The Stark Running Truth! (Hunch 2)
Mark's Gospel has always
helped Jesus' students stay on track. After reading it over I have the hunch that
it was written to remind Jesus' disciples how He had respected them. It
reminded them, and still reminds us, that children and women are honoured
citizens of God's Kingdom. In Mark's Gospel we read how Jesus accepted all
those God allowed to cross His path - they were to do important things for Him
as He did what His Father had called Him to do.
Mark's gospel shouts out,
loud and clear, for anyone with ears to hear, that Jesus loves it when young
people - no matter how young - hear the good things God has done. God loves it
when a new generation comes along singing about God's kingdom.
Let the children come to me for to
them belongs God's Kingdom.
Jesus reminded His
disciples that we are all children, God's children. We don't stop being God's
children, just because we grow up. We get older and take on adult
responsibilities, but we are still God's children. Jesus tells us who we are in
God's scheme of things, how important we are as His children. And that is why
Mark begins.
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus
Christ, the Son of God.
Jesus was known as the
Messiah. The word Christ Хρίστος
is the Greek word for Messiah,
which
is a Hebrew word - משׁיח
– (you read it backwards) meaning oil poured
on the head of a special prophet. That is why Jesus was called Christ, Christ
Jesus, Jesus the Anointed.
This reminds us, right at
the beginning that This Person was born of a woman, His mother Mary, but He was
also anointed Christ a few days before He was crucified by a close friend, Mary
Magdalene. She was despised by men, particularly religious men, because of the
life she had lived. Jesus had forgiven her and she anointed Him. Jesus allowed
her to confirm to His followers that He was the Son of God, the Messiah, the
Christ. We'll see later that this was an explosive moment. Some just would not
accept it. Some still refuse to consider it as a possibility. But it is a
special part of the story.
Mark calls it good news,
THE good news. It has the power to take our lives down a new path which we may
have scarcely believed possible. In fact the Gospel will often work
things out in ways that surprise us. Think of the barney that Paul and Barnabas
had over Mark. You can read about that elsewhere
and in Mark's Tale.
It's not clear what their argument was about. I'm not sure who was right and
who was wrong. But what we do have is Mark's gospel which is evidence that this
young man became an important story-teller among the followers of Jesus. Mark's
Gospel got written. The arguments between some older disciples had not stopped
God doing good things with Mark's life. Mark had to learn not to give up when
troubles come. Indeed "we must go through
many disappointments" to prove our membership in God's kingdom"
(Acts 14:22).