Jesus Is the Awaited Messiah

Gospel = Good news This is reliable, but not very useful, as Mark was NOT Mark 1:1 “The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, present during most of Jesus’ ministry. Son of God”. MESSAGES in Mark 1:1 = C. Divine Inspiration – Mark wrote under the inspiration of - Jesus is the awaited Messiah the Holy Spirit, who helped him to write accurately, truthfully and with correct understanding about - He is Good News ( healed, took away sins, gave Jesus. This makes his gospel reliable. eternal life). He brought us the Good News of this salvation. Reliable Secondary sources : Even if Mark’s gospel was only written in AD70, the - Jesus is God walking as a man among us secondary sources he used come from much earlier, and this makes his stories more reliable. 1. REASONS WHY MARK WROTE THE GOSPEL SPREADS (decide for yourself which are the most  He may have used an earlier written versions of the important reasons and be able to explain why) gospel (Ur-Markus), or Collections of Jesus’ parables, or an earlier written  Spread & Explain the good news of Jesus being account of Jesus’ passion (The Passion the Son of God From faith, for faith. Explain the Narratives) strange fact of a crucified Messiah.  Oral tradition – people had good memories and were  Preserve the truth about Jesus, as some people used to passing things down accurately. But small were teaching heresy - false things- about him (eg changes “chinese whispers” are possible in oral he was not really a human being, or only seemed to tradition, which makes it not reliable. die 3. RELIABILITY OF MARK AS AN AUTHOR  Reassure Romans from their suspicions about Christians as enemies of the state & immoral  Possibly the Mark whose mother had a house in Jerusalem, where the disciples would meet, and had  Encourage persecuted Christians, to follow Jesus, Jesus had his Last Supper and who was the young & that they will have their reward man that ran away naked in the Garden of  Apostles & eyewitnesses were dying off – their Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested. So he has teachings and stories needed to be written down, so SOME personal experience (but not much) they wouldn’t be lost  Possibly the same Mark who was Peter’s  Discipleship to show Christians how to be disciples interpreter, translating from Peter’s Aramaic to & not give up, even if they deny Jesus Greek, while travelling with Peter as a missionary. So he has A LOT of knowledge of what Peter  Second Coming: The early Christians realised himself witnessed and saw Jesus do and say. Jesus’ return & end of world is not yet, so there is a future – so the gospel is worth writing down. Is Mark a common name, and he is just a different Mark who is living in Rome and did not know Jesus or the 2. RELIABILITY OF MARK’S SOURCES disciples, or Israel, except from hearsay ?

Reliable sources Primary  But Mark uses Aramaic phrases in his gospel and Eyewitness accounts translates them – suggesting he was brought up in Israel, speaking Aramaic, and his gospel is based A. Peter – 1 st of the Apostles, closest to Jesus. Mark on the original Aramaic stories. travelled round with him so heard his stories over many years . People who had been healed by  Mark explains Jewish customs to his Roman Jesus or met him. HOW accurate was readers, suggesting he is Jewish, and knows what Peter’s memory?? Jewish life in Israel was like, so gives us reliable B. Mark’s own personal experience: present understanding. in the house during the Last Supper, present in the Garden of Gethsemane as the man who ran away naked. BUT Mark’s translation from Aramaic to Greek is in the way of the cross, accepting the task God sometimes clumsy and childlike – so he could have given gives you in life, and suffering its difficulties the wrong impression by mistranslating? 4. Hope and encouragement – Jesus is crucified, NON-CHRISTIAN EVIDENCE but he resurrects. In his miracles, he shows His power over (Pliny, Tacitus, Josephus) suggests Mark is reliable in all the chaos, sickness and evil in human life. He chooses the main facts of his gospel – that Jesus was a miracle disciples who are weak men, and fail and betray him, yet worker who attracted many followers, and was tried by rise up again to follow him. This brings hope to persecuted, Pontius Pilate, and finally crucified and died on a cross, and and weak Christians not to give up. that the first Christians believed in him and worshipped 5. Salvation for all – Jesus died for everyone, non-Jews him as the Son of God. are invited and welcomed into His kingdom, without having to follow the Jewish law. 4. THEMES in MARK’S GOSPEL

“A drama in 3 acts” : 5. CALMING OF THE STORM 1. Preaching and teaching in Galilee (North Israel) (example of theme of hope and People start to wonder – who is this man? Theme of Jesus’ encouragement) identity and theme of Hope and Encouragement as Jesus Sea of Galilee/ boat/ storm/ wind/ shows his power in miracles over nature, evil and sickness waves/ Jesus asleep cushion/ Be eg calming of the storm. Still/ Have you still no faith?/ Who 2. Journey with disciples to Jerusalem Teaching the is this man, even the wind and waves obey him. disciples that he must be a suffering Messiah (theme of b. Meaning of the story – explain symbolism the way of the Cross) and teaching them what it means to 1. Storm = troubles and difficulties in life be a disciple (theme of discipleship) 2. Boat = Church, support of the Church 3. Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Theme of Salvation for all, as the leading Jews reject Jesus, but non- 3. Jesus sleeping on cushion = God is present although Jews recognise him to be the Son of God and the veil in the He doesn’t seem to be helping Temple is torn in two. Also theme of hope and 4. Jesus stilling the storm = Jesus has power over the encouragement as Jesus resurrects. forces of evil and chaos THE FIVE THEMES d. Relevance to Persecution of Christians 21st century 1. Jesus’ identity – who is this man? Christians today also face difficulties and troubles  Messiah – mark 1:1 The Good News of “storms” because of their faith. The Calming of the Storm Jesus Christ, Son of God also reassures them that Jesus is “sleeping” near them and has power to control the chaos.Examples:  100% God and 100% man – Mark shows Jesus having - UK: Air stewardess sacked from her job because she was emotions like anger, fear, impatience, but also wearing a visible cross around her neck and refused to take incredible authority over nature, sickness, evil it off  Messianic secret – don’t tell people he is the Messiah, - In Pakistan, Christian churches bombed or set on fire as they have the wrong idea of what Messiah means killing Christians at Mass (military ruler) - In Saudi Arabia, and China, face arrest for showing item of Christianity eg bible or cross and attending or organising 2.Way of the Cross – to accept the task Christian worship God gives you in life, and suffer its difficulties, trusting God, like Jesus did. 6. AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPEL “Take up your cross and follow Me”.  Fundamentalist – it is 100% accurate and correct. 3. Discipleship – learn different kind of attitudes – to All the Bible is literally true serve, to be humble, to trust God fully, to be willing to walk  Conservative – main facts are true, some details eg exact dialogue may have been added/ omitted/ altered, but storm did happen and was stilled by Jesus’ command.

- Liberal – storm may not even have happened. Everything is just symbolic way of saying Jesus has power over everything and the stilling was a coincidence of timing as Jesus was speaking .