The angel declared at the end of the book, “Do not be alarmed. Death, stingy with its praise, more stubborn than demons, fell face-first to our Christ. And at his death, the Roman centurion who saw him breathe his last exclaimed, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39).Īnd he did not stay dead. This Christ laid down his life for his people.
He heals the sick, makes the lame to walk, stuns the crowds, silences the Pharisees, rebukes the wind and waves, and bends the knee of the unruly man without a word, with hordes of demons begging him not to torment them. He is not just like us, only a little bit better. When we consider that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we must remember who this Christ is. The small army of demons in this man quiver before the Christ and throw themselves at his feet, imploring him not to torment them. And what does this wild, demon-oppressed man do? “He ran and fell down before him, screaming out, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me’” (Mark 5:7). He was a man no one could contain, a man not in control of himself.īut then, still far off, he saw Jesus. Night and day, he cried out and cut himself with stones. He had Samson-like strength no man could bind him, not even with chains, as he shattered shackles when anyone tried.
The chorus returns when Jesus enters the country of the Gerasenes, where he immediately meets a demon-possessed man who lives among the tombs. With great fear, they said, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41). The disciples recalled that they had sung of this in the Psalms in reference to God: “You rule the raging of the sea when its waves rise, you still them” (Psalm 89:9). Jesus rises and does something the disciples had never seen before: he rebukes the wind and the sea - and they obey. While aboard, a great windstorm arises, and the disciples become frantic and wake Jesus with shouts of fear. He then confounds the Pharisees, heals a man with a withered hand, tells parables to judge the people, and leaves the crowd and travels out on a boat. After this the people are stunned and say, “We never saw anything like this!” (Mark 2:12). He heals a paralytic to prove he forgives sins. Immediately, he begins healing many, and at one point, “the whole city was.
When he rebuked the unclean spirit and cast it out, everyone became amazed. Before we get halfway through chapter 1, Jesus has already started his ministry and is hearing from unclean spirits, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy one of God” (Mark 1:24). The curtain opens with John the Baptist announcing the coming of history’s main event in the arrival of Jesus. Though surprisingly, it is sung over a Jewish man, the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ. The beginning of the Gospel of Mark rings with a declaration of the awesomeness of God. Truly this man was the Son of God! (Mark 15:39)
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