Old Testament: Zechariah 9-10
Poetry: Psalm 146
*Theme Week – Celebrating Jesus: Mark 1
Every writer, speaker, film-maker has their own particular style for telling a story or giving a presentation. When I preach a sermon I usually choose one particular theme. I often start with a story that I have personally experienced and then try to help the listener make a connection to that same kind of story/situation and then connect the Bible story/text to that same theme. It’s a slow build up to the main theme. That’s one way to do it.
Some choose to jump right in and focus on the action. If you’ve ever seen a James Bond movie or a Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movie, you notice that almost always it begins right in the midst of the action.. very little warm up, just a kind of… boom! You’re right in the middle of the action- jumping out of an airplane, skiing down a mountain, climbing up the outside of a skyscraper, whatever.
When it comes to the four Gospels, each one is different in how they begin. Matthew goes back to the Old Testament and give a genealogy for Jesus, showing how his is connected to some of Israel’s great people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and King David and then he tells the story of Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem and how Mary’s betrothed, Joseph, was a good and honorable man. Luke starts with the announcements of the pregnancies of John the Baptist and Jesus followed by their birth stories. John’s Gospel follows the pattern of Genesis one and goes back to the beginning with God’s word, his promise and plan and then showing that Jesus fulfills that plan. All three of those Gospels give back stories and slow roll outs. Then there’s Mark. Mark starts out… Boom! John the Baptist is an adult and doing his ministry of preaching and baptizing. Then Jesus appears as a grown adult and gets baptized by John and God’s voice descends upon Jesus proclaiming that he is God’s son and that God is pleased with him.
Mark’s Gospel is an action story. We know nothing about Jesus as a baby, how he came to be conceived of a virgin or in a manger. Mark doesn’t mention wise men. What matters to Mark is: “What’s Jesus doing now that his mission is getting ready to start?” We still know from Mark that Jesus is the son of God, because God announces it from heaven. Mark doesn’t feel the need to share how Jesus happened to be the son of God, God just tells us. Boom! Action!
Mark’s favorite word seems to be “immediately”. Jesus comes out of the water and “immediately” the heavens are torn open and God’s speaks. Then “immediately” the spirit sends Jesus out to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Compared to the other Gospels not a lot of detail. We don’t hear from Mark how Jesus was tempted by Satan or how he responded, just that it happened. Then Jesus is suddenly back in Galilee announcing- “It’s time! The kingdom of God is coming right away”. Can you feel the urgency in Mark’s storytelling?
Next, Jesus is by the sea calling the fishermen to follow him and “immediately they follow him.” He moves on down and finds two more fishermen and “immediately” he calls them. He goes to Capernaum and “immediately” enters the synagogue and starts teaching. Then he “immediately” casts out an unclean spirit from a young man. Then he “immediately” leaves the synagogue and goes to the home of Simon and Andrew where Simon’s mother in law is sick and “immediately” they tell Jesus about her illness and he heals her. From there every sick person in town is being brought to him to be healed.
Next, Jesus is getting up very early in the morning to go pray and the disciples come looking for him. There is urgency- “everyone is looking for you.” Jesus then leads them from town to town preaching and casting out demons. He meets a leper and touches him and “immediately” the leper is healed.
Each of the four gospels tell the story of Jesus but do it in different styles. Luke spends over 19,000 words telling the story, Matthew is right behind at over 18,000 words, John uses just over 15,000 words, and Mark, you guessed it- it is by far the shortest, telling the story of Jesus at just over 11,000 words- in just a little over half the words that Luke uses. Mark probably had his own reasons for telling the story with so much action and so few words. It’s still the story of Jesus, told from Mark’s perspective and it still touches on the main points- Jesus is the son of God, Jesus was baptized and tempted, Jesus preached the good news and healed people, and Jesus was on the move. Mark goes on to show that Jesus was crucified and that God raised him from the dead.
Isn’t it great that God allows us to keep our own personality and style as we serve him? The story of Jesus has never and will never change, but how we present Jesus to others may depend on all kinds of factors including our own personality and style as well as the needs of our conversation partners. God doesn’t make cookie cutter disciples. God tells the story of Jesus through many different people. How is he using you to tell the story of Jesus?
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
- Why do you think God chose four different writers to tell the story of Jesus?
- What do you appreciate about Mark chapter 1?
- God tells the story of Jesus through many different people. How is he using you to tell the story of Jesus?
Seek Grow Love 