Peter Hart, pastor at Auckland Baptist Tabernacle, did an excellent sermon on Sunday, June 14, 2009 on Mark 6. He brought out several insights about the chapter and about the book of Mark that I had not seen before. I want to put them down here so that I don’t forget.

1. One of the themes from Mark is the mystery of Jesus’ identity. There are many people asking, “Who is this man?” I remember learning about this in seminary. But Peter Hart brought out that in the first part of Mark (Mark 1-5), the three strongest claims for Jesus’ identity come from demons!

(1) Mark 1:24 where the demon-possessed man calls him the “Holy One of God”.

(2) Mark 1:34 where it says that he drove out many demons but he did not let them speak because “they knew who he was.”

(3) Mark 5:6 where Legion calls him “Jesus, Son of the Most High God”.

I had two thoughts about this:

• First, I bet the Devil hates that the primary testimony so far for Jesus’ identity is coming from him and his followers. The very thing that he is trying to work for is being thwarted by the demons revealing who Jesus is.
• Second, I think it is interesting to have our evidence for Jesus being the Son of God come from the “other” side. In other words, it is always more powerful when your enemy recognizes something than when your friends agree with you.

2. Peter Hart talked about the different “episodes” that take place in Mark 6. At first glance it seems that they don’t all fit together. But, when we look closer, as with most places in Mark, we realize that they are linked in an amazing way. Here are the four episodes:

Episode 1: The Hometown Hero (Jesus is not respected in his hometown.)

Episode 2: The Mission (The sending out of the 12)

Episode 3: The Prophet’s End (The killing of John the Baptist)

Episode 4: Mission Debrief (The disciples return and discuss their mission work.)

Episode 3, at first glance, seems to have an odd placement. Mark is talking about this great mission that the disciples were sent on and then all of sudden, he is giving us this sad and rather gruesome story on the death of John the Baptist. But then we find the clue in verses 14-16. Mark is telling us, according to his theme, the guesses that people have for who Jesus is. Herod is making his guesses and his guess is that Jesus is John the Baptist resurrected. Then, Mark needs to explain why John the Baptist is dead. Hence, the story. Peter Hart also pointed out that there are similarities between John the Baptist and Elijah in how they challenge the wicked rulers of the time.

Also, Peter Hart mentioned that Episode 3 gives us a taste for what it is like to be prophet. I think that shows how Episode 3 also ties in with Episode 1. Jesus is talking about the challenges of being a prophet in Episode 1 and how they are not honored in their hometown. That theme is continued in Episode 3 where we see how a prophet is treated badly through imprisonment and death.

3. In addition to the individual episodes having particular links, Peter Hart talked about the importance of the whole section. In episodes 2 and 4, it seems like things are going well. The kingdom is advancing and the disciples are excited by all the things that they are able to do. But in episodes 1 and 3, the kingdom looks like it might fail. Look how Jesus is treated by his hometown! Look at how John the Baptist is killed! So, the kingdom of God is advancing but it also can feel like it is dying. The kingdom of God includes times of victory and times of imprisonment and death. We see both sides in this chapter.

I thought this last point relates to our lives. Don’t our lives feel like this? Sometimes when we try to advance the kingdom of God, we go on a mission and see God do amazing things. We come back and debrief with others about all the amazing things we saw! But then sometimes, when we are trying to advance the kingdom of God, we stagger home after experiencing failure, loss and death. And yet, who is Jesus again? He is the Son of God and the victor of this kingdom. Someday, the victory will be complete.