Bible Commentaries
Mark

Mark

Mark makes us acquainted with the model Servant. It presents a scene of intense activity. No sooner is a deed done than "straightway" we are engaged with another. The Servant is introduced without a genealogy, for His deeds are sufficient credentials. His birth, His childhood, and His youth are passed over, for in them He was not equipped for service. The account begins with His induction into active ministry by the forerunner, John the baptist. In Matthew His regal relation to the royal nation, Israel, is emphasized. They are to rule the other nations. Luke's account is wider in its sympathies, and brings blessing to all mankind through the favored people. The scope of Mark is still broader, for it reaches out to all creation. Whenever there is work to be done He is ready with untiring zeal and humble obedience. Seldom is He called "Lord", for here He is in the place of a servant. We are not so much engaged with Him as with His work. We are told what He did, and why and how. His own feelings are directly related to the results of His acts. It is generally supposed that Mark is the writer of this account. If so, it is a striking instance of God's grace and wisdom, for Mark himself, as a servant, was the most notable failure of our Lord's followers. Though the son of a very godly mother, in whose home in Jerusalem the disciples met for worship and prayer ( Act_12:12 ), and the cousin of Barnabas ( Col_4:10 ), and probably a convert of Peter ( 1Pe_5:13 ), and once chosen to accompany Barnabas and Paul on their missionary journey, yet he deserted them at Perga and returned to Jerusalem. When he proposed to join their second journey, Paul would not have him and chose rather to separate from Barnabas than to take him along ( Act_15:26-38 ). Thus the traitorous tax gatherer Matthew tells us of the King; the selfish John gives us the loving Son; the unsuccessful physician Luke portrays the sympathetic Healer; and the discredited servant Mark sets forth the true and faithful Servant of Jehovah. But we must look beyond Mark's failure to see its true significance. It was used by God to separate Paul from association with Jerusalem. When again they became friendly, Mark represented the Circumcision body of believers ( Col_4:10-11 ) which were then joined to the Uncircumcision to form the joint body ( Eph_3:6-13 ) which was introduced through Paul, which ignores all physical distinctions, and which is the truth for the present time.

This account, then, presents our Lord as a Servant of the Circumcision for the sake of the truth of God, to confirm the patriarchal promises ( Rom_15:8 ). He never leaves the land. He does not give the children's bread to puppies ( Mar_7:27 ). Very few crumbs fall from the table for feeding those outside the narrow pale of Israel. And yet through them, after His resurrection, He reaches out with blessing for the whole creation. Mark's account is characterized by some significant omissions. Except on two special occasions, the Servant is never addressed as Lord. Only after His resurrection is he so styled ( Mar_16:19-20 ). The word "law" does not occur, for though His service conforms to the law it is not measured by it but exceeds all legal demands. The Servant does not set forth the manifesto of the kingdom as in Mt. 5-7, and has no "Lord's prayer". The parables are fewer. Passages which set forth the majesty and glory of the Lord are omitted or abbreviated. The Servant's shrinking from public notice is very evident in Mark as in such passages as Mar_1:38 ; Mar_7:24 ; Mar_7:36 ; Mar_8:26 . This is exquisitely brought out in Mar_9:16-25 . From the adoration of the overawed throng who perceive some lingering glory of the transformation on the mount He turns in the unresting continuity of filial service to heal the boy before a great multitude gathers, and then speedily withdraws to the privacy of the house. In this account His greatest glory is His humility, making Him the perfect Servant of Jehovah.