It seems to me that the idea of putting the story of Christ’s life into writing is itself an inspiration that had a precursor. The idea of telling such an account is found earlier in the Hebrew Scriptures. The personal account of Jeremiah describes how he was called and details the mission God gave to him to become a prophet. This account reveals that Jeremiah also met with opposition, contradiction, sufferings, and finally death. In short, the book of Jeremiah contains a “passion account” of the sufferings one man endured because of his message and the conflicts he had with the authorities of his day.
The account ascribed to Mark gives us an account of how Jeshua was called to proclaim the good news, and how Jeshua endured his public life conflicts with the authorities of his day, including much suffering, and finally death by execution. This is the story, however, of a Messiah who was crucified yet was raised again from the dead.
There is another reason, I think, why Mark was moved to write this account of the good news of the life, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jeshua. Both Peter and Paul were executed in Rome sometime during the sixth decade of the first Christian century. With their death and disappearance from the scene, Christians of the first community in Rome must have missed these leaders terribly. So it may have seemed imperative to Mark to put into writing the memories of what Christians had learned from Jeshua and apostles like Peter.
The first generation of Christians expected Jeshua’s return on the clouds of heaven, as the prophet Daniel had foretold, and as the angels had announced at the ascension of Jeshua into heaven. Because the return of Jeshua, the Messiah, seemed to be delayed the second generation of Christians had reason to want in writing the story of his life.
After the deaths of the apostles, Christians still looked forward to the imminent second coming of the Son of Man that Daniel had prophesied but had not yet occurred. These Christians believed that their Lord and Master would come for them as he would for all human beings, but they yearned for it and wanted the story of Jeshua’s life to be told and retold. This, too, may have influenced Mark to put this account into writing. It probably also prompted Matthew, Luke, and John to do the same. They also must have felt the urgency to put into writing as much of the apostolic proclamation as they could recall. Many others did the same, as Luke reveals in the beginning of his gospel. These other accounts, however, were not accepted as completely reliable by all the churches throughout the Roman world. Only four of them were accepted by all: the euaggelion as written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
In Mark’s account, we learn that after Jeshua was baptized the Spirit sent him into the desert. The desert was viewed as the territory of devils, and for forty days Satan tested Jeshua there. But the presence of Jeshua in the desert changed this view, as did Christ’s reentry into society. When Jeshua returned from the desert to live again in society, he learned that his cousin, John the Baptist, had been silenced by Herod, imprisoned and executed. Driven by the Spirit, Jeshua took up the message of John the Baptist and began proclaiming the reign of God on earth. “This is the time of fulfillment, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (1:15). As Jeshua was walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea, so he said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men”(1:17).
As far as these disciples were concerned, the call to leave everything and follow Jeshua was definitive and lasting. Two pairs of brothers felt that Jeshua was filled with the Spirit and were moved to join him (1:20). They followed Jeshua to Capernaum. On the Sabbath Jeshua entered the synagogue and proclaimed the reign of God. People were amazed by his presence, authority, and teaching. In a way, he spoke like a rabbi, but in another way he didn’t. He made no reference to other rabbis, for instance, as other rabbis did. His presence was enough.
A man possessed by a demon, whom Jeshua met, sensed the Spirit and shouted, “What are you doing here, Jeshua of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” (1:24). The devils recognized his authority, but Jeshua rebuked them. “Quiet! Come out of him!” (1:25). The man then had convulsions, cried out, and the devil left him. All in the synagogue were amazed and began asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him!” (1:27). News of the incident spread throughout Galilee.
After leaving the synagogue, Jeshua went home with Simon, where Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill of a fever. When Jeshua heard she was sick, Simon took him to her bedside. Jeshua took the woman’s hand and raised her up, well again. She then prepared something for them to eat. It was still the Sabbath when he had lifted her up, but as soon as the sun set and the Sabbath rest was over, people came to Simon’s house by droves and dozens, bringing their sick and those possessed. They continued coming to Simon’s house long after the darkness set in, to be healed by Jeshua.
The impressive thing about this incident is that even though the neighbors in the city continued to bring their sick to the house, before the day broke Jeshua left and went away to a secluded spot to pray. When Simon and his friends awoke, they went out to look for him. When they found him they told him that the whole town was looking for him. But Jeshua said he had to move on to proclaim the good news in other places as well. “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come” (1:38). He was driven by the Spirit to proclaim his message throughout Galilee.
Mary Ann Tolbert observes that from the beginning to the end of his life, Jeshua’s speech is characterized by a sense of urgency whenever he speaks of his mission to proclaim the reign of God and to fulfill it. There is, she writes, “an atmosphere of urgency over everything . . . The Markan narrative has no time; all is rushing to imminent conclusion” (Sowing the Gospel, p.117).
We are then told how a leper came to Jeshua, knelt down before him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean” (1:46). Moved with pity, Jeshua stretched out his hand, touched him and said, “I do will it. Be made clean” (1:41).
It’s worth mentioning here that what the leper did in approaching Jeshua was against the law of Moses, but so was what Jeshua did in touching him. Yet, as soon as Jeshua broke the law of Moses, the leper was freed from his leprosy. And Jeshua sent the man to the priest, as Moses had commanded of those who were cleansed of leprosy. Jeshua was a person who was observant of the law and yet did not let the law prevent him from doing good things. Jeshua warned the man not to spread the news of his healing abroad. In other words, Jeshua hadn’t healed the man out of desire to attract attention, but out of compassion.
Some scholars like to call this shunning of publicity by Christ his “Messianic secret.” It seems to me and some others that Jeshua’s intention was to avoid people’s superficial curiosity and yet still proclaim the good news of the reign of God. He both healed people out of compassion and proclaimed his message. Although Jeshua admonished the man not to spread news of his cleansing abroad, the man still did so. The result was that crowds then came in such numbers that it was impossible for Jeshua to enter a synagogue or a small town. For this reason he had to head for the hills where he could preach and be heard by large numbers of people.
For reflection, we might consider these thoughts: “What is it that impresses me most about the good news proclaimed by Jeshua? I recall the command by Moses for people to be attentive to the one who was to come after him. Then there is the message of John the Baptist that we should reform our lives, turn away from sin, and prepare for God’s coming. What changes do we, perhaps, need to make in our lives so that we are open to the Spirit of God? What can we learn from these stories?”
I met a man once while I was studying at the Catholic University of America in the District of Columbia. He knocked at the door where I was staying and asked for help to locate something on the campus. Although I had a swollen ankle and was on crutches at the time, I went with him across the university and helped him find what he wanted. He was so grateful that we exchanged experiences and got to know one another. Much to my amazement, I discovered that he was a follower of John the Baptist.
Yes, there are souls who still find in John their inspiration