My family and I began our COVID-19 quarantine when we first left Asia on January 31, 2020. We’ve been social distancing now for eight weeks, and while I wish I could say we’ve made the most of that time, I’ve got to admit that we’ve wasted a whole lot of days. I’ve encouraged others to improve themselves during this unexpected break, whether it’s writing our their own life story or journaling all that God has been teaching them. I feel it’s about time I start heeding my own advice, so here begins my study through Mark in a moderately quarantine-focused way.

A Bold Opening

“The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (v.1). What a bold opening to this earliest Gospel! Mark minces no words. “Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the Son of God. And the following chapters are the Gospel, the Good News of his life.”

Interestingly enough, Mark’s the only Gospel writer who skips everything before Jesus’ 30th year, yet he’s not the only one to mention “the beginning.” In fact, both Luke and John mention “the beginning”: Luke uses it to describe eye-witnesses to the months preceding Jesus’ birth (Luke 1:1-2) and John uses it to describe eternity past (John 1:1-2)!

But Mark uses it to describe the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, his baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River (more on that in the next section). So take note: Jesus’ ministry began in adulthood. He performed no miracles as an infant. There were no birds brought to life from lumps of clay. There were no mischievous and mean-spirited acts from a little brat just learning how to wield his power. Jesus spent his first thirty years increasing “in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

John, the Greatest

At some point during those years, his cousin John “appeared” (v.4). Now, I’m a big fan of John the Baptist. Here’s a man whose father, the old man Zechariah, taught him wonderful things about his future (see Luke 1:67-79), but then apparently died. John also grew strong in body and spirit, but he spent the edges of childhood “until the day of his public appearance to Israel” living in the wilderness (Luke 1:80), homeless and eating bugs (v.6), yet learning the life of a prophet. Ultimately, John was falsely imprisoned and then beheaded without a trial (see Mark 6:14-29), and yet Jesus later called him the greatest man ever born (Luke 7:28)!

God called John the Baptist to a life of misery, er, ministry in which he was homeless, imprisoned, uncertain (Luke 7:18-23), and martyred, but God also called him “great.” We see similar truths in the lives of the disciples and of Paul, and yet our world is still deceived to believe that God has called his children to health, wealth, and a comfy self. Can a follower of Jesus really say that, if he has enough faith, then he and his family will be protected from COVID-19? Where’s the biblical proof? And what will you say to the family of the faithful old prayer-warrior widow who’s killed by the disease next week? Or to the church family of the pastor who dies?

John the Baptist had faith, and we know what happened to him. The Apostle Paul had faith, and look at the trials he experienced because of that faith (2Cor. 11:23-33, not to mention his own beheading)! Jesus informed us of what it takes to be his disciples (Luke 14:25-33), and Paul reiterated it in 2Timothy 3:12 — “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Christians get sick. Christians starve. Christians suffer persecution at the hands evil and powerful people. This is the reality of our fallen world, and yet God is still sovereign.

So during this period of anxiety and spread, don’t look to God for deliverance from this virus or from whatever else you’re facing in life, as if He owes something to you because of your faithfulness to Him. Instead, remain faithful to Him no matter what comes your way. John the Baptist is the prime example of a man who followed God’s calling on his life, no matter where it took him, and there’s a whole lot we can learn from this “voice of one crying in the wilderness” (v.3).

Repentance for the Forgiveness of Sins

John proclaimed “a baptism of repentance,” an essential act of faith in the promise of the Messiah which God accepted “for the forgiveness of sins” (v.4) before Jesus’ sacrifice and ultimate victory. And he had a following! “All the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (v.5). Yet John sought no fame in this (apparently very successful) ministry. Instead he humbly pointed all seekers to Jesus: “After me comes He who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie”(v.7).

And then comes the great contrast between the work of the minister and the work of the Master, between the one who has been called to the One who calls: “I have baptized your with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (v.8). John could only point the people to the Savior, and their hope and trust would be in that One who was to come. They could repent and receive forgiveness of sins, but only by trusting in what God would eventually do. But next time we will look at Jesus, the Savior Himself, the One who would call the whole world to Himself, the One who also preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 3:2; Luke 24:47), and Who would baptize His followers with the Holy Spirit (v.8).

Action Points:

1) Faithfulness

• If God’s servants in the Bible suffered greatly for their faithfulness to God, why do you think God owes you anything different?
• How should we balance those passages of “blessing” with the countless anecdotes of persecution and suffering?
• When the world around you is crumbling, can you still find peace?
• How will you encourage your contacts today with the promises and faithfulness of God, no matter what happens?

2) Pointing People to Jesus

• Write down the previous three opportunities you’ve taken to point people to the Savior.
• Write down three recent opportunities when you failed to point people to the Savior.
• How could you have handled those situations differently?
• Even though you may be socially distant from others at the moment, can you commit to sharing the Gospel of Jesus with three people this week?

See Also:
Mark 1:1-8 – “The Beginning”
Mark 1:9-15 – “How to Fight Temptation”
Mark 1:16-20 – “Follow Me”
Mark 1:21-34 – “A Day in the Life of Jesus”
Mark 1:35-45 – “A Time for Prayer and Healing”
Mark 2:1-12 – “Through the Roof”
Mark 2:13-17 – “The Sinner’s Friend”
Mark 2:18-22 ‘ “Inside and Out”

©2020 E.T.