The Big Read – Mark

Powerpoint Pictures: Poor person; Messy person; Sprinter like Usain Bolt; Tall Person; Someone standing in first position

What is the opposite of rich? *[Poor]*

What is the opposite of messy? *[Neat]*

What is the opposite of fast? *[Slow]*

What is the opposite of tall? *[Short]*

What is the opposite of winner? *[Loser].*

Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the four Gospels, the four books of the Bible that tell us about Jesus’ life on this earth.  As well as being the shortest of the four Gospels, it is also the easiest to understand because it mainly answers two big and important questions: ‘Who is Jesus?’ and ‘Why did Jesus come?’

The answer Mark gives to the first question, ‘Who is Jesus?’ is a surprising answer, because Mark says that Jesus is both a winner and a loser.

Mark says that Jesus is both the Son of Man and the Suffering Servant, two figures that appear in the Old Testament.

The Son of Man is an image of a winner – He is one who is given the authority to rule as King forever.

The suffering servant is an image of a loser – He is one who suffers and is put to death.

How can Jesus be both a winner and a loser?  It doesn’t appear to make sense.  But Mark says that it does when you look at the answer to the second question of ‘Why did Jesus come?’

In Mark 10:45 Jesus tells us why He came.  *“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”*

Mark says that the reason Jesus is both a winner and a loser is because the only way for Jesus to win is by losing first.  It is because Jesus dies, because Jesus is defeated that He wins, that He saves the lives of many people that He then rules over.

And you can be one of the many people that Jesus saves if you repent of your sins and believe this good news about Him.