OBSERVATIONS MARK'S GOSPEL. PART I"

JESUS CLAIMED FOR HIMSELF THE RIGHT TO FORGIVE SINS,2:1-12. HIS CLAIM INCENSED THE SCRIBES, WHO INSISTED ONLY GOD COULD FORGIVE SINS,2:7. THEY WERE CORRECT, BUT IN THEIR BLINDNESS COULD NOT SEE WHO STOOD BEFORE THEM. JESUS NEVER DID ANYTHING TO BENEFIT HIMSELF. HE CONSISTENTLY REFUSED TO USE HIS DIVINE POWER TO PERFORM A MIRACLE TO SERVE HIS OWN PERSONAL NEEDS. EVEN WHEN HE WAS HUNGRY, HE CHOSE TO REMAIN HUNGRY  RATHER THEN CHANGE STONES INTO BREAD, MATTHEW 4:4. JESUS WAS ALWAYS THE "SERVANT";  HE SOUGHT ONLY TO PLACE HIMSELF AND HIS POWERS AT THE SERVICE OF HUMANITY. AS JESUS MOVED AMONG PEOPLE, HE DEMONSTRATED REMARKABLE COMPASSION. FOR EXAMPLE, BEFORE HEALING A LEPER, HE REACHED OUT AND TOUCHED HIM, 1:40-45. THE PHARISEES   ON OCCASION THREW ROCKS AT LEPERS AND SAID THEIR SUFFERING  WAS THE RESULT OF SOME SIN THEY HAD COMMITTED. FURTHERMORE, JESUS SOUGHT THE COMPANY OF SINNERS, TAX COLLECTORS,"  AND THE LIKE, 2:15-17. HIS ACTIONS UPSET THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES FOR THEY FELT THAT IF HE REALLY WAS THE MESSIAH, HE WOULD SEEK OUT THE "RIGHTEOUS" (NAMELY THEMSELVES). JESUS CONCERN FOR THE GENTILES WOULD ALSO HAVE BEEN REPUGNANT TO  MANY IN ISRAEL WHO BELIEVED THAT WHEN FINALLY THE MESSIANIC AGE  CAME THE GENTILES WOULD BE DESTROYED OR AT BEST MADE SLAVES OF THE JEWS; 7: 24-30 JESUS REPEATEDLY  IGNORED TRADITIONAL ATTITUDES CONCERNING THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH., WHAT MATTERED TO JESUS WAS THE WELL BEING OF HIS PEOPLE, NOT THE KEEPING OF RITUALS AND TRADITIONS. THIS WAS BOUND TO BRING HIM INTO HEADLONG CONFRONTATION WITH THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, FOR HIS ACTIONS CALLED INTO QUESTION THE VALIDITY OF THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF THE LAW. ALL BUT ONE OF JESUS MIRACLES (AS REPORTED IN MARK)  ARE DONE IN AND AROUND GALILEE; HE HEALS BLIND BARTIMAEUS NEAR JERICHO 10:46-52. HE PERFORMS NO MIRACLES IN OR NEAR JERUSALEM, THE "CITY OF OPPOSITION."  WHEN JESUS WAS RECOGNIZED, HE WARNED THE PERSON OR SPIRIT WHO HAD RECOGNIZED HIM
 TO SAY NOTHING ABOUT THE MATTER,1:33,44; 5:43;9:9. WHY? FIRST JESUS WANTED TO MAKE CLEAR THAT THE MESSIANIC AGE HAD COME AND THAT HE INDEED WAS THE MESSIAH. SECOND, HE WANTED TO MAKE IT CLEAR WHAT KIND OF A MESSIAH
HE HAD COME TO BE. THE COMMUNITY CONTAINED MANY BURNING WITH DESIRE TO BE RID OF THE ROMANS AND TO GAIN POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. JESUS NEEDED TIME TO DEMONSTRATE THAT HE WAS NOT THE KIND OF MESSIAH WHO WOULD FIT THAT KIND OF EXPECTATION. HE HAD NOT COME TO BE A POLITICAL DELIVER. IN MARK 8:27--30. JESUS PUTS TWO QUESTIONS TO HIS DISCIPLES. THE FIRST IS: "WHO DO MEN SAY THAT I AM?!  THE SECOND IS:WHO DO YOU SAY THAT  I AM?"  THOUGH HE DID NOT PREVIOUSLY PUT THESE QUESTIONS TO ANYONE. HE WAS RECOGNIZED PRIOR TO THAT TIME--BY THE DEMONS! (1:24; 1:34; 3:11; 5:7). THROUGHOUT THE FIRST HALF OF MARK'S ACCOUNT, JESUS DISCOURAGES PEOPLE AND EVIL SPIRITS ALIKE FROM DECLARING WHO HE IS.  THOUGH HE WANTED PEOPLE TO COME TO FAITH IN HIM AS THE MESSIAH, HE WANTED THEM TO SEE CLEARLY WHAT KIND OF MESSIAH HE HAD COME TO BE. WHEN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE AUTHORITIES IN JERUSALEM, " THE CITY OF OPPOSITION, "  CAME NORTH TO WHERE HE WAS WORKING, USUALLY THEY CAME TO CHALLENGE AND OPPOSE HIM. JESUS LIFE WAS ALWAYS THAT OF A SERVANT. HE DEMONSTRATED GREAT COMPASSION TO THOSE HE CAME IN CONTACT. AT THE SAME TIME, HE CONSISTENTLY REFUSED TO USE HIS POWER TO BENEFIT HIMSELF IN ANY WAY. THE PEOPLE, THE AUTHORITIES AND HIS DISCIPLES FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO RELATE HIS LIFESTYLE TO TRADITIONAL EXPECTATIONS ABOUT WHAT THE MESSIAH WOULD BE LIKE AND WHAT HE WOULD ACCOMPLISH. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST.MARK CONTAINS NO INFANCY NARRATIVE. IT BEGINS WITH A REPORT OF HOW JESUS WENT FROM NAZARETH IN GALILEE TO WHERE JOHN WAS WORKING TO BE BAPTIZED BY HIM. AT HIS BAPTISM HE WAS ANOINTED INTO THE MESSIANIC OFFICE. HIS TITLES WERE ANNOUNCED, AND THE NATURE OF HIS MISSION WAS DEFINED. AFTER HIS BAPTISM HE RETURNED TO GALILEE. JESUS MINISTRY TOOK PLACE IN AND AROUND GALILEE. HE LEFT IT TO MAKE JOURNEYS TOWARDS TYRE AND SIDON, INTO THE DECAPOLIS  AND TO THE REGION OF CAESAREA PHILIPPI, AND THE HEADED SOUTH FOR HIS FIRST AND FINAL VISIT TO JERUSALEM. MARK GIVES THE IMPRESSION THAT JESUS MINISTRY WAS SHORT; HE MENTIONS JESUS ATTENDANCE AT ONLY ONE PASSOVER OBSERVANCE.
THOUGH JESUS TAUGHT EXTENSIVELY DURING HIS MINISTRY, MARK REPORTS ONLY A LIMITED AMOUNT OF WHAT JESUS ACTUALLY SAID. HE CONCENTRATES MORE ON JESUS ACTIONS, IN PARTICULAR HIS MIRACLES. THESE CAN BE CLASSIFIED AS FOLLOWS. 1.) THE ISAIANIC SIGNS
                     2..) MIRACLES OVER NATURE.
                     3.) MIRACLES OVER THE REALM OF THE DEMONIC.
                     4.)MIRACLES OVER DEATH.