LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Most Excellent Servant
Mark was the instrument that God chose to write the briefest gospel in which Jesus is depicted as the Servant of God.
Eliseo Apablaza
The four gospels show us four aspects different from the person of our Lord. Matthew shows him as the King, Luke as the perfect Man, John as the Son of God, and Mark as the Servant. In Revelation 4:7 he is represented, respectively, as a lion, as a man, as an eagle and as an ox.
In Mark's gospel, the Lord is the Servant who, as a working animal, the most common and most docile animal -the ox- came to serve and to give his life for many. So, in search of a model for all those that yearn to serve the Lord, and for a profile of Jesus as the Servant of God, we go to Mark's gospel.
The vessel that the Lord used
But before that, let us look at what type of a vessel God used in order to give us this beautiful account of our Lord. While Matthew and John were part of the select group of the twelve apostles, and Luke, a learned doctor, and expert of the prestigious Greek culture, the evangelist Mark has a rather inconsistent figure.
Indeed, from his first appearance in the bible, we find him in rather unhappy circumstances. Firstly, we find him running naked away from Gethsemane, so as to not be apprehended by the soldiers (Mark 14:51-52); then we find him deserting the apostolic mission in Pamphylia (Acts 13:14), and later on we find that he was the reason for the dispute between Paul and Barnabas, to the point of separation (Acts 15:37-40). Paul, the great apostle of God, ended up discarding Mark for being a deserter.
Brother Christian Chen, in his book "Transformed into the image of Christ, the Servant of God", refers to the fact that one of the parents of the Church called Mark "the man with the mutilated finger", in reference to a well-known Roman habit. When the youths didn't want to go to war, they mutilated one of their fingers in order to be exempt of the obligation. This nickname is, truly, quite a sad thing for a servant of God.
The specialists of the Bible agree that Mark accumulated the information to write his gospel from Peter. This, at first sight, is quite believable. The image of the Lord that Mark presents to us is very intimate, like that of somebody who was close, who lived day by day with the Lord. Mark was not close during that whole time, but Peter was. What's more, Mark's direct and simple style reflects Peter's character.
Peter and Mark -or Mark and Peter-, then, show us the Lord in this, the briefest and most agile of the gospels. And both had a record of more than just a few flaws. Mark deserted and Peter denied the Lord. Both burdened with a history of defeats. Both conform to what could be called, in human terms, "a couple to forget". However, the Lord didn't forget them. Just as he remembered Peter soon after denying him (Mark 16:7), he also remembered Mark. He surely saw their tears, and knew the pain of their hearts.
God here -as he usually does- chose the vilest of all, that which is considered nothing, that which is underappreciated, in order to show the abundant riches of His grace. God chose a deserter and a disloyal disciple to show the nearest, humblest, most tender and most compassionate image of the Lord.
Finally, after these painful experiences, Mark ended up being a man used by God, and respected by the apostles. Paul himself would later give orders that he be received in Colossus (Col. 4:10), and recognized that he was useful for the ministry (2 Timothy 4:11). Peter says: "Mark, my son" (1 Pet.5:13). However, the most conclusive proof of Mark's approval is that God chose him as a vessel to depict His dear Son.
The incomparable Servant
Let us see review some of the features of this depiction that illustrate the Servant of God's beautiful character, as a source of inspiration and an example to all those that hope to follow in his footsteps. We will pick some aspects and sentences from here and there in Mark's gospel which don't appear in any of the other gospels, which radiate his beauty.
1. Mark begins his gospel without a genealogy. While Matthew and Luke trace the Lord's human genealogy, John traces his divine genealogy. A genealogy is like a curriculum, an account of one's affluent background, something characteristic of meritorious people. But how could a servant have one? A slave doesn't have an illustrious past to exhibit.
2. Contrary to the other gospels in which Jesus is called "Lord" 73 times, in Mark's account he is never treated this way (except in 7:28 which has a common meaning). He is, simply, Jesus, the servant.
3. This Servant's food was bread, the simplest food, the only one that is found in all houses, and also in Peter the fisherman's house, in Capernaum (Mark 3:20). That expression "they could not so much as eat bread" shines in its modesty and simplicity.
4. Jesus' family looked for him to take him to Nazareth, because they said: "He is out of his mind" (Mark 3:21). John in his gospel shows this family hostility in a gentler way: "For even his own brothers did not believe in him." But it was not only his brothers who did not believe in him: he was considered a lunatic by his own family. Could there be any greater humiliation or crueler offense?
5. Mark tells us that Jesus is "the carpenter" (6:3). Matthew and Luke on the other hand, tell us that he was "the carpenter's son." Both are correct, but evidently one is not the same as the other. You can be a farmer's son, but you yourself, thanks to your own effort, could end up being a very important person. Jesus was not only the carpenter's son, but he himself was a carpenter. He himself had taken the tools, and had built houses inhabited by men with his own hands.
6. After a long day, the disciples were tired. Then, the Lord tells them: "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest" (6:31). He understood their fatigue, because he himself got tired; he knew our human fragility perfectly, because he was also a man. This beautiful feature is also expressed in the following sentence: "He saw the disciples straining at the oars... he went out to them, walking on the lake." (6:48). From afar, he again saw their fatigue and went to help them.
7. In 7:34 and 8:12 we are told that the Lord Jesus sighed in his spirit. Those sighs expressed a deep pain that words could not, -an indescribable pain-of God incarnate within man's miseries. His pain for the poor deaf-mute, just like for the hardened Pharisees, touched him deeply, even to the inner-most part of his being.
8. In the city of Bethsaida a memorable occurrence in human history took place (8:22-26). They brought a blind man to Jesus so that he might be healed. Taking the blind man by the hand, Jesus led him outside the village to heal him. Jesus didn't feel any resentment in being a guide for a needy poor blind person. He didn't order others to take him; he himself did it. God incarnate, when asked by this man, walked hand in hand with fragility incarnate, uniting the two most distant ends of the Universe.
9. On one occasion, the Lord said: "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" (10:23). The disciples were confused by his words. Then he told them again: "how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!" (v.24). The second statement clarifies the meaning of the first one, almost correcting himself a little. How weak this seems to be, almost exposed to making a mistake!
10. In the episode of the rich young man, Mark says that Jesus, "looked at him, and loved him" (10:21). How could he not also love this young man, if he had loved everyone? He also loved him who, in his stupidity, had forced himself in his own ways to please to God, and felt so righteous.
Let us learn of him
There is the Servant of God here. The greatest example, the perfect pattern of what a servant of God is like. Let us look to him and we will learn the keys of a true servant and of a genuine service.
May the Lord extend his mercy even unto us.