight.
You heard the Gospel According to Mark.
Do you believe it? And if you believe it, have you
acted upon it by being baptized into the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins. If that's not the case, we urge
you to seize the opportunity now.
We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the
Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you
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