Mark - Lesson 1...Continued from page 1

DAY TWO:  The Servant’s Servant

Please carefully read Mark 1:5-8 and answer the following questions.

1.  What was taking place as a result of John’s message, and what did they do (v. 5)? 

2.  Verse 5 probably meant that there was a continual throng of people coming to receive John’s baptism.  No doubt he had gathered great attention since the Jews had not heard a prophetic voice from God for about 400 years.[iii]  Not only was this baptism and repentance linked, but so also was the confession of sin.  The Greek word for confess means literally to speak the same thing that another does, or to agree with them; thus it means we acknowledge our sins to God and agree with Him about our need to actively turn away from them (repentance).  What do Proverbs 28:13 and 1 John 1:8-10 tell us about this important aspect of our relationship with God?

3.  How does Mark describe John in verse 6?  What would the people think of when they considered John’s character and message (2 Kings 1:8; Malachi 4:5, 6; Matthew 17:10-13)?

NOTES: John’s diet of locusts and wild honey was not, as some have thought, carob pods and sap from various trees.[iv]  Both locusts and honey were considered clean and edible foods both by the law (Leviticus 11:21, 22) and by rabbinical tradition.  In appearance, John seemed of a prophet like Moses, expected in the last days (Deuteronomy 18:15-19), and John’s message was that of God’s kingdom coming.[v]  At every circumcision in Jesus’ day, the Jews would set up a throne in case the child proved to be that Elijah that was to come, and they felt Elijah oversaw each circumcision.[vi]

4.  The most striking feature about John was his humility.  What did he say of himself in view of Jesus’ being mightier (more powerful) than he was (v. 7)?  What else do we read about John’s humble character later on as well (John 3:26-30)?

NOTE: What John was saying in verse 7 mustn’t be missed, which Mark alone gives us the account of:  In rabbinic teachings, untying a rabbi’s shoes was the task of slaves, and below the dignity of the rabbi’s disciples; this meant that John viewed himself as not even worthy of being a slave, the lowest possible position in that day’s culture, in comparison to the One he was the forerunner to![vii]

5.  What was the significant difference between John and the One to come (v. 8)? 

Scripture Memory:  Try to fill in the missing words in the blanks below, by memory if at all possible, and then review the passage several times today.

Then Jesus said to them, “_________________ Me, and I will make you become ______________________ of men.”  Mark 1:17, nkjv