Mark 1

II. THE SERVANT’S EARLY GALILEAN MINISTRY 1:14-3:6

Mark omitted Jesus’ year of early Judean ministry (Joh_1:15 to Joh_4:42), as did the other Synoptic evangelists. He began his account of Jesus’ ministry of service in Galilee, northern Israel (Mark 1:14 to Mark 6:6 a). Because of increasing opposition and rejection, Jesus made several withdrawals from Galilee followed by returns to this region. Mark recorded four of these (Mark 6:6 to Mark 8:30). Then Jesus left Galilee for Jerusalem. Mark recorded lessons on four important subjects pertinent to discipleship that Jesus taught His disciples during this transition for his readers’ benefit (ch. 10). Next Jesus ministered in Jerusalem, and Mark selected three significant events there for inclusion in his story (chs. 11-13).

"Four major characters stand out, as do two groups of minor characters: Jesus, the religious authorities, the disciples, the crowd, and those groups of minor characters who either exhibit faith or somehow exemplify what it means to serve." [Note: Kingsbury, p. 4.]

Examples of minor characters who model great faith in Jesus are the leper who requested cleansing (Mark 1:40-45), the friends of the paralytic (Mark 2:3-5), Jairus (Mark 5:21-24; Mark 5:35-43), the woman with the hemorrhage (Mark 5:25-34), the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:25-30), the father of the demon possessed boy (Mark 9:14-29), and blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52). Those who model service are the woman who anointed Jesus for burial (i.e., Mary; Mark 14:3-9), Simon of Cyrene (Mark 15:21), Joseph of Arimathea (Mark 15:42-46), and the women who visited Jesus’ tomb to anoint His body (Mark 16:1).

Mark stressed Jesus’ ministry as a servant in his Gospel. The rest of the book details how He served God and man. During the first part of Jesus’ ministry, He laid down His life in service (Mark 1:14 to Mark 13:37). His passion is the record of His laying down His life in self-sacrifice (chs. 14-16). Mark began his account of Jesus’ service with an overview of selected events in Jesus’ early Galilean ministry that were typical of His whole ministry (Mark 1:14 to Mark 3:6).