The Gospel of Action

Greeting’s in the name of the Lord – Did you know that Peter’s house was in Capernaum and not Jerusalem?

Never forget, salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ just does not just:

• patch things up,
• heal a broken heart,
• or you become ossified.

It may, in fact, do all those things. However, you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5.17)

Mark’s Gospel of Action – Mark wrote very much like he was writing it for a shooting script way ahead of his time for a movie or teleplay. It moves rapidly through a series of visual images, emphasizing action.

• Mark continually uses a Greek word, eutheōs, which translated means immediately, straightway, forthwith, anon, etc.
• It appears 40 times – equal to the rest of the entire New Testament. Only seven in Matthew and one in Luke.
• Mark uses the “historical pretense” 150 times: Jesus comes, Jesus heals -all in the present tense.
• There are more miracles recorded in Mark than any other Gospel, despite being shorter.
• Matthew’s Gospel seems longer because includes more discourse – probably verbatim, having the skill to take it down in shorthand as a customs official. Removing the discourses, it is actually shorter than the Gospel of Mark.

• It takes only 20 verses in Mark 1 to describe the Ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus’ baptism, His temptation in the wilderness, and call of the disciples.
• The first thirteen introduction verses of the Gospel of Mark are we introduced to Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. Not as a child we find Him, as in the Gospels of Matthew or Luke, but rather as an adult who is introduced to us as the Messiah.
• It is interesting that the Gospel starts with the statement of the beginning of the Gospel that uses a word for "beginning" that refers to something that is new where its consummation is yet to come. It is a process that is beginning at a time when the people to whom he writes think that everything of spiritual import has come to an end.

John Mark wrote for you and me. If you are a Gentile reader in general and to the Roman reader in particular of his time through Peter you are his target. There is no genealogy of Jesus Christ included because for the most part it would not have meant much to the average Roman on the cobbled roads of Judah.

There is no Sermon on the Mount, and persecution of the Jewish sects has little mention as well. Where necessary John Mark interpreted Aramaic words (Mark 5.41; 7.34; 15.22) and he commonly used Latin words not found in other Gospels ("executioner," Mark 6.27 "cent," Mark 12.42).

John Mark uses only about 63 Old Testament quotations as compared to 128 in Matthew and around 100 in the Gospel of Luke. I will just say I agree that John Mark received a great deal of the information for the Gospel with his experiences with Peter.

With Peter's Apostolic Authority behind the Gospel there was never any challenge to its inclusion to the cannon.

In describing the disease it is for information only and to point out how horribly people suffered in the Middle East, Asia, Mediterranean, and European areas with Leprosy.

It probably starts with a feeling tired a good bit of the time in the beginning. For no reason a good bit of fatigue. Then the joints would begin to ache constantly. Next, little white spots would begin showing up on the skin spreading all over the body.

The spots would harden into nodules and change from white to pink to brown to scaly. These would soon spread all over the body. The face would change until it would resemble the appearance of a lion.

The disease gets much worse, so much worse I cannot write it here. Not only would a person suffer physically horribly, but there would be social rejection as well. Israel had been promised immunity from the disease if obedient to the law of God (Exodus 23.25).

• Every blind, deaf, crippled, or diseased person among them was a witness to their failure in this respect. (Deuteronomy 28.15-23)
• In healing the sick Jesus Christ was undoing the work of the evil one, Satan. (Acts 10.38)
• In doing this work, Jesus Christ is YHWH's servant (Isaiah 35.4-6)

Everything I write I hope you can learn from, and put to work in your life and study. Every aspect of disease healed by the Lord seems to picture some aspect of sin:

• A fever burning in one's soul
• Leprosy devastating the entire body
• A palsy making it difficult to take a step towards God
• A withered hand or foot making it difficult of true service.

Whatever form sin may take place, Jesus Christ can and does give complete deliverance from it for sure.

That Mark was for the Romans is seen in:

• The explanation of a Greek term by a Latin term used in (Mark 12.42)
• By the preponderance of works of power, the emphasis of authority (Mark 2.10)
• The works of power by patience and heroic endurance (Mark 10.17)
• Forbids a practice that was not Jewish, especially Roman practices of any form (Mark 10.12)

Here is a little Bible history that I took down some seven years ago in a Bible class one morning. Looking back on it, it was very informative and interesting. I hope you find it the same and can use it. Gary

• Matthew - The Promised One Is Here - His Credentials - The Lion of the Tribe of Judah
• Mark - How He Worked - See His Power In Action
• Luke - This Is What He Was Like - See His Wonderful Nature
• John - This is Who He Is - See His God-ship

There were four Gospels by careful design of the Holy Ghost. Nothing was incidental. Before the foundation of the world was laid, the Gospels were already penned in the head of God. He took these four men and prepared each of them to tell the story of Jesus' life, each in his way.

• In case you are asked, John was his Jewish name and Mark his Latin surname (Acts 12.12)
• Mark was the son of a wealthy woman named Mary, probably a widow, whose home was large enough to serve as a meeting place for many of the early disciples after Pentecostal outpouring. (Acts 12.1-19)
• Do you recall in the New Testament a rich young ruler who questioned Christ about what he needed to do to inherit eternal life? (Mark 10:17-22) Mark's Gospel includes a detail that Matthew and Luke failed to mention: "And Jesus looking upon him loved him..." This hints at the possibility that young John Mark himself may have been that rich young man who fled naked!
• Some believe it was written in Rome. The Jewish historian, Rufus states such and he is a quality authority on Jewish history. If you cross-reference Mark 15.21 with Romans 16.13 you find further hints in the mentions of Rufus. Also, there is a resemblance between Mark 7.1-23 and Romans 14.
• The Roman Centurion remark is the style of the author and bears the same relation to Mark's purpose as to John's 20.31.
• By the way, stay away from gossiping and backstabbing It goes against everything that Christianity stands for. Sin is Sin! Please read 2 Corinthians 12.20 which says:

"For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder."

So we have many crises over the last seventy-two years. We all share in the current one which will continue and go. I hope God is giving your family grace and comfort in the current crisis. Please email me if there is a subject that you would like me to write on. Thank you and God's blessings, Gary

I suffer from chronic migraines constantly that make my life not so pleasant. On top of that, I have severe Neuropathy and whole body nerve pain. I hope God will grant you peace and fill you with some joy through the current crisis.

The study of Mark will have to continue. There is so much to learn. I am not a good teacher, but I write it so that I hope you can research it yourself and come to your own conclusions, the only way to satisfy your quest.