Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. (ESV)
Mark is one of five Biblical books that talks about beginnings in its first
sentence (the others being Genesis, John, Titus, and I John). The author makes several important statements
within this single sentence that are both simplistic and foundational.
Mark tells us what we’re going to get: the Gospel. The Greek word translated here is euaggelion (pronounced
“yoo-ang-ghel’-ee-on”), from which we get English words like “evangelism”. It literally means “good tidings” or “a
reward for good tidings”, and is associated with bringing good news. In fact, a careful look at the Greek (and
even the English) of Mark 1 shows that the author doesn’t just consider this
“some” good news, but THE good news. arch tou euaggelion - (The) Beginning (of) The
Good News. This is a specific, rather
than a general statement. Here, in Jesus
Christ, we will find the reward – the good tidings we’ve been needing – the
point to his entire book.
The second thing Mark tells us is that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. Now, to us as 21st
Century Christians, this isn’t a huge deal because it’s something we believe
from the bottom of our feet to the tip of our head – but Mark is really risking
some stuff here. Keep in mind that Mark
was written just a couple of decades after the crucifixion of Christ. Christianity is kicking up nicely around the
Roman Empire, and its believers are beginning to suffer real persecution at the
hands of those in charge – mostly from the Jews.
And there’s the problem.
Mark is proudly declaring in the first sentence of his Gospel that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God (υιου θεου – uiou theou – immediate offspring of God). It is exactly this kind of claim that kept Jesus
in constant danger from the Jewish leaders, because the claim that you were the
Son of God – and thus, God Himself, was absolutely blasphemous to them, and
deserving of death. By making this
claim, Mark is doing more than something that a bad mystery writer and a
good lawyer would do: giving away the ending to his book at the very beginning –
he’s putting his life at risk.
Keep in mind: this Gospel probably comes from the mouth of
Peter. So putting your life at risk by
putting this claim on paper is quite a change from the guy running away from
Christ’s trial on his way to deny Christ as much as he could before the rooster
crowed.
In fact, if we carefully consider the verse, Peter (and
Mark) might as well have said, “I believe that what I am about to tell you is
the absolute and true story of the Good News about Jesus Christ, who is the Son
of God – something I believe so strongly that not only am I willing to put my
life at risk by speaking it, but I’m willing to put this on paper so that if I’m
brought up before a court, I have no recourse against a conviction and death
sentence by that court”.
What an awesome picture of God’s grace on a man’s
life. Peter had known Christ and denied
Him, but God saw fit to redeem his falling away to the point where Peter now
put his faith on paper, risking his life to share the truth of the Gospel: Jesus
Christ. And, sure enough, in the mid 60’s
AD, Peter would indeed pay with his life for his beliefs, when he was
crucified. Mark also suffered death for
his beliefs around the same time when he was dragged to death through the streets
of Alexandria behind horses.
All this for a simple statement: This is the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.