What Jesus Did

But when [John the Baptizer] saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. "You brood of snakes!" he exclaimed. "Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don't just say to each other, 'We're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.' That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God's judgment is poised, ready...

 

The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John [the Baptist] when he said,
"He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
'Prepare the way for the Lord's coming!
Clear the road for him!'"

John's clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.


—Matthew 3:3-4 NLT

Key Thought​

Preparation is hard work. To be the one who prepares the way for someone else's travel but doesn't get to go down that road, well...

 

In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, "Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near."

—Matthew 3:1-2 NLT

Key Thought​

So often the things we most desire, the things we are looking for most earnestly, are near us, but we miss them. When looking for something when I was young, I often heard: "If it had been a snake, it would have bitten you." We would "give our eye teeth" to have been witnesses...

 

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. "Get up!" the angel said. "Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead."
So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus and his mother. But when he learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod's son Archelaus, he was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee. So the family went...

 

[When Joseph of Arimathea asked for Jesus' body,] Pilate couldn't believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet. The officer confirmed that Jesus was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body.

—Mark 15:44-45 NLT

Key Thought​

We should gather several bits of valuable information from these verses:

1. Jesus died more quickly than most facing crucifixion — the brutal treatment with his beating and scourging...

 

[Some of the oldest and best Greek manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark end the book after the previous verse.]

After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened. But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, they didn't believe her.

Afterward he appeared in a different form to two...

 

[After the angel spoke to them, the] women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.

—Mark 16:8 NLT

Key Thought​

Mark wanted us to know two crucial things about Jesus. First, Jesus was mighty and powerful, something even the demons recognized and feared. Second, despite all of his power, he submitted himself to the will of the Father and went to the cross to ransom us from sin and death. Mark knew Jesus was...

 

[Speaking to the women, the angel in Jesus' empty tomb continued:] "Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died."

—Mark 16:7 NLT

Key Thought​

Jesus is about ministry. While it is not emphasized in Mark, Matthew speaks of Jesus as Immanuel — God with us. Jesus reminded his disciples that they would experience his presence in their fellowship and worship (Matthew 18:20), in...

 

When [the women who had come to anoint Jesus' body] entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, but the angel said, "Don't be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn't here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body."

—Mark 16:5-6 NLT

Key Thought​

"He isn't here! He is risen from the dead!" What incredibly powerful words and what an even more...

 

When [the women who had come to anoint Jesus' body] entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, but the angel said, "Don't be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn't here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body."

—Mark 16:5-6 NLT

Key Thought​

These women were more than "touched by an angel;" they were startled by an angel (Matthew 28:5). They knew...