◄ Mark Devotional Commentary ►

Mark 1:1

Like all the Gospel writers, Mark introduces us to Jesus Christ, the eternally begotten Son of God and prophesied Saviour of the world. Mark's specific focus is upon the humanity of Jesus as servant of all, and the divinely appointed name of Jesus which is specifically linked with His humanity and which means God is Salvation.

The personal name 'Jesus' was given to Him at the time of His birth, read more...

Mark 1:8

For thirty years, the Lord Jesus was being prepared for His sacrificial act in God's redemptive plan. Finally, John the Baptist strode onto the biblical scene as a prophetic voice calling for God's people to repent of their sin and preparing the way of the Lord. John announced Jesus' arrival and pointed people to Him. He identified Him as the Chosen of God Who would save His people from their sin. And John saw the heavens open and watched as the Spirit, in the form read more...

Mark 1:9

The other Gospels give considerably more detail of Christ's actual baptism in the Jordan, than Mark.

Matthew lets us know that John the Baptist was reluctant to baptise the Lord Jesus - because John's baptism was a baptism unto repentance, while Christ was without sin. He was the perfect, sinless, Lamb of God Who would take away the sin of the world. Matthew explains that Christ's baptism was in fulfilment of a Levitical read more...

Mark 1:14

John the Baptist was God's appointed forerunner to the Messiah. Isaiah had prophesied of him and identified John as being, "a voice, crying in the wilderness, 'prepare ye the way of the Lord.'" And John came preaching a baptism of repentance to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, for the remission of sins.

Before Christ's ministry started, we discover John calling the nation of Israel read more...

Mark 1:15

Along with many holy men of God, Isaiah prophesied of Christ; the Servant of God, Jesus Christ the righteous Who was sent to save His people Israel from their sins. He also prophesied of John the Baptist, God's final Old Testament messenger who was set aside from his mother's womb to prepare the way of the Lord.

After laying this prophetic foundation and a brief reference to Christ's baptism in the Jordan, His temptation in the read more...

Mark 1:24

The first twenty verses of Mark's Gospel catapult us through the tumultuous ministry of John the Baptist, Christ's baptism, His temptation in the wilderness, and the beginning of His public ministry, with the calling of His first disciples on the shore of the Galilee.

We are immediately plunged into a confrontation with the scribes on a Sabbath day. Jesus entered the synagogue at Capernaum and astounded the people with His read more...

Mark 2:2

At the beginning of Mark, chapter 2, we read that Jesus had returned to Capernaum, after having completed an exhaustive preaching tour throughout the Galilean region. For days, He had not only been preaching and teaching the gospel of the kingdom, but had cast out many demons and healed numerous people that were sick with diverse diseases.

However, soon after Jesus returned to His home base at Capernaum, following this strenuous read more...

Mark 2:5

Jesus could have spent his entire life-time healing all that were physically sick, maimed, demon possessed, or leprous. He could have fed the multitudes daily with bread and fish, or with manna and quail, until physical illness was eradicated and bodily hunger was satisfied.

But Jesus had come for a greater purpose than simply to supply man's many physical needs. Jesus had come to turn men from sin and unbelief back to trust and read more...

Mark 2:22

Jesus was the promised Messiah Who was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to save His chosen people from their sins. All Scripture had pointed to the time when Christ would set up His promised kingdom on earth, and for three wonderful years God's anointed King of Israel lived among His people and laid out the criteria for entrance into His sovereign realm as His loyal subjects. All Old Testament Scripture pointed to Christ, Who was the end of the Law as read more...

Mark 2:27

When God had finished His six days of creation, He rested on the seventh day. However, due to man's sin, God had to begin another work – the work of redemption, which is the work that will one day be fully and finally completed when Christ is all in all.

God rested after His six days of creation when His work of creation was done, as a read more...

Mark 3:35

The crowds thronged the Lord Jesus, for they were astonished by the many mighty miracles and great healings that He was performing. Even the unclean spirits recognised Who Jesus was and declared: "You are the Son of God." But the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians hated the Lord Jesus, for He was undermining their authoritarian monopolies and hypocritical practices. Jesus spoke as one having sovereign authority, but it read more...

Mark 4:10

In the preceding verses, the Lord told the parable of the sower to a very large crowd, as He sat in a fishing boat on the sea. Jesus ended His teaching with an important command which not only reminds us to hear His Word, but to give our undivided attention to all He says and to inwardly digest all He teaches: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" 

Teaching in parables became an important tool as Christ's ministry read more...

Mark 4:11

Jesus came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel as the Good Shepherd. He came to save His people from their sin. He was the One Whom Scripture promised would come to set up His kingdom of peace and prosperity on earth.

Jesus came to the Jew FIRST, to fulfil God's unconditional covenant to Abraham, and His coming to Bethlehem in the land of Judah was one of numerous prophecies given to Israel, so they would recognise the read more...

Mark 4:34

Jesus started to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah when He started to speak to the people in parables. A parable is so much more than an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, for Israel had ears but did not listen to the Word of the Lord, and though they had eyes, they neither saw nor understood the enormity of His gracious message.

The Lord Jesus painted a word picture to capture the imagination of the crowd, but His painting became read more...

Mark 4:35

Multitudes followed the Lord Jesus and hung on to His every word, for He had become famous throughout the land. He healed all that were sick and cast out many unclean spirits, and people began to wonder if He was the promised Messiah. However, the scribes and Pharisees were jealous of His enormous popularity and accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. They considered the only way to be rid of Him was to smear His character through lies and read more...

Mark 5:19

Although Jesus came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, as prophesied of old, there was a certain point when He knew that the Jews would reject Him, and it was important that His disciples began to understand Christ's wider mission. Not only was He Israel's Messiah, Who had come to fulfil Scripture, but He had also come as Saviour of the whole world.

Christ's disciples had to understand this greater ministry - that through read more...

Mark 6:2

Jesus was Servant of all and He went about doing good. However, when He came to visit His hometown of Nazareth, He was rejected by both the townsfolk and his own family members. He came to His own people to set up the promised kingdom of God, but His own people rejected Him and the townsfolk of Nazareth gave Him little or no respect.

The Lord had just returned from the country of the Gadarenes, on the eastern side of the read more...

Mark 6:3

Jesus was a Man that went about doing good, but those who knew Him as a young lad in the little village of Nazareth, were unable to accept Him and His teachings. They rejected the Lord of life Who was the Word made flesh and the Messiah of God.

It is said, 'familiarity breeds contempt', and the people of Nazareth were so biased against Jesus that He could not do many mighty miracles there, because of their unbelief. How true is read more...

Mark 6:4

The ministry of Jesus began to widen as news of His amazing miracles and healings began to be spread abroad. Although He was resisted by the scribes and Pharisees in Judah, He received a more positive reception around the Galilee. However, as time passed, hostility towards the Lord Jesus started to develop, and increasingly His message and ministry was rejected, causing Him to begin teaching His faithful followers through parables.

read more...

Mark 6:5

Rejection is never a pleasant experience, but in Mark 6 we read that it was Jesus Who had to face being rejected, rebuffed, and ridiculed, by the people in his hometown of Nazareth. Although Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He was brought up in the little village of Nazareth, where he worked with his father, Joseph, as a carpenter. However, at about the age of 30, He relocated to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee, and became an itinerant Rabbi.

read more...

Mark 6:30

What a touching scene we have here. Jesus had sent His twelve apostles out with a special commission to preach repentance to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and had given them apostolic authority and divine ability to: "Drive out many demons, anoint many sick people with oil, and heal them."

The apostles were no doubt flushed with excitement at the success of their ministry and weary from their exhausting read more...

Mark 6:31

The responsibilities, busyness, stresses, and strains of simply living, can cause each of us to neglect what is important and have a lasting effect on what we consider to be immediately urgent and vital. Even the duties and tasks to which God has called us can be placed higher on our daily agenda than those things that are vital to our spiritual well-being - taking time to be alone with the Lord.

Mark is the shortest gospel... read more...

Mark 7:20

Jesus was the Son of the Highest Who was sent from heaven, by God. He was to go... only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, for He was the promised Messiah Who came to save His people from their sins. He came to His own people and the mighty signs and miracles He performed, authenticated His Messianic claims for they were prophesied in the Scriptures. He came at God's appointed time to put an end to transgression and sins through the sacrificial offering of read more...

Mark 8:31

Simon Peter was the apostle who proclaimed, "You are the Christ." This positive declaration of Jesus' Messiah-hood is recorded in each of the Gospels. In Luke, the Lord Jesus is acknowledged as "the Christ of God," while John's Gospel records Peter as saying: "We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God." Matthew expands read more...

Mark 8:34

When Jesus summoned the crowd to come and listen to Him and made His astonishing demand... that anyone who wanted to follow Him was to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him... we find that this requirement was recorded immediately after Peter had pronounced his divine revelation from God.

Peter had just confessed, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," following which, read more...

Mark 9:10

Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, not long before He was to face Calvary's Cross and bear the full weight of man's sin on His shoulders. He was to be the full and final sacrifice for sin, and only three of Christ's disciples witnessed the awesome presence of God as a cloud enveloped Him, and a voice from heaven was heard to say, "This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased. Listen to HIM."

read more...

Mark 9:23

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good, healing all manner of sickness, and delivering all who were oppressed of the devil. His object was not simply a 'quick-fix' physical cure for the moment, but a 'long-term' spiritual healing, with eternal consequences. When approached by those who desired healing, the Lord Jesus made sure he addressed the 'faith' issue, and the healing of the demon-possessed boy demonstrates this in a read more...

Mark 9:24

The whole fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ, and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him. As His children, we are privileged to dwell in Him and He in us. We are filled by His Spirit and made complete in Him Who is the head over all rule and authority, principality and power.

But how often like the disciples we doubt the power, ability, wisdom, and knowledge of the Lord. Like them, we fail to read more...

Mark 9:43

Jesus may have been the Son of God through Whom heaven and earth were created, but He also came into this world as the Son of Man, the suffering Servant of Jehovah Who would give His life as the ransom price for the sin of the whole world.

He had come to set up God's kingdom on earth, but His own people rejected Him and He finally set His face as a flint towards Jerusalem and the Cross. It was at that time that the Lord Jesus began in earnest to read more...

Mark 10:14

Earlier in Mark Chapter 10, we read of a barrage of questions that the Pharisees were asking Jesus. They were not interested in the truth, but were doing their best to trip Him up and find fault with Him.

And it was following this barrage of attacks that we read, "and they brought young children to Him, that He should touch them. And the disciples rebuked those that brought them." Little children and young people read more...

Mark 10:15

What a great blessing to have a childlike mind and the sort of attitude towards the Lord that we discover within the heart of a little child. All of us are sinners, and children also have a sin nature and are in equal need of redemption, but little children are a wonderful example of a heart that is ready to hear the good news of salvation and a mind that is ready and willing to receive the good news of the gospel of grace.

Little read more...

Mark 10:17

There were many in Israel that did everything in their power to discredit the Lord Jesus and trap Him by asking leading questions so that they could accuse Him of blasphemy against God or insurrection against Rome. 

Jesus had encountered the condemnatory accusations of pious people who were quick to accuse an adulteress of her sin while wallowing comfortably in read more...

Mark 10:43

While walking with the Lord of glory on His sacrificial journey towards the Cross and the glorious Resurrection, and having been forewarned by Jesus of the future suffering and tribulation both He and all His followers were to face, we discover the disciples squabbling about who was be the most important person in Christ's coming kingdom!

They were expecting the Lord to set up His kingdom on earth at that time, and the read more...

Mark 10:45

The glittering prizes of wealth and honour, of fame and fortune, of intellectual prowess and great importance, is highly prized in today's world system, but it can too often bedazzle the eyes of believers as well, and even Christ's own disciples were not exempt. They were arguing about who was the most important in their little group and were jostling for the best position in Christ's coming kingdom. But what a shocking silence must read more...

Mark 10:49

None of us can begin to understand the agony Christ faced as He made His way to Jerusalem, before being sacrificed for the sin of the world. He had just blessed the little children and was indignant when His short-sighted disciples tried to discourage them from coming to Jesus. He was further saddened to see the rich young ruler, whom He loved so deeply, abandon the eternal riches he could find in Christ, for love of his earthly wealth.

read more...

Mark 10:51

Knowing that the hour of His passion was fast approaching, when the Son of Man would be lifted up on the Cross for the sin of the world, Jesus crossed the Jorden as He prepared to set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem. On the way, He visited the ancient city of Jericho because there was a son of David, called Bartimaeus, who was a poor, miserable, blind beggar who needed his eyes to be opened.

Thoughts fly back to the start read more...

Mark 11:9

Only days before His crucifixion on Calvary's Cross, the Lord Jesus triumphantly rode into the city of Jerusalem on a little donkey... proclaiming to be Israel's long-awaited Messiah, and their prophesied King and Saviour.

The crowds cried out in excited expectation, "Hosanna," they shouted. Save us, is the interpretation. "Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord," was the read more...

Mark 11:10

It was John the Baptist who challenged Israel to repent of their sins and to turn back to God, because their long-awaited Messiah had arrived. Their prophesied King of Righteousness had come to earth to set up His kingdom, as recorded in Old Testament Scripture. The promised kingdom of their father David was at hand - King Jesus was in their midst.

The angelic host announced good news of great joy and salvation to a waiting world read more...

Mark 12:6

The Lord Jesus told many stories and parables. Some were designed so that those whose hearts were hardened against the Lord and His anointed Christ, would hear with their ears, but be deaf to its real meaning. They would have eyes to see and yet would be blinded to the truth. They would hearken to the story but miss the message... and fail to understand the glorious gospel of the kingdom and the gracious offer of salvation that came from the Lord of glory.

read more...

Mark 12:10

Having rejected: 1) The prophetic warning of John the Baptist to turn from their sins and produce righteous fruit. 2) The heavenly witness of the Father and the Spirit at His baptism. 3) The undeniable testimony of His messianic signs as proof of His heavenly calling, the leadership of Israel were further berated by Christ. He exposed the sinful desires of the leadership of Israel, which were to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ and claim His inheritance for read more...

Mark 12:28

From the beginning of His ministry to the day of His death, the controversy between the liberty of the gospel of God and the restrictive traditions of Judaism, raged.

As the day for Christ's betrayal and crucifixion drew ever closer, the various schools of Judaism conspired to indict the Lord Jesus under a civil or religious statute. They plotted together to make a prolonged attack on the Lord Jesus Christ, in an attempt to read more...

Mark 12:29

Although the majority of the Jewish leadership were against the Lord Jesus and conspired how to get rid of Him, there were those from the ruling classes who were convicted by Christ's words and who sought the truth. Elsewhere we read of Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and others who were secret disciples of Christ. And here we discover a young man who was a teacher of the Law who was intrigued by the wisdom of Jesus.

This earnest read more...

Mark 12:30

The very nature and heart of God is eternal LOVE and this sublime attribute permeates all His other superlative qualities. This greatest of all commands to LOVE the Lord our God, embraces and intertwines with every other facet of His beautiful, eternal character.

Love is the alpha and headspring of the fruit of the spirit. Love is the superlative and pre-eminent affection of the soul. Love is the peak and pinnacle of a life that read more...

Mark 12:36

The Pharisees did all they could to discredit the Messianic claims of the Lord Jesus by asking difficult questions. His claim to be God offended them, and their devious enquiry was designed trip Him up, but in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and they were astonished at His gracious replies.

But in response, He silenced the leaders of the Jews with a question that supported His claims to deity. The read more...

Mark 13:32

Throughout Mark 13, Jesus addresses issues connected with the end times. From other passages, we understand that the 'end times' or 'last days' started in the times of the disciples with Christ's death, burial, Resurrection, and Ascension, and will continue until His Second Coming to set up His earthly kingdom. Indeed, in its broadest context, it also encompasses His millennial rule and that future day when God will make a new heaven and a new earth to usher in the read more...

Mark 14:36

We cannot begin to imagine the depth of agony that our Lord Jesus Christ experienced in Gethsemane, when three times in succession He asked Abba, His God and Father, if it were possible to remove the bitter cup He was about to drink, for He knew that all things are possible with God. And yet, the thundering silence that pounded from a shut and brassy heaven revealed that there was no other way whereby we must be saved. And so Christ was enabled to pray: read more...

Mark 14:61

Jesus was the sinless Son of the Blessed One, and when falsely accused by the religious court of the Jews (which had been unconstitutionally convened in the middle of the night in order to falsely accuse the Lord and condemn Him to death), He remained silent. We read: "Jesus kept silent and did not answer anything."

Jesus had no need to defend His innocence, for every member of the Sanhedrin knew that he was a read more...

Mark 14:62

Jesus was arrested in the dead of night and quickly hustled into a tribunal, that was not simply illegal but broke the Mosaic Law multiple times. Those who had seized Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together unlawfully. Many false witnesses were also there who testified against Him, twisting the truth and misinterpreting His words.  But the Lord Jesus said nothing. He read more...

Mark 14:64

The pre-Cross ministry of the Lord Jesus was specifically to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Both northern and southern kingdoms had failed to keep God's law and their punishment was exile from the Promised Land. First, the northern kingdom was conquered by Syria, and later, the southern kingdom was taken captive by Babylon. And although God in His grace brought many Israelites back to their homeland, Israel as a nation remained under the jurisdiction of read more...

Mark 15:34

There must be a depth of love between the members of the Trinity at which we can only wonder, for Each loves the Other with a divine love that always has been and will continue to exist forever. It is a godly love that will reach into the eternal ages to come, a deathless love that will never end, for God is love.

And yet, that continuously existing communion between Father and Son was broken at Calvary's Cross, as the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for read more...

Mark 16:4

The glorious Resurrection of our Saviour is as much a part of the gospel of Christ as His sacrificial death. He was delivered to death to pay the price for our sin, but His Resurrection from the grave secured our justification. The message of the Cross does not finish with Christ's death, but integrates His rising from the dead. And His victory over sin, death, and hell is an inescapable part of the whole story of our great salvation.

read more...

Mark 16:6

Were it not for the Cross, we could never have been forgiven of our sins and delivered from our offenses against God, but were it not for the Resurrection, we would have no proof of Christ's claims to be our Saviour.

By His sinless life and substitutionary death, He was victorious over death. By His Resurrection, he broke the power of sin and death in the lives of all who believe in Him. Our risen and glorified Saviour has given read more...

Mark 16:9

Christ died to take the punishment for our sins and to pay the price on our account - and the wages of sin is death. Christ died in our place. But the gospel does not end at the Cross, for Christ rose from the dead so that all who have faith in His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection will also rise from the dead into newness of life.

It is through faith in His redemptive work that we are given a new life, read more...

Mark 16:15

Those forty blissful days that followed the Resurrection must have been wonderful for Christ's disciples, because the sorrow and anguish they felt when they thought the Saviour was dead and buried (following the gruelling time of His arrest, trial, and crucifixion), must have blossomed into a time to ecstatic gladness and joy as Jesus presented Himself to them alive and gave everyone His gracious reassurance that even the terrible act of denial cannot separate us read more...

Mark 16:16

Having just read about Christ's appearance to two of His disciples as they walked along the road, and having just recorded that Jesus rebuked His disciples for their unbelief and hardness of heart by refusing to believe the eyewitness accounts of Christ's Resurrection, we read that Jesus gave the disciples His great missionary commission: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all people." And He charged them that those who responded to the gospel read more...