Lesson #3

The Prologue
(1: 1-15)
In Lesson #2 we examined the historical and cultural
context from which the Gospel according to Mark
emerged, learning that it was an extraordinarily
tumultuous and dangerous time.

The Roman Emperor Nero had launched the first state-
sponsored persecution against the Church in Rome (A.D. 64-68);
Nero committed suicide in A.D. 68, followed by a quick
succession of four emperors, three of whom were murdered or
committed suicide; and
the Great Jewish Revolt blazed across Palestine (A.D. 66-73),
resulting in the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and
much of the city, along with the death of 1.2 million Jews.









We learned that Mark addressed his gospel to the Christians in
Rome during this time of great persecution, and that his gospel
is a dramatic call to action.

We learned that Mark designed his gospel as a 2-part structure
that pivots on Peters confession of faith, and that a Prologue
and Epilogue frames the 2-part structure.

We also learned that Mark employed a unique prose style that
creates an intense sense of urgency, speeding the narrative
forward at a blistering pace and bringing it to an abrupt halt in
its final verse.











In Lesson #3 we will closely examine Marks
Prologue, 1: 1-15.

In these first 15 verses Mark sets the narrative pace,
creates spring-tight tension and begins building an
urgency that reaches fever-pitch by the gospels end.
This is dazzling technique, bathing Jesus and the gospel
message in a white-hot light, incandescentand
dangerous.



























Few things are more
important to a story than
how it begins!


In the first few pages of a
story the author sets the
stage for what will follow:

he introduces the major
characters;
he lays the groundwork for their
relationships with one another;
he plants seeds of conflict; and
he creates a mood that will
shadow the rest of the story.















In the first few pages the
author also establishes his
own relationship with those
who participate in the story:

the author
(the person who actually writes the story);
the narrator
(the person who tells the story);
the characters
(the people who are in the story); and
the reader
(the people who read the story).















In the first 15 verses of Mark
the narrator:

roots his story in history and
prophecy;
identifies John the Baptist as the
forerunner of the Messiah; and
he establishes Jesus Christ as the
Son of God.





























This is critical information to the
story, and the narrator provides
it to us (his readers), but he
withholds it from the main
characters: as the story opens
we become privy to information
that the main characters will
have to discover.

Providing us with such critical
information while withholding
it from the main characters
creates a tension that builds
throughout the Gospel
according to Mark.














I realize that all of this is literary
stuffthe mechanics of how a
story is told. But if were to
become educated readers of
Scripture it is important to
understand what Mark had in
mind when he wrote his gospel,
how he constructed it and why
he constructed it as he did.

Only then can we truly
understand Marks gospel, and
only then can we begin to probe
its spiritual meaning and its
application in our own lives.














Studying Scripture is much like studying
musicor any other art. Anyone can
appreciate the Gospel according to
Mark, just as anyone can appreciate
Mozarts famous String Quartet #19 in C
Major, K. 465.

But knowing that Mozarts string quartet
is nicknamed Dissonance; that it was
composed in 1785; that it was
stylistically modeled after Joseph
Haydns Opus 33 series; and that it is the
last in a set of 6 string quartets
dedicated to Haydn, Mozarts friend and
colleague, deepens our understanding of
what we hear.














Further, once we know that Mozarts
string quartet was composed in four
movementsas are most of his later
quartetswe understand how it is built:
its architecture.

Then, knowing that the 1
st
movement
opens with ominous quiet Cs in the
cello, joined successively by the viola
(on Amoving to G), 2
nd
violin (on E)
and 1
st
violin (on A), thus creating the
dissonance, which finally resolves into
a bright C major of the 1
st
movements
Allegro section, deepens our
understandingas well as our
appreciationof what we hear.

And so it is with the Gospel according to
Mark.













So, turn with me to
Mark 1: 1-15, and lets have
a look at this extraordinary
gospel!















Kurt Aland, et al., editors. The Greek New Testament, 4
th

edition. London: United Bible Societies, 2001.
I have translated the
Greek text as closely
as possible to
highlight Marks
prose style and
rhetorical devices,
capturing as best I
can the effect that
Marks gospel
produces on his
readers.
The Gospel According to Mark
The Prologue, 1: 1-15

Beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God, as it has been written in
Isaiah the prophet:

Look! I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way;
a voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord; make
straight paths for him.

John, the one baptizing in the desert, appeared proclaiming a baptism of
repentance toward the forgiveness of sins, and the entire Judean countryside
and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they were being
baptized by him in the Jordan river confessing their sins and John was clothed
with camels hair and had a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and
wild honey and he spoke out saying: After me comes one who is mightier than
I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy of stooping down to loosen; I
have baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.














The Prologue, cont.

And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth in
Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John, and immediately
coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn apart and
the Spirit like a dove descending into him, and there was a voice out of
the heavens: You are my Son, the Beloved; in you I am well-pleased.
And immediately the Spirit drives him out into the desert, and he was in
the desert forty days being tempted by Satan, and he was with the wild
beasts, and the angels were ministering to him. After John had been
arrested Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and
saying: The appointed time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God
is fast approaching; repent and believe in the gospel.













Beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, Son of God . . .

The Greek text is:

=Arch; tou eujaggelivou =Ihsou
Cristou uiou qeou . . .

The first word Arche = Beginning (as
in archeology, the study of beginnings),
and it lacks the definite article one would
expect: The beginning . . .
This is very deliberate, although most
translations wrongly supply The: in
Greek grammar this lack of an expected
definite article is called an anarthrous
construction, and it emphasizes the
quality or character of the noun that
follows.




























When Mark omits the
expected The, and
begins his gospel
grammatically with an
anarthrous construction,
it is a proclamation, a
sudden trumpet blast on
a quiet afternoon:

Beginning of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, Son of
God!
As readers we know precisely
who Jesus is at the outset of our
story, for we are told in the
gospels opening seven words
that he is the Son of God, and
by telling us in the form of a
proclamation, there is no room
for doubt.

Consider the effect on Marks
persecuted audience in Rome in
the 2
nd
half of the 1
st
century . . .













Nero may be the Emperor of the Roman Empire,
but Christ is the Son of God.
Romes Christians may seem puny and helpless
in the face of the greatest empire on the face of
the earth, but Rome is attacking heaven itself,
and Nero is attacking God.
In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus Christ,
Son of God, enters history dramatically as King of
kings and Lord of lords, and Nero is no match for
him!


























For Marks audience
the persecuted
Christians in the Church
at Romethis is good
news, indeed.
As a herald, Mark proclaims Gods
entrance into history, and he calls it the
gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God.
Gospel is the key word in Marks
Prologue: it is his theme, the very
substance and message of his narrative.
In Mark, the word gospel embodies the
entire Christian messagethe person,
works and words of Jesus Christ.

So important is the gospel in Mark that
it frames his entire Prologue, and it
provides the launching pad for the story
proper: Beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, Son of God . . . repent and believe
in the gospel (1: 1, 15).













The Gospel According to Mark
The Prologue, 1: 1-15

Beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God, as it has
been written in Isaiah the prophet:

Look! I send my messenger before your face who will
prepare your way; a voice of one calling: In the desert
prepare the way of the Lord; make straight paths for
him.

Not only has Jesus Christ, the Son of God, entered dramatically onto the
stage of history, but Isaiah the prophet had foretold the event 700 years
earlier, validating Marks claim!

































It is this gospel, which is rooted
back in the Old Testament and
that bursts forth in the New, that
so frightens the characters who
people Marks story.

The intrusion of the gospel into
daily life shocks and disorients
those it touches: they draw back,
frozen with fear, bewildered.
Like a vector shot from eternity
into history, the gospel intersects
reality at precisely Marks
moment in time.
The Gospel According to Mark
The Prologue, 1: 1-15

John, the one baptizing in the desert, appeared
proclaiming a baptism of repentance toward the
forgiveness of sins, and the entire Judean countryside and
all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they
were being baptized by him in the Jordan river confessing
their sins and John was clothed with camels hair and had a
leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild
honey and he spoke out saying: After me comes one who
is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not
worthy of stooping down to loosen; I have baptized you in
water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.




























A desert landscape sets the
opening scene. The first half of
the prologue moves the storys
action from the desert to the
fringes of civilization. We hear a
voice of one calling: In the
desert prepare the way of the
Lord . . ., and John appears from
deep within the desert, clad as
the prophet Elijah, and baptizing
the whole Judean countryside
and all the people of Jerusalem
in the Jordan River.
Juan de Juanes. St. John the Baptist (oil on
canvas), c. 1560. Joan J. Gavara Collection,
Valencia, Spain.
The second half of the Prologue then
moves the story back from the edge of
civilization to the desert: Jesus is baptized
in the Jordan River and he is immediately
driven deep into the desert with the wild
beasts, where he confronts Satanand
defeats him.

As Israel passes through the Red Sea in
Exodus and faces conflict in the desert for
forty years before entering the Promised
Land, so does Jesus reverse the
movement in Mark, leaving the Promised
Land and passing through the Jordan River
to face conflict in the desert for forty
days.












The Gospel According to Mark
The Prologue, 1: 1-15

John, the one baptizing in the desert, appeared proclaiming a baptism
of repentance toward the forgiveness of sins, and the entire Judean
countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him . . .

As we begin verse 4, John the Baptist enters the story as abruptly as our
narrator begins it. In the original Greek, the verse starts with a strong
verb, appeared. In Mark we know nothing of Johns history: he
simply walks out of the Old Testament and appears on the pages of the
New, proclaiming a baptism of repentance toward the forgiveness of
sins. Placing a strong verb at the head of the sentence intensifies the
action and the suddenness of Johns appearance. A literal translation
would render the verse: Appeared John, the one baptizing in the
desert . . ..



























Johns mission is distinct and well-defined:
he prepares the way of the Lord making
straight paths for him, and he does so by
proclaiming a baptism of repentance
toward the forgiveness of sins.

The phrase is rich in meaning. Baptism is
an act signifying repentance, or metanoia,
a deliberate turning away from sin and
toward God. It is not a casual move but a
deliberate one, accompanied by a cleansing
with water. First one repents; then one is
baptized. Together, baptism and repentance
point toward the forgiveness of sins.

In Mark, repentance and baptism precede
the forgiveness of sins and point toward
it; they do not accompany it or cause it.
The Gospel According to Mark
The Prologue, 1: 1-15

John, the one baptizing in the desert, appeared proclaiming a baptism
of repentance toward the forgiveness of sins, and the entire Judean
countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and
they were being baptized by him in the Jordan river confessing their
sins . . .

Johns message at the Jordan is so compelling that the entire Judean
countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him.
Again, the verb sits at the head of the verse in the Greek, stressing
action: a literal translation reads, and were going out to him the entire
Judean countryside . . .. The imperfect tense (were going out)
stresses the continuous stream of people flowing out to hear John.
The entire Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem is
striking in its sheer boldness. Johns preaching does not draw a curious
few, but thousands flock to him.

















The Gospel According to Mark
The Prologue, 1: 1-15

John, the one baptizing in the desert, appeared proclaiming a baptism
of repentance toward the forgiveness of sins, and the entire Judean
countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and
they were being baptized by him in the Jordan river confessing their
sins and John was clothed with camels hair and had a leather belt
around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey . . .

Dressed in camels hair with a leather belt around his waist and eating
locusts and wild honey, John presents a striking prophetic figure, vividly
recalling Elijah in 2 Kings 1: 5-8:
The king [Ahaziah] asked them [the messengers], What kind of
man was it who came to meet you and told you this? They replied,
He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt
around his waist. The king said, That was Elijah the Tishbite.


















The Gospel According to Mark
The Prologue, 1: 1-15

and John was clothed with camels hair and had a leather belt around
his waist and ate locusts and wild honey and he spoke out saying:
After me comes one who is mightier than I, the thong of whose
sandals I am not worthy of stooping down to loosen; I have baptized
you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

When John says, After me comes one who is mightier than I . . .. I have
baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit, he
supports the sequence of his baptism of repentance preceding Jesus
forgiveness of sins. Johns baptism in water precedes Jesus baptism
in the Holy Spirit; it prepares the way, and it ushers on stage Jesus
Christ, the Son of God.
















Verse nine then moves us into the
second half of the prologue. John and
Jesus move from opposite directions
and meet in the Jordan River.
In the waters of baptism the
messenger meets the Lord. The scene
is striking:

. . . and immediately coming up out of
the water he saw the heavens being
torn apart and the Spirit like a dove
descending into him and there was a
voice out of the heavens: You are my
Son, the Beloved; in you I am well-
pleased.













Piero della Francesca. The Baptism of Christ
(egg on poplar), c. 1450. National Gallery,
London.











Picture a horizontal plane: all
human history leads into this
moment, to the coming of the
Messiah; all future history flows
out of this moment, a time of
redemption for all people on
earth. On the vertical plane, Jesus
comes up out of the water, and
the Spirit goes down out of the
heavens. As the horizontal and
vertical intersect, God announces,
You are my Son, the Beloved; in
you I am well-pleased.













This is a dazzling
moment!











C.S. Mann remarks that when God
declares: You are my Son, the
Beloved; in you I am well-pleased
its importance can hardly be
exaggerated.

As readers we have now been told
of Jesus identity twice in eleven
verses: once by the narrator and
once by God.











Jesus, having been acknowledged
and his authority proclaimed, the
Spirit then drives Jesus into the
desert where he engages Satan, is
with the wild beasts, and the angels
minister to him.

The Greek word translated drives
is ejkbavllei (ekballei), a
compound of the preposition ek
(out of) and the verb ballo (to
throw). It is a very aggressive
word, unlike Matthew and Lukes
more passive was led.


The Gospel According to Mark
The Prologue, 1: 1-15

You are my Son, the Beloved; in you I am well-pleased. And
immediately the Spirit drives him out into the desert, and he was in the
desert forty days being tempted by Satan, and he was with the wild
beasts, and the angels were ministering to him.

Notice that in verse thirteen we have a sequence of three events, just as
we have in the baptism, anointing and proclamation of verses nine
through eleven. The symmetry of the two events, linked together as
they are with and immediately in verse twelve, suggests an intimate
connection between the two.
























Indeed, we may visualize the events as a tightly
knitted chiastic unit:


A John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan (v. 9)
B The Spirit descends into him (v. 10)
C God proclaims Jesus as Son (v. 11)
D And immediately the Spirit
drives him into the desert (v. 12)
C Satan tempts Jesus (v. 13a)
B The wild beasts are with him (v. 13b)
A Angels minister to Jesus in the desert (v. 13c)

The three events of verses nine through eleven are
mirrored by their opposites in verse thirteen. The
whole structure turns on verse twelve, moving
Jesus from commission to action.














The temptation scene in
Mark is lean, lacking the
details given in Matthew and
Luke. Nevertheless, it
presents a powerful picture.
In a very real sense, Mark
portrays Jesus temptation as
the opening salvo in a war.
The scene is set in the desert
with the wild beasts, and it is
fraught with danger.
The Gospel According to Mark
The Prologue, 1: 1-15















. . . and the angels were ministering to him. After John had been
arrested Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and
saying: The appointed time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God
is fast approaching; repent and believe in the gospel.
When we reach verses fourteen and fifteen, Jesus moves back into
Galilee, Proclaiming the gospel of God and saying: the appointed time
has been fulfilled and the kingdom of God is fast approaching: repent
and believe in the gospel. Our narrator prefaces Jesus movement by
noting that John had been arrested . . ..a clear foreshadowing that
the ensuing life and death eschatological conflict will not be without
heavy casualties.












Jesus message picks up where Johns
left off. John came in from the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance
toward the forgiveness of sins; Jesus
comes in from the desert proclaiming
the gospel of God. There is a sharp
distinction between the two: Johns
proclamation lays the groundwork for
Jesus proclamation.

The gospel of God is the gospel that
proceeds from God; Jesus is the
messenger who both announces the
gospel and who embodies it.













In the first fifteen verses of his
gospelwhat I have called the
PrologueMarks narrator
accomplishes three things:

1. he dramatically proclaims the
beginning of a new era in
history;

2. he creates dramatic tension by
providing us with important
information that the rest of the
characters in the story lack; and

2. he presents a dangerous terrain,
and we move through it at break-
neck speed.












To produce the speed and the dramatic forward
movement, Mark employs an unusual set of
stylistic devices, not only in his Prologue, but
throughout his gospel:

The repetitive use of the connective and;
(of the 11,022 words in Mark, 1,084 are
and)
The repetitive use of immediately;
(Mark uses it 41 times, often in
combination, and Immediately; Matthew
uses Immediately only 5 times; and Luke
only once); and
The use of the historical present tense
(suddenly shifting a past event to the
grammatically present tense, intensifying
the sense of urgency).

The Gospel According to Mark
The Prologue, 1: 1-15

Beginning of the gospel [inclusio with v. 15] of Jesus Christ, Son of God, as it has
been written in Isaiah the prophet:

Look! I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way;
a voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord; make
straight paths for him.

John, the one baptizing in the desert, appeared proclaiming a baptism of
repentance toward the forgiveness of sins, and the entire Judean countryside
and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they were being
baptized by him in the Jordan river confessing their sins and John was clothed
with camels hair and had a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and
wild honey and he spoke out saying: After me comes one who is mightier than
I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy of stooping down to loosen; I
have baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.














The Prologue, cont.

And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth in
Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John, and immediately
coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn apart and
the Spirit like a dove descending into him, and there was a voice out of
the heavens: You are my Son, the Beloved; in you I am well-pleased.
And immediately the Spirit drives him [historical present] out into the
desert, and he was in the desert forty days being tempted by Satan, and
he was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to him.
After John had been arrested Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the
gospel of God and saying: The appointed time has been fulfilled, and
the kingdom of God is fast approaching; repent and believe in the
gospel [inclusio with v. 1].


























So, what does all this
mean to Marks audience,
the Christians in Rome at
the time Mark writes his
gospel?













There is a price to be paid for
the Kingdom of Godand
the time to pay it is NOW.

I know youre afraid, but the
time has come to stand up
and be counted, no matter
the cost, for this is war and
Christ will be victorious!

1. Why is it important to examine so minutely
Marks opening 15 verses, the Prologue?
2. What does Mark accomplish by telling his readers
who Jesus is, while withholding that information
from his characters?
3. What stylistic devices does Mark use to create a
sense of speed and urgency in his gospel?
4. What insight do we gain by learning that Mark
addresses his gospel to the Christians in Rome
who are being systematically persecuted under
Nero?
5. How might we apply what we have learned about
Marks Prologue to our relationship with Christ
today?






Copyright 2014 by William C. Creasy
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