LESSON THIRTY
Jesus’ Ministry Continues
Mark focusses on Jesus’ identity and how God’s kingdom dawns through him. We see Jesus roll back the effects of the curse—forgiving sins, healing sickness, and relieving suffering. He casts out demons and calms storms. He welcomes outcasts and befriends sinners. In all of this he provides a foretaste of the coming renewal of all things.
Those who trust and follow Jesus become his new people. They are a new Israel, his new family of mothers and brothers and sisters. They are able to understand his parables, which teach the truth of the kingdom’s arrival: although many expected God’s kingdom to break into the world with all its fullness, Jesus compares it to a tiny seed planted in the ground, which slowly grows into a large plant. His kingdom is already and not yet here—it has dawned but is not yet here in its fullness.
Jesus eventually asks his disciples the question he asks every one of us: “Who do you say that I am?”
Jesus eventually asks his disciples the question he asks every one of us: “Who do you say that I am?” As we read the following narrative, we must conclude that Jesus is either deceitful, deluded, or the one who his words and actions say he is: the Christ, the Son of God, the long-awaited Serpent-crushing Savior-King, God himself come to rescue us and restore all things.