Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Mark 1-2 | Date: March 22, 2026 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Open your Bibles with me, if you will, please, to the Gospel of Mark. Gospel of Mark chapter 1. You can follow along as I read verses 1 through 20. Mark chapter 1, beginning with verse 1:

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All the country of Judea and all Jerusalem are going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, ‘After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I’m not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’ In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. When he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open, and a spirit descending on him like a dove, and a voice from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased.’ The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.’ Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in the boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them. And they left their father Zebedee in a boat with the hired servants and followed him.”

Today we begin a course of studies, as we’ve been announcing, entitled Christianity Explained. As the title implies, we’re going to be examining the basics of the Christian faith. It would be good, I think, at some point, at least, to have a similar kind of series explaining why we call ourselves Reformed Baptists—things like that. But that’s not this. This is the basics of Christianity. What is Christianity? What is it all about? What is its basic message?

As I mentioned in an email to you, you can look up on the internet at Matthias Media. It’s an Australian outfit. They have a course of studies entitled Christianity Explained. You can get videos, you can get curriculum, various things like that. You’ll see that I’m more or less following that, more or less closely here and there throughout this series, but it would be good to have for supplemental reading. I encourage you to get that and to follow along in that way. And I also want to encourage you to attend this entire series because each message builds on the previous.

We’ll be looking today at the subject of Jesus, the uniqueness of Jesus, the Son of God, and then we’ll look at the significance of Jesus’ death, the significance of his resurrection, and then we’ll look at matters like faith and repentance and so on. Christianity, as the name implies, is about Jesus Christ. That’s what it’s all about. That’s the centerpiece of our faith. The primary records that we have about Jesus are called the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are men who have written for us the Gospels. These men, because they give us the Gospel, are called evangelists.

Gospel means simply “good news.” Very simply, it is the good news about Jesus. Now, the Gospels that record the life of Jesus for us are not quite biographies. They’re close, but it’s not intended to be an exhaustive account of the life of Jesus. The Gospels are intended to bring a message; that’s their point. And the message is about Jesus. And to tell us about Jesus and the significance of Jesus, they highlight various aspects of Jesus’ life, all leading up then, finally, to the last week of his life, which is called his Passion, where he’s arrested and then finally put to death on a cross, and then culminating in his resurrection.

So these four Gospels are given to us by the evangelists proclaiming the one Gospel. We have four Gospels, plural, but they proclaim the one gospel. And so it is the gospel according to Matthew, the gospel according to Mark, the gospel according to Luke, the gospel according to John. The one gospel given in each of these writers, each of these evangelists, is emphasizing some aspect of the significance of Jesus that highlights why he is important for our faith.

The Uniqueness Of Jesus, The Son Of God

These are foundational to Christianity, and to understand or rightly appreciate Christianity, we must understand these Gospels which tell us about Jesus. Now our focus then will be on the Gospel of Mark, the second of the Gospels and also the shortest of the four. And we’ll be looking at this in broad swaths; we won’t take time to examine a passage in great detail here and there. We might touch on some things through the series, but in the main, we’re looking at a broad picture here of what is the message that Mark is intending to convey.

Well, he tells us up front his subject. Verse 1: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Jesus—that’s his name given to him at his birth. Christ—that is not his last name. Christ is simply the word that means “the anointed one.” It’s his title. It is the equivalent of the Hebrew, which is pronounced in English, Messiah, the Anointed One. So Jesus is the Messiah. “The beginning of the good news of Jesus the Messiah,” and then he says, “the Son of God.”

Now what in the world does that mean, “Son of God”? Did God have a son? And how did this come about? Well, there’s much to that, and we’ll see some of it as we go along, but for now, let me just give the broad summary of the implications of that designation. Son of God is a title that indicates a unique person with unique and unparalleled authority.

We’ll unpack more of that as we go along, but that clearly is the point. And Mark stresses that from the get-go. He begins telling us of the good news of Jesus Christ as it is written, verse 2, by Isaiah the prophet. Now the prophets were famous for their overall message of the coming of God. God will come, he will break into history, and then he will have his day. Humanity has had its day. But God will come, he’ll break into history, and he will have his day. And it will be a day marked by two things: blessing for his people and judgment on his enemies. And the prophets give attending promises in that regard, that he’s coming to vindicate his people. And they give attending warnings in that regard, that he’ll come in judgment against those who have opposed him. And so this is the great hope of the prophets, that God will come and he will have his day, and it’ll be a day of blessing, and it’ll be a day of judgment.

And here, Mark cites Isaiah the prophet, an 8th-century BC prophet; this is 740 years or so before the time of Christ. And Isaiah made a specific kind of prophecy that God would send a messenger ahead of time. That this day of God will come, the Lord will come, he will break in, and to announce his arrival, God will send a messenger. And in verses 2 and following, then Mark tells us that messenger was John the Baptist.

Many implications with regard to that, but notice verse 6: he’s clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist. That’s an odd thing to note. It’s reminiscent of the Old Testament prophets and the way they dressed, and in particular, Elijah, the great prophet. And then he tells us John’s message. Isaiah said a messenger will come. Mark says that messenger is John the Baptist. John’s message is “prepare the way of the Lord.” And that is how Mark and how John introduce Jesus. The Lord is coming. And so he calls them again: prepare the way for his arrival. Now, how do you prepare the way for God’s arrival, for the Lord’s arrival?

Well, it tells us in verse 4 that John preached a baptism of repentance. Repentance simply means a turning, a turning away from sin. That is, there’s a distinctly moral character to this kingdom. God is breaking in with both blessing and judgment. And if you don’t want to be on the judgment side of this thing, repent of your sins and to signify that repentance, be baptized. And so in his attire—camel’s hair and the leather belt—and in his message, John the Baptist is resembling the Old Testament prophets. The day is coming. Here it comes. The Lord is here. And this is how Mark and how John introduce Jesus.

In verse 5, we find the excitement was very high. All the countryside of Judea and Jerusalem were going out to him, were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. A great stir in that area, noted by the authorities as well, recognizing something is astir. Great excitement. Verses 9 and following then, we have a very surprising turn. And that is that Jesus comes to John to be baptized. John is proclaiming a baptism of repentance, and Jesus comes to John to be baptized, taking his place alongside sinners. Significance of that we’ll see as we go along. But then a voice from heaven comes: “You are my beloved son with whom, with you I am well pleased.”

Now what’s the significance of that? Jesus is baptized, a voice comes from heaven announcing God’s approval. Not every day something like that happens. What’s the significance of it? Well, a couple of things at least. When he says, “with you I am well pleased,” does that ring a bell? Isaiah the prophet, again—you’ll remember in his prophecies of the coming Messiah, God’s king who would come, Isaiah spoke of it in terms of God’s servant. The servant of the Lord will come. And prominent in those “servant of the Lord” prophecies in Isaiah is the statement from God as he sends him: “the one in whom I am well pleased.” John is pulling that up here; that’s Jesus. The announcement from heaven: this is the servant with whom I am well pleased, and he will accomplish justice in the nations and so on, according to Isaiah’s prophecy.

And then there’s another expression here: “You are my beloved son.” And there we come to that expression again, God’s son. What is that all about? Well, at the very least, it’s freighted with all kinds of implications that the New Testament unfolds in other ways. The Gospel of John, in particular, unpacks it in some significant ways. But at the very least, it reaches back to 2 Samuel 7. In 2 Samuel 7, God promises King David: “I will give you a son, and he will reign everywhere, and he will reign forever.” And then he says, God says to David, “I will be his father, and he will be my son.” And so we have this sonship theme connected with the promise of David’s greater son who will come. The Messiah, David’s greater son, will be the son of God. And so it’s at the very least a messianic title. And he’s introduced in those words. Again, Jesus and the New Testament unpack it in still deeper significance, but it’s at least that: that he is the messianic king, David’s greater son, who is in fact God’s son.

Now then we come to verse 14. Jesus proclaiming the good news of God. And he says here, “The time is fulfilled. Prophecies have been made. The time now is filled up. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” And so we’re left to read, at least to ask: is he that promised king that God said he would send to David? His greater son—is he that king? And clearly we are left to see that he is. That’s where Mark is driving us.

The Unparalleled Authority Of Jesus

And so in verses 1 and following of chapter 1 here, Mark introduces us to Jesus as the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. And right out of the gate, he connects Jesus with Israel’s ancient hope, expecting the Messiah to come. But what you’ll see then in these verses and in the following verses is that his emphasis is on the unique, unparalleled authority of Jesus.

For example, verse 3, as we’ve already seen, he introduces him saying, “prepare the way of the Lord.” That’s how he introduces Jesus. God is breaking in. Verse 7, John the Baptist tells us that he’s greater than I, much mightier than I, and in fact, he says he’s so great that “I’m not worthy even to unstrap his sandals.” That’s an interesting thing. When my kids were little, I would be lying on the couch sometime, and I would say, “Jimmy, Gina, go get my slippers for me.” They’d get my slippers. “Put them on for me, would you?” And then while they’re doing it, I’d say, “Consider it an honor.” And I don’t think they did. John says, to reach down and unstrap his sandals is an honor of which I would not be worthy.

Verse 8, he tells us that this Jesus coming—”I’ve baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Now who’s that? I’d love to take another—add another message or two to this series and develop the doctrine of the Trinity. Three persons, one God, one in being, one in essence, but three in person. We’ll just say here that he is—the Holy Spirit is clearly God himself. And he says here that Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And we’re left to wonder: who is this that has such great authority that he can send God anywhere?

All right, so John has introduced Jesus, and the sense of authority is right out of the gate. And then in verses 16 and following, we find that Jesus exercises his authority accordingly. Verses 16 to 20, he exercises authority over people. That is, he calls these men to follow him; they in turn are to call others to follow Jesus the same. This is a remarkable thing. He calls men to leave their profession and leave their family behind to follow him. Now here’s a note that you must keep in mind as you read the Gospels. The Gospels are intended, right up front, they’re designed to tell us about Jesus. So as you read the Gospels, keep that overall point in mind and ask yourself: who is this man? And then a more narrow and even a more important point: who does he think he is? Who is this that comes to men and says, “You leave that profession behind, just follow me. Come and learn from me”? Who does he think he is to exercise that kind of authority over people? Keep that in mind as we go along.

Verses 21 and 22, then we find Jesus’ authority as a teacher. They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. So as they heard Jesus teach, what struck them—those who heard him—was the note of authority. What he said and how he said it. It was customary in those days for the teachers to cite previous teachers, previous rabbis. “Rabbi so-and-so says this, Rabbi so-and-so says that.” And they work it out among the authorities. Jesus was different. We have an account of this again in Matthew 5, in the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5-7. We find this strange expression; it’s unprecedented: “You’ve heard it said,” and he’ll quote the prophets, or he’ll quote Moses. “You’ve heard it said, but I say to you… and you’ve heard it said, but I say to you… and you’ve heard it said,” and quotes Moses again, “but I say to you.” And he gets through with it all, and Matthew records for us as well: it struck them with what authority he teaches. And so again, we’re left to ask: who is this man? And who does he think he is to speak with that kind of authority?

Verses 23 to 27 now. We find Jesus exercising authority over evil spirits. Verse 23: “Immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ Jesus rebuked him saying, ‘Be silent, come out of him.’ And the unclean spirit convulsing him, crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.'”

Now this introduces us to another category of teaching that we don’t have time to expand on, and that is the Bible on demons and the Bible on angels. In short, the explanation is we are not the only order of intelligent creation. And God has created spirit beings as well. They serve him in various ways. And we read some hints and some accounts of it briefly in the Old Testament and a hint in the New as well, that Satan was one of those angels. He rebelled, there was a following with him, and those are what we see here in the Gospels as these demons or evil spirits that attack men and women. And the striking thing here then is that Jesus commands those evil spirits and they obey. Verse 24, they recognize his authority as the Holy One of God. In fact, they’re terrified of him. We find that in Matthew chapter 8. “You come to destroy us before the time?” And here they ask the same: “Have you come to destroy us?”—recognizing that as the Son of God, he has authority to finally bring them to the punishment that has been destined for them. And they’re terrified of him. And then verse 34, we’ll find also that he wouldn’t even permit them any further to speak. And so here Jesus confronts the demons; he speaks, they obey. And verse 27 then, the response of the people is the same. They’re amazed. Who is this? Even the devil has to obey him.

All right, then verses 30 and 31. And here he has authority over sickness and physical disease. In this case, it’s Peter’s mother-in-law, Simon’s—this is verses 30 and 31. Now Simon, one of his disciples, his mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. Now this is interesting. Just as a side note—this is not exactly Mark’s point here—but the Roman Catholic Church, of course, teaches the necessity of the celibate clergy, and here we have Peter himself, who they say is the first Pope, and Peter himself has a mother-in-law, which I think means he has a wife. Oh, I shouldn’t say it. I’ve never yet met a man who wanted a mother-in-law without getting a wife out of the deal. But he’s confronted with this illness, and by a sheer act of his will, she is healed.

Verse 32 and following, this is not an isolated incident. There are many, all kinds of these. They brought to him all who were sick and oppressed by demons. The whole city was gathered together at the door. He healed many who were sick with various diseases. You get the sense here that for a while in that region, sickness was nearly wiped out just by a spoken word. The mere expression of his will and sicknesses are gone. And again, you’re left with the question. Imagine these people watching this, lining up at the door, bringing any who are sick, and he heals them one after another after another. And they’re left to think: who is this? What kind of authority extends over everything?

Verses 40 and 42, we have a man with leprosy. A leper came to him, imploring him, kneeling, said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean. This word here translated “touched him” is not just this kind of—sticks out his finger and touches him. The idea is that it might be that Jesus embraced him, but at the very least it means he clutched him. It’s an expression of emotion. He tells us here he’s moved with pity for the man. And so Jesus is affectionately involved with a man and he clutches him. And he says, “I will; be clean.”

And this is significant also in the fact that according to Moses’ law, the leper was ceremonially unclean, which meant in order to be restored—if he ever gets over it at all—he would have to go to the temple, follow certain procedures, and give an offering to be ceremonially cleansed again. And also according to Moses’ law, anyone who touches a leper himself becomes unclean, ceremonially. But in this case, it doesn’t work that way. Rather than the unclean making the clean unclean—hard to say—the clean makes the unclean clean. “Go and show the priests and do what they require.” In one sense, that should have rendered Jesus unclean, but in this case, what happens is the evidence of disease is gone.

Can We Believe In Miracles?

Now at this point, I think it’s a good point to stop, if we see all these miracles here, and ask the obvious question and address the elephant in the room. Can you expect a 21st-century person to believe in miracles? Did these things happen? Now, I’ll answer that in a second just briefly, but I think the first thing we ought to notice in the question is that, at least very often—I think most often, if not all the time—that question reflects a bit of what’s called chronological snobbery. “We’re 21st century. We don’t believe in that stuff. They did.” As though people in the first century expected miracles any more than you do.

But the question actually involves two questions. And the first one is: can miracles happen? And the second one is: did they happen? They need to be distinguished. First of all, can miracles happen? And the answer to that is really surprisingly simple. It rests on some presuppositions. If God exists, then the question of miracles is easy. God created the world, he upholds the world, he uses second causes to do that, and sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes he interferes in a spectacular kind of way. If God is, well then the question of miracles is easy. To insist that miracles cannot happen, you’d have to prove first of all that there is no God, which of course you can’t do because if you could prove that, you’d pretty much have to be God yourself—that I know enough to evaluate all of the things in all of the universe and render that conclusion. Now, you can just assert the Bill Maher kind of thing: “Miracles can’t happen. That’s stupid.” But of course, that’s not an argument. That reflects your presupposition.

If God exists, then the question of miracles is easy. And so also—and this is Mark’s point here—if Jesus is who he says he is, then the question of miracles is easy. The first question is: can miracles happen? The second question then is: did they happen? Did miracles happen? And that question rests simply on historical evidence. Did they happen?

And you’ve got to say, something made them acknowledge that Jesus was a miracle worker. In fact, this is one of the few points where Jesus’ friends and his enemies found agreement. They found agreement about his claims of messiahship—different opinions about that claim, but they agreed on the claim. But here’s another one: they recognized that Jesus performed miracles. Now his enemies hated him for it. In fact, there’s some interesting accounts of that in the Gospels. In John chapter 9, Jesus makes a blind man see. He’d been blind from birth, and now he can see. And the Jewish authorities just hate that. And so they call him in and say, “Look, all I know is that I was blind, now I can see, and Jesus did it.” So he calls parents in. “What about this guy?” “Yeah, he’s our son. Yeah, he’s always been blind.” “Nah, he can’t have been blind.”

There’s an interesting one in John 11 and 12. John 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. In John chapter 12, the scribes just hate him for it. In fact, not only they hate Jesus, they hate Lazarus and they plot to kill Lazarus because “we got to get rid of this guy, it’s just too much.” This is one point where Jesus’ friends and his enemies had to deal with the evidence. He did something that can’t be explained. Something made them believe it. We can also say that it’s because of Jesus’ miracles that his fame spread. That’s the reason it was spreading. We read that this morning when Pastor Greg read from Mark chapter 6. Even the authorities, the Roman authorities, are hearing about this. The reason Jesus’ fame spread is because he was a miracle worker.

In fact, all the records that we have of Jesus—in the New Testament, Jewish literature, Roman literature that makes mention of Jesus—in every strata of record, historical record that we have about Jesus, we find that he was a miracle worker. If Jesus did not perform miracles, then we have no record of Jesus at all. In fact, that’s an interesting point in the history of theology as well. Back in the 19th century, it became fashionable—this is post-enlightenment time and “we know better” and all of that—it became embarrassing to the modern mind to acknowledge miracles and so on. And so we had some professing Christian teachers, professors in the universities, teaching that Jesus did not perform miracles. These are myths, these are legends; he did not perform miracles. The next generation—their students who are now professors in the universities themselves—they just take the next conclusion: that there was no Jesus. That the whole Jesus idea is a myth. Never did Jesus live.

And it’s just fascinating to watch as the older teachers argue with their younger ones, “No, you’ve gone too far. You can’t say that.” “Well, you told us that miracles can’t happen. The only records that we have of Jesus performing miracles, we know that’s a myth. So the whole thing’s a myth.” No, the historical records are too solid. It’s the stupidest thing. I remember reading in Benjamin Warfield one time, noticing all of that, and he mocks it. And he says, “This is not our fight. This is not our quarrel.” He said we can sit back with a smile and just watch as this wretched comedy works itself out. There’s nothing from the ancient world better documented than Jesus himself. And yet in all of the documents, he’s a miracle worker.

Some observations about his miracles: Jesus’ miracles were never bare demonstrations of power. Never was it to show off. In fact, when the authorities demanded of him, “Do a miracle for us so we can judge ourselves,” he wouldn’t do it. He won’t be domesticated. When Jesus performed miracles, he always had a worthy objective. They were never unreasonable. They were never silly. They were never to “wow” the crowd. There’s never any smoke and mirrors or that kind of a thing, no tricks of some kind. He never did it for money. All of his miracles were open to investigation. Only a few were done in a private setting, but all of them could be observed by the people there. He speaks and it’s done.

And in the end, we are left with the same dilemma that Jesus’ contemporaries faced. And that is: how do you explain this? Who was this man? How do you account for all of this? We have more in chapter 2, verses 1 through 12. This is a fascinating passage. I’m going to take the time to read it:

“When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him. And when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, ‘Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven”? Or to say, “Rise up, take up your bed, and walk”? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the paralytic—’I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.’ And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out from before them all so that they were all amazed and glorified God saying, ‘We never saw anything like this.'”

You can imagine. Imagine I’m here preaching sometime, place is packed, standing room packed. Somebody wants to come in, suddenly a hole in the roof, and people are letting down this paralytic, and Jesus heals him in front of them all. Again, just a mere expression of his will, speaking, and the man is healed. And the crowd is left the same as they’ve been left before: “Who is this?” I’ll come back to that passage in a minute. We can jump ahead to chapter 4, the very end of the chapter. You’ll see Jesus’ authority over nature. Here he stills a storm. It’s a famous episode in his life; I’m sure at least most of you are very familiar with it. The disciples are out in a boat with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. A storm kicks up and the water, it tells us, is coming into the boat. And they’re afraid, and they go to Jesus—he’s sleeping in the lower quarters of the boat—and they wake him up, and Jesus comes up, and he rebukes—that’s the word that’s used—he rebukes the wind and the waves, and he says, “Stop it!” And the storm stopped. And really, I’ve always thought it’s amusing, chapter 4, verse 41: the disciples were filled with great fear. They were afraid of the storm, and now they’re afraid because they think—well, it says here—they said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Who is this man? It doesn’t seem like there’s any realm of nature that’s not under his authority.

Chapter 5, verses 35 to 42, we have another instance where Jesus raises the dead. Our time has gotten beyond us; we’ll not take time to examine that at length. Jesus heals then the daughter, the young daughter, a 12-year-old daughter of this man. Mark is pressing then this matter of Jesus’ unparalleled authority. Demons, people, sickness, death even—all under his command. There’s no limit to his authority. And Jesus never attempted to heal when it failed, never attempted to do any of these miraculous things when it stumbled. You’re left with the question, and this is what Mark is pressing throughout, and it kind of climaxes in chapter 4 and verse 41: “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Authority On Earth To Forgive Sins

I’ll briefly look back at chapter 2. I said I’d look again quickly at verses 1 to 12. There’s something more remarkable here than just the healing of this paralytic. They let down this paralytic into the room where Jesus is teaching. And you remember what Jesus says first? “Son, your sins be forgiven you.” The Jewish authorities pick up on that. “Whoa. Who does he think he is, forgiving sins? This is blasphemy. Who can forgive sins but God only?” And they’re right on that score, aren’t they? Who has authority to forgive sins but God and God alone?

Jesus—remember how he confronts it? We find it here in verse 10: “That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I say, take up your bed.” In fact, Jesus says, “I have said it the way I’ve said it—’your sins are forgiven you.’ I’ve said it that way first, just so that you will know that the Son of Man has authority, not just over sickness, and not just over death, and demons, and people. He has authority to forgive sins.”

Now as Mark’s gospel unfolds—and we’ll see this later in the series—Jesus then is opposed by the authorities, he’s finally arrested on charges of blasphemy, handed over to the civil authorities, the Romans, he’s put on a cross, he’s crucified, and as Jesus says, he’ll give his life a ransom for many. We saw at the very outset that Jesus took his place alongside sinners at his baptism, and here that comes to its climax, where Jesus goes to the cross in the place of sinners, bearing the judgment of God in their place so that they could be forgiven, paying their penalty so that they could be forgiven. And that is the good news that Mark proclaims. Mark here now in these early chapters has already come to that point. This man is like no other. He has universal authority. He even can forgive sins.

Now, what do you do with a man like that? Here’s a man who’s—he’s clearly a man, like any other man, but then again, he’s not like any other man anywhere. He acts and he talks like God. What do you do with a man like that? Well, you’re forced to decide. This is where the gospel writers push us intentionally. You’re forced to decide. Jesus has been called the man that you can’t ignore. You’ve got, as far as I can tell, three options: either he’s a liar, a fraud, deliberately deceiving the people somehow; or he’s crazy, thinks he has that authority and really doesn’t; or he is what he claims to be. I don’t see any other choices. This is the man you can’t ignore. Either he’s a fraud and a liar, or he’s nuts, or he is the Lord.

And so, the gospel writer is forcing us to respond. If he is who he claims to be, then that’s good news for me because I’m a sinner. And in fact, you and I have this basic problem in common. It supersedes every other problem that we have. We’re sinners, alienated from God because of our sin, and we stand under his judgment because of our sin. And in that day when he breaks in, there will be blessing, but there will be judgment on his enemies. And Mark here is writing to press this question. Here is one, Jesus Christ; he claims supreme authority over all things, over all the world in every sphere. He claims to be divine. He claims that he can forgive sin, says that he will die in place of sinners to bring their forgiveness, and he demands response: “Follow me.”

He calls men and women the world over to follow him, just like in the first verses of chapter 1 here when he called Peter and Andrew and James and John. In fact, this is the church’s defining mission throughout this whole age. The Great Commission tells us that. And Mark writes with that purpose exactly. And he asks us, in so many words over and over and over again, what will you do with Jesus? We judge him a fraud, an imposter, or we follow him. If Jesus is who he claims to be, and if he calls us to follow him, then what must be the consequences if we refuse him? That’s the corner the gospel writers press us into over and again. We’ll follow that up next time and see then the significance of his death more fully. Let’s bow together.