7 And preached, saying, There" cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. 7 locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, There cometh after me he that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop a Matt. 3: 11; John 1: 27; Acts 13: 25.-1 Gr. suficient. "clean" according to the law of Moses (Lev. 11:22), and formed, as they still do form, a part of the food of the poor, although it is said that at present they are somewhat despised, as the food of the very poorest. Some travellers have affirmed that they found them palatable when cooked as the people cook them-oftenest by boiling. Wild honey was also abundant, deposited sometimes in trees, as at 1 Sam. 14: 25, and sometimes in crevices of the rocks (Deut. 32: 13; Ps. 81: 16). These few details, given in almost identical words by Matthew and Mark, LOCUSTS. make up almost the whole of our picture of the personal life of John; yet our picture is very distinct and lifelike. It includes the main points in the living of an ascetic-a home in the wilderness; no need of helps or appliances, or provision from beyond his immediate locality; no dependence on men; rough clothing, such as the sternest of the prophets had worn, and such as men have often worn for the sake of doing penance; and such food as nature offered to a hermit. This was no new way of life to John when his ministry began. His aged parents probably died while he was still young, and he "was in the deserts" (Luke 1: 80), most likely in some such life as this, from his youth to his ministry. Many of his hearers may have brought their luxuries, or at least their comforts, with them to his preaching; but John was still the ascetic. 7, 8. JOHN'S PREACHING.-Mark's report is only a fragment, but a fragment that is perfectly characteristic of him and of his Gospel. This is the Gospel of action. The messenger before the Messiah has come, and now he is portrayed solely in the act of announcing the One who is to come after him. The call to repentance is omitted, as already implied, and only the proclamation is given. There cometh one mightier than I after me, or "behind me " not merely "one," but the one "mightier than I," for the definite article points out a definite individual. It is the superior spiritual power of the Messiah that is here joyfully announced by the forerunner. John may have felt with pain his own inability to change the heart, and even so to read the heart as to avoid being deceived by men. and so he may have loved to think of the Messiah as the mightier One by whom the things impossible to him should be done.-Before one so much mightier John takes the humblest position. The latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. The latchet was the thong or strap by which the sandal was bound upon the foot; and, as it was the office of a servant to bear the shoes (Matthew), so it was perhaps a still humbler duty of his to loosen them from the Master's feet. I am not worthy, says John"I am not hikanos-suitable, a fit person-to do for him even this most menial service." This is not to be taken as a bold figure of speech on John's part, going perhaps beyond his feeling. It was an honest utterance of humility, from one of the most humble men that ever lived. This was his sincere opinion of the difference between himself and the Messiah whom he had not seen. Verse 8 illustrates that surpassing spiritual power of the Messiah before which John stands in reverence. The means of illustrating it John finds in his own baptism.-I have baptized CH. I.] MARK. 8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. 9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 19 a Joel 2: 28; Acts 1:5; 2:4; 10: 45; 11: 15, 16; 1 Cor. 12: 13....b Matt. 3: 13; Luke 3: 21.1 Or, with Parallels, 9-11. THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. Matt. 3: 13-17; Luke 3:21, 22.-Matthew alone tells of the hesitation of the Baptist; otherwise, the three reports differ but very slightly. 64 you with water. Aorist, not perfect. Mat- conception. Baptizon en hudati signifies, 'bapthew and Luke, "I baptize you," present tense. tize in water' (immersing); baptizein hudati, Mark conceives of John as addressing those baptize with water.' Here the identity of the whom he has already baptized.—But he shall two expressions in sense is manifest; yet we baptize you with the Holy Ghost. As bap- must not consider one as put for the other." tism, administered by John, is an overwhelm- Observe, however, that, with pneumati, en is ing in water, so shall that which the Messiah always used: it is always "baptize in the Holy imparts be an overwhelming in holy, spiritual Spirit," never "with." Mark omits the bapinfluences. He shall merge and whelm men as tism in fire by which in Matthew and Luke John has done, and that, too, in a cleansing the Baptist completes the representation of the Mightier is he, superior might of the Messiah. element; but not in water. and mightier cleansing influences attend him. He shall do by the Holy Spirit that actual work of renewal and purification of which the baptism of John has been only the symbol. "His 9. In those days. The time is indefinite, work shall surpass mine," says John, "as far as the Holy Spirit surpasses water in actual power nor is it plainly identified in the other records. to purify." This is to predict for the Messiah a The place of the baptism is indicated by John real work, an actual whelming of men in the 1: 28, which says John was at that time bap'Bethabara "-or by the best text The Palestine life-giving, holy influences of the Divine Spirit. tizing at The fulfilment of this prediction is not to be Bethania, "beyond Jordan." found in any gift or gifts peculiar to the apos- Exploration Fund identifies this as one of the tles: the language of the passage forbids that, upper fords of the Jordan, still known as 'Abas well as the sense of the prediction. The ob- arah, within a day's journey of the early home ject of the verb in both clauses is the indefinite of Jesus. It is thought that Bethania is meant "you"-"I baptized you, he will baptize you" for Batanea, a name given to the district on the -and the natural reference is to all who re- east of the river.-Jesus came. Thus informalceive his influences. This is a general descrip- ly does Mark introduce to his story the One but tion of the spiritual work of Christ. The bap- for whom it would never have been written. He tizing in the Holy Spirit is not any single act or writes for those who already know him; but so event in the history of Christ's kingdom; the do those who prepare more elaborately for his figure is a noble characterization of the quality entrance to their story. Mark is pressing forand power of his work. It was illustrated on ward to the story of action.-From Nazareth the day of Pentecost, and in the miraculous of Galilee. His quiet home for nearly thirty gifts of the apostolic age (Acts 11: 16, where years. The impression made by the record is Peter recognized an illustration of it), and in that he came alone, not in a caravan of comers, the graces that were better than miraculous and directly from his own abode. The moment It is illustrated still whenever of his withdrawal from the long retirement was gifts (1 Cor. 13). Christ through the Holy Spirit makes new determined in his own heart, which was guided, creatures of men and sanctifies his people. no doubt, partly by what he heard of the work Christ is still, as "John the baptizer" called of the Baptist. In the great movement of godhim (John 1:33), "the baptizer in the Holy ly reformation, when the people were awakened Spirit" (ho baptizōn en pn. hag.). Luke (3:16) somewhat to holy things, he was drawn to go omits en before hudati and reads, "I bap-out and cast in his lot and life with the work, tize you with water," instead of "in water," the dative being the instrumental dative. On this difference Winer remarks (Grammar of the N. T., Thayer's edition, p. 412): "Sometimes we find in parallel passages a preposition now inserted and now omitted. This difference of phraseology does not affect the sense, but each form of expression rose from a different and so to take his appointed place. There is no wrong in thus recognizing the influence of the movement in calling him out. But why was he baptized? Not with the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, but with the baptism of consecration to the work that lay before him. He was a man and was living under the limitations of humanity, and he 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, 10 in the Jordan. And straightway coming up out of he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit," like a dove, the water, he saw the heavens rent asunder, and the descending upon hini: a Isa. 42: 1; John 1: 32.1 Gr. into. would not fail to "fulfil all righteousness heavens rent asunder" who can tell? We are i. e. to do all that a man ought who was going reminded of Stephen's vision (Acts 7:55, 56) and forth to a great work for God and his kingdom. of the longing of the prophet (1sa,&4:1): “Oh He was "made like unto his brethren" (Heb. 2:17), that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou and the step that was suitable to a man was suit- wouldest come down!"-Whether the Son of God able to him-not arbitrarily, but because what saw any vision in the opened heavens we canhad a meaning to a man had a meaning to him. not know; but from the opened heavens he saw As men could consecrate themselves to a holy the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon life and work in baptism, so could he; and so him. Mark and the Baptist himself (John 1: 32) say he did, pledging himself to the higher activity "the Spirit;" Luke, "the Holy Spirit;" Matthew, of that Messianic life on which he was only the Spirit of God."-Like a dove-i. e. in a then entering. Moreover, as men may seek dovelike form, and not merely, as some have strength for work that is before them by "ful-understood it, with a dovelike motion, as a dove filling all righteousness"-i. e. by obediently descends. The Baptist adds, “And it abode upon submitting to the ordinances of God-so could he; and so he did, taking this as one step in the way by which he was to be "made perfect" as the "Captain of salvation." The difficulties that have been suggested by the fact that he submitted to baptism are due, in great measure, to the instinctive but erroneous and unscriptural impression that the Son of God must have been separated in some way from the common lot of humanity. On the contrary, he was perfectly identified with the common lot of humanity; and that fact, when we learn to understand it, will tend to make his life at once far more intelligible and far more adorable-more truly human and more gloriously divine.-Jesus came, and was baptized of John in Jordan. Literally, not "in," as in verse 5, but "into" (eis)-a phrase that is as suitable as the other to the meaning of baptizō. It is the very act of immersion into the river that is represented. 10. THE VISIBLE SIGN OF ACCEPTANCE.-Here first we meet with Mark's characteristic word, euthus, which, with its cognate eutheōs, he uses a little more than forty times, the words being variously translated "immediately," "forthwith," "straightway," in the English version. Going up out of the water. After the bap-ship (Rom. 8:16; Gal. 4. 6) and the spirit of filial tism. The best text has ek, "out of," instead of apo, "from."-He saw-i. e. Jesus. John also saw the vision (John 1:32-34), but there is every reason to believe that no others saw it.-The heavens opened, or, rather, "rent open." The same word as in Matt. 27: 51: "The rocks were rent." It is a present participle here, indicating that he saw the very process of opening. Matthew and Luke use the common word for "opened," and so the strong, graphic word is peculiar to Mark. Luke says that he was praying. Exactly what is meant by "the him." The descent of the dovelike form was of course symbolic-a visible picture of an unseen spiritual reality. If this unquestionable statement is admitted, it follows at once that there was then granted to the God-man some fresh impartation of the Divine Spirit. The whole subject is in the realm of mystery, and must remain there; and yet the recognition of the human limitations in the life of Jesus may contribute something to the understanding of it. It is the work of the Spirit in man to convince concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment—i. e. to awaken great and controlling convictions concerning moral evil and moral good, and the discrimination that is made between them in the government of God. These were the convictions, residing in the divine mind, out of which came the counsel of redemption. It was necessary that the mind of Jesus, so far as it was human, should be brought into perfect accord with these convictions of the divine mind; and so we can see how there was reason that the Spirit should be given to him-" not by measure" (Jobn 3: 34), but in unlimited fulness. It is the work of the Spirit in man, also, to inspire the sense of son "Be prayer (Rom. 8: 26, 27); and plainly it was possible 11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou | art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 11 Spirit as a dove descending upon him and a voice came out of the heavens, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. 12 a Ps. 2: 7. And straightway the Spirit driveth him forth into with the pre-existent Logos, in whom God from eternity delighted. The ministry would be full of trials, and the quickly-impending temptation might suggest doubts of his own identity with the Holy One of God. By this utterance the identification was completed for the consciousness of Jesus, and there is no reason to suspect that any doubt of it ever crossed his mind in any of the trials of his life or the agonies of his death. Of course, the whole subject of our Lord's consciousness must remain mysterious to us; but this view rests upon the fact that he was subject to the lim now he was at the threshold of his great work, and this was the moment when he most needed whatever endowments were to come upon him from above. Here alone is the Holy Spirit represented by a dove. The symbolic meaning has been variously interpreted; perhaps it was not meant to be minutely understood. The thought may be that the Divine Spirit is a Spirit of gentleness, or that the Father looks tenderly upon the Son who does always the things that please him and sweetly sends upon men his helpful influence, but, besides all the meaning of the event for Jesus himself, it was intended as a sign whereby John should identify the Mes-itations of human growth, and that there was a siah (John 1: 32–34). 11. THE AUDIBLE SIGN OF ACCEPTANCE.-A voice from heaven, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Literally, "I delighted."-Thou art. So Mark and Luke; Matthew, "This is."-In whom. For this the best text reads "in thee."—I delighted. Aorist, not present; so in all three. Jesus heard the voice; John certainly did not hear it. The descent of the dove had been given him beforehand as a sign, and he recognized it and used it for evidence. If he had heard the voice, it is very strange that he mentioned the dove and omitted to mention this, which would have served his purpose of identifying the Messiah still better. There is no proof that the voice was ever appealed to as evidence or was meant for evidential use. The voice seems to have been meant for Jesus only, and to have been heard by him alone. It was probably intended as a sign of acceptance to Jesus himself. Accordingly, it is "Thou art" rather than "This is" my beloved Son. The utterance at the transfiguration, plainly evidential in its purpose, was, "This is my beloved Son." At the baptism the public work was at hand, and the new impartation of the Spirit had come; and the moment was a fitting one for a cheering word. As for the force of the communication, the English version obscures it by rendering eudokêsa like a present, when it is an aorist: "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I delighted." When? See John 17: 24: "Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." The voice from heaven at the beginning of the ministry is the counterpart of this claim in the prayer at the end. At this important hour the Father assures Jesus anew of his identity progress in his consciousness of what he was, which progress was crowned by the full conviction that he now received. What he learned thereafter was (Heb. 5:8) how to live and die as God's beloved Son in the purpose of working out salvation for men. 12, 13. THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS. Parallels, Matt. 4: 1-11; Luke 4: 1-13.-Mark's report is the merest outline, barely serving to put the temptation in its proper place in the history. The evangelist of action presses on to the public ministry, merely outlining what precedes. But he cannot draw an outline that is not lifelike, and this swift sketch is a graphic one. Immediately is to be taken literally: the next event after the baptism is the temptation, and after John had baptized Jesus he saw him no more till after the forty days.-The Spirit driveth him, or thrusts, or urges, him out. Matthew and Luke say, with a milder word, that he was "led" by the Spirit; Luke, "by the Holy Spirit." Mark's word tells of a strong, irresistible impulse; doubtless such an impulse as he had never felt before, for the Spirit was already doing new work in him. Mark does not say that he was urged forth "to be tempted," but only that he was urged forth to the wilderness. Neither does Luke, and Matthew's language does not declare that he went intending or expecting to meet temptation. From Mark we should infer that he went out to be alone, desiring solitude for his own sake. The place is undetermined, but was probably somewhere in the wilderness of Judæa.--If Mark's account had been intended for a full statement, it might perhaps seem to be in conflict with the fuller record of Matthew and Luke, for it reads as if the temptation continued through 13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. 14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus 13 the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. 14 Now after that John was delivered up, Jesus came a Matt. 4:1; Luke 4: 1, etc....b Matt. 4: 23. the forty days; but if it is taken as a concise statement that does not attempt details, we need feel no difficulty.-Even in this brief outline there is one fresh detail not given elsewhere. And was with the wild beasts. No description could more vividly set forth his deep retirement and his utter seclusion from men. Of the wild beasts Plumptre says: "In our Lord's time these might include the panther, the bear, the wolf, the hyena, possibly the lion and the serpent." It is a wonder that this scene has not been seized upon in apocryphal Gospels as the foundation for stories about the power of our Lord's purity and gentleness in restraining and subduing the wild animals.And the angels ministered unto him. After the conflict, as we learn from Matthew. In this brief record the great conflict is not detailed, but we have the scene, the deepest wilderness; the contestants, Jesus and Satan; the only spectators, the wild beasts; the helpers of the victorious Christ, the angels. The absence of men is far more strongly emphasized than in the other records. Observe that the narrative of the temptation must have come to the evangelists from the Lord himself. When he was tempted he had no disciple to "tarry and watch" with him (Matt. 26: 38). The proposals of Satan as to the way to found a kingdom were repelled when no soul of man had believed on him. Faith and righteousness had to be their own witnesses to his soul. resumes the story at the time of the imprisonment of the Baptist. The events here passed over are narrated in John 1: 19-4: 42. They may be summarized thus: After the temptation Jesus returns to John, who publicly bears witness to him as the Lamb of God; several disciples of John attach themselves to Jesus, who, accompanied by them, goes to Galilee, attends the wedding at Cana, where the first miracle is wrought, and spends a few days at Capernaum; at the time of the passover he returns to Jerusalem, purifies the temple, performs miracles, and is visited by Nicodemus; he leaves Jerusalem for some other part of Judæa, where he baptizes, by the hands of his disciples, many who believe on him; John, who is still baptizing, again bears testimony to him as the One at whose coming he is glad to retire; now John is thrown into prison (an event that is nowhere recorded in its own order, but comes in only by allusion, mentioned by Luke in anticipation, and by Matthew and Mark as a reminiscence), and Jesus, his fame still spreading, leaves Judæa and returns to Galilee, as recorded in verse 14; on the way he passes through Samaria, meets the Samaritan woman at the well, and spends two days among her neighbors; after which he comes "in the power of the Spirit into Galilee” (Luke) and preaches, as Mark proceeds to tell. John, who reports so fully the preceding period, including the Judæan ministry and the northward journey, is brief in his account of this ministry in Galilee, telling only of the welcome that Jesus received, of his visit to Cana, and of the healing of the nobleman's son. This narrative is peculiar to John; peculiar to Luke is the report of our Lord's visit to Nazareth and preaching in the synagogue there, The discussion of the temptation does not belong in this volume. It may not be amiss to say, however, that such thoughts as would throng upon the Christ at this point in his career would be the very ones for the tempter to seize upon if he wished to destroy the virtue of the Son of God. This is the moment of his life at which there is the greatest natural fit-only to be rejected; then follows a group of ness in such a transaction. The place of the story, therefore, is one of the facts that commend it to us as a true part of the biography of Jesus. 14, 15. THE BEGINNING OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS IN GALILEE. Parallels, Matt. 4 12-17; Luke 4: 14, 15; John 4: 1-3, 43-45.-The return to Galilee here mentioned is not the first return, which occurred not long after the temptation. Mark, with the other synoptists, omits all reference to the first visit to Galilee and the early Judæan ministry, and events in Galilee, recorded by all the synoptists, the record extending in Mark from chap. 1: 14 to 2: 22. From the synoptists we should never suspect that there had been an early Judæan ministry; while from John we should never have learned the extent of this ministry in Galilee. 14. For the imprisonment of John see chap. 6: 17 and notes there. The word here is not properly put in prison, but “delivered up”the same word that is constantly applied to the deed of Judas and translated "betrayed." Hav |