Mark 1:1-18

1 The good news of Jesus Christ - the Message! - begins here,

2 following to the letter the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Watch closely: I'm sending my preacher ahead of you; He'll make the road smooth for you.

3 Thunder in the desert! Prepare for God's arrival! Make the road smooth and straight!

4 John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins.

5 People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life.

6 John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey.

7 As he preached he said, "The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I'm a mere stagehand, will change your life.

8 I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism - a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit - will change you from the inside out."

9 At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

10 The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God's Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him.

11 Along with the Spirit, a voice: "You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life."

12 At once, this same Spirit pushed Jesus out into the wild.

13 For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by Satan. Wild animals were his companions, and angels took care of him.

14 After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the Message of God:

15 "Time's up! God's kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message."

16 Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work.

17 Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass."

18 They didn't ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.

Mark 1:1-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO MARK

This is the title of the book, the subject of which is the Gospel; a joyful account of the ministry, miracles, actions, and sufferings of Christ: the writer of it was not one of the twelve apostles, but an evangelist; the same with John Mark, or John, whose surname was Mark: John was his Hebrew name, and Mark his Gentile name, Ac 12:12,25, and was Barnabas's sister's son, Col 4:10, his mother's name was Mary, Ac 12:12. The Apostle Peter calls him his son, 1Pe 5:13, if he is the same; and he is thought to have wrote his Gospel from him {a}, and by his order, and which was afterwards examined and approved by him {b} it is said to have been wrote originally in Latin, or in the Roman tongue: so say the Arabic and Persic versions at the beginning of it, and the Syriac version says the same at the end: but of this there is no evidence, any more, nor so much, as of Matthew's writing his Gospel in Hebrew. The old Latin copy of this, is a version from the Greek; it is most likely that it was originally written in Greek, as the rest of the New Testament.

{a} Papias apud Euseb. Hist. l. 3. c. 39. Tertull. adv. Marcion. l. 4. c. 5. {b} Hieron. Catalog. Script. Eccles. p. 91. sect. 18.