Bible In A Year: The Gospel Of Mark

The Gospel of Mark presents us with a profound challenge: we cannot truly understand the New Testament without first knowing the Old. This shortest of the four Gospels moves at a breathtaking pace, immediately plunging us into Jesus' ministry with demon exorcisms, healings, and miracles. Yet each of these powerful acts carries deep Old Testament symbolism that we might miss if we don't know the backstory. The demons in the land represent foreign nations oppressing Israel. The healings from fever, leprosy, and lameness reverse the covenant curses of Deuteronomy 28. When Jesus calms the storm on the Sea of Galilee, He's fulfilling Psalm 107 where only Yahweh can still the waters. The irony is striking: while the disciples ask 'Who is this that even the wind and sea obey Him?' the demons immediately recognize Jesus as the Son of the Most High God. Mark is showing us that Jesus is the fulfillment of everything Israel has been waiting for, the One who can remove covenant curses and restore God's people. As we read this Gospel, we're invited to move beyond simply marveling at the miraculous events and ask ourselves: What is the inspired author trying to teach us through these historical moments? Understanding Mark requires us to see how the entire biblical story connects from Genesis to Revelation.

Transcript

Welcome And Study Resources

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachme the Bible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Hello, welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast, where we are walking through the story of the Bible in a year. If this is your first time joining us, we want to remind you and encourage you to go back to the beginning. So we have we've been uh continuing this conversation all the way from the book of Genesis uh quite a while ago. Uh so go back there, start there. Um you're welcome to follow along with us today, but I think you'll get the most out of it if you start from the beginning. If you have, if you're continuing on with us, then uh we're almost halfway through. Or we're actually we're oh we're far more than halfway through. We have made our way to uh the gospels, and and last week we looked at uh the book of Matthew. And so today we're going to be in the gospel of Mark. And so we're gonna jump into that in just a minute, but just want to encourage you uh once again, if you're looking for more resources to study the Bible, to understand Scripture, that's really our goal is helping the people of God understand the Word of God. Uh, and we have all kinds of resources for you over at teachmethebible.com. Uh go check those out, go see what we have available, and there's gonna be more coming all the time. And so we we want those to be a blessing to you, an encouragement to you. Um, it sure is encouraging to us uh to see you all engaging with it uh and seeing people who who really care about the word of God. And so uh with that said, we're gonna jump into the gospel according to Mark. So, Doc, if you want to take us through, yeah, teach

Why Mark Needs The Old Testament

SPEAKER_03 2:04

us.

Dr. David Klingler 2:04

So uh so the gospel of Mark, that um Mark is the shortest gospel. Um depending upon who you you listen to, it's either the first or second gospel that's uh that's uh written, and there's uh quite a bit of debate about that. And and um but but as you were saying, if you start in the gospel in any of the gospels, which is unfortunately where we tell so many you believers uh start in John. Yeah, start in John, start in John. Yeah. Um have you seen this movie? Uh no. Oh, yeah. Make sure yeah, go. Uh and and don't show up for the first hour. Just walk in in the middle of the movie, and I'm sure it'll make sense to you. Just start watching from the middle of the movie. Yeah, it's not gonna work. And that's how we get ourselves in trouble. Uh, and so so much of what's uh in the gospel of Mark um is dependent upon Old Testament understanding. So, you know, often people will say, uh, you know, Mark is the hardest one to understand. Well, I think Mark in some ways um needs the most Old Testament understanding. You know, Mark um is a friend, a confidant, uh run-in buddy with Peter. Uh and uh Peter is one of the apostles, you know, if we if we learn from Galatians uh chapter two. We're not there yet, but but uh uh there's this point uh at which uh uh Peter and James and John and Paul have a meeting and and they decide Paul's going to take the gospel to the uncircumcised and Peter, James, and John to the circumcised. And so so it seems reasonable to to assume that that Mark is writing uh this gospel to people who know the Old Testament. Uh I don't know what a Gentile would get out of this if they don't know uh so much the Old Testament imagery and and uh and and point. And I mean, I mean right from the beginning. Um Mark jumps in with Old Testament uh quotes. I mean, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I mean, okay who's that uh the the the good news, so that the the gospel, the good news, that's you know, he he's already in Isaiah of Yahweh saves the Christ, well uh the Mashiach, the anointed one. You have to know what that means. The Son of God, you have to put that all together. Um, you know, Psalm 2. So he in the first few words, you know, the gospel, Isaiah, of Jesus, I Isaiah, Christ, Psalm 2, the Son of God, Psalm 2, and then he quotes Malachi 3, uh, and then Isaiah 40. Uh this is all in like two or three verses, you know. So if you don't know the old testament story uh pretty well, then then this this is gonna, you know, you're just you're already lost. And he's and he said just a couple sentences. Wow, that's interesting. Uh but John the Baptist appeared in the

Miracles As Covenant Reversal Signs

Dr. David Klingler 5:08

wilderness preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And and so John um shows up, John the Baptist, who's uh the messenger sent before Malachi 3.1 uh and Isaiah chapter 40 to introduce the Christ. And the Christ appears and immediately uh is tempted uh uh and then calls his disciples and then starts to cast out demons. I mean it's just bang, bang, bang. Well, cast out demons. What's what's going on with that? Uh heals the Peter's mother-in-law, uh, cleanses the leper. I mean, there's no explanation. The the the the paralytic, the the lame man is healed. I mean, there's just bang, bang, bang. And and there's no explanation given. Well, you have to know the Old Testament. What's the significance of the demons? Well, you know, the the foreign gods, the foreign nations have uh have invaded the promised land. Uh there are demons in the land, and you know, really Mark more than any other is that the casting out the demons is just uh is repeated. Jesus is the one who's able to not only get rid of the demons, the the but get rid of the false gods, the foreign uh nations. Uh uh Peter's uh mother-in-law being healed, it's this uh she was sick with a fever. That comes right out of Deuteronomy 28. Uh he's the one who can remove the covenant curses, Gentiles ruling over you, demons in the land, fever, sick, uh yeah, uh suffering from leprosy, from lameness, uh all of these things are just being one after another.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 6:53

Uh and so he's the one who can bring the new covenant and replace the old, yeah, right, which is the parable of the cloth and the wineskins.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

And so John, so in in one four, John is preaching baptism of repentance to Israel. Right. They they are the ones who need to repent. You know, if if we put like a blanket theology statement on it, well, everyone needs to repent, but the gospel of Mark is telling Israel. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 7:20

That Israel needs to return to the Lord. Right. Uh, and the reason why they're experiencing demons in the land, fever, leprosy, lameness, um, whatever else is going on here. All of those covenant judgments is because they have rebelled against the Lord and they've turned away from him. And so John's saying, you need to return. Yeah. For the kingdom is at hand. The one who can actually fix this is at hand. Jesus then uh uh selects his disciples, the the twelve are called, uh, and immediately uh, you know, the the almost from the beginning, yeah, the Pharisees are are out to destroy uh Jesus. This is in chapter three. Uh, and so by chapter four, he's all ready to preaching in parables. And and as we've said, uh in Matthew and Mark and Luke, parables begin when Jesus when Israel's rejection begins, right? Uh and so he began to teach in the parables, uh, and uh and then chapter uh four, chapter five. So now the focus is turning to the disciples. Okay, so so all of the synoptic, what we call the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they all follow the same basic structure.

Rejection Starts The Parables

Dr. David Klingler 8:36

Um Christ is presented, he does miracles, Israel rejects, he preaches to Israel in parables, and he starts to train his disciples uh to carry the message out into the diaspora, and then ultimately, diaspora means the dispersed of Israel, and then ultimately to the Gentiles. Uh and so that's what's going on here. Uh same thing. Um, but it's doing it in a way that you have to know the Old Testament to make sense of it. This is a really interesting uh passage here at the end of chapter four and heading into chapter five. Yeah. So now Jesus is starting to train his disciples. Um and uh and whenever you're watching a movie, um pay attention to how the scene ends, because that you know, the the scene ends. This is gonna sound so obvious. The scene ends when the point of the scene has been made, right? Duh. Right. Uh but um so the question that's raised at the end of this scene is uh who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? Right? Uh and there's this great, you know, so so you know, you've got Jesus out there on the the waters, uh, that summons Psalm 107. Those who go out on great waters, they have seen the works of the Lord. He spoke and raised up the wind, and they went up to the heavens and down to the depths. Then they cried out to the Lord, all caps, Old Testament, Yahweh. They cried out to the Lord in their distress, and he heard their cry, and he saved them, and he caused the storm to be still. And uh and this is all Psalm 107. Well, the same thing's happening here, right? Uh there's a storm, let us go the other side. Um, the uh the the storm comes up uh and uh they cry out to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Boy, that's Psalm 2, you know, the perishing sheep of Israel, the lost sheep, the perishing sheep of Israel. And he wakes up and he rebuked the wind and the sea, and he said, Be still. And the wind died down and became perfectly calm. Uh and he said, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they became very much afraid. Now, in Psalm 107, uh they were glad because the storm was still. Here's a different response. They were afraid, and they said one to one another, Who is this? The wind of sea, obey him. And they get to the other side, uh, into the country of the Garrison, and there's this man, this uh demon-possessed man who comes running out to Jesus and says, We know who you are. It's this great irony, right? That the the the disciples are saying, Who is this? That the wind and the sea obey his voice, and uh and uh you know, um here comes the uh we know who you are, son of the most high. Son of the most high, yeah. Uh and and so they uh they they know exactly the the demons know who this one is.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 11:45

Uh and uh and and so there's this great irony between what they don't know and what he does. Yeah, what do I have to do with you, Jesus? Uh the son of the most high God. Of course, that comes, uh I implore you by God, do not torment me. Come out of him, you unclean spirit. What is your name? A legion, for we are many. Uh and um, and so you know, again, all of the imagery of the old testament, right? So you're over there on the banks that you can go if you go to Israel, you you you you go to the Sea of Galilee, most of Jesus' ministry happens on kind of the north end of the sea, and yeah, and so there's Capernaum. And so when he says, let us go the other side. I I don't know what that summons in most people's minds. Um we live here uh in uh you know Brenham, Texas, and there's a lake not too far from us. It's uh Lake Somerville, and um you know it's probably similar to size, but yeah, I mean it's not really far. But there's this one little place where the bank gets steep on the other side, and it's probably the only place where it could have been this story to to happen. So you can go there and see it and go, oh yeah, I see how this but so this is you know part of the promised land. Uh this is they're not supposed to be pigs, they're unclean animals, they're not supposed to be unclean pigs in the land. The Gentiles brought on the demons are in the land, the pigs are in the land, um, and here's Jesus. And so Jesus casts the demons out of the man into the pigs and sends them back into the sea. You know, the four beast nations that come out of the sea. And what's interesting about this sea language uh is you don't get the this lake called the sea in non-biblical literature.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Yeah, good point.

Dr. David Klingler 13:32

Um, until the gospels, really. Uh, and so they're using this sea imagery, sea language, uh, to in the same way that the Old Testament's using it's the four beast nations come out of the sea, and and so so Jesus does this miracle where he cast the demons out of the man into the pigs, the pigs rush back into the sea, and they all die. And the people uh of that place uh they come to Jesus and they say, you know, it's time for you to to leave, right? This is down in in chapter

Who Commands Wind And Sea

Dr. David Klingler 14:05

uh uh chapter five, verse eighteen. And you know, um, and the the you know the so the the the the people say leave um but the man is is entreating Jesus, saying, you know, can I come with you?

SPEAKER_02 14:21

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 14:21

And he didn't let him come. And he said to him, Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. And he went away and began to proclaim in the capitalist uh the capitalists that these are gentile cities, what great things Jesus had done for him. Now don't miss that, right? Yeah what the great things the Lord has done for you, and he goes and tells them what Jesus has done for them. We know who you are. Who is this that even the women say it?

SPEAKER_03 14:53

Right, and so chapter five is answering the question.

Dr. David Klingler 14:56

Yeah, and so the Gentiles, at least this one Gentile, is is understanding who Jesus is, even in some ways before his own disciples do. And uh, and so this is the you know the beginning of the transition of Israel's rejection, preparation of the disciples, the gospel going to the gentiles. It's it's following the the you know the same uh the same trail. Uh Jesus continues to train his disciples throughout the throughout the gospel of uh of Mark. Um and so really this is gospel, this is disciple training section. Yeah. Uh up until uh you know, even through the transfiguration, all the way to the end, Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, uh, and the story ends. Um in fact, uh you know, Mark is one of the places, uh one of the two places in the New Testament where there's probably the most debated text critical issue. What do we mean by that? Um that's the big one. Uh yes, text critical issue. Um chapter 16, uh verses nine through twenty-one or twenty, and you know, however your Bible has it, uh uh those chapters uh you know nine through twenty, those verses aren't in the oldest manuscripts. Um and so do they belong there? Were they added later? There's another reading that uh that um has a a different you know um verse that's kind of attached right to the uh to the end uh after verse eight. Right. Uh and so do we go with the long, you know, the the shorter long reading, the longer long reading, or do we just cut it off at verse eight, which most of the oldest manuscripts have, which don't include any of the later stuff. And they went out and fled uh from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had gripped them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. End of the gospel. Okay. Yeah, what do we do with that? Yeah, so it's kind of a cliffhanger. So yeah, that's right. So so um, you know, the the gospel of Mark follows the same basic uh structure, uh, but it's it's it's what was foretold in the Old Testament. Uh the um all the gospels were saying it in a different way. Uh the the Gospel of John is probably the at least it's from the prologue, the easiest to to understand. He came to his own, but his own did not receive him, but whoever receives him. Right. But all of the gospels are doing the same thing. Yeah. How is the you know is the good news being taken out uh to the Gentiles? And at least you're introduced to that concept back in chapter five of the Gospel of Mark. But but remember, we're reading uh a story, there's a progress of revelation, and so Mark is not a self-contained work, no more than you know, Matthew or Luke Acts. They are uh they play a part in the progress of the story. We call it the progress of revelation, is God's telling a story. And so you have to stay tuned to see what happens next. And and so Luke Acts fills in that for us uh and the epistles.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 18:14

So so you know, when we talk about Luke that Luke Acts, Luke Acts actually is the the most comprehensive explanation of Israel's rejection, the gospel going to the Gentiles and carried to

Legion Pigs And Gentile Witness

Dr. David Klingler 18:28

the Gentiles by Paul and Paul's ministry. And so we will we'll get to that uh in the in the coming weeks. Yeah. Uh but yeah, the the gospel of uh uh the gospel of Mark uh is a fascinating uh gospel. Absolutely uh you will also see just just right before we close, uh, that so much of what's said in Mark is also included in Matthew and Luke, in many cases word for word. Um and so usually Matthew uh and Luke will add a little more detail than Mark does, but usually, not always. Yeah. Um or um you know, it's that's why we call it the synoptic gospels. They they they're telling the same story, using the same words, sometimes word for word. Yeah. And so uh scholars, New Testament scholars have tried to figure out what why that is, and did they have a common source behind it? Or or was one copying from another, right? And why the the discrepancies and and uh just a quick word about the the the quote discrepancies. Yeah. Um, you know, we do this all the time, but we don't think about it. You we tell stories all the time. We will recount something that happened in our life, um uh but we'll tell that same story for different purposes. And so you focus on different aspects of the story to make a different different point. And so this is important for us to to understand, and maybe this won't uh this this statement won't really impact you um um unless you sit and think about it. But but inspiration, when we talk about inspiration of the scriptures, yeah, uh we're talking about the scriptures, okay. So so the scriptures are God breathed that that the spirit uh spoke through men. Uh these men were eyewitnesses, they saw, they heard, or they were close confidants with an eye uh uh with an eyewitness. Here, Mark would have been with uh Peter, um Luke with Paul, uh, but even Luke says he he did research. And so the the the spirit moved uh these men to speak. Yeah. Um and and so the scriptures are inspired, not the event itself.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

Yeah, that's really important.

Dr. David Klingler 20:46

So the event was miraculous. The scriptures are inspired, right? And so so uh all the way through the Bible, we have miraculous events. Yeah. We have the you know, the the Jericho, the walls falling down, the you know, the floating axe, the raised dead people, the you know there's all kinds of miracles. Yeah. Um, but the prophet or apostle has to be present to explain the miracle. Yeah, what do you make from this? Yeah, and so it's the prophet that's inspired, uh the the prophet, the apostle that's inspired to explain the miraculous events. And so we need to distinguish between the miraculous event and the inspired explanation of the miraculous event. And so all too often we focus on the miraculous event and we say, oh, yeah, this is the one where Jesus walks on the water. Well, why does Jesus walk on the water? Um this is the one where Jesus casts the you know the the demons into the pigs and back into the sea. Yeah, but why? Yeah, what what's the significance of that? Yeah, and how does it contribute to the author's point? What's the point the author's making by recounting this miraculous event? And so we need to move away from thinking of simply the historical miraculous event. Miraculous as it is, and wonderful as it is, it's not historical as it is. And historical, absolutely. Yeah. But it's not the inspired explanation. You need an interpreter to interpret the event. And that interpreter is the gospel writer.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

Yes.

Dr. David Klingler 22:25

And so you have to understand the story the gospel writer is telling to comprehend the significance of the miraculous historical event.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 22:33

And so that's a very important and so we need to think in terms of the story of Matthew, the gospel of Mark.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 22:43

Luke Acts together, the Gospel of John. What it why is John

Mark 16 Ending And The Cliffhanger

Dr. David Klingler 22:48

telling the story versus why is Mark or Matthew or Luke telling the story? Yeah. So those are important uh things to think about as you're as you're reading and entering into the world of the storyteller.

SPEAKER_03 22:59

Yeah. Yeah. And especially as we're saying in Mark, I mean, so uh almost every I might even say every one of these miracles, right, has a it's a symbolism of some sort, which is the first time. Oh, it's all tests you're carrying old testament through. And so so with that, man, I'll just encourage our our listeners to again go to the beginning, listen through, start plugging in, learn the old testament. You know, it it we you hear the phrase so often, I'm a New Testament Christian, you know. But um, as we've been saying, you got to know the Old Testament to know this, to know the New Testament.

Dr. David Klingler 23:32

So I'm a New Testament Christian. You ever heard that? No. You've never heard that. I don't know that I have, but I've heard it a lot. Um the phrase that comes to mind when I hear that is, oh bless your heart. Yeah. Which is which is never a a good thing. I'm a New Testament Christian. Okay, let's take that a new covenant. A New Testament, a new covenant. Well, who was the what is the new covenant? A new covenant is a replacement of the old covenant. Well, old covenant to old covenant to to Israel. What when was that old covenant? Well, it's old, it's old covenant, it's old testament, and the old testament tells you there's a new testament, and the old testament is you this one who is the Christ, and so you can't be a New Testament Christian without having the old testament. Now, that's right. One thing's for sure, uh, we're Gentiles, and so we, you know, we we we don't know. We weren't raised on you know, the story of creation, the story of the Exodus, the story of the uh the conquest, the story of the kingdom, the story of the prophets. We uh we we we didn't memorize the Shema from early. I mean, none of this stuff did we do as kids. Uh someone just shared the gospel with us. We heard Jesus, uh, we were convicted of our sin, and we believe the gospel. Right. And that was about it. And so now we have faith-seeking understanding. Yeah. But if you want to understand the story, as we said from the start of this podcast, um, you gotta start at the beginning. If you want to understand the movie, start at the beginning. Yeah, because the meaning's gonna snowball, it's gonna build and build. And the most

Inspired Meaning Not Just Miracles

Dr. David Klingler 25:12

important part of the movie is the beginning. Well, the beginning and the end, right? Right, right. Uh the beginning, the the problem introduced in the beginning is either addressed or not addressed at the end, and the middle connects the beginning to the end. And so uh, if you go back and watch your favorite movie, whatever it is, um I I I think this is probably universal. Um you you listen to the first words of the movie. The very first words. Uh it will capture the movie. Yeah, it always does. It's amazing to me.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

Nobody ever listens to the first words, though, because everyone's up getting popcorn and stuff like that. Yeah, that's right. You get popcorn, you're not settled in your seat yet.

Dr. David Klingler 25:54

Uh but but when you go back and you say, What's this movie about? Listen to the first spoken sentence.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

Yeah, that's good.

Dr. David Klingler 26:00

Or or the um you know, the words that flash on the screen. Read those carefully. It'll it will introduce you to the yeah to the plot. And that plot begins in Genesis 1, 2, and 3. Yep. And it's solved by Revelation, you know, 19, 20, 21, 22. Yep. Uh and so you have to understand the whole story.

SPEAKER_03 26:18

That's good. And that's exactly why we're doing story of the Bible in a year. We're trying to connect it all together, show how it's a it's a single story. Um, and so so keep pressing on with us. We we're again honored that you're with us and encourage you to keep going. Uh as we keep going, um, we did Matthew, Mark, and now next week, it's gonna uh seem a little out of order to you. We're gonna go to John, um, and then we're gonna end the Gospels with Luke Acts combination, and we'll explain a little bit more as we go. But essentially, Luke Acts it kind of is going to set up the next portion of the New Testament, which is the epistles and the letters uh of Paul and the others. Um, and so we're gonna we're gonna do it in that order, so don't be alarmed when you know when you come to John next week. And we're we're not we're not skipping anything. We'll get to Luke Acts after that. So uh again, thank you for joining us, and uh, we'll see you next week for the Gospel of John.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

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