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Hey, Bible nerds.
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This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. Welcome to day 47. We are in the Gospel of Mark. I'm hype because Mark's one of my favorite gospels. And no lie, I'm going to say that about all the gospels because I love the gospels. But for real, Mark's a good one. Mark's a good one. And hey, do the reading for today. I want you to do mark chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4. That is what we're going to cover in today's video. Uh, we got four pretty short chapters to cover. And with no further ado, let's get into the Gospel of Mark. First things first, I'm gonna give you some context clues, okay? Uh, Mark gets this gospel, gets his gospel tradition from Peter. So if we kind of wanted a nickname for the Gospel of Mark, you could call this the Gospel, like according to Peter, okay? Uh, now Peter, like Paul, is going to die in Rome, and so Mark is most likely also living in Rome. You can get context on John, Mark in Colossians, chapter 4, verse 10, first Peter, chapter 5, verse 13. So this is the most Roman of the four Gospels that we have. Okay? If you look at the four Gospels, Matthew is the most Jewish. Luke is the only gentile authority of the entire Bible. So Luke's Gospel is super gentile, and Luke is a traveling companion to Paul, and Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles, okay? And then John is the most anti gnostic gospel, and then Mark is the most Roman gospel, okay? And so there's gonna be a Roman. Mark is trying to reach a Roman audience. Now, he's not compromising to reach that Roman audience, but he is going to put things in terms that are going to attract a Roman audience. And even though he's being seeker sensitive, he is not going to water down the message of the cross, which is actually the thing that is the most shocking in a Roman world. Okay? The Roman world was all about conquest and conquering and power. And Jesus dying on a Roman cross would have been offensive to Romans, okay? But Mark does not shy away from that. Even though he's trying to win Romans, win people in the Roman Empire to the Gospel of Jesus, he's not going to compromise on the message. Even though he's going to cater to this audience. And the audience that he's talking to is going to color and flavor like his word choice. Okay, uh, one of the ways that we see that is there are two buzzwords that are gonna get used a lot. And you are going to see as you read through the 16 chapters of Mark's gospel that the word immediately is going to get used incessantly. I mean, just immediately this, immediately that, immediately this, immediately that. So we can actually go over to mark. Chapter one, verse 30. Uh, Simon's mother in law was in bed with a fever and they immediately told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. Okay, immediately one, verse 42. Okay, so this is just like 12 verses later. Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. I am willing, he said, be clean. Verse 42. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. 2, verse 8. Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts. And he said to them, okay, so the, the Roman world has a high appreciation for power. If you really have power and you have authority, then things don't take a long time. If, if you are waiting around for something to happen, that must mean you are not a high ranking Roman official. Okay? Remember the Roman centurion, okay? He says to Jesus, I'm a man under authority. I got people under my authority. He has a Roman perspective. He says, I tell somebody to do something and they do it. They do it fast and they do exactly what I tell them to do. So Mark is portraying Jesus as someone who has authority. Okay? He can get things done quickly. Demonstration, sickness, whatever it is, it moves immediately and it moves at the pace of Jesus. The other buzzword that's going to get used is not just immediately, but authority. Okay, so one of the ways that Mark demonstrates the authority of Jesus is how fast things happen. But then Mark is also going to outright just use the word authority. So chapter one, verse 22. Let me scroll a little bit. Verse 22 says this. The people were amazed at his teaching because he taught them as one who had authority. Chapter 2, verse 10. Not only does he teach with authority, but then it says this. But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. So he has authority to teach, but he also has authority to forgive sins. And then chapter four, verse 41, there's this awesome moment where the disciples are amazed at the fact that the winds and the waves obey Jesus and his authority is being demonstrated. It says they were terrified. They asked each other, who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him. That's actually a great segue into our nerdy nugget, okay? Because one of the big questions of this particular gospel and of all four of the gospels is this question, who is Jesus? The identity of Jesus is central to all four gospels, but it is, I mean, front and center in Mark's Gospel. Actually, there is this tension between two words in Mark's Gospel. The first word is Messiah, okay? Which means a political leader, a Jewish political leader that's anointed by God, who is in the. In the minds of the people, is going to overthrow Roman rule. Jesus obviously did not overthrow Roman rule. And so although Jesus accepts that word, he does not accept the definition that the people have attached to that word. And so so many times in Mark's Gospel, he is going to reject the word Messiah because the people misuse the word and he is going to opt for the term Son of Man. So here's our nerdy nugget for the day. Son of man is used 14 times by Mark in Mark's Gospel. This is Jesus's favorite moniker for himself. This is how Jesus identifies, okay, as the Son of Man. You gotta remember, Mark's Gospel is only 16 chapters long. So in 16 chapters, the Son of Man as a title for Jesus gets used 14 times. And for all of the nerds out there, I'm gonna give you all 14. I should make you guys find them as a challenge. I feel like Jamal Hegwood would be really, really happy about that. But I'm. I'm not going to do that. Here they are, okay? All 14. Mark 2. 10, Mark 228, Mark 8. 31 Mark 8. 38, Mark 9. 9, Mark 9. 12, Mark 9. 31 Mark 10. 33 Mark 1045, Mark 1326 Mark 14. 21 Mark 1441 Mark 1462. Now, the reason that Jesus is opting for the title Son of Man over and above Messiah is because when he talks about the Son of Man, he will typically say things like this. The Son of Man will have to suffer, okay? In a Jewish and in a Roman mindset, leaders don't suffer and leaders definitely don't die on Roman crosses. Like, these are not things that leaders do. Now, leaders do have authority. Leaders do make things happen quickly and immediately, very, very fast. Leaders do lots of things in the Roman world. What they don't do is they don't Hang naked on Roman crosses. And so Mark is doing his best to portray a Jesus that can appeal to a Roman audience. But he's not gonna water down the message of the gospel. He is going to present a very Jesus, Jesusy Jesus to a very Roman audience. And so the question of the identity of Jesus, this is actually something that we can see right in the opening movement of the book. Now, chapters one through eight actually are a cohesive kind of unit. Things shift right around chapter eight, verse 27. In. In the whole, whole, like first eight chapters up until the midway point of chapter eight, the Jesus and the disciples are in Galilee. Okay? So the book is kind of split up based on regions. And then I think it's like chapter 8, verse 27, all the way to chapter, all the way to the end of chapter 10, there's like a journey to Jerusalem. And then I think like the last four chapters or so, chapters 11 all the way to 16. So maybe five chapters take place in Jerusalem. Okay? So three big segments of the book, three big movements. But we've split Mark into four, and we. We're gonna go through those four sections over the next four days. All right, One last thing I'm gonna show you is that when we get to the synagogue in Mark chapter one, there are Jewish people who are supposed to know who Jesus is, do not know who Jesus is. Who knows? The demon knows. The impure spirit sure enough knows. And then we get to Mark, chapter two, and Jesus is debating with religious leaders who are supposed to know who Jesus is, and they don't know. And then Mark, chapter four, the disciples are supposed to know who Jesus is. And we end this entire days worth of reading with the disciples going, who is this? He has even the authority to calm storms. Like, who is this? Well, the people who are sitting in the synagogue should definitely know who Jesus is. The religious leaders should know who Jesus is, and the disciples should know who Jesus is. And so we get. The major driving plot line of the book is that no one knows who Jesus is. And actually the people who are supposed to know don't know and demons do know. So we have a book where demons are smarter than disciples. Okay? And so that is just an irony and a juxtaposition of the book that I think is quite fascinating. There is all this mystery surrounding the identity of Jesus. And really, it's not just mystery. It's almost like a rejection. Jesus is gonna flat out teach exactly who he is, but the disciples don't have a shelf to put that information on. A Messiah who suffers and dies on a Roman cross is a categorical like, like miscalculation for them. They literally don't have a shelf to put it on. They are utterly, utterly confused. So part of it is that they just don't know who Jesus is. Part of it is they cannot comprehend who Jesus is explaining himself to be. And so the identity of Jesus is going to be a driving force throughout the entire Gospel of Mark, which will culminate in a Roman soldier knowing exactly who Jesus is. And we'll get there when we get to the end of the book.
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What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by arma. What is arma?
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I'm so glad you asked.
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ARMA is an online subscription based platform that we designed to help people, everyday people, learn the Bible for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody, anywhere could have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing, and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community, a community of people that I've gotten to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me and the entire ARMA team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible nerd.
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Let's get to our timeless truth of the day. It is Mark, chapter three, verse 23, and I will read it for you. It is about unity and division. So Jesus called them over and said, began to speak to them in parables. How can Satan drive out Satan? Okay, they're. They're accusing Jesus of driving out Satan by the power of Satan. And he says that literally makes absolutely no sense. If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand. His end has come. So he says Satan does a better job of operating in unity than some. Some Christians do. Some churches, that's woo. That'll step on some toes. Okay. In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house without first Tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man's house. Okay? And so the really, the timeless truth for the day is that unity has to be established. Unity has to be sustained. Unity has to be fought for. Unity has to be defended at all costs. I say this a lot when I'm teaching, like, married couples and trying to teach people like, how to be married and how to have good, healthy, strong marriages. I always say, you know, two Buddhists who don't know Jesus but who are in agreement will have a stronger marriage than two Christians who are walking in division, who are walking in disagreement with one another. Because the reality is that agreement, two people who are wrong but who agree have more power than two people who are right, who disagree with each other. And you could just look at Mormons. Right, Very wrong. I mean, one look at Mormonism, and it's pretty obvious that this is, like, cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Like, this stuff is ridiculous. But they agree. And because they agree, they have power. And unity is powerful. Jesus literally says that. He's like, satan is wrong. Satan is wrong. But if there's one thing Satan's got right, it's that he knows how to run a tight ship. And there's no division. There's no division. I was talking to somebody recently about a phenomenal, incredible, mega church organization. And he was, you know, he was just kind of lamenting about this church, and he was like, man, there are 15 pastors on staff who all had 15 different visions for, like, what the church is supposed to be doing. And nothing is more like frustrating in an organization than when everybody can't just rally around one thing, one vision, one idea, one goal, one big metric. Like, when people can operate in unity, it is the most beautiful thing. And you would think that Christians would be able to kind of, like, do this, but it is very, very difficult. Clearly, I think that Jesus words here are timelessly true, that if we could crack the code on unity, you could have a healthy home, you could have a healthy marriage, you could have a healthy family, you could have a healthy church, you could have a healthy organization, you could have a healthy nation, you could have a healthy. Fill in the blank. If you can crack the code on creating unity, fighting for it, defending it, and sustaining it. Because a kingdom that is divided against itself cannot stand, and a house divided against itself cannot stand. All right, I'll see you right here tomorrow. For Mark, chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8, we're going to continue our trek through the Gospel of Mark. I love you guys. I'm so so proud of you. I'll see you right here tomorrow. Let's go, baby. Marky Mark, thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram at the Bible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.