Mark’s Gospel Provides A Contrast In Approach To The Record of Christ’s Life and Ministry

The account by the apostle Mark of the life and works of Jesus is somewhat in contrast to those in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Matthew and Luke begin with accounts of Christ’s birth, while Mark (and John, sort of) begin their storytelling with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.

The reason I call attention to Mark is that our current church Lectionary readings and related Bible studies are sifting through the second Gospel. In any Bible reading or study, Lutherans generally begin by asking two basic questions about the text:

The first query is, what is God up to in this lesson? And then we can ask, what is God telling me in this text?

Of course there are other questions to ask as well. But by beginning with these, we can get a sense of perspective and direction from the message, rather than just randomly reading and drawing “off-the-top-of-the-head” conclusions.

So, in this particular instance, what might God be up to with the way that Mark begins his story? I got my inkling as I read, and you can begin your consideration by carefully reading chapters one and two, which was our assignment this week.

Most interesting to me was that Christ’s public ministry began with a baptism (a “commissioning” of sorts—his uniquely with heavenly approval) but then our Lord was immediately driven into the wilderness, apparently by the same Spirit that had descended on him in the form of a dove .

While in the wilderness for 40 days, he was confronted by Satan himself and tempted to the "nth" degree. After the temptation and subsequent strengthening, Jesus then “hit the road”, so to speak, with all cylinders firing.

He began his ministry by performing miracle after miracle that got immediate, regional attention. But his complementing message was early and often misunderstood. Check out Mark for yourself for a most interesting narrative of the initial events in Christ’s public life.