Mark 1:1-8
Mark does not begin his Gospel with a birth story.
No angels.
No shepherds.
No genealogy.
He begins with a sentence:
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
It is simple.
But it is not small.
Mark is not offering advice. He is making an announcement. In the Roman world, the word gospel was used for royal proclamations — the birth of a ruler, a military victory, news that changed history.
Mark takes that word and applies it to Jesus.
God has acted.
And this gospel is about a Person.
Jesus — fully human.
Christ — the promised Messiah.
The Son of God — His identity.
Mark does not build up to that conclusion. He starts there. Before miracles. Before controversy. Before the cross. This is the Son of God.
And if we misunderstand that, we misunderstand everything that follows.
A prophet cannot absorb divine wrath.
A teacher cannot atone for sin.
A moral example cannot raise a spiritually dead heart.
Only the Son of God can bear the wrath of God and grant the Spirit of God.
This is who the gospel is about.
But Mark immediately shows us that this moment was not sudden or accidental.
“As it is written in Isaiah the prophet…”
He reaches back to the promises of the Old Testament. Malachi had spoken of a coming messenger. Then there were roughly four hundred years of silence. No new prophet. No recorded word from God. Generations lived and died waiting.
Silence does not mean absence.
God was not inactive. He was preparing.
Then John appears in the wilderness.
The wilderness is not random. It is where God formed His people. It is where Israel learned dependence. It is where testing and renewal happened. So when John calls people to repentance in the wilderness, it is as if God is saying, “We are starting again.”
Preparation begins with repentance.
John preaches “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Repentance is not vague spirituality. It is not regret. It is turning — turning from sin, turning from self-rule, turning toward God.
The gospel comforts us. But it confronts us first.
And John makes clear that he is not the point.
“After me One is coming who is mightier than I… I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Water can wash the outside. It cannot change the heart. Only the One who is coming can do that.
John prepares.
Jesus accomplishes.
The gospel begins with the declaration that Jesus is the Son of God. It unfolds through fulfillment, repentance, and anticipation. And it moves toward transformation — not from the outside in, but from the inside out.
If this is truly the Son of God, then nothing remains the same.
We do not follow Him frantically.
We follow Him faithfully.
We do not manufacture momentum.
We anchor ourselves in who He is.
Mark begins his Gospel by answering the most important question: Who is Jesus?
And his answer is clear.
This is not merely a teacher.
Not merely a reformer.
Not merely a voice in history.
This is the Son of God.
And if that is true, then the only fitting response is to turn — and follow.
Reflective Question:
If Jesus truly is the Son of God, what in my life needs to turn so that I am following Him fully?
