1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” 4 John the baptizer appeared[e] in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The one …show more content…
Here, John the Baptist introduces and forecasts the imminent descent of Jesus Christ. In doing so, this passage from Mark begins the Gospel by focusing on only the kerugmatik activity of Jesus, exposing the theology of the time and tracing the origin of Jesus’ ministry while stressing Mark’s devotion to the Lord. Analysis of this excerpt suggests that Mark 1:1-8 makes use of John the Baptist’s appearance and words to accentuate, glorify and hold to esteem the rise of the forecasted Messiah, Jesus Christ. This claim is supported by the evidence of symbolism throughout Mark 1:1-8 that recalls the writings in Genesis particularly those that had forecasted the beginning which resemble John’s venue and dressing as of Elijah’s own, the annotation of Jesus as the Son of God which due to the immensely religious society at the time authenticated any claim and ultimately, the blunt statement that Jesus is greatly powerful than humans by suggesting that Jesus is more powerful than John …show more content…
Being an exclusive religion at the time, Christianity seemed to have many secrets; it was keeping from the public. “Rumors began to fly… Christians were thought to meet under the cloak of darkness in order to hide their despicable deeds from the world. They engaged in wild sex orgies, they committed communal incest with their ‘brothers and sisters,’ and most sinister of all, they performed acts of infanticide and ritual cannibalism” (Ehrman 438).After hearing of this sick, satanic new ‘cult’ that was disrupting the peace, legal action was taken again Christians. Nero was the first to prosecute and murder many members of Christianity, supposedly including significant religious figures Peter and