The beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. [Mark 1:1 NIV] This is how Mark begins his Gospel. He does not have a long family tree or a genealogy. He does not have an account of the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem. He begins with Jesus fully grown and active in His Service for His Father. Jesus is portrayed as a wonder-worker right from the commencement of this Gospel. There are four terse statements about the person of Jesus Christ and this is the first of them. He has four witnesses to the greatness of the One he is going to write about.
'Jesus is the Son of God' - and this is Mark's own testimony. (verse 1)
'The Lord' - this is from the testimony of the prophet Isaiah - Prepare the way for the Lord (verse 3)
'One more powerful than I am' - the testimony of John Baptist to the person of Jesus Christ (verse 7) - John exclaims that Jesus is so powerful that he (John) is not fit to unloose his sandals.
'My Son whom I love' - the voice from heaven. The Father's testimony to the greatness of the person of Jesus Christ - God stated that He was well pleased with His Son.
Mark is going to focus on the service of the Lord Jesus. He is going to portray Him as a servant who never failed. He was perfect in all his ministry unlike the author himself (John Mark who gave up his service alongside Paul and Barnabas and went back home to Jerusalem). Mark also contrasts Jesus with his source - it is generally reckoned that Peter is the source for Mark's Gospel and, of course, Peter was the disciple who denied ever knowing Jesus at the crisis point in his life.
John's Gospel is generally reckoned to be the Gospel of the Son of God but he does not begin his Gospel with a declaration like this - Jesus the Son of God. Instead, John uses titles such as the Word of God, the Light and the Lamb of God in his introduction to his Gospel.
I was reflecting on this. The key verse in Mark's Gospel is found in Mark 10.
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” [Mark 10: 45 ESV]
Jesus is making clear that his coming was on behalf of others. In the passage from which this important verse is taken we find repeated references to 'serve' and 'serving'. The Greek word is diakoneo (a verb) and the noun diakonos. It is about meeting the needs of others. It is used of preparing food or serving at a table (Mark 1:31 ; Matthew 8:14). The word is often used about service in a church and the emphasis is not about holding high office but engaging in lowly service. The context in Mark 10 is that James and John had made a request to be treated in a special way in the kingdom of Jesus. They wanted to be on either side of Jesus - to have a place of honour and dignity. This infuriated the other disciples because they would also want to have that special place in this kingdom. But Jesus made the point that His kingdom was different. It was not about greatness or privilege or rank or status. It was primarily about service and lowly humble service at that. This was going to be the exact opposite of the way kingdoms operated on earth which was all about moving up the ladder and having others being subservient to you and looking up to you.
And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. [Mark 10:42-44]
Mark uses the word diakonos which is translated 'servant' and then he uses the word 'doulos' which is translated 'slave'. There are some translations which avoid using the word 'slave' because of all the connotations linked with slavery in the U.S.A. It is the best word to be used, however, because it suggests the lowest position in society.
So Mark will emphasise the lowly position that Jesus took in his service but he wants to make the point that what makes this service so significant is that Jesus is the Son of God. He is the Lord of All but he took the lowest place in service for us.
This is our God, the Servant King
He calls us all to follow Him
To live our lives as a daily offering
Of worship to the Servant King.
We all crave publicity and popularity. We all want status and recognition. Jesus took the lowly place - He came to serve. He is the Son of God but he came as the servant to serve the needs of others. This sacrificial service would ultimately end in death on behalf of others.
[Photo by Michiel Annaert on Unsplash] This is to represent lowly service. Society would not survive without such essential services
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