John the Baptist

In His engagements with the hypocritical scribes of the Pharisees, who were ostensibly of the portion Solomon would have described as pure in their own lofty eyes yet not washed from their filthiness (Proverbs 30:12-14), we saw Christ describe Himself as a physician healing the sick. These concepts appear often in the prophets as a picture of sin and repentance, and Christ elucidated on the familiar parable when He said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but wrongdoers!” (Mark 2:17)

In our previous presentation on the gospel of Mark, we explored how the primary purpose of John the Baptist was to prepare the people for the coming of the Christ, and this was accomplished in manifold ways.

In our introduction to Mark, we discussed how the early Christian writers attested that this gospel is the faithful preservation of Peter’s oral testimonies. The internal evidence supports this, such as the vivid descriptive style and its focus on the actions of Christ’s ministry rather than lengthy teachings or parables. This emphasis on works gives the Gospel of Mark a fast-paced and dynamic narrative compared to the other accounts.