Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
A new “Adult Sabbath School Study Guide” lesson quarterly for our third quarter of 2024 titled “The Book of Mark”, and our first lesson titled “The Beginning of the Gospel”. “The first step this week will be to learn about Mark as reported in Scripture, to see his early failure and eventual recovery. Then the study will turn to the opening section of Mark with a look forward to where the story is headed and a look backward at why a failed and then restored missionary would write such a text” (Sabbath’s lesson). I have wanted to dig into the book of Mark for some time. Having read the introduction to Mark in my “Academy” study Bible, I was quite intrigued. This Bible was a gift to me from a dear friend. A Bible often used in SDA education by a previous generation of educators for the benefit of their students.
Therefore, for this week’s “thought” I decided to quote that introduction verbatim from that Bible. Along with the introduction presented in our Quarterly, I find both to complement each other. Understanding the background of the writer (Mark), the intended audience, the mindset of the times and the intended purpose of the writing helps us more fully grasp the meaning. It is not enough to decipher what the writer said, we need to probe what the writer meant by what he said. May our study this quarter help us to more fully see our God, understand Him more and thus love Him more.
(Here is the quoted introduction to Mark found in the “Academy” study Bible):
“Mark is the shortest of the Gospels, yet in some respects it is the most vigorous and powerful of them all. Though only two-thirds the length of Matthew, it contains a record of most of the incidents related in its longer counterpart. Its style is terse, vigorous, incisive, vivid, picturesque, and often provides significant details not mentioned by any of the other evangelists.”
“Mark emphasizes Jesus as a Man of action, whereas Matthew presents Him as a Teacher. Thus, Mark records almost all the miracles that are reported by both the other synoptic writers. A characteristic word of Mark’s is eutheos, “straightway” or “immediately”, which he uses more often than all the other gospel writers together.”
“Mark relates the life of Christ largely in chronological order, rather than topically as Matthew does. His emphasis on miracles makes apparent his purpose to highlight the mighty power of God as evidenced by the many “signs” and “wonders” performed by Jesus. This is Mark’s primary testimony to the divinity of Jesus, as that of Matthew is the fact that He fulfilled the predictions of the prophets of old. Matthew proves Jesus the Messiah on the basis that He is the One to whom the prophets bore witness. Mark proves Him the Messiah by the witness of His divine power, which presumably, would be more convincing to his intended readers --- Christians of a Gentile even Roman background.”
With brotherly love,
Jim