In the Gospel of Mark we see a Person living a life according to God’s New Testament economy. This book does not reveal anything other than the Lord Jesus as this wonderful Person.
Let us now list a number of matters that have occupied people’s attention throughout human history: culture, religion, ethics, morality, the improvement of character, philosophy, being scriptural, being spiritual, being holy, and being victorious. These ten items cover the thoughts, ideas, and concepts of all people, including Gentiles, Jews, and Christians. People everywhere have their minds occupied with culture, religion, ethics, morality, the improvement of character, and philosophy. In addition, Christians may be occupied with being scriptural, spiritual, holy, and victorious. Many books have been written by Christian teachers on how to be scriptural, spiritual, holy, and victorious.
According to the Gospel of Mark, the Lord Jesus did not teach culture, religion, ethics, morality, improvement of character, or philosophy. Neither did He help people to be more scriptural, spiritual, holy, or victorious. As we pointed out in a foregoing message, the Lord Jesus did not live in the kingdom of law or that of ethics; He lived altogether in another realm—the kingdom of God.
As the One who lived in the kingdom of God, how did the Lord Jesus live? What did He do? In chapter four of Mark we see that the Lord was a Sower and that He sowed Himself as the seed into people. In particular, He sowed Himself into Peter and the other disciples.
It was not an easy matter for the Lord Jesus to sow Himself as a seed into human beings. To sow seed into soil is easy, but for the Lord to sow living seed into people was difficult. This difficulty can be illustrated by the problem parents sometimes face in getting medicine into a sick child. Because a child may strongly resist, the parents may have to hold him down and open his mouth in order to put the medicine into him. In a similar way, the Lord Jesus may have had to use angels as helpers in sowing Himself as the seed into us. It may have been necessary for us to be put into a difficult situation before we opened to the Lord to receive Him as the divine seed. Praise Him that in spite of the difficulty, He has been sown into us!
The Gospel of Mark shows the Lord Jesus living and working in such a way as to sow Himself as seed into people. Mark is not a book of culture, religion, ethics, morality, improvement of character, or philosophy. Neither is it a book teaching us to be scriptural, spiritual, holy, and victorious. Instead, the Gospel of Mark is a book presenting the Sower sowing Himself into us as the seed of a life that lives according to God’s New Testament economy.
It is possible that the thoughts even of the saints in the Lord’s recovery may be occupied with the matters of how to be scriptural, spiritual, holy, and victorious. Do you not want to be holy? Do you not want to be spiritual and victorious? Books written by Christians emphasizing the need to be holy, spiritual, and victorious may quote verses from the Bible to support their teachings. However, the Gospel of Mark does not touch this field at all. This Gospel does not teach us how to be holy, spiritual, and victorious. Instead, the Gospel of Mark presents the Lord as the One sowing Himself into the disciples.
The Lord’s close followers spent three and a half years with Him. During those years, He must have taught them many things. It is surprising that in the Gospel of Mark we do not find a hint concerning this. In this book we see that the Lord Jesus was continually sowing Himself into Peter and the other disciples. In chapter one the Lord saw Peter and his brother Andrew fishing. The Lord called them and, attracted by Him, they left all and followed Him (vv. 16-18). It may be that the Lord’s sowing of the seed into Peter began at that time.