The beginning of the gospel: the Son of God is baptized, tested and goes to work

The Gospel of Mark does not name its author. The earliest tradition, from Papias in the early second century as reported by Eusebius, says Mark was the interpreter of Peter and wrote down accurately, though not in order, what Peter taught. This is usually identified with John Mark, who appears in Acts 12:12 and whom 1 Peter 5:13 calls 'my son'. Most scholars accept the traditional name, though some doubt that the Gospel depends closely on Peter. Most date it between about AD 65 and 70, near the Jewish war with Rome. A few place it earlier, and some who read Mark 13 as written after the fall of Jerusalem place it after AD 70. It was probably written for Gentile Christians, by tradition in Rome. It explains Jewish customs (7:3-4), translates Aramaic words (5:41; 7:34) and uses some Latin loan words.

Mark is the shortest Gospel and the fastest. It has no birth story and uses the word 'immediately' dozens of times. Most scholars hold that Mark was written first and that Matthew and Luke used it, though some argue that Mark abridged Matthew and Luke. Its purpose is to present Jesus as the Son of God who is also the suffering Messiah. The first half asks who Jesus is, and the second, after Peter's confession in chapter 8, shows what kind of Messiah he is.

Chapter 1 opens the public ministry, about AD 27 to 29 by most reckonings. John baptized in the Jordan in the wilderness east of Jerusalem. Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, was baptized, was tested and then began to preach in Galilee after John's arrest. Matthew 3-4, Luke 3-5 and John 1 cover the same ground with differences. Mark's temptation scene is two verses, while Matthew and Luke give the content. Luke places the call of the fishermen after a miraculous catch (Luke 5:1-11). John has Andrew and another disciple follow Jesus earlier, near the Jordan (John 1:35-42).

Mark is a Gospel, a kind of ancient biography written to proclaim the good news as well as to record it. It tells a story in short scenes, often joined by 'immediately', and lets actions speak. It rarely stops to explain. The reader is expected to notice what is repeated: authority, the question of who Jesus is, the silencing of demons, and the way those closest to him misunderstand.

The first verse acts as a title for the whole book, and the first section (1:2-15) functions as a prologue that tells the reader what the characters do not yet know. The Father calls Jesus his beloved Son (1:11), and the narrator calls him the Son of God (1:1), but no human being in the story says so until a demon does (3:11) and a Roman officer much later (15:39). The hermeneutical key is to read each event with this knowledge in hand.

Two cautions apply. Mark's quotations of the Old Testament are brief, and the reader is meant to recall the surrounding passage. And Mark's order in this chapter is partly thematic. The scenes in Capernaum are gathered to show a representative day of ministry, and not every detail of time can be fixed. The class reads each scene first as the first hearers would, in its Jewish setting, and then asks how it fits the Bible's story and points to Christ.

Verses 1–8

'This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.' The word 'gospel' (euangelion) means good news, a word used of royal victories and also of Isaiah's message of God's return (Isaiah 40:9; 52:7). A few early manuscripts omit 'Son of God' in this verse, but the title is certain in 1:11 and elsewhere. The quotation that follows is attributed to Isaiah but combines Exodus 23:20 and Malachi 3:1, 'I will send My messenger', with Isaiah 40:3, 'a voice of one calling in the wilderness'. The one who prepares the way is John. The one whose way is prepared is 'the Lord', which in Isaiah is the LORD God. John's camel hair and leather belt recall Elijah (2 Kings 1:8), whom Malachi 4:5 expected to return. His baptism was 'a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins', and the crowd of 'all of Jerusalem' confessed their sins. He announced one 'more powerful' who would baptize 'with the Holy Spirit'.

Verses 9–13

Jesus, without sin, comes to be baptized, joining the people he came to save. Mark says he saw 'the heavens breaking open' (literally torn) and the Spirit descending like a dove, an image recalling Isaiah 64:1. The voice says, 'You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.' The first half echoes Psalm 2:7, a royal psalm, and the second echoes Isaiah 42:1, the first Servant song. Then 'at once the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness'. The verb is the one used for driving out demons. Forty days of testing 'by Satan', with the wild animals and the angels, is told with no detail. The scene recalls Israel's forty years in the wilderness.

Verses 14–15

After John's arrest Jesus proclaims 'the gospel of God'. 'The time is fulfilled' (kairos, an appointed moment) 'and the kingdom of God is near'. The verb means that it has drawn near. Two commands follow: repent and believe. Repentance (metanoeo) is a change of mind that turns a life around.

Verses 16–20

Teachers in Jesus' day were usually chosen by students. Here Jesus chooses. Simon and Andrew are casting nets, and James and John are mending them. 'Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.' The image may echo Jeremiah 16:16. The response is abrupt: they 'left their nets' and, in the case of James and John, their father and the hired men.

Verses 21–28

In the Capernaum synagogue on the Sabbath Jesus teaches, and the people are astonished because he taught 'as one who had authority, and not as the scribes'. A man with an unclean spirit cries out, 'I know who You are, the Holy One of God.' Jesus rebukes the spirit and it leaves. The crowd calls it 'a new teaching with authority'. The scene joins his word and his deed. He speaks and it is done.

Verses 29–39

In Simon's house Jesus takes the sick mother-in-law by the hand, and the fever leaves her. That evening, after the Sabbath ended at sunset, the town gathers at the door. Jesus heals many and silences the demons because they knew who he was. Before dawn he goes to a solitary place to pray. When the disciples say everyone is looking for him, he answers that he must preach in other towns, 'for that is why I have come'. The phrase may mean that he came out from God or from Capernaum; either way, preaching is his purpose.

Verses 40–45

A leper kneels and says, 'If You are willing, You can make me clean.' Leviticus 13-14 required lepers to live apart and be examined by a priest. Jesus is 'moved with compassion' (some early manuscripts read 'angry'), reaches out and touches him, and says, 'I am willing. Be clean!' He sends him to the priest, as Moses required. The man instead spreads the news, and Jesus can no longer enter a town openly. The one who touched an unclean man now lives in places apart.

The baptism scene shows the Father, the Son and the Spirit acting at once: the voice from heaven, the beloved Son in the water, the Spirit descending. Christians have long seen in it a revelation of the Trinity. The Spirit empowers the Son for his work, and the same Spirit sends him into testing. Jesus' message, that the kingdom of God has come near, brings together the Old Testament hope that God would reign over his people and the creation (Isaiah 52:7; Daniel 2:44).

The chapter also teaches the shape of the response. God acts first, since the time is fulfilled and the kingdom is near, and the human answer is repentance and faith. The conflict with Satan and the unclean spirits shows the Bible's picture of a world under a rival power, which Jesus has come to overthrow. His healings are signs that the kingdom has arrived, not only acts of mercy. The leper's cleansing shows that he deals with what separates people from God and from each other: uncleanness, sickness and spiritual bondage. Prayer in a solitary place, before dawn, shows the Son's dependence on the Father.

Mark 1 is fulfillment from its first sentence. John is the messenger of Malachi 3:1 and the voice of Isaiah 40:3, and the 'Lord' for whom the way is prepared is Jesus. Mark applies to him a text that in Isaiah names the LORD God. The Father's words at the baptism join two Old Testament texts. Psalm 2:7 names the royal Son, the Davidic king. Isaiah 42:1 names the servant on whom God puts his Spirit. In one person the king and the servant are joined. Some readers also hear a faint echo of Genesis 22:2, where Abraham's beloved son is offered; Mark does not make the link, so it is tentative.

The forty days in the wilderness echo Israel's forty years there (Deuteronomy 8:2). Israel was tested and failed. Mark says only that Jesus was tested and that the angels served him, but the point of the echo is that where Israel faltered the Son stands.

The unclean spirit's cry, 'the Holy One of God', and Jesus' authority over disease show who he is before the disciples understand it. The leper's request, 'if You are willing', receives the plain answer, 'I am willing'. Jesus touches the unclean man and does not become unclean. Instead the man becomes clean. The one who fulfils the law's purpose here is greater than the law's separations, yet he sends the man to the priest, in keeping with Moses.