Mark 1 Footnotes

1:1 Though the phrase “Son of God” does not appear in all ancient Greek manuscripts of Mark, it is probably original. It is easy to account for its omission as a copying mistake, and the phrase appears at crucial moments in Mark’s Gospel (notably 1:11; 9:7; 15:39; see 3:11; 5:7; 14:61-62). Son of God could merely be intended as a synonym for Christ (2Sm 7:14; Ps 2:7), though Mark clearly portrayed Jesus as having supernatural ability and authority and probably used the title purposely to emphasize his special relationship to the Father.

1:2-3 This quote combines material from Ex 23:20, Is 40:3, and Mal 3:1. Such combinations were common among some groups in early Judaism and allowed a number of theological themes that had been developed in the OT to be brought forward with minimal citation. Here Mark highlighted the themes of God’s salvation in the wilderness and the herald’s announcement of the end-times coming of God, both fulfilled in the baptism of Jesus by John. Mark attributed the entire quote to Isaiah either because the material was most central to his portrayal of the baptism scene or because the quote serves to interpret the “beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ” within the larger framework of Isaiah’s description of the coming Messiah (Is 41:27; 52:7; 61:1).

1:16-20 Mark gave only the briefest description of the events surrounding the call of Jesus’s disciples. Andrew and Peter had earlier contact with Jesus, according to Jn 1:35-42, and Peter’s call was more extended than Mark’s presentation of it, according to Lk 5:1-11. This does not undermine the historicity of Mark’s account; his narrative interest was not in the historical details but in the authority of Jesus. He was not concerned to tell us precisely how the disciples were called but rather that they were called and that they responded in complete submission to Jesus.

1:44 If Jesus was the Messiah, why did he not allow the man with the skin disease to spread the news about him? Jesus did not want his program co-opted by others (Jn 6:15; 7:3-6). He would reveal himself on his own terms when the time was right. Jesus’s purpose was not popularity and political insurrection but discipleship and ultimately the cross (Mk 10:43-45). This point is particularly central to Mark, so Mark includes several instances when Jesus ordered those whom he healed not to tell others about it.