Mark · chapter 1 of 16
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Mark 1 introduces Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. John the Baptist prepares the way, Jesus is baptized and tested in the wilderness, and then he announces that the kingdom of God has come near. He calls four fishermen, drives an unclean spirit out of a man in Capernaum, heals many people and cleanses a leper.
Mark is the shortest and fastest-moving Gospel, and Christian tradition connects it with John Mark, a companion of Peter. It begins with no birth story and no genealogy, only the announcement that the good news of Jesus Christ starts here. This opening chapter establishes who Jesus is and sets the pace for the whole book: swift action, authority over evil and a constant question about his identity.
The book opens with the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and with Isaiah's prophecy of a messenger who prepares the way of the Lord. That messenger is John the Baptist, who preaches in the wilderness a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He wears camel hair, eats locusts and wild honey, and announces that someone mightier is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus comes from Nazareth in Galilee and is baptized by John in the Jordan. As he comes up out of the water he sees the heavens torn open and the Spirit descending like a dove, and a voice from heaven calls him the beloved Son. The Spirit drives him into the wilderness, where for forty days he is tempted by Satan, lives among wild animals and is served by angels. After John is arrested, Jesus proclaims in Galilee that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near, and he calls people to believe the gospel.
Beside the Sea of Galilee he calls Simon and Andrew, and then James and John, who leave their nets to follow him. In the synagogue at Capernaum he teaches with an authority that amazes the people and casts out an unclean spirit. He heals Simon's mother-in-law and, that evening, many who are sick or oppressed by demons. Early the next morning he prays in a solitary place, tours the villages of Galilee and cleanses a leper, whom he tells to show himself to the priest and say nothing; the man spreads the news anyway, and Jesus can no longer enter towns openly.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
From heaven the Father tells Jesus that he is his beloved Son and that he is pleased with him. Before any miracle or teaching, Jesus receives the Father's affirmation of who he is.
Jesus sums up his message: the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is near, and the right response is to repent and believe the gospel. This is the heart of his preaching throughout the book.
After an exhausting day, Jesus rises very early and goes to pray in a secluded place. His public ministry grows out of a life of fellowship with the Father.
Moved with compassion, Jesus reaches out and touches the leper before healing him. Touching a leper was unthinkable under the purity laws; here the holiness of Jesus cleanses instead of being made unclean.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: He preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the wilderness and announced one mightier who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. — Mark 1:4-8
Answer: He saw the heavens torn open and the Spirit descend like a dove, and a voice from heaven called him the beloved Son. — Mark 1:10-11
Answer: Forty days, tempted by Satan; angels served him. — Mark 1:13
Answer: Simon and his brother Andrew, fishermen, whom he promised to make fishers of men. — Mark 1:16-18
Answer: Because Jesus taught with authority, not like the scribes, and even unclean spirits obeyed him. — Mark 1:22-27
Answer: He touched him, said he was willing, and the leprosy left him at once. — Mark 1:40-42
Mark 1 shows a Jesus who acts, but who also prays. In a Sunday school class it is worth asking how we balance serving others with time alone with God. Jesus ministered to crowds and still withdrew before dawn; service that does not grow out of prayer soon runs dry.
The call of the fishermen is a reminder that following Jesus means leaving something behind. Not everyone leaves a trade, but everyone is called to put Jesus first. And his compassion toward the leper invites us to ask whom we avoid touching, listening to or welcoming in our church, and how we might draw near with the same tenderness.
Mark 1 has introduced the Son of God with authority over evil and compassion for those who suffer, and it leaves people looking for him everywhere. In Mark 2 his authority to forgive sins and his way of treating sinners begin to stir up opposition from the religious leaders.
Mark writes a short Gospel focused on the public work of Jesus, his death and his resurrection. He begins with John the Baptist's ministry because for him the gospel starts when God acts in Jesus. Matthew and Luke, by contrast, include birth accounts.
Mark only summarizes it in a few words: forty days, Satan, wild animals and angels. It shows that the Son of God faced testing before his ministry began and came through it. Matthew and Luke give the details of the three temptations.
The text gives no explicit reason. Jesus tells him to show himself to the priest as the law required, and many scholars see in the silence a concern that his mission not be reduced to a healer's fame before the cross. The man spread the news anyway, and Jesus had to stay in remote places.