Mark | 1:1-11 | 1:12-34 | 1:35-45 | 2:1-20  | 2:21-3:12 | 3:13-35 | 4:1-20 | 4:21-41 | 5:1-20 | 5:21-43 | 6:1-13 | 6:14-29 | 6:45-56 | 7-12| 13-16 |

Mark 1:11 Bible Study and Questions – John the Baptist Baptizes Jesus

I. Jesus baptized by John the Baptist (1-11)

Discussion Questions

• What do we know about the author?
• Who was the book specifically written to?
• What evidence is there in the book that it was written primarily to Gentiles and not Jews?
• What kind of different things might be recorded when reported to these two groups of people?
• What differences have you noticed between the gospel of Mark and other gospels?
• What do you hope to learn as we study this book? What goals do you have for yourself as we study it?
• What was John the Baptist’s main task? What character qualities did he need to accomplish this?
• What was the main content of his message?
• What do we learn about him as a person from this passage? How about from other gospels?
• In what ways do you think you need to be more like John the Baptist?
• What was the purpose of water baptism? What does it mean to be baptized with the Holy Spirit?
• Did Jesus need to be baptized? Why did He do this? What does this show us about Jesus’ character?
• How significant are verses 10-11? Why do you think God the Father said this? How do you think the people may have reacted?

Cross-References

Luke 3:7 – He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

John 1:29-34 – The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

John 12:29 – The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

2 Kings 1:8 – They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

Verse by Verse Commentary

1. Background –

A. Author – The title of the book credits it to Mark. He is not actually mentioned by name in the book. Yet a historical study of the early church, shows that they ascribed this gospel to Mark. Many believe that the young man mentioned in Mark 14:51-52 is Mark since this is the only gospel that records this incident.

Mark 14:51-52 – And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.

Mark participated in the first missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas, but for unknown reasons gave up in the middle (Acts 13:13). This led Paul to refuse to take him on the next journey. Barnabas, however, took him under his wing and forgave him and went together with him (Acts 15:37-39).

Mark is then mentioned a number of other times as being close to both Paul (Colossians 4:10-11, Philemon 24) and Peter (1 Peter 5:13). Mark learned from his mistakes and followed God faithfully later on during his life. It could be said that we have the gospel of Mark largely due to Barnabas being willing to giving Mark a second chance when others wouldn’t.

B. Audience – Most scholars agree that the gospel of Mark was intended for Gentiles, likely those residing in Rome. There is a lot of internal evidence for this. For example, Mark uses almost no Old Testament quotes (Mark 1:2-3 being the only one in the book). If his audience was Jewish, like Matthew, he probably would have cited many references to the Old Testament in his gospel.

In several cases, Mark found it necessary to explain certain aspects of Jewish tradition and geography (7:2-4, 13:3, 14:12). That would not be necessary if his audience was Jewish. He also spendt less time on Jesus’ controversy with Jewish leaders, since this would have been less important to Gentiles. This is another reminder that differences in the gospels do not show contradictions. Rather those differences show us that the authors understood their audiences and included information that would be useful to those they were writing to.

C. Other – Mark is the shortest gospel. As a result, Mark moves through the life and actions of Jesus very quickly. He focuses much more on what Jesus did than on what Jesus said. The word “immediately” is used many times throughout the gospel.

2. Verse 1 –

Mark 1:1 – The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

In the very first verse Mark revealed Jesus to be the Son of God. This could be considered the thesis upon which the rest of the book is built. First, he showed the essence of who Jesus is. The rest of the book is devoted to showing the proof, evidence, and result of this truth.

3. John the Baptist and Elijah –

The Jews believed that Elijah would return before the coming of the Messiah. Here are some of the passages they inferred this from.

Malachi 4:5-6 – “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

John came in the spirit of Elijah and had many similarities as a lone, bold truth-speaker (Malachi 3:1, 4:5-6, Matthew 11:13-14, John 1:19-21, Luke 1:14-17, Matthew 17:3, 2 Kings 2:1, 11). Both of these men spent a lot of time in the wilderness. They were not afraid to challenge powerful political leaders.

John’s ministry was similar to Elijah’s. Both were anointed by God for a special work. We can conclude that John was a type of Elijah, but not Elijah himself. He fulfilled a similar role. Some scholars identify Elijah as one of the two witnesses who will testify of Christ before His second coming (Revelation 11).

4. John the Baptist’s lifestyle – John did not go to the biggest cities or the capital city Jerusalem to take his message. Instead, he preached in the wilderness.

Isaiah 40:3 – A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Reflect – Why do you think that John the Baptist ministered in the wilderness where there are a few people instead of going to the cities?

The Lord certainly called him to minister in those desolate places. He relied upon the power of God’s Word to draw people. He never used gimmicks. He simply preached to whoever would listen. The message he preached was from God and this drew many people out from the city to listen to him.

Application – Wherever God has called you to share His words, do it faithfully and He will use it to accomplish His purposes. John did not actively focus on numbers. He wasn’t looking to draw the biggest crowds. He was simply faithful to God’s calling on his life. Whether you minister in church, Bible study, or on YouTube, do not focus on the numbers. Simply be faithful and God will bring those whom He wants to hear the message.

Mark 1:6 – Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

John wore camel’s hair, a leather belt, and ate locusts and honey. Clearly this clothing and diet was unique or Mark would not have mentioned it. John led a rustic and simple life. His clothing would probably be considered out of fashion and too simple.

Perhaps you are getting hungry thinking about the chance to eat locusts, but his diet was abnormal to most of the people in the world. Mark likely wants to show us that John did not need luxuries.

He didn’t focus on “eating and drinking, and marrying and giving in marriage” like most people did. His food was just a means to sustain him, nothing more. John lived much like Jesus did, to do the will of God.

John 4:34 – Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

What can we learn from this? John was goal-driven. He wasn’t easily distracted. He put the top priority on the most important things, namely his service to God. It was almost like John’s entire life was a fast. Everything extraneous was cut out so that he could devote himself 100% to serving God.

Application – Can you say that your food is to do the will of him who sent you? Are you focused on living the “good life” or on fulfilling God’s calling for you? Perhaps you need to simplify your lifestyle. Maybe something needs to be cut out so that you can give God the time He deserves.

5. John the Baptist’s message – John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Simply put, he told people to repent of their sins. If they were willing to do so, they could be baptized as a public symbol of their faith in God and the new direction in their life.

According to verse 8, this baptism was just with water, not the Holy Spirit. That water was a sign of their repentance and the cleansing they received for God as a result of it.

When we are baptized it is a sign of what the Holy Spirit has done in our hearts. For them it was a sign of their repentance and God’s forgiveness.

John’s message was simple. It wasn’t complicated. At the same time, he was bold. He was bold to call the Pharisees what they were.

Matthew 3:7 – But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

He was also bold to warn Herod about living with his brother’s wife (Mark 6:17). Basically, John was a truth speaker. He didn’t sugar coat things and had not desire to tickle people’s ears or make them feel comfortable. He said what needed to be said.

John’s simple message is very refreshing. Today most sermon’s, Bible studies, messages, etc. are knowledge based. Too often Bible teachers or preachers may even feel a sense of pride when they can rattle off all kinds of obscure facts about a passage that most people don’t know.

George Mueller described this problem. He spent years in seminary. After graduation, he was a guest preacher at a church. George carefully prepared a brilliant sermon. It was filled with facts, data, and quotes. After he shared it, a woman from the village church he preached at walked up. She said, “That was a great sermon. I didn’t understand a word of it. But it was a great sermon.”

After that, George knew that he had to simplify the message. All of that complex seminary stuff was not useful to the villagers he preached to.

Knowledge has the tendency to puff up. John followed what Jesus would later command His disciples to do in Matthew 28:18-20. He commanded them to teach their disciples to obey all that He commanded.

Obedience is what God is looking for, not knowledge. Most of the time, we know what we should do as believers. If someone doesn’t know what to do, it is normally a simple matter to read a few verses which are easily understood and then we know what to do. The question is, are we going to obey it or not?

Application – Be obedience focused and not knowledge focused. In your preaching, teaching, and sharing simplify the message. Remind people to obey the Word. Focus on life change instead of head knowledge. This not only applies to teachers, but also to parents.

6. John the Baptist’s character –

Reflect – What can we learn about his character from these verses?

In addition to what we have discussed above, we can see one of the key aspects of his character, humility. He rightly recognized that Jesus was far superior to him.

Mark 1:7 – And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

He realized that he didn’t deserve to even be associated with Jesus as a slave, much less as a peer. Slaves were normally the ones who untied people’s sandals upon entering a home.

The statement recorded in the Gospel of John is one of the most humble you will ever see.

John 3:30 – He must increase, but I must decrease.

John the Baptist willingly endorsed Jesus’ ministry even when it meant that his was shrinking. John’s own disciples were complaining about this trend, but John was celebrating. That is what he came for. It was not about him. It was about Jesus.

This is interesting when we take his humility and boldness together. Nowhere do we see that John’s humility made him weak. He willingly spoke out against sin wherever he saw it. Yet he did not do so in a prideful, self-righteous way. Rather it was his humility in realizing that God’s truth alone should govern our lives that forced him to speak about these things. He was bold not because of any power of his own, but because he recognized that he didn’t have power while God’s words do.

Application – Can you truthfully say, “He must increase and I must decrease?” Is your work and ministry about you or about Jesus? Share one practical way you can give glory to Jesus instead of yourself in your workplace.

7. Jesus baptized by John –

Mark 1:9 – In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

At the start of His ministry, Jesus went to John to be baptized.

Reflect – Since baptism was associated with repentance, why did Jesus do it?

Jesus did not tell us, but here are some possible reasons.

A. To identify with us as a man – Jesus was not an elitist. He didn’t come as a master, a boss, or a noble. He came as one of us. Many of the things he did demonstrated his humanity for all to see.

B. To connect with John’s ministry – This was a way to show respect for John for his service and make a connection for John’s disciples to begin following Jesus.

C. To make a public statement that He intended to follow God – His baptism was a public statement of His submission to God and plan to follow God fully.

D. To be an example to us – If even Jesus, who never sinned, was baptized, how much more should we!

8. The Father speaks – God the Father put a public stamp of approval upon Jesus and His ministry.

Mark 1:10-11 – And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

All three members of the Trinity were present. This event would have been a pleasant reminder to Jesus of His Father’s approval, as well as the Holy Spirit’s. But more than that it was evidence to all the people that Jesus was truly the Son of God. They couldn’t very well claim that Jesus was just a man when God said this out loud in front of so many people.

Interestingly, in John 12:29, God makes a similar statement. In that case many people found excuses not to believe it was God talking. Some said it was just thunder.

Some people claim that if God was to speak to them from heaven, they would believe. However, this is often not the case. Like those in the crowds at Jesus’ baptism, many would still refuse to believe even if they heard His voice from heaven today.

Application – What lesson from John the Baptist can you apply to your life this week?