1 This is the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 It is written in the book of Isaiah, the proph et, “I am send ing my messenger ahead of you to prepare your way.
3 Let the people hear the voice calling in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, level his paths.”
4 So John began to baptize in the desert; he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
5 All Judea and all the people from the city of Jerusalem went out to John to confess their sins and be baptized by him in the river Jordan.
6 John was clothed in camel’s hair and wore a leather garment around his waist. His food was locusts and honey.
7 He preached to the people saying, “After me comes one who is more powerful than I am;
8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. As for me, I am not worthy to bend down and untie his sandals.”
9 At that time Jesus came from Na za reth, a town of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
10 And the moment he came up out of the water, heaven opened before him and he saw the Spirit coming down on him like a dove.
11 And these words were heard from heaven, “You are my Son, the Be loved, the One I have chosen.”
12 Then the Spirit drove him in to the desert.
13 Jesus stayed in the desert forty days and was tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, but angels ministered to him.
Jesus calls his first disciples
14 After John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee and began preaching the Good News of God.
15 He said, “The time has come; the kingdom of God is at hand. Change your ways and believe the Good News.”
16 As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake, for they were fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”
18 At once, they abandoned their nets and followed him.
19 Jesus went a little farther on and saw James and John, the sons of Ze be dee; they were in their boat mending their nets.
20 Immediately, Jesus called them and they followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men.
Jesus teaches and drives out an evil spirit.
21 They went into the town of Capernaum and Jesus be gan to teach in the synagogue during the sabbath assem blies.
22 The people were astonished at the way he taught, for he spoke as one having authority and not like the teachers of the Law.
23 It happened that a man with an evil spirit was in their syna gogue
24 and he shouted, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: You are the Holy One of God.”
25 Then Jesus faced him and said with authority, “Be silent and come out of this man!”
26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and, with a loud shriek, came out of him.
27 All the people were astonished and they wondered, “What is this? With what auth ority he preaches! He even orders evil spirits and they obey him!”
28 And Jesus’ fame spread throughout all the country of Galilee.
Jesus heals many
29 On leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to the home of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
30 As Si mon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with fever, they immediately told him about her.
31 Jesus went to her and taking her by the hand, raised her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
32 That eve ning at sundown, people brought to Jesus all the sick and those who had evil spirits:
33 the whole town was pressing around the door.
34 Jesus healed many who had various diseases, and drove out many demons; but he did not let them speak, for they knew who he was.
Jesus’ prayer at night
35 Very early in the morning, before daylight, Jesus went off to a lonely place where he prayed.
36 Si mon and the others went out, too, searching for him;
37 and when they found him they said, “Every one is looking for you.”
38 Then Jesus answered, “Let’s go to the near by villages so that I may preach there too; for that is why I came.”
39 So Jesus set out to preach in all the synagogues throughout Galilee; he also cast out demons.
Jesus cures a leper
40 A leper came to Jesus and beg ged him, “If you so will, you can make me clean.”
41 Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.”
42 The leprosy left the man at once and he was made clean.
43 As Jesus sent the man away, he sternly warned him,
44 “Don’t tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest and for the cleansing bring the offering ordered by Moses; in this way you will make your declaration.”
45 However, as soon as the man went out, he began spread ing the news everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter any town. But even though he stayed in the rural areas, people came to him from every where.
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Comments Mark, Chapter 1
• 1.1 In verses 1 to 13, Mark gives us in three small tableaux three important insights about Jesus’ salvation. Vv. 1-7. John the Baptist announces the coming of the One sent by God: this Jesus about whom the Gospel will speak to us has been announced, prepared by all the great witnesses of the Old Testament. In him and by him God’s salvation will be accomplished.
Vv. 9-10. Jesus goes down into the Jordan to open the gates of the true Promised Land (see the Book of Joshua): he is the beloved Son of the Father on whom the Spirit rests. Jesus comes to reveal the mystery of God, the mystery of the love of God – Father, Son and Spirit.
Vv. 11-13. Jesus is at peace with the wild animals as he is with the angels. In him and by him will be accomplished the reconciliation of all creation with its God. Such had to be the Messiah announced by Isaiah (Is 11).
• 14. After this desert experience, Jesus returns to his home province, Galilee, and establishes himself in Capernaum. Jesus lives in the house of Simon, who already appears to be the leader of a group of fishermen, and among them Jesus finds his disciples.
God becomes human, Jesus shares the life of the people of his time, and like the prophets he teaches by what he says and does.
The time has come (v. 15). What does that mean? The time fixed by God has come to an end (Gal 4:4; Eph 1:10), the time of preparation has ended, and the manifestation of God announced by the prophets has already begun.
Change your ways and believe the Good News. God does not expect works on the part of human beings but calls them to faith. Be rid of all that hampers you, of all that prevents you from seeing and believe! Believe that it is he, and he alone who is able to save you!
At once they left their nets and followed him (v. 18), which means leaving their family and work they began to live with him. Like the masters of religion in his time, like the rabbis, Jesus instructed his first disciples, teaching them what they were to pass on to others in the Church.
Simon, Andrew, James and John. Jesus already knew them: he had met them where John the Baptist was preaching (Jn 1:35). The first nucleus of disciples is this natural group of lake fishermen of which Peter seemed to be the leader. They were most probably young men, ready to make a commitment at a time and in a culture where people were freer than we are from the constraints of work.
They did not yet know what the Reign of God would mean but they trusted Jesus to guide them. This for them was the beginning of faith.
• 21. Mark has shown us how Jesus began his public life: he became part of a movement of conversion that had shaken everyone at the call of John the Baptist. It was then that Jesus began preaching and met his first disciples.
Mark will now give us a “day” in the life of Jesus. Through his words and actions a power that impresses every witness becomes manifest. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus preaches in the synagogues. The synagogue is the Jewish house of prayer. People gather each Saturday for the chanting of the Psalms and the reading of the Bible. The one in charge preaches and invites others to join. This is where Jesus reveals himself. He is not like the teachers of the Law who repeat, in ter pret, and give others’ opinions. Jesus speaks on his own and he speaks with authority, “In truth, I tell you.”
• 23. With the same authority Jesus drives out demons. This act also contains a message: Jesus delivers us from the influence of the Devil, who strives to destroy those created in the likeness of God.
This “Master of this world” (Jn 14:30) is present in all human business and culture to deceive human purposes and converts any progress into new slavery.
In Jesus’ time, but much more rarely in the Church’s time (our time), there were some persons possessed by the Devil. Jesus freed quite a number of people from this slavery and disease. Physical possession is not the usual way of the devil’s activity in humans. The Devil operates (far more dangerously because we do not feel it) in the moral life of people. He blinds and confuses them with regard to the truth, disguised as the angel of light (2 Cor 11:14).
Not that the Devil is the cause of every sin and evil that people do. There is also the selfishness of our “flesh” and the lure of the false promises of “the world” but the Devil, as enemy of God’s kingdom, is never at rest. He always nurtures our temptations. With holier persons who are not easy to tempt in a direct way, he goes about deceiving them persuading them to give more importance to their own good purposes than to the advice of others and the teaching of the Church.
The Devil notices at once those who are capable of weakening or destroying his em pire. Then he awakens the bad, the mediocre, the foolish and the ill fated against them. That is why wherever Jesus goes the Devil also appears.
• 29. Peter’s simple faith is manifested. Jesus enters the house, bringing with him peace and health. Jesus shows us how to visit the sick. What a natural thing to do when Mass ends – to go see the sick. The care and love of our Christian sisters and brothers attracts God’s favors upon them.
As soon as it was sundown. Let us not forget that it is the Sabbath, the weekly day of rest. For the Jews days are counted from the time of sunset and night precedes day as shown in Genesis 1:5. Everyone observes the Sabbath, just as Jesus does and there is such haste to bring the sick to him that they begin to do so in the evening as soon as the Sabbath is over.
• 35. The apostles knew God since childhood through the Bible’s teachings; perhaps they had not discovered God within their own lives but prayed to God as to a distant stranger. When they joined Jesus, they immediately understood that there was something extraordinary about him. They were especially taken with his apparent intimacy with God. The most extraordinary thing they noted in his manner and actions was his intimate and faithful union with his Father.
Living with Jesus, they begin to desire to know the Father more fully, something like Jesus knows him (Lk 11:1; Jn 14:8; 15:15).
THE MARGINALIZED
• 40. Jesus leaves Capernaum to announce the Good News to the most isolated and ignored families in the whole country. There he finds the lepers. At that time leprosy was considered as a contagious disease. Because of this, lepers had to live on the outskirts of the towns, far from the rest of the population. There was also a belief that leprosy was an affliction from God, and the Jewish religion declared lepers unclean.
By Jesus’ act, the flesh of the leper becomes clean. As a result of this, from that time on, he would be like others and people would no longer avoid him. Both peo ple and the Law of God would acknowledge his dignity.
The Good News does not remain mere words but it effects a change. From then on, they would no longer be marginalized people.
Don’t tell anyone (v. 44). Very often, particularly in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus gives this order to those who have just been cured of an evil (1:25; 1:34; 1:44; 3:12; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26; 8:30). We must note, however, that Jesus does not give this order when he is outside Israel territory; and that the order is not given after the transfiguration.
Jesus imposed this silence during the first part of his public life because most of the people expected a warlike and vengeful Messiah. Jesus did not want any ambiguity about his mission. Only when Jesus had sufficiently distanced himself from this popular image of the Messiah, would he begin to reveal, first to his disciples, the mystery of his person.
For this same reason Mark, who differs from Matthew, rarely uses the expression “son of God.” Mark reserves it for the privileged moments of Jesus’ revelation to people: his baptism and transfiguration, and at the conclusion of the passion on the lips of the centurion.