Mark │ Msg 3/28

Anyone who has traveled a bit knows something of the creative hand of God in what he has done with this canvas of his called nature. When you splash across it the four seasons of the year, you immediately realize the untold beauty of God's handiwork. And yet the remarkable part of it all is that he really only works with about four basic uh materials, earth and rock and foliage and water.

If you strike out on Highway One at San Diego and you work your way up the coast, you're in for an absolutely delightful journey. And yet all of those places you stop along the way have just those four elements with which God has worked. earth, rock, foliage, and water.

You come to Santa Barbara and you enjoy the shoreline there and the beautiful sea that's out to the west of you. It's beautiful, but it's not quite like Monteray or Carmel. If you go a little bit further, you get up to the rugged coastline of Oregon and on into Washington.

And people who live up there say there's just no place like the great Northwest and the beauty of that rugged coastline. You go further, you move into the Canadian area and on up into Alaska, and that is a beauty unto itself. Yet, the amazing part of it all is that it is all washed by the same Pacific.

It is all made up of simply earth, rock, foliage, and water. If you strike out across the sea, you come to Hawaii, which has a beauty all its own. the smell, the fragrance, the scenes of those islands, sort of a romance unto themselves. You continue going on, you get to Japan and you move down into the south of Kyote and and Coobe and Osaka.

People there tell you there's no beauty quite like Japan. Even though uh much the same origin, those places are altogether distinct and unique. And yet there, as at Monterey in Carmel, or the Washington coastline, it's still made of earth, rock, foliage, and water. I've looked at the Rockies and thought at times there's just no mountain range more beautiful than this.

And at other times, I change my mind when I look at the Sierras. I've never seen the Alps, but people who are there tell us you can't even compare anything to the Alps. And yet all you have there is simply earth, rock, foliage, and water. I've been to New England in the fall of the year, and my eyes have hurt with the yellows and the reds of the turning of the season.

I've camped in New Hampshire and Vermont and Connecticut and Maine. And there is an absolute stupendous sight in the Kangamangas Pass that crosses across New Hampshire. The wild flowers just beggar description. There's a beauty like no other place. And yet whether it's a New England or Southern California, Florida or Washington, it's the same basic ingredients.

Earth, rock, foliage, and water. I think of that when I come to the Gospels. The same material really these men had at their disposal. the same basic information about the same person, Jesus of Nazareth. And yet you have one slice of beauty and emphasis in one of the writer's works and an altogether different scene in yet another.

And you get to the third of the of the four and he has a different perspective and you think that's the complete picture. But you get into John's gospel and you realize over 90% of his stuff is unique. And really he admits at the end of his book, if all the books in the world were used, they could not contain the beauty and the significance of his life.

What we really have here is a similar scene. We saw last time Matthew viewed Jesus Christ from the eyes of a Jewish tax collector. And so there were numerous references to the Old Testament. A Jew can pick up the Gospel of Matthew and see in it much more than a Gentile.

A person who is uh not versed in the Old Testament will not really appreciate Matthew as much as for example Mark. For Mark is written to the Roman mind. Mark has no credentials in mind. He is not interested in impressing you with impressing you with the fact that Jesus is Messiah.

But using the same basic uh earth, rock, foliage, and water of the same life, Mark paints for us a scene altogether different. It's very very unique. The accounts are different because the men are different. I think if all of us left uh this meeting we're having right now and uh we were dismissed and went out into the parking lot and got into our cars and began our way home and there was suddenly a terrible accident out here on the on the road that runs beside our church.

If there were officers that came by to get witnesses of what happened, I think if he interviewed four different people, he would get four different perspectives. If I were standing at the door of the church, I would see one thing and I would give him my testimony of what I saw from there.

If one of you happened to be in your car just on the way out, perhaps 8, 10, 15t from the accident, you'd say something else. If one of our parishioners is living over here across the street, looking out her or his window at the time, they'd see something else.

If someone is over here at 7-Eleven viewing it from that perspective, they'd see yet something else. same witnesses uh that is same accident but four different perspectives. That's what we have with these gospels. We don't have conflicting reports. We simply have 35 millimeter snapshots taken by four different men who had four different purposes in mind.

That's all the more reason to be a little bit acquainted with the one who wrote the gospel so you can appreciate why he wrote like he did. So, let's kind of get to Mark through the back door by looking first at Acts 12. I want you to see where this man was raised, a little bit of the context of his life.

Then I think you will appreciate more his perspective. Acts 12. As a boy, John Mark was raised in the home of a very devout Christian woman. His father isn't mentioned. So perhaps she was a widowerower. Perhaps the man had left her. Whatever the reason, her home is always called the home of Mary.

The story of Acts 12 is intriguing and we won't get into it. It's simply the wonderful release of Peter from prison. And finally, verse 11. And after the miraculous escape by the help of an angel, interestingly an angel, Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know for sure the Lord has sent forth his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."

And when he realized this, he went to the house, here we have it, the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was called Mark. There's our man. That's the man who wrote later the Gospel of Mark. There were many gathered together and they were praying. One commentator refers to Mary's home as the rallying point of the early church.

It was a place where the prayer meetings were held. It was a place in Jerusalem where many prayers were offered up to God for the sustenance and strength and protection of God's men and women in that time. Mark was raised in that context. perhaps a bit protected in his home from the blows of the world around him.

If you drop down a little further in the chapter, verse 24, you'll see the beginning of the first journey to the uttermost part of the earth. The word of the Lord continued to grow and be multiplied. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had finished their mission.

Taking with them, here's our man again, taking with them John, who was also called Mark. They went to Antioch, they ministered there, and a section of that pastoral staff was lifted up and moved out to the mission field. Those men were Paul and Barnabas. And interestingly, they took with them John Mark as a companion.

But it got tough about verse 13 of chapter 13 and and something happened to Mark that he would live to regret in his later years. Verse 13, Paul and his companions put out to sea from Pos and came to Perga in Panilia and John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

Chrysum offers an imaginative thought. He says, "Mark went home because he wanted his mother." Well, thanks, Chrysan. That's wonderful of you to add that. We have no biblical reference that says it. Perhaps he got sick. Perhaps he was homesick. Perhaps he was too young for the rigors of the journey.

Whatever the reason, he left them. Paul viewed that as defecting, as literally quitting. And Paul didn't forget that the journey was over. They went back to Jerusalem. They went back to Antioch. Chapter 15 of the book of Acts. Mark's name is brought up again. But now it's a little different.

No longer is he viewed as a warm, close, loving companion of these men. Now he's viewed as a quitter by Paul. Verse 36. 15:36. After some days, Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are."

And Barnabas was desirous of taking John Mark along with them also. But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along. Look at this. who had deserted them in Panilia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another.

Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. And Mark drops out of sight for years. You don't read of Mark in any part of the book of Acts or in any part of the New Testament. There's a little section in Colossians that says that Mark was Barnabas's cousin, which might add to the forgiveness of of Barnabas when Mark had uh well, as he put it, uh deserted them.

Barnabas was more willing to forgive blood is thicker than water. He was a family member, at least a short tail relative. Certainly Mark being young deserves to be forgiven and to be brought back into this role of a young missionary but um Paul would have nothing of it.

However, he did soften. Turn to Colossians please. Colossians 4 verse 10. Paul's writing of course he mentions some friends who were fellow workers. Aristotarkus Colossians 4:10. Aristoarkus my fellow prisoner sends his greetings and Barnabas cousin Mark about whom you received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him.

Don't you wish you had a a little portfolio of those instructions. I have a feeling Paul accompanied that uh man with letters of endorsement saying my feelings earlier are now discount are now to be discounted. Let's put our arms around the man. Furthermore, he calls him something. Verse 11.

And also Jesus who is called justice. These are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God. He puts Mark in that category. Fellow worker of the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision and they have proved to be an encouragement to me. they plural meaning Mark as well as justice as well as Aristotarkus.

So now Mark is brought back into the favor of Paul. One final reference 2 Timothy 4 verse 11. Paul's in prison. The death nail is about to be sounded. He is literally about to lose his head and he's lonely for companionship. says in verse 9, "Make every effort to come to me soon.

Deeus, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Cresence has gone to Galatia. Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service." Not only is he a fellow worker in the kingdom of God, but now Paul says, "This man is useful for me in the service of the king."

That wonderful. Ever blown it bad? Ever deserted from a job? Ever quit? Ever decided you would uh step out of the human race and let the world go by? You just didn't want to be bothered? Ever made a stupid decision that would impact you and your reputation for years to come?

Take heart. Take heart. One of those men that did that was given the task of writing the first gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, have you had someone quit on you? Have you had a deserter impact your ranks, your business, your home, your life? Sure you have. be great-hearted enough to see in that person a potential.

Try to understand that the chapter isn't hasn't been finished in his life. Maybe that part of it is over, but not the rest of his life. Give the man room. Give the lady room. Give the person dignity. Give them the greatest gift that can come from one human heart to another.

And that's the gift of forgiveness. restore that person to a place of acceptance. John Mark was restored. Turn back to his book, the second book of the New Testament, the gospel that bears his name. I mentioned in passing earlier that it is the earliest of try to understand that the chapter isn't hasn't been finished in his life.

Maybe that part of it is over, but not the rest of his life. Give the man room. Give the lady room. Give the person dignity. Give them the greatest gift that can come from one human heart to another. And that's the gift of forgiveness. Restore that person to a place of acceptance.

John Mark was restored. Turn back to his book, the second book of the New Testament, the gospel that bears his name. I mentioned in passing earlier that it is the earliest of the four gospels, meaning therefore it is the one from which the others received some of their information.

So this is kind of a trailblazing gospel. This is virgin territory. There is no gospel of Luke. There is no gospel of John or Matthew. Mark sits down and decides he will record what he remembers of the life of Jesus. Well, how would Mark know that since he was really in the early church?

Where would he get his information? It is believed by all reliable New Testament scholars that Mark's information came from Peter. Mark received his information from the one who was the fisherman, the close friend of Jesus, Peter. The things that Mark emphasizes are not hard to discover. First, he emphasizes action.

His favorite word is immediately. Immediately. Immediately. It comes all the way through the book. He pushes events backto back. He pushes uh discussions and uh healing experiences and uh those touches Jesus had with people in in such back-to-back fashion that uh they'll remind you of of dominoes that are stood up on the end and then pushed one touching the other almost without a break through these uh chapters of his book.

Uh Mark emphasizes events rather than words or more than words. He is um he he is most interested in our getting the the flow of events that came into the life of Jesus and not necessarily analyzing all the meaning of them but just realizing what Jesus did. I wrote down sort of an imaginary response of his reader in the days in which Mark wrote his gospel.

Perhaps his reader thought like this. Look, Mark, I know nothing of the scriptures, and I care nothing about all those Jewish traditions, but I'd be glad to hear a plain and uncomplicated story if it doesn't last too long of the life and the death of that man you call Jesus.

Tell me straight. Don't preach. Don't use a lot of symbolism. Just give me the facts and I'll decide for myself. That's the kind of person Mark wrote his gospel to. Not a deep thinker, but an action man. A person who said, "Give me the stuff. Let me make my own conclusions.

Just tell me what he did." I notice, for example, just as an aside, on one particular occasion, Matthew records, "Lord, save us." But when Mark records the same event, he uses these words, "Master, don't you care that we're perishing?" Interesting philosophy behind that. Lord, save us. And there's kind of an awesome waiting on God to save.

He is Messiah. Save us from the sea. We're going to drown. But with Mark, there's more of a dialogue. Master, we're dying. Don't you care? You get a human interest with Mark that you don't get with Matthew. Now, there are some things that Mark omits. There's no genealogy in the first chapter.

You look in vain to find it. Who cares about the genealogy of a servant? Who cares if a slave, as the Lord Jesus, is pictured, a servant of God? Who cares about his pedigree? There is no comment regarding Jesus childhood or his birth in in Mark's gospel. It isn't that he didn't know about it.

It's that it wasn't his emphasis. That's not one of those pictures he wanted to snap in getting across this message to the busy reader. There's no long list of credentials. There's no lengthy discourse. There's not even a sermon on the mount. And when you get to the end of Jesus' life, there isn't the words, "It is finished."

Almost as though the work of the servant goes on and on. No lengthy introduction either. It all starts right in the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Boom. We're off and running. Um Paul O'Neal, a writer for Life magazine, evolved what has come to be called in writing O'Neal's law, stated, "This is the way it reads."

Always grab the reader by the throat in the first paragraph. Sink your thumbs into his windpipe in the second, and hold him against the wall until the tagline. End of quote. I think Mark must have known something about that uh that style of writing. You are pinned to the wall and the thumbs are against your windpipe and you gasp for air and you want to say at times, "Wait, wait, let me catch my breath.

Let me think about this." Mark doesn't give you time. He immediately goes to the next scene. If you don't see that, you will either criticize or you won't appreciate what Mark is all about. He doesn't care that we know all about the discourses. That's Matthew's job. That's Luke's job.

What he wants you to see is a flow of events. Now, the first 13 verses of this book, he plunges his thumbs into our windpipe. He comes right at the subject of the forerunner, John the Baptizer. He gets right into the baptism and before you know it, there is a brief comment about temptation and beasts in the wilderness and Jesus is already beginning to call the 12 disciples and you're hardly a halfway through the first chapter.

Amazing. Look at verse 12. After John has come and done his calling and declaring, Jesus comes out of the wilderness and and he's baptized. And verse 12, here's our favorite word. Immediately the spirit impelled him to go into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan.

He was with the wild beasts. The angels were ministering to him. There they are again. The angels ministered to him. Perhaps it's appropriate for me to stop and say, "No ministry begins without some time in the wilderness, without some time with the beasts." Some of you have gone through terrific uh difficulties getting a certain ministry off the ground.

Some of you are hoping very much to teach God's word, and you're wanting to have a platform in which to do that. You desire to minister, and your motive is pure, and your heart's right. You even know of people that are hungry for the truth, but you can't seem to get it un on track.

Well, my friend, you're in the wilderness and you're out there with the beasts. And if it happened to Jesus, I can assure you it'll happen to people like you and me. God started his servant on the move on his face in dependence on him. Hey, you may be highly gifted, certainly not as gifted as the son of God, but no matter how gifted, you will go through periods of testing and times with the beasts in the wilderness.

You cannot escape that. So when it happens, don't feel necessarily that you're out of God's will. It means quite honestly you may be right in the nucleus of his will. Now look at the flow of this event of of the events here by looking at the chart that you have been provided on the back of the outline.

Nothing that complicated. What you have is about eight chapters of activity and work on the part of the servant. And then everything from there humanly speaking goes downhill. Servant is at work chapter 1 verse14 through chapter 8 30. And then the servant is rejected. Chapter 8:31 all the way to his crucifixion.

And finally at his resurrection, he's exalted. Notice the sections. In the first section, he is offering service to others. But in the last section, he is a sacrifice for others. In the first section, he offers a ministry to the multitudes. By the thousands, he ministered at times. But in the last section, there's a minister to ministry to a few.

And by the way, that will happen also in your life. You will minister to multitudes and you will wonder why in the middle of your of your ministry, God seems to throw a switch and suddenly you're changed from the from the uh public arena, you're down now to the one-on-one and the one with a few and few with few.

It doesn't mean again that God's hand of blessing has lifted off your life. It certainly hadn't lifted off of Jesus' life. But now your ministry is no long to the longer to the multitudes. Now you minister to the to the 12, to the few. In the first section, there's action.

There's reaction. There's confrontation. In the last section, well, there's a lot of revelation Jesus gives his men. And finally, that awful crucifixion. Let me just kind of pick up the story and show you that balance between hard work and activity were times of reprieve and refreshment. Chapter 1:32, for example, when evening had come, after the sun had set, they began bringing to him all who were ill.

Think of that. It's evening time. It's when he wanted to relax by the fire. It's time to kick back. It's time to take it easy. He's been working hard all this time. And they now bring him all those who were ill and all those who were demonized. What a scene.

And the whole city gathered at his door. And he healed many who were ill with various diseases. He cast out many of those demons. And he was not permitting the demons to speak because they knew who he was. And in the early morning while it was still dark, he arose and went out and departed to a lonely place and he was praying there.

And he isn't even alone there. Simon Peter finds him. The companions are hunting for him. Look how Mark puts that. Simon and his companions hunted for him and they found him and they said, "Everyone is looking for you. Come on, we got to get at it." as only he could do it, he got right at it again.

Chapter 3:E 13 is another reprieve. It's beautiful. It's one of those few verses in the in a particular book that sort of stand out for a very significant reason. I want you to see it. 3:13. He's been busy. He's been involved in ministry, healing, helping. Now he goes up to the mountain and he summons those whom he himself wanted and they came to him and he appointed 12.

Why? Two reasons. And notice not only what it says but the order in which he says it. He appointed 12 first that they might be with him and second that he might send them out to preach. I know I speak at this time to some who are young and and full of vitality and zeal and determination to get out there and preach that book and make it known to as many as quick as you can.

Wait a minute. As important as zeal and energy and vision would be to God's work, don't miss the order. You need to be with him and then you need to go out there and preach. Forgive me if this doesn't sound right coming from a preacher, but I think we need more time with him so that we are better equipped for those few times we're out doing our thing or doing his thing.

Never cut short time with Jesus Christ. Do not underestimate the value of those quiet times where it's just you and him. No activity, no assignment, just time with him. By the way, how are you and he getting along these days? Oh, I and I understand you're very busy.

I understand that there's a lot to be done. I'm simply asking how are your times with him? For some of you, they have been less and less just since the turn of the year. We read of the Savior. He called his men to himself first and then he sent him out to the multitude.

You need time to repair, to refresh, time to deepen, time to listen, time to learn. I won't let us just race through Mark's gospel and just get a lot of activity. I want you to see that Mark is wise enough to give us some balance along the way as he presents the story of the Savior.

Let me show you sort of a pattern of the style of Mark. Turn to chapter 5. There's a whole series of events that move together in in a compact quick fashion that gives you a kind of a a skipping of a rock across the top of a lake if you were to sling it sideways.

Remember doing that? You get the events as they happen through the gospel uh chapter 5. First, there's a demonized man. It's a terrible scene and he's in terrible condition and he's be he's cutting himself with with uh with all kinds of things and he can't be chained and held down and and and he uh well there's this ultimate encounter and finally there's relief and Jesus uh casts out these uh demons right after that verse 21 when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side.

There's a great multitude waiting for him there. He's just done the demonizing experience and now he's got another group on the other side. And so he stayed by the seashore. An interesting thought here is that since they didn't have microphones in those days, one of the best places for the the uh vocal work the of Christ's message to take place was by a seashore.

If you've ever talked along a seashore, you know how the sound will just travel across the bay or down the seashore. So he placed himself at times out in a boat and the water would serve as sort of a an amplifier of his voice and many more could hear than perhaps as they were gathered in the wilderness areas.

So now he is down by the seashore and he's speaking to them. Verse 22, in the middle of all it of all of it, one of the synagogue officials named Gyrus came up and said, "And he fell at his feet and uh and he prayed. He he earnestly entreated him.

My little daughter is at the point of death." Verse 23, "Please come come and lay your hands on her and she may get well and live." And and he went off with him. Look at what it says. And uh and a great multitude was following and and pressing on to him.

So he doesn't even get away from the crowd when he's on his way to helping this man. And in the middle of the crowd, there's a woman with a hemorrhage of blood and she's had this ailment for 12 years. He's done the helping of the demonized person. He comes to the seaside and he teaches there.

And then a man has a daughter who's at the point of death. He's on his way and the woman with a hemorrhage of blood says, "I need to touch him. I need to be healed." And so she touches his cloak. Verse 28, she thought if if I just touch his garment, I'll get well.

And immediately the flow of her blood dried up. And she felt her body that it was healed of her affliction. And immediately Jesus notice immediately immediately immediately he he perceived in himself power proceeding from him. He'd gone forth and he turned. He said, "Who touched my garments?" Well, the disciples probably looked at him like uh you know, he's from another planet.

Who touched your garment? There's 150 people that could have done it right now. As a matter of fact, no, he says, "There's someone special." You see the multitude pressing on you, you say, "Who touched me?" Well, he looked around. He saw the woman who had done this. And the woman fearing and trembling.

Look, he took his time with that one person. Do not be so enamored of the crowd that you miss the individual. Do not be so enamored of the growth of your class to 50, 60, 70 people that you miss the one that's hurting, the one who doesn't respond, who normally responds.

Read the faces. Listen between the lines. Everything will not be that obvious. Be a discerning, sensitive uh person of God. He noticed in a whole group of people, one single woman, and he said, "She's got some needs. I want to talk to her." And so he stopped and he talked to her.

He says, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction. But wouldn't you know it, while he was taking care of her need, Gyrus's daughter died." And someone comes from Gyrus's home and says, "It's too late." Verse 35, "While he was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official and said, "Your daughter has died.

Why trouble the teacher anymore?" Jesus overhearing what was being spoken said to the official, "Don't be afraid. Only believe." He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. See, Mark's getting his information from Peter. Peter was right there. They came to the house of the official.

He beheld a commotion. People were loudly weeping and wailing. He entered them. He says, "Why make a commotion and and and and weep? The child is not dead, but she's asleep." Look at the response. They laughed at him. He's tired. He's been at it all day. He's now on top of everything else, misunderstood and mocked.

But as only the servant of God could do it, he moves right in and he brings the girl back to life. Verse 42, immediately the girl got up and began to walk. She was 12 years old. And immediately, he says it again, immediately they were completely astounded. See, what I want you to see is the whole flow of the of the book moves like that.

That's just kind of a vignette of one day and I've left out some things. Turn to chapter eight. Let me show you the pivot point of the book and then we'll move to the end. When you get to verse 27 of chapter 8, you're kind of coming to the end of the multitude ministry and the beginning of the ministry to the 12.

The book kind of looks like a rooftop. For the first eight chapters, it goes up and there's activity and movement and growing credibility and belief. But that hostility begins to rise. It's boiling like a teapot on the back of the stove until finally it's boiling over when you get to chapter 8.

And Jesus stops and he looks at his men. Verse 27. And he asks u uh who do people say that I am? And they told him John the Baptist. Others said Elijah. Some others one of the prophets. He continued questioning them. He said who do you say that I am?

Peter, you know this the answer. Thou art the Messiah. Thou art the Christ. And he warned them to tell no one. Suddenly there's a change. Man, I've got some I've got some more things to do. I've got some more things to teach. And if more of that spreads, there will not be the time I need.

Keep that to yourself for right now. And he began to teach them that the [clears throat] son of man must suffer. So there's a turning point. No longer do the multitudes and healing and helping the demonized and working with people in need. Not as much of that. Now it's to the 12.

It's like a mother who suddenly hears she has terminal cancer. She has one year with her children. Her whole world changes. She no longer is that deeply involved in activity and social life and things going on in the community and the school. She now puts her attention with her own 12, her own few, her own children.

She gives her time to those who are most important in light of the brevity of her life. So it is in Mark. I want you to stop at chapter 14 because there's a unique uh uh addition given or comment given by Mark and I think it says a whole lot for Peter.

Mark 14, we come to the arrest in the garden and the beginning of the trials. Um verse 66 of chapter 14, remember he gets his information from the Apostle Peter as Peter was below in the courtyard. Now I want you to you're going to just follow along as I read, but I want you to remember you're reading the admission of a vulnerable honest man who was an who was to be an apostle of God, but at this time he's a failure.

Peter was in the courtyard. One of the servant girls of the high priest came and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You two were with Jesus the Nazarene. He denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you're talking about." And he went out onto the porch.

The maid saw him and began once more to say by the ba bystanders, "This is one of them. That's one of the 12 over there." And he was again denying it. He answered back, "I am not." And after a little while, the bystanders again were saying to Peter, "Surely you're one of them, for you're a Galilean.

You've got that sound. You're not one of the Judeans. You're not one of us. You're a Galilean." He began to curse and swear, "I do not know this fellow you're talking about." And immediately the crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark before a crows twice, "You will deny me three times."

And he began to weep. Maybe this is the the day in which you need to hear this again. Not only about the person of Mark who wrote the gospel, but about Peter himself. Somebody spread some information a long time ago that is as just as wrong as it can be.

The bird with a broken pinion never flies so high again. The scriptures are filled with people with broken pinions. You are a forgiven sinner. Thank God. Your pinions were broken before you ever even came into the camp. And since you have become a child of God, you have again failed him.

You have perhaps in a crowd denied him or you have by your lifestyle acted as though you never knew him. Take heart. Peter also did. And he told Mark, "Record that. Record that for all to read. Put it down, Mark. I want it to be remembered. I want it on the record.

Grace lifted me up when I was called by Jesus after his resurrection to join the band and be a part of that new camp of missionaries. I want people to know that God chose a failure. He chose me. The end of the book is obvious. He's crucified and the wonderful story of resurrection follows.

And then there's an unusual ending. I think we would be incomplete if I didn't just say a closing word about u about this ending. There's some concern over whether or not the verses 9 through 20 are actually the words of of uh John Mark or whether they have been added.

I I read from one source just not to belver the point but to help inform you. There's one very interesting thing about Mark's gospel. In its original form the gospel stops at verse 8 chapter 16. We know that for two reasons. First, the verses which follow are not in any of the great early manuscripts.

It is only later and inferior manuscripts which contain them. And second, the style of the Greek is quite different. So different they cannot have been written by the same person who wrote the gospel. suggests this scholar. But the gospel cannot have been meant to stop at Mark 16:8.

What what happened? It may be that Mark died. Perhaps he even suffered martyrdom before he could complete the gospel. Perhaps more likely it may be that at one time only one copy of the gospel remained and and that a copy in which the last part of the role on which it was written had got torn off.

There was a time when the church did not much use Mark. They preferred Matthew and Luke and neglected Mark. It may well be that Mark's gospel was so neglected that all copies but one mutilated one were lost. So if that is so, we were we were within an ace of losing the gospel which in many ways is the most important gospel of all.

Interesting insight. I um I find it uh helpful in uh wrapping up our thoughts on something like a survey study to sort of pull from it two or three uh insights we gain from from hindsight. We'll kind of tie them together. I see three. Here's the first. If Jesus is our model, then servantthood is our method.

Mark views Jesus as the servant. And and if Jesus is our model for life, then servantthood is our method for life today. Now the second, if servantthood is our method, then people are our ministry. You're not a servant to uh things. You're a servant to people for people helping people.

If servantthood is our method, then people are our ministry. And you guessed the third one. If people are our ministry, then involvement is the means. Uh touching lives, listening, taking time, looking, caring, helping, realizing that in the crowd there's one in need and not being such a primadana in our involvement in God's work that we miss the person who really, really needs our help the most.

May God help us in studying these gospels to realize how highly significant people were to the Savior. They were not interruptions. They did not get in his way. Involvement to him required being attached to people in need, not staying away from them. I hope as you cultivate your hunger for spiritual things through reading through the scriptures with us, you'll realize that people are our greatest natural resource.

They always have been. They always will be. Let's pause now for prayer. Father, thank you for Jesus Christ and for his model that is continually motivating to us. Thank you that as we sit together, we realize we're not alone in this pilgrimage. We've been bought with a price.

We belong to you. And as a result, we carry out the model of your son's life. servantthood, caring, helping, touching, even forgiving people, helping them get back on the right track, restoring them, giving them dignity, upholding their their significance. Thank you that you have done that with us time and time and time again.

Not a person can cluck his tongue who reads the story of Peter by the fire, standing in the shadows, disgracing the very faith he said he would die more.