Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• The sign of the departing deportee 12:1-7
  12:1-2 The Lord came to Ezekiel with another message.190He told His servant that the people among whom he lived, the house of Israel, were rebellious against Him (cf. 2:3-8). Their blindness to the things that they saw and th...
• Mark's position among the Gospels
  It is common today for scholars to hold Markan priority. This is the view that Mark wrote his Gospel first and the other Gospel evangelists wrote after he did. This view has become popular since the nineteenth century. Before...
• Outline
  I. Introduction 1:1-13A. The title of the book 1:1B. Jesus' preparation for ministry 1:2-131. The ministry of John the Baptist 1:2-82. The baptism of Jesus 1:9-113. The temptation of Jesus 1:12-13II. The Servant's early Galil...
• 3. The temptation of Jesus 1:12-13 (cf. Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13)
  Jesus' temptation by Satan was another event that prepared the divine Servant for His ministry. Mark's account is brief, and it stresses the great spiritual conflict that this temptation posed for Jesus. The writer omitted an...
• II. The Servant's early Galilean ministry 1:14--3:6
  Mark omitted Jesus' year of early Judean ministry (John 1:15-4:42), as did the other Synoptic evangelists. He began his account of Jesus' ministry of service in Galilee, northern Israel (1:14-6:6a). Because of increasing oppo...
• 1. The healing and forgiveness of a paralytic 2:1-12 (cf. Matt. 9:1-8; Luke 5:17-26)
  2:1-2 These two verses are an introduction to what follows. Mark frequently used summaries such as this one (cf. 1:14-15, 39; 2:13; 3:7-12, 23; 4:1, 33-34; 8:21-26, 31; 9:31; 10:1; 12:1). They are a mark of his literary style...
• Healing on the Sabbath 3:1-6 (cf. Matt. 12:9-14; Luke 6:6-11)
  The following incident demonstrated Jesus' sovereign authority over the Sabbath. This is the last in this series of conflict accounts. It provides the climax in this section of Mark's narrative.3:1-2 This event happened on a ...
• The stilling of a storm 4:35-41 (cf. Matt. 8:18, 23-27; Luke 8:22-25)
  Many unique features of Mark's narrative indicate that it came from an eyewitness account, probably Peter. These include mention of "that day"(v. 35), "as He [Jesus] was"and the other boats (v. 36), the stern and the cushion ...
• 2. Jesus' rejection by the Nazarenes 6:1-6a (cf. Matt. 13:54-58)
  Even though Jesus gave ample evidence that He was more than a mere man (4:35-5:43) those who knew Him best on the physical plane still refused to believe in Him (6:1-6a). This refusal led Jesus to turn increasingly from the m...
• IV. The Servant's self-revelation to the disciples 6:6b--8:30
  The increasing hostility of Israel's religious leaders and the rejection of the multitudes (3:7-6:6a) led Jesus to concentrate on training His disciples increasingly. This section of Mark's Gospel shows how Jesus did that. Wh...
• A. The mission of the Twelve 6:6b-30
  This is another of Mark's "sandwich"or chiastic sections. The main event is Jesus' sending the Twelve on a preaching and healing mission that extended His own ministry. Within this story, between their departing and their ret...
• 1. The feeding of the 5,000 6:31-44 (cf. Matt. 14:13-21; Luke 9:11-17; John 6:1-13)
  Mark's account of this miracle plays an important role in his Gospel. The unusually long introduction provides the setting for this miracle. It stresses Jesus' humanity, and the miracle itself demonstrates His deity. Mark lat...
• Jesus' teaching about the nature of defilement 7:14-23
  Jesus continued His response to the critics by focusing on the particular practice that they had objected to (v. 5). The question of what constituted defilement was very important. The Jews had wandered far from God's will in...
• 5. The healing of a deaf man with a speech impediment 7:31-36
  Mark was the only evangelist to record this miracle. He apparently included it in his Gospel because it is another instance of Jesus healing a Gentile. This particular miracle is also significant because it prefigured Jesus o...
• C. The second cycle of self-revelation to the disciples 8:1-30
  The disciples had not yet understood the lessons that Jesus sought to teach them. Mark constructed his Gospel to show that in His discipleship training Jesus repeated lessons to train them. One writer noticed the following re...
• 1. The feeding of the 4,000 8:1-9 (cf. Matt. 15:32-38)
  This miracle repeated the lesson of the feeding of the 5,000 for the disciples who had not learned what they should have from the former miracle (vv. 17-21).1878:1-3 Jesus and His disciples were still in the Decapolis region ...
• 3. Conflict with the Pharisees over signs 8:11-13 (cf. Matt. 16:1-4)
  Matthew's account of this incident is fuller than Mark's. Probably Mark just summarized it here to parallel 7:1-23 and so advance his theme of discipleship training.8:11 Matthew noted that the Sadducees accompanied the Pharis...
• 4. Jesus' teaching about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod 8:14-21 (cf. Matt. 16:5-12)
  This pericope parallels and recalls Jesus' teaching about bread when He cast the demon out of the Phoenician girl (7:24-30). In both cases leavened bread metaphorically represented teaching. The Gentile woman wanted Jesus' te...
• 5. The healing of a blind man near Bethsaida 8:22-26
  Mark is the only evangelist who recorded this miracle. It corresponds to the healing of the deaf man with the speech impediment (7:31-36), the only other miracle that Mark alone recorded. This is the only miracle in Mark that...
• 6. Peter's confession of faith 8:27-30 (cf. Matt. 16:13-20; Luke 9:18-21)
  The healing of the deaf man with the speech impediment resulted in a confession of Jesus' greatness that fell short of identifying Him as God (7:37). The healing of the blind man was the incident that God used to open the dis...
• V. The Servant's journey to Jerusalem 8:31--10:52
  Having comprehended Jesus' true identity the disciples next turned south with Jesus and headed from Caesarea Philippi toward Jerusalem. This section of the Gospel traces that journey and stresses Jesus' preparation of His dis...
• 2. The requirements of discipleship 8:34-9:1 (cf. Matt. 16:24-28; Luke 9:23-27)
  Jesus now proceeded to explain to His disciples that suffering would not only be His destiny but theirs too.8:34 Jesus addressed the crowds as well as the disciples because the requirements are the same for anyone who contemp...
• Jesus' instruction about childlikeness 10:13-16 (cf. Matt. 19:13-15; Luke 18:15-17)
  The simple trust in Jesus that the children in this pericope demonstrated contrasts with the hostility of the Pharisees in the previous paragraph.10:13-14 Mark's account of this incident is very similar to Matthew's. However,...
• 3. The healing of a blind man near Jericho 10:46-52 (cf. Matt. 20:29-34; Luke 18:35-43)
  Mark probably included this incident in his Gospel because it illustrates how Jesus would open the spiritual eyes of His disciples that were still shut (cf. 8:22-26). This is the last healing miracle that Mark recorded."This ...
• Bibliography
  Adams, J. McKee. Biblical Backgrounds. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1965.Alexander, Joseph Addison. The Gospel According to Mark. 1881. Reprint ed. London: Banner of Truth, 1960.Alexander, William M. Demonic Possession in the N...
• Jesus' question and Peter's reply 9:18-20 (cf. Matt. 16:13-16; Mark 8:27-29)
  Luke omitted several incidents here that the other evangelists included (Matt. 14:22-16:12; Mark 6:45-8:26; John 6:16-66). By doing so, he tied the questions of Herod and the multitude about Jesus' identity with Peter's answe...
• 1. The importance of fearless confession 12:1-12 (cf. Matt. 10:19-20, 26-33)
  Jesus used His condemnation of the Pharisees' hypocrisy as an occasion to warn His disciples against being hypocritical. The context of this teaching in Matthew's Gospel is Jesus' instruction of the Twelve before He sent them...
• 1. The first cleansing of the temple 2:13-22
  The Synoptics record Jesus' cleansing of the temple after His triumphal entry (Matt. 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-16; Luke 19:45-46). Only John noted this cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. The differences b...
• 6. The sixth sign: healing a man born blind ch. 9
  This chapter continues the theme of Jesus as the Light of the World (8:12; 9:5). When the Light shone, some received spiritual sight, as this blind man received physical and spiritual sight. However the Light blinded others (...
• The folly of a crucified Messiah 1:18-25
  "This paragraph is crucial not only to the present argument (1:10-4:21) but to the entire letter as well. Indeed, it is one of the truly great moments in the apostle Paul. Here he argues, with OT support, that what God had al...
• The analogy of the Passover 5:6-8
  Paul argued for the man's removal from the church with this analogy. It was primarily for the sake of the church that they should remove him, not for the man's sake.5:6 It was not good for the Corinthians to feel proud of the...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• St. Mark 1-9
  Mark 1-9
• The Patient Teacher, And The Slow Scholars
  And when Jesus knew it, He saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? 18. Having eyes, see ye not? having ears, hear ye not? and do ye n...
• The Religious Uses Of Memory
  Do ye not remember?'--Mark 8:18.THE disciples had misunderstood our Lord's warning against the leaven of the Pharisees,' which they supposed to have been occasioned by their neglect to bring with them bread. Their blunder was...
• The Gradual Healing Of The Blind Man
  And Jesus cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto Him, and besought Him to touch him. 23. And He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when He had spit on his eyes. and put His hands up...