Sermonette: June 17, 2024

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

A quick review in case you were unable to read last week's Sermonette. I've changed my style of writing these messages somewhat for this series and will be presenting a review of the four Gospels in our New Testament. Last week we discussed Matthew's Gospel. We talked about that Matthew's intended audience was mainly the Jewish people. His main focus was to assure them that Christ was indeed one of them. Matthew points out that Jesus was born into a Jewish family and raised in accordance with Jewish traditions. Matthew stressed that Jesus was God's son, the true Messiah.

This week, we will be taking a look at the Gospel accorded to Mark. Most biblical scholars agree that although the book of Mark is the second Gospel in the New Testament, it was the first Gospel written. Matthew was placed first as it could be considered more closely as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments.

Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels. He gives us a fast-moving story of Christ's ministry. Scholars believe that this Gospel was written by Mark while he was in Rome. His intended audience would have mainly been the Gentile peoples there. Mark does not include the genealogy of Jesus. He also omits many of the references to the Mosaic Law, Jewish customs and other references to daily life among the Jewish people that are included in the other Gospels. These references would have been meaningless to Gentiles as they would not have known anything about these things. Mark's Gospel does not include the Christmas story. We do not find Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus in a manger. Nor do we find Jesus as a youth in the temple. On the other end, neither are there stories of a risen Jesus appearing to people. But in between, we get a fast-moving account of Jesus' ministry.

Mark focuses on Jesus as the servant to the people. We find a key statement to support this in Chapter 10. Jesus tells his disciples that he “did not come here to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In this short book, Mark includes no less than 18 miracles that Jesus performed. He performed these miracles to not only show the power of God, but because he also had compassion for those less fortunate. Another example is when Jesus entered Jerusalem on the day we celebrate as Palm Sunday, He didn't ride on a powerful stallion all decked out in gold and silver. He came in riding on a donkey using men's cloaks for a saddle.

Mark's Gospel begins with Jesus' baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist and ends with his resurrection. In between these two events, Mark tells us of Jesus' ministry of teaching and how much of his ministry included serving others. Jesus often told those whom he had just healed to not tell anybody about it; but they did anyway. Mark is perhaps a bit less than kind in his portrayal of Jesus' disciples. They just never seem to get anything right according to him. They come off as somewhat dense in not being able to understand even the simplest of the parables Jesus used when preaching to large crowds. Even when Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the Messiah, he has no idea what that really meant. Still, Jesus loved them, had compassion for them and forgave them their weaknesses.

If you want to start out on a Bible reading plan, I would suggest you start with Mark's Gospel. It is a compact story of the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It tells us of Jesus' never-ending love and compassion for those less fortunate. It centers on Jesus' desire to serve others. Not to be an earthly king or ruler, but to teach them and to show them a Christian love for one another.

Blessings to you all.