Mark’s overall purpose ... [is] to explain and unfold not only the identity of the Messiah, but the destiny of the Messiah and his followers. Mark draws the reader into his narrative, so that the reader himself becomes one of the disciples following along the journey with Jesus, a point that will become more apparent as we move deeper into the Gospel.
Now if you are going to launch out on a Bible study journey, doing it side by side with Jesus as one of his disciples is the way to go, as far as I'm concerned. I agree with John Martens that the Gospel of Mark is full of drama. We see that at the outset of the gospel, with its Elijah images. Here are the first eight verses:
[1] The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
[2] As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
who shall prepare thy way;
[3] the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight -- "
[4] John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
[5] And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
[6] Now John was clothed with camel's hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey.
[7] And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
[8] I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Mark 1: 1-8 (RSV)
There are multiple "intertextual" issues in these eight verses, which among other places take the reader to Isaiah chapter 40 and Malachi 3:1. The intellectual density of the Bible and this Gospel is a great gift. To understand the NT you have to study the OT. The Bible challenges the mind, and I am grateful for that. But here I will limit my discussion to Elijah images in these verses.
The references here to John the Baptist evoke the image of Elijah, the great prophet of God whom God used to save the faith of Israel when it was in danger of succumbing to Baal worship, and that takes me to verse 6 which states: "Now John was clothed with camel's hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey." Mark 1:6 (RSV). This scene brings to mind 2 Kings 1:8: "They answered him, “He wore a garment of haircloth, with a girdle of leather about his loins.” And he said, “It is Eli′jah the Tishbite.” Any Jew who encountered John the Baptist at the Jordan River clothed with camel's hair and a leather girdle around his waist would have thought of one person and that is Elijah. If some had trouble seeing John the Baptist as a new Elijah based on his appearance alone, add to this clothing reference the fact that the scene here takes place at the Jordan River, which is the place where God took Elijah by a flaming chariot and horses into the sky
Elijah is a giant of the faith. The great OT scholar, Gerhard von Rad, says that the amazing stories of Elijah in I Kings chapters 17-19 "bear the stamp of history and individuality." Old Testament Theology, Volume II at 14. Elijah is "unapproachable, unpredictable, feared, and even hated, but always someone to be reckoned with." Von Rad at 14. Elijah "is a man of enormous powers. Such a figure cannot simply have been invented, and can only be explained by saying that the stories [in I Kings] reflect a historical figure of well-nigh superhuman stature." Von Rad at 14. The Elijah stories, which have been the subject of previous posts, are stories of the presence and the power of God prevailing in a culture which had rejected God.
John the Baptist here becomes another Elijah to God's people who had heard no prophetic words for over 400 years. (The last OT prophet was Malachi ca 420 B.C.) Mark 1 is a description of God coming to Judea in the power of Elijah. Was John the Baptist a literal second coming of Elijah? The huge following of John the Baptist makes the reader wonder if the crowds did see him as Elijah himself: "John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins." Mark 1:4-5. John the Baptist attracts to him "all the country of Judea, and all of the people of Jerusalem." But other NT references to Elijah leave this connection between Elijah and John as a kind of a mystery, and for that reason we conclude that no, John the Baptist was not Elijah himself. For me, John the Baptist is a vivid image of Elijah which only comes into focus after spending some time reflecting on the Elijah stories. With knowledge of the Elijah stories, Mark 1 becomes a display of the power and the presence of God with meaning which arises out of these antecedents from the scriptures of Israel.
In 1 Kings 18 in response to Elijah's petitions for a miracle, God brings down fire upon the altar to defeat the pagan gods of the wicked elites who were King Ahab and his wife Jezebel and their priests of Baal. Although we don't see miracles from John the Baptist, he comes with a powerful Elijah-like presence, not just in his appearance, but with his message. (Later we will see John too confront the elites, Herod and his illicit wife.) Great crowds respond to John the Baptist and his message of repentance and forgiveness of sin. This too was the message of Elijah. Elijah prayed that God would bring the fire so that the hearts of the people would return to him: "Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that thou, O LORD, art God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back." I Kings 18: 37 (RSV).
The Elijah stories (I Kings 17-19) are high drama. They shake any tentative believer from his weak faith. Mark chapter 1 is also a dramatic scene which opens with John the Baptist, the new Elijah, and then becomes a shocking revelation of God himself, as John the Baptist meets Jesus. That will be the subject of the next post.
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