Mark 1:1-13 — Mark
Jesus, the Wilderness, and the Spirit
Mark uses Old Testament allusions to reveal Jesus as God's promised Son and the fulfillment of God's plan. The sermon calls believers to trust Jesus as their new beginning, even when circumstances challenge their faith.
Introduction
Ever played that “Who Am I?” game? You know the game. You are given a series of hints and then you have to guess who it is. Let’s try one. Raise your hand when you think you know the answer. This person was president of the United States. He and his wife Abigail started the White House Library. He also introduced the bathtub as part of the White House. He served as President for only three years and did not receive his party’s nomination as standard bearer for the next election. Among the bills he signed into law was the addition of California to the Union and the Fugitive Slave Act. Who is he?
Why didn’t we all know the answer to that set of clues? Some of us know more than others because we study different things. That isn’t to make light of anyone’s intelligence. We all study different things and so we all know some things that others do not. And then there are some things that most of us know because it is part of our culture. What is the tag line for NIKE? Who were the main characters on the Andy Griffith show? What do the words “golden arches” mean to you? We are bombarded in our culture with all kinds of things and so we take it all in and think little about it. But in the days when Mark wrote his gospel he alluded to all kinds of things that his initial readers would understand and recognize. The scriptures were of paramount importance. They were studied, memorized, and poured over. When Mark writes his account of Jesus’s life, he uses words which would cause his well studied readers to make connection with Old Testament texts.
Our focus as we study Mark for the next seven months will be Jesus. Mark’s account points to Jesus time and again. Today we are going to point out the Old Testament allusions Mark uses as well as look at the thread that Mark weaves in his writing. And then we will apply what we study today to our lives recognizing that we too need to be committed to paying attention to God’s instruction as we emphasize our faith.
Old Testament Allusions
From the beginning, Mark introduces us to Jesus. If we see anything in this text other than Jesus we miss Mark’s point. Throughout this text he gives us scriptural allusions so that we can evaluate Jesus. God has been working to bring about his plan to save all people. Jesus is the culmination of that plan. But Mark is a master at giving us hints about Jesus. These allusions are lost on us because we do not study the scriptures as the ancients did. This is not a criticism but a statement of reality. Let’s look at these allusions and try to see Mark’s writing with a new freshness.
Four times in these first thirteen verses, Mark mentions “the wilderness” (verses 3, 4, 12, 13). While we think of “wilderness” as a location or as it is translated in the NIV as a deserted area, for Mark this is an Old Testament allusion to a place of new beginnings. Jeremiah 2:2, God speaks to his people saying, “I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert (wilderness), through a land not sown.” Isaiah speaking of the restoration of Israel says in 43:19–21, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” Deuteronomy 8, in which Jesus uses to quote during his temptation in the wilderness, the desert is seen as the place where Israel cannot provide for themselves; thus, God is present to provide for them.
The wilderness is where Israel comes to know God. God is present in the wilderness. The wilderness is the place of renewal. It is in the desert that relationship with God is renewed. The wilderness is the place for new beginnings. It is in the wilderness where God seeks to win his people back to him. Hosea 2:14, God speaks of the time when Israel will be brought back to him: “Therefore I am going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There (in the wilderness) I will give her back her vineyards and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the day she came up out of Egypt.”
But it isn’t only the wilderness that Mark wants us to appreciate as his story unfolds. Three times (verses 8, 10, 12) he mentions the Spirit. This emphasis on the Spirit finds its meaning in the Old Testament. Isaiah 11:2, a shoot from the stump of Jesse (the line of David) — “the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” Or in Isaiah 42:1—“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.” For Mark, Jesus is the fulfillment of these texts speaking of the one who is to come with the Spirit. When Jesus is baptized in verse 10, there is no acknowledgment that the people heard the voice of God. But Jesus did, and it was the initiation of his ministry.
Application
Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prediction and prophecy. Mark uses these allusions to allow his readers to have the inside information about Jesus. Mark doesn’t give us Jesus’ human background because such would distract from his being the fulfillment of the plan of God. Throughout the writing, Mark is going to allow us to hear those who will question Jesus, but as readers we are given advanced notice that Jesus is the Son of God. Consider the thread that Mark weaves throughout his story.
In 1:27, a stunned synagogue crowd asks, “What is this? A new teaching and with authority.” In 2:7, angry religious experts ask themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Fearful disciples in 4:41 ask, “Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him?” An amazed, perplexed, and resentful hometown crowd ask in 6:2, “Where did this man get these things? What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles?” In 11:28, religious leaders challenging Jesus ask, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you authority to do this?” And we the readers already know the answer. He is God’s answer. He is the one who goes to the wilderness to initiate the new beginning. He is the one upon whom God dispenses his Spirit.
But Mark doesn’t just weave the thread of questions through his telling of the gospel. He also gives insight into the truth. Not only in chapter 1 does God pronounce his blessings and confirm who Jesus is, but in 9:2–13, Peter, James, and John are allowed to hear the voice of God confirm that Jesus is God’s Son. And in 15:39 at his death we have the confession of truth from the lips of the centurion when he says, “Surely this was the Son of God.”
The Pharisees think he is working with Satan. Herod’s best guess is that he is John the Baptist come back to life. Some think Jesus is Elijah; others think he is one of the prophets (6:14–16; 8:27–28). The disciples are baffled by what they see. Even Peter, James, and John who were given special consideration into the person of Jesus fail to understand who Jesus is. So the application is: who do you say that he is?
Sometimes when we review the scriptures, we can become rather arrogant. We see who Jesus is and wonder why others don’t. We ask, “How could Peter, James, and John not come to understand who Jesus was after the Transfiguration?” Or we might say, “If I had seen a miracle, I would have believed.” But we forget one thing—we know how the story ends. They didn’t. And maybe that’s the point. The lack of faith we see in those who directly encountered Jesus—that same lack of faith may at times be seen in our own lives. When Jesus entered the world, no one was really expecting him. They watched him; they heard him; they admired him, but only a few believed in him. Mark allows us to know the truth before he unfolds the entire story.
In many ways our lives are very much the same as Peter, James, and John and others. We know the story; we hear Jesus; we admire him; we know there is something special about him, but then something happens to us and we find it difficult to believe him. Our faith gets pushed away by the doubt of the circumstance. The truth is that all of us find ourselves at the same crossroads as those who interacted with Jesus two thousand years ago. From the very beginning Mark gives us an opportunity to know who Jesus is. Who do you believe him to be? Is he God’s Son? Is he the one who fulfills God’s plan? Is he the one you trust when life tumbles in? He can be your new beginning today.
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