Why I'm Excited About the Book of Mark
Throughout World War II, the streets and shops of the Western allied nations were littered with recruitment posters. Slogans such as “Uncle Sam needs you” and the famous British poster, which read “keep calm and carry on” are now iconic images in modern history. Each of these posters with its unique wording was selected carefully for one purpose and one purpose only: to call people to action.
A couple thousand years earlier before these posters were ever plastered on shop walls a greater call to action was initiated - not through a carefully crafted poster but through a person: Jesus Christ. The late Pastor Tim Keller wrote, “Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection form the central event of cosmic and human history as well as the central organising principle of our lives.”1
The Gospel of Mark contains a concise and action packed outline of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. Mark uses the Greek phrase και εὐθύς forty one times. Again, Keller writes, “Jesus is seen as a man of action, moving quickly and decisively from event to event.”2 Mark’s message is clear…the person and work of Jesus calls us to decisive action. There is no neutrality.
Unfortunately, there are many who remain neutral to Jesus. Unconcerned and unaffected by the implications of The God-man. Many followers of Jesus simply assent to the information about Jesus without ever experiencing the true life-transforming work of Jesus. But if Jesus is who he says he is and if he did what the Bible tells us he did then it compels us to respond accordingly with our whole life.
As we dive into the Gospel of Mark we will come face to face with the implications of Jesus for all of our life. We will see through Mark’s account how the only way to truly understand our life is through the life of Jesus. And as we come face to face with Jesus over these next twelve weeks we will see how he is calling us out of a life of neutrality and into a greater life and existence then we could ever imagine.
I hope you will join us and invite others as well to see how the person and work of Jesus changes everything and because of that we cannot remain neutral.
Jeremy Dager
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1 Jesus the King.
2 Ibid.
