Mark 1:1-15

1:1 | Mark begins by calling Jesus the Son of God, a theme he returns to frequently. No one can mistake his clear intent to declare both the deity of Jesus and God as His heavenly Father in this Gospel (Ps. 2:7; Luke 3:22).

1:2-4 | Both Mark and Peter (Acts 10:37) begin their narrative of Jesus’ ministry with the work of Christ’s cousin (Luke 1:36) and forerunner, John the Baptist. John preached a baptism of repentance, urging his listeners to turn from their sin and turn decisively toward God and His righteous ways. The fact that John was offering this kind of baptism on a national scale meant that Israel had fractured its covenant and was in need of reconciliation with God.

1:2-3 | Mark roots the ministry of Jesus in the words of the OT prophets (Isa. 40:3; Mal. 3:1), demonstrating that Jesus’ appearance was long anticipated in Israelite history. The prophesied messenger was John the Baptist, who – in fulfillment of Isaiah’s vision – prepared Israel to return from the exile of sin.

1:7 | From the beginning, John the Baptist preached the superiority of Jesus Christ, viewing Jesus as both mightier than himself and infinitely more worthy. Although his contemporaries considered John a great man – and Jesus Himself said no one greater had ever lived (Matt. 11:11) – John saw himself as unfit even to attend to Jesus’ feet, the dirtiest and least appealing part of a person’s body according to that culture.

1:8 | John the Baptist proclaimed Christ’s superiority by distinguishing between his own baptism with water and the Messiah’s baptism with the Holy Spirit. Many OT passages speak of the Spirit being poured out like water (Isa. 44:3; Ezek. 36:25-27; Joel 2:28-29). Jesus’ baptism supplies His followers with spiritual power (Acts 1:8).

1:9 | Mark starts not with Jesus’ birth but His baptism, the start of His public ministry. Most commentators believe that Jesus began His public ministry when He was 30 years of age. Jesus came to John from Nazareth – a despised town (John 1:46) whose region is nonetheless mentioned in a famous OT prophecy of blessing (Isa. 9:1-3).

1:10-11 | Note that all three members of the Trinity were present at this scene. The parting of heaven prefigured Jesus’ statement that the kingdom of heaven is near (1:15; Matt. 4:17; 10:7) and the rending of the temple veil upon His death. The coming of Jesus ended the separation between God and humanity.

1:10 | Mark’s Gospel communicates great urgency, using the word immediately more than 40 times in the original Greek – and far more than any other Gospel. In Mark, Jesus models decisive obedient response to God’s will.

1:12 | The Greek term translated drove often describes the casting out of demons; in this context, it carries the meaning “forced out.” Although Jesus went willingly into the wilderness, the Spirit is pictured as moving Him to battle Satan’s temptation.

1:13 | Mark omits the detail and color that the other Gospel writers present in this temptation scene (Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). He simply wants believers to know that Jesus triumphed completely over the enemy – and they can too when they are tempted (1 Cor. 10:13).

1:14-15 | Jesus did not officially begin His public ministry until the ministry of John the Baptist ended. Jesus announced the kingdom by saying that the Kairos (“time” or “set duration”) had expired (Dan. 7:22); it was now time for the kingdom to come.