Mark 1
Mark 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It recounts the proclamation of John the Baptist, the baptism of Jesus Christ, his temptations and the beginning of his ministry in Galilee.
File:CodexGigas_513_Mark.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The preface of the Gospel of Mark in Codex Gigas
File:BookOfDurrowBeginMarkGospel.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Image of page from the 7th century Book of Durrow, from The Gospel of Mark. Trinity College Dublin.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 45 verses.Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:- Papyrus 137
- Codex Vaticanus
- Codex Sinaiticus
- Codex Bezae
- Codex Washingtonianus
- Codex Alexandrinus
- Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
Opening (verse 1)
The "beginning" could refer to the beginning of the book, or the next verse, or the beginning of the story of Jesus, as Mark is only beginning to tell the reader about Jesus' life, not writing his entire biography.
By saying he is the anointed, Mark is declaring Jesus the Messiah, the successor to King David. Mark always uses "Christ" which is derived from the Greek translation, he never uses "Messias" which is derived from the Greek transliteration of the Aramaic word for "Messiah". "Son of God" can be seen as synonymous with a political messiah, in this case the King of the Jews, but can also be seen as expressing divinity, as in the phrase "God the Son". Only the demonic opponents of Jesus call him this in Mark until the centurion in. The "good news" could refer to the news about Jesus or from Jesus or Jesus as the good news or a combination of them all.
Henry Barclay Swete's Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, pages 456–457 states:
St Bede remarks on the contrast between Mark's opening verse and Matthew's first verse, where Jesus is described as "Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham". Here he is called "the Son of God", but "from both we must understand one Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, and of man".
Announcement of the prophets
Verses 2–3
In the Greek texts of Mark edited by Westcott and Hort, Samuel Prideaux Tregelles and the Society of Biblical Literature, the prophecies quoted are described as being written "ἐν τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ τῷ προφήτῃ", as they are in manuscripts B, D, L, Δ and א, whereas the Textus Receptus reads "ἐν τοῖς προφήταις" in line with many other ancient manuscripts and patristic writings.Some think this might indicate that Mark did not use a complete Jewish Bible but instead used a general collection of quotations from them. Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer suggests that the reference to Isaiah is authentic but it was a "mistake of memory". The quote appears to be a composite from the books of Exodus, Malachi and Isaiah, linking the gospel of Jesus with a fulfillment of the "Old Testament". Mark assumes they refer to John the Baptist or applies them to him.
The passage from Malachi describes one who will prepare the way of God for God. Mark has changed the statement of Malachi, which refers to Elijah returning to prepare God's way, to one in which John is seen as Elijah, because the spirit of Elijah rested on him and "my" way has been changed to "your" way, i.e. Jesus' way. Mark thus might be equating Jesus with God.
In more detail, it appears Mark has taken part of : ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου and combined it with part of : ἐπιβλέψεται ὁδόν to create in the Westcott-Hort Greek NT: ἰδοὺ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου. The significant differences are ἐπιβλέψεται is replaced with κατασκευάσει and a final σου has been added: "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way". The following quote of Isaiah 40:3 is specifically from the Septuagint, compare : "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God." to the Masoretic Text : "Hark! one calleth: 'Clear ye in the wilderness the way of the LORD, make plain in the desert a highway for our God." or the NRSV : "A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." or the new JPS Tanakh 40:3: "A voice rings out: Clear in the desert A road for the Lord! Level in the wilderness A highway for our God!"
All four gospels use the quote from Septuagint Isaiah: it is in Luke in, Matthew in Matthew 3:3, and John in. This section of Isaiah is about the return journey home from the Babylonian captivity and was a passage Jews often used as a way of expressing the help of God. Isaiah probably uses this passage symbolically to describe moral cleansing and renewal. Thus John is linked to Isaiah as well and once again Mark equates the lord of this passage, Yahweh, with Jesus.
John the Baptist
Mark describes John's activities, preaching repentance and forgiveness of sins and baptising in the Jordan River. He says he wore camel hair, a leather belt, and survived on locusts and wild honey. His clothes resemble Elijah's as described in. There is also the prophecy of true prophet's clothing in the Book of Zechariah. His diet may have been his attempt at purity. There has been much speculation that John was an Essene, perhaps also Jesus, but there is no hard evidence either way. According to Luke, Jesus and John were relatives and John is described as being a Nazarite from birth. All portraits of him paint him as certainly an ascetic, but also as a popular and respected preacher.This portrait of John is somewhat the same but somewhat different from the one Josephus gives us. Josephus states that John baptized, but not for the forgiveness of sins and that he was a great leader of the people, making no mention of Jesus regarding John. This difference might show how Mark views John, as a representative of Elijah and merely the herald of who Mark deems the more important, Jesus. According to the Q hypothesis John baptising was also found at the beginning of that book as well. John is revered in Mandaeism.
Many people from Judea and Jerusalem come to confess their sins and be baptised by John. Lutheran pietist Johann Bengel makes the point that "capital cities are not readily wont to follow a new institution ".
John tells them, "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Untying someone's sandals was a task commonly done by someone's slave. What baptising with the Holy Spirit refers to, as Jesus never baptises in Mark, is uncertain if one only considers Mark. has Jesus' disciples baptising at the same time as John the Baptist.. Matthew 3:11 and Luke 3:16 specify baptism with holy spirit and fire.
Verse 7
This expression "to stoop down" is peculiar to Mark's Gospel.Verse 8
Some see John's statement patterned on the Book of Exodus, in. Other books used this pattern to describe other prophets, such as Hosea in and. John refers to his baptism in the past tense,, but some versions translate this statement in the present tense, I baptize you.The Jesus Seminar concluded that this was one of the authentic acts of Jesus, recorded in, Matthew 3:1–12,, Gospel of the Ebionites 1, and which it calls "A voice in the wilderness".
Jesus' baptism and temptation
Jesus is one of the many who come to be baptised, in his case from Nazareth in Galilee. Since John, according to Mark, baptised repentance for the forgiveness of sins some have argued Jesus also is coming to be forgiven for his sins; but Mark notes that John says that he is unworthy. Mark also has John's function as preparing the way for Jesus, and some argue this baptism is meant to forward the fulfillment of Jesus' plan. has John say his baptism was his method of revealing Jesus to Israel. Perhaps Jesus is doing this to embrace the doctrine of baptism and repentance of sins and his oneness with those who embrace it. The Epistle to the Hebrews, in Hebrews 4:15, says Jesus was "just as we are — yet was without sin" and states: "...sin is lawlessness;... and in him there is no sin".Mark introduces Jesus without a history or a description, suggesting the intended reader already has heard of him. Mark, like the other Gospels, gives no physical description of Jesus, unlike the short previous description of John. Mark's readers are assumed already to know about the two of them.
John baptizes him and Jesus then sees a theophany. He sees "heaven being torn open", "and the spirit descending on him like a dove", and hears a voice telling him that he is God's son, whom God loves, and with whom God is well pleased. The vision could be related to Psalm, as well as Isaiah 42:1. The "opening of the heavens" is often seen as the union and beginning of communication between God and the world. Whether anyone else besides Jesus saw this has been often debated: says the Spirit descended in "bodily" form; says John said he saw the Spirit descend onto Jesus. Some have speculated that this event may have been a story that has its origins in the Early Christian practice of baptism, although Franciscan theologian Robert J. Karris argues that this is unlikely.
Some have argued that since Mark begins his story here, at the baptism, this could be seen as a form of adoption, as it is God's action which changed Jesus' life, although Mark is probably confirming their preexistent relationship. Jesus is never declared as God's adopted son anywhere in the book, but Mark does not exactly state how or when Jesus became God's son. Both Matthew and Luke use their infancy narratives to show that Jesus was God's son from the moment of conception, and John 1:1 has him as the word of God from the moment of creation.
The voice from heaven calls Jesus "beloved". Some see a relationship between this description and that of Isaac in Genesis, where Abraham had shown his devotion to God by being willing to sacrifice his son, so God shows his love for humanity by actually sacrificing his son, see also Substitutionary atonement. There is also the possible link with this and the beloved servant of God in,,, and.
The spirit then "at once", kai , sends him out into the desert to be tempted by Satan for forty days. Forty is a common numerological device in the Bible, such as the forty days of the flood in and the forty years of the Israelites wandering in the desert in Exodus. Elijah also spent forty days and nights travelling to Mount Horeb in. Unlike Matthew 4:1–11 and the number of temptations or what they were are not described. Mark does say that Angels came to minister to him. Karris argues that the angels and the wilderness are related to.
John is put into prison, presumably by Herod Antipas. Mark uses the term to describe John being "turned over", which Mark also uses to describe Jesus being arrested during his Passion. Mark has already highlighted two themes, Jesus' power from and favor of God, contrasted with his confrontation with Satan and John being arrested, showing his power and mission have already encountered the most extreme challenges both from the authorities of this world and supernatural powers.
The Jesus Seminar concluded that parts of these accounts were authentic acts of Jesus, specifically: "John baptizes Jesus":, Matthew 3:13–17,, Gospel of the Ebionites 4; and "Jesus proclaims the gospel": [|Mark 1:14–15].