“The Real Jesus” Mark 1:1-8
INTRO: I want to tell you a quirk of Presbyterian ministers.
I’m well qualified to point
out this quirk—not only am I one—
I’m the son of the Presbyterian minister,
and grandson on mother’s side.
I went to a Presbyterian
college and Presbyterian seminary,
I’ve read numerous books by Presbyterian
ministers past and present,
I’ve worked for them,
some of my best friends are Presbyterian ministers.
The quirk is that Presbyterian
ministers don’t like pictures of Jesus.
I won’t go into the historical reasons for
this—
but it comes from
influences of English Puritanism, Scottish Presbyterianism,
and certain
historical interpretations of the 2nd commandment.
I don’t know any Presbyterian
minister who would say pictures actually sinful.
And most I know tolerate pictures in
children’s SS material,
I don’t know any who like pictures of Jesus
in church as decoration.
When I was in college my dad
called to a church in
This church has a beautiful building, but
one feature that my dad couldn’t stand.
Right behind the pulpit was a
big stained glass window
with a life-size
picture of Jesus.
Dad never said anything
negative about it to any church people,
but to us he
complained about it.
I didn’t help matters when I
told him that if you looked at him
from the right
angle while he was preaching, looked like Jesus
was standing on his
shoulders.
One of the reasons
Presbyterianism has frowned on visual depictions of Jesus
particularly in
worship setting is that they actually detract from the greatness
of Jesus as he is
truly presented in the Gospels in all his humanity and divinity.
So often reflect the Jesus we
want rather than the real Jesus.
Read an interesting book
recently “Love Walked Among Us” by Paul Miller.
Study of the ways Jesus deals with people in
the Gospels.
“When we see Jesus portrayed,
he often comes across strangely.
Full disclosure: Paul Miller is the son of a well-known
Presbyterian minister.
But he uses this funny example to make a
good point—
we have in the Gospels
a picture of Jesus that is accurate, deep, and real.
The Jesus here is not a
two-dimensional drawing.
He’s alive.
He leaps off pages. Children can
read these stories and know him.
Adults can read these stories year after
year and still be perplexed.
That’s because these are not
just any words—but inspired by the Holy Spirit.
We are beginning this morning
of study of the book of Mark.
There are four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke,
John—each a picture of Jesus.
Four photographs of same man
from different angles.
Much in them is the same—but different
things are emphasized.
Matthew emphasizes the
Kingship of Jesus, fulfillment of Hebrew prophecies.
Luke emphasizes Jesus the Son
of man, he is for all people Jew and Gentile alike
John emphasizes Jesus as the
Divine Word of God, come with message of life.
Mark, what is Mark’s
emphasis?
While back I was talking to a
preacher friend, told him I wanted to preach on Mark,
but I was really
struggling to get to get a grasp of big picture.
Said: Tell me what Mark is about.
Without missing a beat he
said: It’s an invasion.
Every part is about the Son of God, Lord of
all, invading this world,
and in doing so
trashing people’s perceptions about what God is really like.
Light came on for me. That’s it.
After this short, powerful
introduction in which John the Baptist says:
He’s coming.
One more powerful than I.
He’s coming.
One whose sandals I’m not worthy to loosen.
He’s coming.
One who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
He comes. Jesus walks on to the scene of history like a
giant.
In this
short Gospel, full of action. Someone called it “the essential Gospel.”
You see Jesus, the anointed
one, the Son of God,
doing great things,
saying great things—he shakes people up.
Some respond with awe, some
with worship, some with hostility—
as he invades their
world and trashes their perceptions
about what God is
really like.
My hope for us as we study
this book—I have no idea how long this will take—
my hope for you and
for me is that we encounter Jesus and that he shakes us.
And that we
leave here either in awe or angry but not apathetic or unchanged.
As someone once wrote:
“No one can read the Gospels without feeling
the actual presence of Jesus.
His personality pulsates in every word.”
May that be true of us.
So let’s start with these
opening 8 verses which are about the announcement
of his coming by
the great prophet John the Baptist.
What does it tell us about
Jesus? So much here—but want to focus on three things.
Came up with three words
that start with H.
Jesus is Hebrew
Jesus is heralded
Jesus is hurt
MP#1
Jesus is Hebrew
Reliable church history tells
us that Mark wrote this gospel for Roman church.
Roman Christians were undergoing persecution
under Nero.
Wrote this to encourage
them in the faith.
What would you have
emphasized first about Jesus if you were writing about Him?
Mark obviously wasn’t bound by strict
biography.
Didn’t feel obliged to
start out with birth. Started
were needed to start.
And it’s surprising.
He starts by firmly
identifying Jesus as the Messiah and hope of
This short beginning is drenched with
imagery from the Hebrew Scriptures.
Starts with
this quotation from the prophet Isaiah. But it’s not just Isaiah.
The first part “I will send
my messenger ahead of you who will prepare you way.”
Is actually a combination of two
passages—Exodus 23, law of Moses,
and Malachi 4, last
chapter of last book of Old Testament.
Mark combines this with the next portion
which is from Isaiah 40, “A voice . . .”
And it doesn’t stop there.
John the Baptist’s clothing, camel’s hair,
and leather belt—
point directly to
the habits of another great Old Testament figure—Elijah.
What you have is something
that would have arrested a Jewish mind—
This quotation which is a combination of
Moses—great lawgiver of Hebrew Scriptures,
Isaiah—the greatest writing prophet of
Hebrew Scriptures,
Malachi—the last of the
Hebrew prophets.
Elijah—the greatest of the
speaking prophets.
In addition, all of these
pronouncements by John
take place in the
desert, wilderness, which will look at in more detail later.
But there is this powerful
symbolism, because God take
and into the desert
where he meets them.
Desert a history and symbol
for Hebrews God of fathers dealing with them.
Mark communicates to these
Roman Christians in a brief, powerful way—
Jesus Christ the Son of God is Hebrew.
He’s the fulfillment of all
of God’s working with
He is the hope of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Malachi.
He’s the one who brought people through the
wilderness.
This is, I think, Mark’s
reason.
You can’t make Jesus whatever you want him
to be.
He is who the Bible says he is, Messiah of
Israel.
It is in Jesus as he truly is
that you must put your trust.
I remember once sharing the
Gospel with a man.
Told him how Jesus was the sacrifice for his
sins, had to put his faith in him.
I don’t believe all that
Jewish hoo-doo, I have my own view of Jesus.
I just had to laugh. I said, you nailed it. Those are your two options.
You can believe the whole
package—that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel,
that he is the
fulfillment of all God’s promises to the patriarchs and prophets,
and that he is the
sacrificial lamb, and great high priest, Son of David—
You can believe in Jesus with the Jewish hoo-doo.
Or, you can invent your own
version of Jesus and believe in that.
But the Jesus you make up can’t challenge
you and transform you—
because its not
Jesus at all. It’s just an idol in your
mind.
Jesus the co-pilot, Jesus the
therapist, Jesus the hippy, Jesus the nice guy
Jesus the republican, Jesus the democrat,
Jesus the liberal, Jesus
the conservative.
That’s just a variation on
the common belief that God is who you think He is.
It’s not just New Agers
who think like that—
even people in the
church think like that.
Say things like: “My God would never send people to hell.”
“My
God would never condemn this or that, or condone this or that.”
When Jesus came he trashed
the view that God is whoever we think He is.
Because Jesus is the Son
of God. Gospel makes clear which
God.
The God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob.
God of Moses, Elijah,
Isaiah, Malachi.
So what Mark is saying to the
Roman Christians, to all who read Mark—
you’ve got to
believe the whole package.
Jesus from start to finish
as he is presented to you in the Gospel.
MP#2
Jesus is heralded
What’s the next thing Mark
emphasizes—also unusual—that Jesus is heralded.
He’s announced and his way prepared by John
the Baptist.
Mark doesn’t take up much
space with John the Baptist—more in other Gospels.
But Mark is deliberately short, boiling
things down to the essence.
So it is very significant that out of the
sort list of most important things—
this is one of the
first things he wants Romans to know about Jesus.
He was heralded.
Important people are always
heralded.
There is always an advance team.
Let’s say the President was
coming to Cullman.
He wouldn’t just show up. His staff would go before him.
They would meet with the city officials,
meet with media.
Arrangements would be made to prepare for
his visit.
What was the work of Jesus’
advance team of one? John
the Baptist.
What did he do to get things ready for
Jesus?
He woke people up to their
need for God.
He woke them up by showing them the failures
of all their self-sufficiency,
their moral
bankruptcy, and their need for grace.
Did it in a
couple of ways.
First, he preached in the
desert, called people out into the desert to hear him.
Your Bible might say wilderness—
just so you don’t
picture wilderness like
The wilderness of
It’s a place without life—place of thorns
and thirst.
In the Bible the wilderness
is a theme.
It’s the place where all wells go dry and
all bread goes stale.
It’s the place where all human resources
come to an end.
The great wilderness
experience of the Bible was when Israelites left
God led them through the wilderness on way
to Promised Land.
And they ran out of water, ran out of
food—could not return.
Cried out and God sent water
from the rock and manna from heaven.
Other wilderness experiences
in the Bible of individuals—
Moses, David, Elijah—they cried out and God
provided.
Wilderness experiences in
life are those times when you realize that even the good
things in life go
stale and run dry and that you need God.
That’s what John wanted the
people to see—their need for God,
the staleness and
dryness of everything else.
Second, he baptized. His baptism was unique.
Jews
had a well-established tradition of baptism—ceremonial washings.
Washed hands, washed bodies—basins, even
swimming pools for it.
But they always did it to themselves.
John said, I have do it to you.
Fitness for the coming one comes from the
hand of another.
John heralded Jesus by saying
through baptism—
not going to be
ready if you try to be good, clean up your life,
have to humbly
received God’s grace and cleansing for your sins.
Baptism in the wilderness
Herald’s message was that Jesus comes to
those
who have reached
the end of their own resources
and who are no
longer trusting themselves to clean up their lives.
Line in an old hymn that
says:
“All the fitness you require/is to know your
need of him.”
That’s the real Jesus.
He trashes the common
understanding of what God is like.
The common believe is that God helps those
who help themselves.
That it’s all about God rewarding you for
doing your best.
Let’s look ahead a bit—you
know enough about the Gospels.
Who recognized Jesus and
received him?
Lepers, untouchables, tax collectors,
despised and morally compromised.
Sinners, fallen women,
people troubled in various ways.
In other words, people who were in the
wilderness of life and said—cleanse me.
Who did not recognize Jesus
and turned away?
The Presbyterians. The religious people.
The people pleased with their lives, glad to
continue cleaning themselves.
The heralded Jesus comes to
those who know their need of him.
MP#3
Jesus is humbled
Where is he humbled in this
opening statement of Mark’s Gospel?
Everything seems to point to his greatness.
John the Baptist says he is
not even worthy to stoop down
and untie the
thongs of his sandals.
That sounds so triumphant.
Yet there is a significant
phrase that will take on greater significance
in the second half
of this book.
It’s the phrase “prepare the
way.” “Prepare the way for the Lord.”
In ancient times a message
like this would come to conquered people.
It would mean slavery and humiliation.
It would mean that a
conquering king was coming to ascend his throne.
So rocks would have to be pulled down,
broken into gravel,
holes and ravines
filled in—so that the king would have a highway
on which to travel
to his new throne.
It was a way of demonstrating
his glory in the subjugation of conquered people.
But there’s a twist here.
Because the road, or the way that this King,
Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God
is going to follow
is not a road to a throne but the road to the cross.
In the second half of Mark,
Jesus sets out on the way to
where he will
suffer and die.
In a number of key places
Mark mentions that Jesus is on the way.
This is the way prepared—to the humiliating
death on the cross.
Unlike the kings of men who
walk on a way built though the humiliation
of their conquered subjects for their own glory—
Jesus’ highway was made
necessary by our haughty sins,
and he walks it for
his own humiliation.
This is the reason John the
Baptist said he was unworthy
to even stoop and
untie the sandals of the Messiah.
Because he knew from the
prophets that the Lord would
follow a way of
intense suffering for the salvation of His people.
John was in awe of that.
What an amazing message to
the suffering Christian in
When Mark wrote this Gospel,
the terrible persecutions under Nero were underway.
Christian were crucified, torn by beasts,
and used as human
torches to light Nero’s garden parties.
Nero in his mania even
sickened the bloodthirsty Romans
who had no love for
Christians.
Into that setting comes this Gospel, this good news, this announcement
of the coming of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
What road does Jesus
take?
Way of humiliation and suffering for his
people.
Here we see the kingliness
and greatness of Christ—
that he went into
the ultimate wilderness—thorns, thirst, and forsakenness—
where he even lost
God—
So that we,
when we go into our little deserts, can find him.
What a tremendous resource
for suffering.
No religion says that God has been through
more than you except Christianity.
As one poet put it:
“No God has wounds but thou
alone.”
Here we have the ultimate
trashing of common ideas about God—
that He is far
away, detached, distant—
irrelevant to the
struggles and pains that you are going through in this life.
But Mark will show us that is
not the case.
Jesus walked the road
prepared for him—prepared by God for your salvation.
And it did lead to his glory—he is now
highly exalted—
but first it led to
the lowest hell—his humiliation and wilderness on cross—
all so that you
would be forgiven and never forsaken.
Put your trust in the real
Jesus who was humiliated, who suffered for you.
And you will find, even in the wilderness
experiences of your life—
his grace.
CONC: After seminary I worked as an assistant pastor for a
Presbyterian minister
who was himself the
son of a Presbyterian minister.
So you know the peculiar
quirk that he had.
I had been at the church a
few months, in his study and I noticed a picture
hanging on wall
behind his door. When door opened, could
not see it.
I had never noticed it before.
I asked him what it was and
looked behind the door.
You will never guess what I found—a picture
of Jesus.
It was a picture of Jesus in
his robe, in a business office.
There was a desk, lamp, typewriter.
Sitting across from Jesus a
business man in 1950s style suit—
Jesus was talking, and the man was
listening.
My boss said: I don’t normally like pictures of Jesus.
But I have a fondness for this picture. It moves me.
Bruce has a great
imagination: He said to me.
Look at this businessman’s face. There’s something wrong.
Maybe his business is struggling, maybe he’s struggling with his business.
He’s given it his life and he’s loosing
things that are important to him.
Or maybe he has actually done something
unethical, things are caving in.
Now look at Jesus—Yes, it’s corny that he’s in his robes—this isn’t great art—
but it’s the Jesus
of the Bible and what’s he doing?
He’s ministering to this
man. Look at his face.
Not exasperated, not lecturing—he’s speaking
the truth in love.
Maybe he’s rebuking him, maybe he’s
counseling.
But he’s connecting with this
man. He’s real.
The reason Bruce was moved by
that picture, not because he’s a sentimental guy,
but because he knew
the people in it.
He knew himself and troubled
people in his church in this businessman—
and he knew Jesus,
the real Jesus, that he had met with many times
in the word. This was the humble Christ he knew—friend of
sinners.