Week 2
Review
What does the word Gospel mean? It is the announcement of the arrival of a new king and it is good news because he will fight for his people and usher in peace and prosperity. The Gospel of King Jesus is more than that we said….It is not a Gospel that is restricted to a period of time or place, though we must understand it from its context. This is a Gospel that will extend to the uttermost parts of the earth and beyond that. -“world without end”, we say

Daniel 7:13-14
Isaiah 9: 6-7

If anyone remembers the life of David before and after Saul was in power, Jesus life as the anointed, but not yet king, will look much like this throughout Mark. We will refer back to this point throughout the course. He will be on the run until the moment is right. He will be hopping from place to place, trying to avoid being killed, until God has appointed him to die and to take his throne. Until sin has reached the boiling point and is poured out on Jesus.

He will take his throne in three days. After Jesus takes the throne, all others are cast off their thrones. During the course of this book Jesus does not act like a king enthroned, though he is creation’s supreme ruler and author. He is a king longing for the love of his people, desiring them to believe in who he really is, not just a miracle worker. He is a king on the run, longing for a people to turn to him as their savior.

* Liturgy – Why is the Gospel lesson read where it is?
This is where Jesus walks amidst the people. The order of the service is like a musical, the lead singer, our husband Jesus Christ is played by an ordained minister. He comes out front and center under the spotlight and calls his bride. He does not just speak through prophets and literature, he speaks with the voice of man, with our own voice.

Last week we also talked about who John the Baptist was and how he prepared the way for this king. He was a priest by birth but God wanted him to be a prophet. He was reenacting the Exodus in the wilderness with the people of God and rolling out the red carpet for their king to come dwell with them... in their hearts and in their homes. This was a dangerous job and we will see later (in chapter 6), in more detail how this was actually what killed John and Jesus, i.e. the threat of the Gospel.

For example, imagine that tomorrow headlines on Television declared that a man was sailing back and forth from England to America to start a new life for his family and friends. Not just for himself, but for what he called “his people”. He was announcing that a new Presidency was going to take office and the whole system that we have known and used is going to be destroyed. He says a new President of the United States is coming (soon leaders and officials will find out that he actually has been living in the United States). He is not in office yet, but he plans to destroy the white house and build a new and better one for himself. He plans on changing what it means to be an American; in fact, you will not be a real citizen of America, says the man leading this grassroots political group, unless you swear a new oath to him now. When he takes his office, anyone who is an enemy will be destroyed. “So”, says the man (paving the way) on a ship from England, “swear your allegiance to him now before it is too late, take this journey with me back across the Atlantic…repent of your old Americanism to be a part of this new people.”

I give you this analogy to point out that there was more than just individual sins that needed to be dealt with. Sin had reached a national level. It was not just a diseased few, but rather it was an epidemic and everyone had been infected with it in some way. There were not real Americans left. There were no real Israelites left. Everyone needed the individual touch of the Savior, or national punishment would be handed out to them. All of them had to repent, and follow Jesus for all have sinned.

To the text – Mark 1:13

1. Jesus is Baptized. Why is Jesus Baptized?

Jesus is the Messiah and everything that the Messiah does represents the people. He is their face, their hands, their voice. When David went to another country and spoke with other leaders or made decisions, Israel did it through him. Likewise, our President is considered, at least in principle, first among equals. Bush is the face of America, which can be unfortunate for us. The world will love us or hate us because of him in many respects. Jesus tells his followers that the world hates him and the world will hate us because of him. He represents a kingdom that turns all the selfish motives of other rulers on their heads, declares them a wicked and vile generation, and announces that they will be defeated. All of Jesus dies on the cross, and everything that died with him, that we share in common, also died with him that day. And so it is with his baptism, we share in it.

Also, Jesus is the firstborn. We always talk about how we inherited original sin from Adam because Adam was the first, but Jesus is before Adam. Jesus reverses the effects of the curse. Romans 5:9-19

Jesus is given the words from his father “I am pleased with you son”. The Holy Spirit has marked him as His son. Why is this important? Because we also are marked as his son’s and daughters at our Baptism.

Furthermore, although God does love His son and us, he has not prepared a life of luxury and ease for his servants, but rather of one filled with joy at the end of the journey. As humans we need a literal, physical act where God comes to us and tells us he is our Father and we are his children. Jesus himself will look back on this event when he is tempted in the wilderness. You and I know and understand that this event happened, just as Jesus did, regardless of whether we can remember when the first instant it was that we really loved God and started to change. We do not become the people of God based on whether or not we have enough faith within ourselves to understand and love God like we should. Baptism and salvation is not a picture of us running away from hell, but rather of deciding to sit down at the table prepared before us as our big brother Jesus pulls out the chair behind us.

Jesus Baptism reminds us that God is a loving Father who wants his children to be empowered by His words to them. Imagine a son about to go into war. The father is a general so it will seem like he is not around. He will be preparing everyone's marching orders though. The father comes to him lovingly and tells him that he loves him and is proud of him. In the war days to come, the son will remember these words and push onward to the end, even if it seems that the Father has become his enemy based on the commands he sends down. The son looks back at the physically spoken act and he, like a good soldier, obeys those orders.

We must see our Baptism in His event. We must see God the father relating to us like he does with Jesus.

Back to the text Mark 1:14-20

John is captured for his treason to another King, King Jesus. Jesus traveled north to Galilee. Jesus takes over for John, declaring that the kingdom is here with him. “Repent and believe” this Gospel he tells them.

Jesus calls four disciples – they quickly leave their nets and their family businesses and follow him. Jesus wants them to fish for people now.

Jesus goes farther North around to the tip of the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum. He goes to the synagogue and teaches on the Sabbath. Here Jesus speaks to them as if the authority does not come from Moses, the Law, the other writers or teachers of the time. When Jesus speaks it is as if he has some kind of divine superiority and authority. Many times in that period before someone said something significant they would say “in the words of father …” or “as Moses or Joshua always say” or “as rabbi so and so has instructed”. Jesus does not do that, because he is the wisdom of the world.

5. Jesus and his four disciples visit the local synagogue. A man in the synagogue has an unclean spirit. This demon knows who Jesus is and he knows that Jesus is a threat to the whole legion of demons living in the synagogues – Jesus will visit more synagogues and cast out demons and his words will shut their mouths.

*What is the difference between a synagogue and a temple?
Remember it like this, there is only one Temple, but there are many synagogues. The Temple is in Jerusalem. This was the place where heaven and earth were meshed together in a special way; geographically, the unique presence of God on earth. A Glory cloud accompanies his presence usually here in the Holy of Holies the innermost part of the Temple. The synagogue, however, is like a place where Jews would meet together to pray and teach, much like our churches are even today. It literally refers to an assembly, or a getting together of folks. The Temple was the place of sacrifices and the special presence of God. Synagogue is where children receive their religious education and where the children of Israel gathered weekly to worship. Today the Jews have no Temple, only synagogues.

So what about these demons who's mouths are shut? The Bible says that even the devils believe and obey God.
What makes us better than devil’s?
God, in his mercy has called us His children at baptism and he has given us the grace (desire and strength) to perform good deeds. God has taken a hold of our lives in such a way that he will shape us into being like our firstborn older brother Jesus, the true human.

Philippians 1:6
He who started a good work will be faithful to complete it in you.

*A note on Lepers and Uncleanness
Jesus does not want the uncleanness to destroy them. Jesus wants these people to be restored. Leviticus 11:29-35

Uncleanness keeps one from living among the people of God. It hinders access to the Temple, and thus the presence of God in that special time and place. Jesus wants to give back the Temple access.
He is giving them back the Temple access and forgiving their sins, but ultimately he will be replacing the Temple with himself.

Jesus fame spreads throughout this region and the four disciples and Jesus go to Peter’s mother in law because she has a fever. Then everyone with a disease or a demon seems to be standing at the doorstep of Peter’s house. Again Jesus tells the demon’s not to speak because they know who he is. Why does Jesus tell the devils to be quiet?

Jesus is dead serious about keeping them quiet because if the truth is known about who he is; the messiah who would rule the world. This will kill Jesus, and his ministry time to train up leaders in his place when he is gone, would be over. Jesus could not escape his death because of who he was, but he also could not kill himself. It was foretold in the scriptures that he would die willingly, but at the hands of the enemy.

Jesus wakes up early and goes to a solitary place to pray. Jesus knows that with the growing knowledge of him his time is already beginning to run out. He prays because he knows that he will receive what he asks for. Later on in the garden Jesus weeps when he prays before he is taken by the guards because he knows he can not have what he asks for. Let this cup pass he asks, let the world be what it has to be so that I do not have to do this.

Then they go throughout Galilee casting demons out of synagogues.

A leper comes to Jesus and Jesus touches him and tells him to be clean. Jesus touches someone who is unclean, but he does not become unclean. All is clean to the pure of heart. Titus 1:5.

Imagine in your minds for a second a young man who wakes up one day and because of his sin or unknown reasons he discovers that he has this uncleanness. He will be set outside the community, and if his family is kind enough to him they will bring him food, because he will not be able to work for his own living. No one, for the rest of his life will ever touch him again. No hugs and kisses from anyone at night, no shaking hands with new acquaintances, no taps on the shoulder for a job well done. All your hands will ever touch again are sticks and stones and the food you eat but may not be able to taste. Who knows how long it had been since this man had human contact. It may have been a lifetime. Now, someone, not just anyone, reaches down and touches him.

Why do you suppose that Jesus can get away with this sort of action?
Jesus can touch the unclean and make them clean, he infects them. He has a healing antidote with the power of poison, himself.