He's Come - That is Why This is It! (Hunch 3)
So now we have given some
background to Mark's Gospel. We begin to get some idea of why he starts as he
does: “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus
Christ, the Son of God.” He wrote down the most important story
anyone could ever write about. He wrote it down so that many more could hear
the story. He wasn't making it up; he was telling what had happened when Jesus
came. And he knew that many of his first readers would pick up the book wanting
to learn more about this Person, Jesus. No doubt there were lots of stories
around about Jesus. Mark would have heard those too and as read his Gospel we
learn about lots of the people who would also have had their own version
of events.
Peter would have
wanted Mark to hear his version. Mark would have listened, thought,
and then written down what he had heard by going around, and listening to
their stories. This way he would check and cross-check what he had been told.
He was present for some events but even for these he would have had to get
others to help him work out what was going on.
Some scholars say Mark's
Gospel is really Peter's story. They almost imply that Mark wrote what he was
told to write with no questions asked. I find that hard to believe. After all,
Mark would have listened as Jesus taught the crowds. Jesus also taught stories
that helped His disciples become good story tellers. Peter was given God's
Spirit to enable him to tell his own story. Mark may have relied a lot upon
Peter's version of events, but Mark's Gospel gives every indication that the
story-teller of this Gospel was the same one who wrote it down.
The first thing we need to
know about God's Kingdom is that it is about us, about how we become part of
the story. No doubt Mark became clearer about his own part in it as he wrote it
down. By listening to a Rabbi's stories a good student not only learns the
teacher's message, but appreciates Who the teacher is and what the teacher
thinks of His students.
When you or I sit down to
write a story we wonder about getting started. Mark starts by announcing the
most important news: Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. Mark
begins in the way Jesus started when he came with His message "Repent.
God's Kingdom is here! This is the Good News of God's Kingdom! (1:14-15). It is
like He was saying: This
is it! For Mark this is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah. This is it!
This is it, for what? In
other words: this is the message you can rely upon. This is the story that can
heal the fight between Peter and Paul; it is the story that gives us
perspective on God's Kingdom and how He has won us, won for us! This is it!
This is the story of stories; the story of God’s Number One. This is like it
was when God said to Moses “I am the One who is! Tell people that's my name!”
The Big News has arrived; He has finally come! My oh my have I got a story for
you!