1:1
Mark declares the purpose of his book from the beginning. This is the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ (or Jesus the Messiah). Christ and Messiah both mean anointed one. And this Jesus is the Son of God. Good news, or gospel. It is the good news about the victory that Jesus won. Now why is this good news, remembering that Mark was writing for a largely Gentile audience.? One can see why it would be described as good news for the Jews for it was God’s fulfilment of the promises in the Old Testament, but why good news for the Gentiles? Well most (all?) people have problems in life. Life is fundamentally flawed, there is something deeply wrong. Perhaps most fundamental of all is that we all grow old and die. There are times when life is good, but there are also times when life is bad. For some people life is bad most of the time. Jesus Christ is the saviour of the whole world, the saviour for all men and women.
“The beginning of the good news”. Mark describes this as the beginning. This could be taken in two ways. One is that the mention of John the Baptist was the beginning, and he would then go on to describe the subsequent events. Another way to look at it is to take this as referring to the whole gospel, and what we see described in the gospel is just the beginning. The good news and the good effects will continue to spread throughout the world and throughout time.
Mark, unlike Matthew and Luke, does not make any reference to the birth of Jesus. This is consistent with Mark being the first gospel.
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