◀ All Reading Plans / New Testament in a Year / Mark 1:1-22 (New Catholic Bible)

Prev Day

February 18, 2015

Next Day

Use the calendar to view readings from this devotional.

February 2015
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28

Return to today's reading

New Testament in a Year

Read the New Testament from start to finish, from Matthew to Revelation.

Duration: 365 days

Mark 1:1-22

Preparation for the Mission of Jesus^[a]

Chapter 1

Beginning of the Good News.^[b] ¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

²It is written in the prophet Isaiah:^[c]

“Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
³The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ ”

⁴Hence, John the Baptist appeared in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵People from the entire Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem went out to him, and as they confessed their sins they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

⁶John was clothed in a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food consisted of locusts and wild honey. ⁷And this was the message he proclaimed: “One who is far more powerful than I am is coming after me. I am not worthy even to stoop down and loosen the straps of his sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”^[d]

Jesus Is Baptized by John.^[e] ⁹At that time,^[f] Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰^[g]And as he was coming up out of the water, he beheld the heavens break open and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.”

¹²Jesus Is Tempted in the Desert.^[h] The Spirit immediately drove him out into the desert. ¹³He remained there for forty days, during which time he was tempted by Satan. He lived there among the wild beasts, while the angels ministered to him.

Is Jesus the Messiah?^[i]

First Testimonies of the Messiah’s Mission

¹⁴Jesus Inaugurates His Mission. After John had been arrested,^[j] Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ¹⁵“The time of fulfillment has arrived, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

¹⁶The First Disciples.^[k] As Jesus was walking along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ¹⁸Immediately, they abandoned their nets and followed him.

¹⁹As he proceeded farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They also were in a boat mending their nets. ²⁰Immediately, he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers and followed him.

²¹Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon.^[l] They journeyed to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath Jesus immediately entered the synagogue and began to instruct the people. ²²They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.

Footnotes

Mark 1:1 Around the year 30, after centuries of silence, a prophet named John appears and unsettles his contemporaries. They are captivated by the force of his personality and the vehemence of his message. Then Jesus comes on the scene. Mark uses this story as a kind of prologue for his book, a kind of key for understanding the pages that follow: the Gospel, the “good news,” is here bursting out in the midst of humanity; the action of Jesus inaugurates the kingdom of God, the time of salvation.
Mark 1:1 The Gospel is not primarily a book but rather God’s action for the salvation of humankind. The entire Book of Mark depicts Jesus as the promised and awaited one (the Messiah) and as the Son of God (see Mk 8:35; 10:29).
Mark 1:2 The prophet Isaiah: the quotation that follows is a combination of Malachi (3:1) and Isaiah (40:3). See note on Mt 27:9.
Mark 1:8 Baptize you with the Holy Spirit: see note on Mt 3:11.
Mark 1:9 Mark retains only the essential elements of the divine manifestation, which here is given only to Jesus, whose mission is announced.
Mark 1:9 At that time: Jesus probably began his public ministry about A.D. 27 at approximately 30 years of age (see Lk 3:23). Nazareth: see note on Mt 2:23. Baptized by John: see note on Mt 3:15 for the meaning of Jesus’ baptism.
Mark 1:10 This passage has the involvement of all three persons of the Trinity: (1) the Father speaks; (2) the Son is baptized; and (3) the Holy Spirit descends on the Son.
Mark 1:12 Jesus is already committed to his mission of combating Satan, the representative of all the forces of evil that batter humanity.
Mark 1:14 People had a simple idea of the Messiah as a glorious figure: they were expecting a national hero, a political liberator, a restorer of their independence and their public worship, a leader who would bring Israel to world domination. But the reason why Jesus comes before the nation is quite different. This first part of Mark’s Gospel describes three periods. Three times the author gives a general summary of the activity of Jesus and describes a mission of the disciples; each period ends with a scene of hostility and lack of understanding. At the end of this first half of the book, the confession of Peter at Caesarea recognizes the Messiah without any misunderstanding. From that point on, the road will lead to the Passion; that development occupies the second half of the Gospel.
Mark 1:14 After John had been arrested: the ministry of Jesus begins under the sign of his precursor’s martyrdom. This simple chronological marker is a veiled prefiguration of the suffering and death that await the Messiah. See note on Lk 3:20.
Mark 1:16 See note on Mt 4:18-22.
Mark 1:21 See note on Lk 4:31-41.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)