PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. Mark
Alexander Maclaren, 1826-1910 · 200,681 words · 280 reading sections
Contents
Produced by Tiffany Vergon, Dave Maddock and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. WHAT 'THE GOSPEL' IS (Mark i. 1) THE STRONG FORERUNNER AND THE STRONGER SON (Mark i. 1-11) MIGHTY IN WORD AND DEED (Mark i. 21-34) HEALING AND SERVICE (Mark i. 30, 31, R.V.) A PARABLE IN A MI…
592 wordsSECTION 2What 'The Gospel' Is
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.--Mark i. 1 My purpose now is to point out some of the various connections in which the New Testament uses that familiar phrase, 'the gospel,' and briefly to gather some of the important thoughts which these suggest. Possibly the process may help to restore freshness to a wo…
775 wordsSECTION 3What 'The Gospel' Is
All that the world needs lies in that story. Out of it have come peace and gladness to the soul, light for the understanding, cleansing for the conscience, renovation for the will, which can be made strong and free by submission, a resting-place for the heart, and a starting-point and a goal for the loftiest flights of…
724 wordsSECTION 4What 'The Gospel' Is
It is not that the gospel has two subjects, one of which is the matter of one portion, and the other of another. It does not sometimes speak of Christ, and sometimes rise to tell us of God. It is always speaking of both, and when its subject is most exclusively the man Christ Jesus, it is then most chiefly the Father G…
783 wordsSECTION 5What 'The Gospel' Is
III. The good news of Christ and of God is the gospel of our salvation and peace. We read of 'the gospel of your salvation' (Eph. i. 13), and in the same letter (vi. 15) of 'the gospel of peace.' In these expressions we pass from the consideration of the author or of the subject matter of the good news to that of its …
751 wordsSECTION 6What 'The Gospel' Is
IV. The good news about Christ and God is _the_ gospel. By far the most frequent form in which the word gospel occurs is that of the simple use of the noun with the definite article. This message is emphatically _the_ good news. It is the tidings which men most of all want. It stands alone; there is no other like it. …
693 wordsSECTION 7The Strong Forerunner And The Stronger Son
Make it yours by trusting your whole self to the Christ of whom it tells you. The reliance of heart and will on Jesus who has died for me, makes it 'my gospel.' There is one God, one Christ, one gospel which tells us of them, and one faith by which we lay hold upon the gospel, and upon the loving Father and the ever-he…
804 wordsSECTION 8The Strong Forerunner And The Stronger Son
Whether we regard verses 2 and 3 as connected grammatically with the preceding or the following verses, they equally refer to John, and define his position in relation to the Gospel. The Revised Version restores the true reading, 'in Isaiah the prophet,' which some unwise and timid transcriber has, as he thought, mende…
818 wordsSECTION 9The Strong Forerunner And The Stronger Son
Again, Mark brings out John's personal asceticism. He omits much; but he could not leave out the picture of the grim, lean solitary, who stalked among soft-robed men, like Elijah come to life again, and held the crowds by his self-chosen privations no less than by his fierce, fiery eloquence. His desert life and contem…
664 wordsSECTION 10The Strong Forerunner And The Stronger Son
The baptism of Jesus, then, was an epoch in His own consciousness. It was not merely His designation to John or to others as Messiah, but for Himself the sense of Sonship and the sunlight of divine complacency filled His spirit in new measure or manner. Speaking as we have to do from the outside, and knowing but dimly …
518 wordsSECTION 11Mighty In Word And Deed
'And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the Sabbath day He entered into the synagogue, and taught. 22. And they were astonished at His doctrine: for He taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. 23. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24. Saying…
899 wordsSECTION 12Mighty In Word And Deed
The feature of His teaching which astonished the villagers most was its 'authority.' That fits in with the impression of strength which Mark wishes to make. Another thing that struck them was its unlikeness to the type of synagogue teaching to which they had been accustomed all their lives. They had got so accustomed t…
926 wordsSECTION 13Mighty In Word And Deed
What a contrast to the tempest of the demoniac's wild and whirling words is the calm speech of Christ! He knows His authority, and His word is imperative, curt, and assured: 'Hold thy peace!' literally, 'Be muzzled,' as if the creature were a dangerous beast, whose raving and snapping must be stopped. Jesus wishes no a…
667 wordsSECTION 14Mighty In Word And Deed
Their confidence was not misplaced. No moment intervened unused between the tidings and the cure. 'He came,' as if He had been in some outer room, or not yet in the house, and now passed into the sick chamber. Then comes one of Mark's minute and graphic details, in which we may see the keen eye and faithful memory of P…
722 wordsSECTION 15Healing And Service
'Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever; and straightway they tell Him of her: 31. And He came and took her by the hand, and raised her up; and the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.'--Mark i. 30, 31, R. V. This miracle is told us by three of the four Evangelists, and the comparison of their brief narrat…
924 wordsSECTION 16Healing And Service
Ah! dear brethren, there are a great many things in our lives which, though we ought to know Jesus Christ better than the first disciples at first did, scarcely seem to us fit to be turned into subjects of petition, partly because we have wrong notions as to the sphere and limits of prayer, and partly because they seem…
733 wordsSECTION 17Healing And Service
So let us learn a lesson for our own guidance. We can do no man any real good unless we make ourselves one with him, and benefits that we bestow will hurt rather than help, if they are flung down upon men as from a height, or as people cast a bone to a dog. The heart must go with them; and identification with the suffe…
451 wordsSECTION 18A Parable In A Miracle
'And there came a leper to Him, beseeching Him, and kneeling down to Him, and saying unto Him, If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. 41. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth His hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. 42. And as soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed …
938 wordsSECTION 19A Parable In A Miracle
Note, further, this man's confidence in Christ's power: 'Thou canst make me clean.' He had heard all about the miracles that were being wrought up and down over the country, and he came to the Worker, with nothing of the nature of religious faith in Him, but with entire confidence, based upon the report of previous mir…
708 wordsSECTION 20A Parable In A Miracle
We stand on another level. The leper's hesitation is our certainty. We know the principle upon which His mercy is dispensed; we know that it is a universal, all-embracing love; we know that no caprice nor passing spasm of good nature lies at the bottom of it. We know that if any men are not healed, it is not because Ch…
803 wordsSECTION 21A Parable In A Miracle
Remember, too, that according to the Mosaic law it was forbidden to any but the priest to touch a leper. Therefore, in this act, beautiful as it is in its uncalculated humanity, there may have been something intended of a deeper kind. Our Lord thereby does one of two things--either He asserts His authority as overridin…
759 wordsSECTION 22Christ'S Touch
Only remember, it was of no use to the leper that crowds had been healed, that floods of blessing had been poured over the land. What he wanted was that a rill should come and refresh his own lips. If you wish to have Christ's cleansing you must make personal work of it, and come with this prayer, 'On _me_ be all that …
793 wordsSECTION 23Christ'S Touch
There is much taught us, if we will patiently consider it, by that touch of Christ's, and I wish to try to bring out its meaning and power. I. Whatever diviner and sacreder aspect there may be in these incidents, the first thing, and in some senses the most precious thing, in them is that they are the natural expressi…
736 wordsSECTION 24Christ'S Touch
II. And now take another point of view from which we may regard this touch of Christ: namely, as the medium of His miraculous power. There is nothing to me more remarkable about the miracles of our Lord than the royal variety of His methods of healing. Sometimes He works at a distance, sometimes He requires, as it wou…
833 wordsSECTION 25Christ'S Touch
But beside this thrill of human sympathy, which came hope--bringing to the leper, Christ's touch had much significance, if we remember that, according to the Mosaic legislation, the priest and the priest alone was to lay his hands on the tainted skin and pronounce the leper whole. So Christ's touch was a priest's touch…
742 wordsSECTION 26Christ'S Touch
Christ has come down to us, and has taken all our nature upon Himself. If there is an outcast and abandoned soul on earth which may not feel that Jesus has laid a loving and healing touch on him, Jesus is not the Saviour for the world. He shrinks from none, He unites Himself with all, therefore 'He is able to save to t…
414 wordsSECTION 27Christ'S Authority To Forgive
'And again He entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that He was in the house. 2. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door; and He preached the word unto them. 3. And they come unto Him, bringing one sick of the pa…
1,011 wordsSECTION 28Christ'S Authority To Forgive
II. Note the unexpected gift with which Christ answers this faith. Neither the bearers nor the paralytic speak a word throughout the whole incident. Their act and his condition spoke loudly enough. Obviously, all five must have had, at all events, so much 'faith' as went to the conviction that He could and would heal; …
983 wordsSECTION 29Christ'S Authority To Forgive
IV. Note our Lord's answer to the cavils. Mark would have us see something supernatural in the swiftness of Christ's knowledge of the muttered criticisms. He perceived it 'straightway' and 'in His spirit,' which is tantamount to saying by divine discernment, and not by the medium of sense, as we do. His spirit was a mi…
870 wordsSECTION 30The Publicans' Friend
'And He went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught them. 14. And as He passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphæus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed Him. 15. And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, …
897 wordsSECTION 31The Publicans' Friend
II. We have Christ's vindication of the disciples from ascetic critics. The assailants in the second charge were reinforced by singular allies. Pharisees had nothing in common with John's disciples, except some outward observances, but they could join forces against Jesus. Common hatred is a wonderful unifier. This tim…
755 wordsSECTION 32The Secret Of Gladness
'And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?'--Mark ii. 19. This part of our Lord's answer to the question put by John's disciples as to the reason for the omission of the practice of fasting by His followers. The answer is very simple. It is--'My disciples d…
746 wordsSECTION 33The Secret Of Gladness
But this is not all. We cannot but connect this name with a whole circle of ideas found in the Old Testament, especially with that most familiar and almost stereotyped figure which represents the union between Israel and Jehovah, under the emblem of the marriage bond. The Lord is the 'husband'; and the nation whom He h…
662 wordsSECTION 34The Secret Of Gladness
That Presence which survives, which is true for us here to-day, may be a far better and more blessed and real thing than the presence of the mere bodily Form in which He once dwelt. We may have lost something by His going away in visible form; I doubt whether we have. We have lost the manifestation of Him to the sense,…
720 wordsSECTION 35The Secret Of Gladness
Oh! you men and women who have been wearily seeking in the world for love that cannot change, for love that cannot die and leave you; you who have been made sad for life by irrevocable losses, or sorrowful in the midst of your joy by the anticipated certain separation which is to come, listen to this One who says to yo…
803 wordsSECTION 36The Secret Of Gladness
Our joy will sometimes be made sweeter and more wonderful by the very presence of the mourning and the pain. Just as the pillar of cloud, that glided before the Israelites through the wilderness, glowed into a pillar of fire as the darkness deepened, so, as the outlook around becomes less and less cheery and bright, an…
803 wordsSECTION 37Works Which Hallow The Sabbath
'And it came to pass, that He went through the cornfields on the Sabbath day; and His disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. 24. And the Pharisees said unto Him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? 25. And He said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had …
692 wordsSECTION 38Works Which Hallow The Sabbath
Note that His answer deals first with an example of similar breach of ceremonial law, and then rises to lay down a broad principle which governed that precedent, vindicates the act of the disciples, and draws for all ages a broad line of demarcation between the obligations of ceremonial and of moral law. Clearly, His a…
659 wordsSECTION 39Works Which Hallow The Sabbath
This is not an abrogation of the Sabbath, but, on the contrary, a confirmation of the universal and merciful appointment. It does not give permission to keep or neglect it, according to whim or for the sake of amusement, but it does draw, strong and clear, the distinction between a positive rite which may be modified, …
684 wordsSECTION 40The Anger And Grief Of Jesus
But let us not miss the parable of the restoration of the maimed and shrunken powers of the soul, which the manner of the miracle gives. Whatever we try to do because Jesus bids us, He will give us strength to do, however impossible to our unaided powers it is. In the act of stretching out the hand, ability to stretch …
707 wordsSECTION 41The Anger And Grief Of Jesus
I. Consider then, first, the solemn fact of Christ's anger. It is the only occasion, so far as I remember, upon which that emotion is attributed to Him. Once, and once only, the flash came out of the clear sky of that meek and gentle heart. He was once angry; and we may learn the lesson of the possibilities that lay s…
886 wordsSECTION 42The Anger And Grief Of Jesus
Oh, dear brethren, I beseech you do not let any easygoing gospel that has nothing to say to you about God's necessary aversion from, and displeasure with, and chastisement of, your sins and mine, draw you away from the solemn and wholesome belief that there is that in God which must hate and war against and chastise ou…
961 wordsSECTION 43The Anger And Grief Of Jesus
III. Let me now deal briefly with the last point that is here, namely, the occasion for both the sorrow and the anger, 'Being grieved at the _hardening_ of the hearts.' As I said at the beginning of these remarks, 'hardness,' the rendering of our Authorised Version, is not quite so near the mark as that of the Revised…
698 wordsSECTION 44Ambassadors For Christ
'And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodlans against Him, how they might destroy Him. 7. But Jesus withdrew Himself with His disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judæa 8. And from Jerusalem, and from Idumæa beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre a…
706 wordsSECTION 45Ambassadors For Christ
Note, further, our Lord's recoil from the tumult. He had retired before cunning plotters; He withdrew from gaping admirers, who did not know what they were crowding to, nor cared for His best gifts. It was no fastidious shrinking from low natures, nor any selfish wish for repose, that made Him take refuge in the fisher…
744 wordsSECTION 46Ambassadors For Christ
Further, their places in relation to each other vary. The first four are always first, and Peter is always at their head; but in Matthew and Luke, the pairs of brothers are kept together, while, in Mark, Andrew is parted from his brother Simon, and put last of the first four. That place indicates the closer relation of…
656 wordsSECTION 47'He Is Beside Himself'
'And when His friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on Him: for they said, He is beside Himself'--Mark iii. 21. There had been great excitement in the little town of Capernaum in consequence of Christ's teachings and miracles. It had been intensified by His infractions of the Rabbinical Sabbath law, and by Hi…
707 wordsSECTION 48'He Is Beside Himself'
One of our cynical authors says that it is the mark of a genius that all the dullards are against him. It is the mark of the man who dwells with God that all the people whose portion is in this life with one consent say, 'He is beside himself.' And so the Leader of them all was served in His day; and that purest, perf…
812 wordsSECTION 49'He Is Beside Himself'
II. Secondly, mark the similarity of the estimate which will be passed by the world on all Christ's true followers. The same elements exist to-day, the same intolerance of anything higher than the low level, the same incapacity to comprehend simple devotion and lofty aims, the same dislike of a man who comes and rebuk…
673 wordsSECTION 50'He Is Beside Himself'
III. Lastly, notice the sanity of the insane. I have only space to put before you three little pictures, and ask you what you think of them. I dare say the originals might be found among us without much search. Here is one. Suppose a man who, like the most of us, believes that there is a God, believes that he has som…
758 wordsSECTION 51The Mistakes Of Christ'S Foes And Friends
'And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth He out devils. 23. And He called them unto Him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? 24. And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25. And if a house be …
651 wordsSECTION 52The Mistakes Of Christ'S Foes And Friends
This explanation is an instance of the credulity of unbelief. It is more difficult to believe the explanation than the alternative which it is framed to escape. If like produces like, Christ cannot be explained by anything but the admission of His divine nature. Serpents' eggs do not hatch out into doves. The difficult…
669 wordsSECTION 53The Mistakes Of Christ'S Foes And Friends
The true reason why that sin has never forgiveness is suggested by the accurate rendering, 'Is guilty of an eternal sin' (R.V.). Since the sin is eternal, the forgiveness is impossible. Practically hardened and permanent unbelief, conjoined with malicious hatred of the only means of forgiveness, is the unforgivable sin…
748 wordsSECTION 54Christ'S Kindred
All earthly bonds are honoured most when they are woven into crowns for His head; all human love is then sweetest when it is as a tiny mirror in which the great Sun is reflected. Christ is husband, brother, sister, friend, lover, mother, and more than all which these sacred names designate,--even Saviour and life. If H…
798 wordsSECTION 55Christ'S Kindred
But far deeper down than mere affinity lies the true bond between us and Christ, and the true means of performing the commandments of God. There must be a passing over into us of His own life-spirit. By His inhabiting our hearts, and moulding our wills, and being the life of our lives and the soul of our souls, are we …
760 wordsSECTION 56Christ'S Kindred
'It can but listen at the gate, And hear the household jar within.' 'He that doeth the will of God, the same is'--and feels himself to be--'My brother, and sister, and mother.' II. This relationship includes all others. That is a very singular form of expression which our Lord employs. 'Whosoever shall do the will …
650 wordsSECTION 57Christ'S Kindred
We have to think of Christ here as Himself putting away the lower claims, in order more fully to yield Himself to the higher. It was because it would have been impossible for Him to do the will of His Father if He had yielded to the purposes of His brethren and His mother, that He steeled His heart and made solemn His …
555 wordsSECTION 58Four Soils For One Seed
'Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother.'--Mark iii. 35. There was a conspiracy to seize Jesus because He is 'mad,' and Mary was in the plot! I. The example for us. (1) Of how all natural and human ties and affections are to be subordinated to doing God's will. Obedien…
1,074 wordsSECTION 59Four Soils For One Seed
II. We turn to the exposition of the parable of the sower, or rather of the fourfold soils in which he sows the seed. A sentence at the beginning disposes of the personality of the sower, which in Mark's version does not refer exclusively to Christ, but includes all who carry the word to men. The likening of 'the word'…
704 wordsSECTION 60Four Soils For One Seed
The distinct reference to Satan as the agent in removing the seed is not to be passed by lightly. Christ's words about demons have been emptied of meaning by the allegation that He was only accommodating Himself to the superstition of the times, but no explanation of that sort will do in this case. He surely commits Hi…
897 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.