Many people in our world today have no problem with Jesus. Some say he is a great teacher, one who offered insightful wisdom on life in this world. Others look to Jesus as a great example, one who demonstrated the kind of love and selflessness that all of us should aspire to realize in our own lives.

Jesus is these things, but he is not merely these things. 

The very first verse of the gospel of Mark makes it clear that he is so much more: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). According to Mark’s gospel, Jesus is the Christ - the long-promised and long-awaited Messiah, and Jesus is the Son of God - the fully-human and fully-divine second person of the Trinity. 

In a day and age when people have no problem with Jesus, largely because they understand him to be something much less than these two things, we must cling to these two things. We must hold fast to a right, biblical vision of who Jesus claimed to be, and of who Jesus revealed himself to be throughout his life and ministry.
It is precisely here that the gospel of Mark is so helpful. Mark does not merely tell us that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. He shows us. Mark’s gospel, especially when compared to Matthew, Luke, and John, seems to downplay the teaching of Jesus. Instead, Mark emphasizes the power and authority that Jesus demonstrated throughout his life. In Mark, Jesus demonstrates the authority of a King, of the Messiah. But he demonstrates that authority as a King who came to serve, to suffer, and to die in our place. Only One who truly is the Son of God could be such a King.