Uncovering the Messianic Secret (Mark 1:21-28)

Welcome to Season 3 of Hanging on Every Word! In this episode we'll learn some context behind the book of Mark before we dive into studying 18 of Jesus's miracles. We'll answer together:

• Who wrote the book of Mark?
• What is the genre of Mark?
• When was it written?
• Who was it written to?

We'll also dive right into to our first miracle. In this miracle, Jesus is confronted by a demon possessed man right in the middle of a synagogue service. We'll discover how this miracle points us to Jesus's authority and reveals an interesting theme in the book of Mark - the Messianic Secret.

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Transcript

Welcome to Episode 1 of Season 3 of Hanging on Every Word. Friends, we are studying the book of Mark and I’m so excited for this season. I have long loved Mark for its emphasis on Jesus’s works and it’s fast-paced, no fuss writing style. Taking our inspiration from Mark’s action packed Gospel, this season, instead of focusing on a chapter by chapter analysis, we’re going to journey through 18 miracles in the book.

 If you heard the introduction to season 3, I’m also inviting guests on to the show for the first time to walk through several of the miracles with us. And I can already tell you ahead of time that you’re going to love the insight they bring to these passages. So, this season, you can expect to journey through Mark each week together with special guests joining us on select episodes. 

But before we get to the miracles, let’s follow our good Bible study practices like we have every season and set some context for the book of Mark.

If you remember from previous seasons on Hebrews and Haggai, when we go to study a book of the Bible, we want to establish several things first. 

Who is the author?

When did they write the book?

What is the genre?
 And Who did they write it too? 

Let’s start with the basic question, who wrote to book of Mark? This book is attributed a to a Christian scribe, or someone who wrote manuscripts, copied scripture, or kept records for a living named John Mark. It is well established the this is the same John Mark who accompanied Paul on his first missionary journey along with Barnabas. Though John Mark and Paul had a falling out, we later see their relationship restored and John Mark serving with Paul again. This same John Mark was a knew Peter well. Many theologians believe John Mark was Peter’s interpreter and the Gospel According to Mark was a composition compiled from Peter’s first-hand, eyewitness accounts of Jesus. 

I didn’t know that personally until I started studying for this season and it’s a really interesting fact as you read through the book of Mark to see how Peter is described in the book. There is certainly no covering up Peter’s mistakes, his often brash reactions, and imperfections. Which just serves to prove the consistent honesty of the Bible, which I love. 

Next, we want to establish when the book was written.

While it’s difficult to date Mark precisely, it’s usually dated to somewhere in the AD 50s. Some date as lat as the AD 60s. Either way, when we think about Jesus’s death being in AD 33, this gospel is not written long after the death and resurrection, meaning that the eyewitness accounts of Jesus, his miracles, and his resurrection would have been able to directly inform John Mark’s writing. Mark is also widely considered by theologians to be the first Gospel written. 

Speaking of gospel, let’s establish Genre. 

Mark is a Gospel, along with Matthew, Luke, and John. A gospel it’s own unique genre specifically related to Christian religious texts. The gospels are similar to a biography where they tell about the life and events of Jesus. They are also often described as historical narratives where we learn the stories of the events surrounding the life of Jesus. And while they do have similarities to a biography or historical narrative, they also are set apart by their inclusion of Jesus’s teachings and theology. Each Gospel has a goal., not just to tell the story of Jesus, but to invite readers to know Jesus as Messiah, to understand his Kingdom and the see his character. 

Mark is considered a synoptic Gospel along with Matthew and Luke. Synoptic comes from a Greek word that means “able to be seen together.” These three gospels are called the synoptic gospels because so much of their content is similar. They follow a similar timeline, have similar language, and tell of similar events. John is the only gospel not considered a synoptic gospel as John follows a completely different format. 

Because Matthew, Mark, and Luke are so similar, scholars have long wondered if they used each other as sources for writing their own Gospels. This is where the timeline becomes interesting. Because Mark is believed to be the first Gospel written, it is also believed to have been used as a source for both Matthew and Luke. In fact, over 90% of the content in the book of Mark also appears in Matthew and Luke. 

Finally, we want to establish who the audience is for Mark - who is writing this book for or to?

It’s also widely believe that John Mark wrote this Gospel while in Rome for the Roman church. Several key indicators have supported this idea. 

One is that Mark uses Latin when writing his book - a language used widely in Rome at the time. 

Another is that Mark takes time to explain some Aramaic words to his audience. For example in Mark 3:17 he describes James and John as Boanerges, an Aramaic word and he then goes on to tell them it means “sons of thunder”. It happens again in Mark 5:41 when he uses the Aramaic phrase “Talitha koum!” Which he also defines for his audience as meaning Little girl, I say to you, get up. This use of Aramaic along with interpretation implies that his audience wasn’t familiar with the Jewish language, meaning they were Gentiles from a location outside of Israel.

And finally, Peter mentions John Mark in his letter, recorded in 1 Peter, which was written in Rome, adding to the evidence that John Mark was with Peter in Rome when he wrote this Gospel. 

So why does that matter? Understanding the audience as Gentiles outside of the context of Jerusalem helps us understand John Mark’s motivation and purpose behind writing this Gospel. If we know the audience were Roman Christians living around AD 50, we can put them into the context of world history. It was likely that Joh Mark’s audience were living under the rule of Nero Rome’s emperor from 54-68AD. Nero was brutal on Christian, launching a large-scale persecution on the growing church. He did some awful things to these Christians, ya’ll.

With that in mind, we begin to see how John Mark uses Jesus’s work, his slow reveal of Jesus as Messiah throughout the book, and his account of Peter’s experience with Jesus to create an account that both proves the identity of Jesus as Savior and encourages Roman Christians living in a time of persecution to continue to grow in faith because Jesus is a king worthy of their allegiance. 

Now that we’ve established some context for the book, let’s spend a moment talking about miracles. 

Maybe the most basic question to address is, why did Jesus do miracles? 

We find that when Jesus begins his ministry at age 30, he begins to work miracles. In the book of Mark, all of his miracles deal relationally with people regardless of their status, socioeconomic, religious, ethnic, or political background. In fact, he seems to purposefully hit all these different areas in the miracles we find in Mark as he interacts with people and performs miracles.

We see the miracles are primarily healings from disease and for people possessed by demons. Though not all miracles are healings, like the feeding of the 5,000 for instance, they are all deeply relational as Jesus interacts with the crowds of people he encounters as he minsters across Israel. 

We’ll find as we study that these miracles are multifaceted, meaning what we see on the surface, whether it’s a helping a lame man walk or curing leprosy is not the only thing happening. Jesus’s miracles follow a pattern of being both physical and also deeply spiritual. 

This spiritual part of the miracles is always pointing us to something deeper, if we’re willing to see it. Through his miracles, Jesus isn’t just helping people, he’s revealing himself. As we study together we’re going to look at three important truths these miracles reveal to us about Jesus. 

His authority

His identity

And his kingdom

All of scripture points us to Jesus, even his own miracles. So, following in Mark fashion we won’t waste any time on this episode, we’re going to dive right into our first miracle in the book of Mark. 

In my Bible, it’s called Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit and it’s founding Mark 1: 21-28

This season on the podcast, I’m going to read the scripture two you, first because this is a Bible study podcast, and second because these accounts are all relatively short. I encourage you to follow up these episodes by reading the whole chapter as we journey through the book together. 

So, let’s start by reading mark 1:21-28

They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

We find Jesus in Capernaum, a town in Galilee situation on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum served as a hub for Jesus’s ministry and was the location of Peter’s home. Jesus and the disciples often congregated at Peter’s home. On the Sabbath, Jesus went the synagogue, or the local Jewish church, and began to teach. And the people were amazed because he taught with authority. It says specifically that he taught, not like the teachers of the law. 

They were amazed with Jesus because instead reciting what was already written, the traditions and human standards of the law, he was speaking to them like one who understood the law and it’s purpose. He spoke with authority, uncovering the mystery of the scripture for them in ways no Rabbi had ever done before. Jesus spoke with authority because he possessed authority.

As I thought on this scripture, the question I asked of the text is why does Jesus’s authority matter. For that, I wanted to define authority because while it’s common word, sometimes looking up the definition helps renew my understanding. Authority in it’s simplest definition is power. Jesus spoke with power over the law, power both to understand it and communicate it perfectly. 

But Jesus’s authority isn’t limited like ours is. We might have authority to teach in some instances, authority over certain people in our lives, like our children. We may have authority over things like finances or family decisions. But our authority is always finite, always limited. Jesus’s authority is far more than being able to teach well. And a demon is about to prove it. 

While Jesus is teaching, a man with an unclean spirit who was in their synagogue, apparently, cries out. I’m not sure why a demon possessed man was at church, how he got there, if he was a regular attender, or if he knew Jesus was teaching and came to confront him, but either way, the unclean spirit if vocal. Imagine sitting in a church service, being enthralled with the message, and suddenly hearing someone who is clearly not in their right mind shouting down the isle. 

 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth!? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God!” 

The demon is clearly threatened by the authority Jesus’s mere presence brings to the synagogues. He calls him, Jesus of Nazareth, a description that associates Jesus with his humanity by associating him with his hometown, Nazareth- a place Nathaniel said, “can anything Good come from Nazareth?” So it’s not held in high esteem. The unclean spirit recognizes Jesus’s humanity, but he also knows his true identity, unlike the crowd listening in the synagogue. I know who you are - the holy one of God. This isn’t a declaration of worship but of sheer terror. This spirit is terrified that Jesus will destroy him. 

What we see in the unclean spirit’s reaction to Jesus is it’s acknowledgement of Jesus’s identity, and of his power, or authority over evil. Clearly the unclean spirit knows Jesus can destroy him with barely a thought. 

Jesus tells the spirit to be quiet and to come out of the man. And of course, the spirit must obey, what other choice does it have. But it doesn’t exit his host without a great show. The text says the spirit shook the man and came out with a shriek. A lot of dramatics for something with no real power. 

This is how it often happens though, isn’t it. Evil is loud and showy. Sin is distracting and compelling. But while the one who screams the loudest is often the one who get’s the attention, the following, and the praise, it’s often the loudest that has the least real authority. Jesus, without shrieking or shaking, without putting on a show of any kind, reveals the depth of his power with just a word. 

And let’s talk for a moment about Jesus’s command for the spirit to be quiet. This is a motif that we’ll see repeated over and over throughout mark. There are many accounts where Jesus tells the miracle-receiver to tell no one what happened. In this case, he quiets the unclean spirit as it shouts the true identity of Jesus for all to hear. Why does Jesus do this? Why not let the demon declare his identity to everyone. He is, after all, the holy one of God. 

This motif throughout Mark is called the Messianic Secret and it’s employees by John Mark as to give readers a slow unfolding of Jesus’s true identity. The literary technique in the book builds until Peter confesses Jesus’s true identity in Mark 8. 

While this is a literary theme, it’s also very practical for Jesus’s ministry. The Jewish people were expecting a certain kind of savior, and Jesus wasn’t. They were looking for a political leader, one who would save them out of the oppression of Rome, who would rescue them from their enemies and establish their kingdom in power. Jesus would rescue them from their enemies and establish his kingdom, but he would do it in a way that would be confusing even for his closest friends. This slow unfolding of Jesus’s identity was a way to protect the people from forcing a political uprising, referring him as a political leader, or pitting him as an enemy to Rome. Jesus came as the reigning king in disguise. The king of kings born in a stable. Who could have ever predicted that? 

But what we see in this passage is that Jesus didn’t need riches or military strength or political influence. Because that day in the synagogue, he literally practiced what he preached. He preached with authority and he exercised authority over unclean spirits. Though he wasn’t what they expected, this messiah was clearly filled with power. 

 And that was enough for the people watching. They were amazed. And the news spread like wildfire across Galilee. I imagine this scene was the first century equivalent to a post going viral. Talk about Jesus was everywhere and people were becoming curious to see how this Jesus of Nazareth - a mere human from an unimpressive background - was a man with great authority. 

 I think it’s clear from the first miracle in Mark that this passage is pointing us to the complex and complete authority of Jesus. In one account he exercised authority over God’s world, the spiritual realm, and human hearts. 

May we, like the people in the synagogue, be in awe of the power of Jesus. ‘

In Matthew 28:18, Jesus says:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

There is now power greater than him. This week, let the authority or Jesus, the power of Jesus direct your steps. When life feel overwhelming, when circumstances are out of your control, when you can’t fix something, when you feel the weight of sin and the evil of this world - call on the authority of Jesus, the holy one of God.. There’s nothing he can’t handle.

Ok, that’s our first miracle, next week we have 2 new miracles to study together and they’re good ones! I can’t wait to study with you again!