The Beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ

As Mark watches Peter die a martyr’s death, he resolves that the ministry of Jesus must be written down. The Gospel he left behind is the story of the Son of God, who came in the form of a servant, served, and gave his own life as a ransom. John the Baptist proclaims a baptism of repentance at the Jordan River, and even among those who came out to be baptized were Pharisees who said they had nothing to repent of.

The phrase “the beginning of the Good News” means that all the law and sacrifices of the Old Testament came to an end at the cross of Jesus, and a new age began. Water baptism is confessing one’s faith within the church community. Baptism with the Holy Spirit is meeting God personally through grace that he gives on his own initiative. If a person’s words and actions do not change even after baptism, that person cannot be said to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Mark records that on the night Jesus was arrested, someone ran away in fear, though Scripture does not say for certain that this person was Mark. Mark later grew in faith, falling and getting up again and again, and he preached the gospel, filling the place Peter and Paul had left. Faith takes a different amount of time to grow in each person, so the church must wait in love for a brother who is weak.