막 1:1-3 예수 그리스도, 복음의 시작

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, athe Son of God.1 

2 bAs it is written in Isaiah the prophet,2

c“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way,

3 dthe voice of one crying in the wilderness:

e‘Prepare3 the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight,’ ”

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), 막 1:1–3.

1절) 하나님의 아들, 예수 그리스도의 복음의 시작

마가는 자신의 복음서를 시작하면서 분명하게 이것이 예수의 이야기임을 밝히며 그 주인공이신 예수님께서 메시야(그리스도)이심을 또한 하나님의 아들이심을 밝힌다. 그리고 그분의 이야기가 바로 복음임을 힘주어 선포하면 자신의 복음서를 시작하고 있다. 본문의 등장인문들은 예수님이 누구신지에 대해서 분명히 알지 못했지만 이 책을 읽고 듣고 있는 이들은 이 복음서를 시작하면서 분명하게 그분이 누구이신지에 대한 마가의 선포를 듣고 있는 것이다. 

- The “gospel” is an important subject in Mark. The word euangelion appears seven times (also 1:14–15; 8:35; 10:29; 13:10; and 14:9. Cf. also 16:15) versus only four times in Matthew and none in Luke and John (but Matthew has the cognate verb once and Luke ten times). By his frequent use of the term, Mark emphasized the freshness and even revolutionary character of the message of Jesus. This message offered hope to the neglected and oppressed.

The name “Jesus” is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew “Joshua” (both words have been anglicized), which means Yahweh (or simply God) saves. As a common name in the first century, it was shared by two or three other persons who are mentioned in the New Testament: Barabbas (Matt 27:16–17, NRSV, NEB), Jesus Justus (Col 4:11), and Joshua (Acts 7:45; Heb 4:8, KJV; see explanation above). Josephus referred to about twenty different persons who had the name. Mark used it eighty times without stressing the theological significance of the name.

The Greek word “Christ” is the equivalent of the Hebrew “Messiah” (again both are anglicized) and is actually translated “Messiah” in some passages by the NRSV, NEB, REB, and GNB. Both mean the anointed one, i.e., a person commissioned by God for a special task. In the Old Testament priests (Exod 29:7, 21), prophets (1 Kgs 19:16), and kings (1 Sam 10:1) were anointed for special tasks. Mark did not describe Jesus as a priest, and he said very little explicitly about him as a prophet (cf. 6:4, 15; 8:28); but in 15:2, 9, 12, 18, 26, 32 he described him as the king of the Jews/Israel. In the first century some Jews looked forward to an anointed king who, they hoped, would restore the kingdom of David and consummate the age. The term “Christ” or “Messiah” was originally a title, but by Mark’s day it was on the way to becoming a proper name (cf. 9:41). The word appears only seven times in Mark (here; 8:29; 9:41; 12:35; 13:21; 14:61; 15:32; also 1:34 as a variant reading), probably reflecting accurately the reluctance of Jesus to employ it or to accept it when used by others because of its nationalistic connotations. The only instance where Jesus used it with reference to himself is 9:41 and there in an oblique way. For Mark and his readers/hearers Jesus was the one above all others who was anointed by God for the greatest task of all times. Evidently at his baptism (1:9–11) Jesus was formally anointed for his special mission.

The words “the Son of God” are omitted by one of the earliest and best Greek manuscripts, two other manuscripts of medium quality, two versions (translations) of medium value, and some nine early Christian writers who quote the verse. The textual evidence, however, heavily favors authenticity, and the omission may have been accidental due to six consecutive words in the Greek text having the same ending. Elsewhere Mark used the title at 3:11 and 5:7 in the confession of evil spirits and in 15:39 in the climactic confession of the centurion. To these ought to be added “Son of the Blessed One” in the question of the high priest in 14:61 and “Son” alone in the very important divine attestations of 1:11; 9:7.

Still further allusions to Jesus as Son occur in 12:6; 13:32. Although the demons confessed Jesus as Son of God in Mark, the disciples never did. Jesus did not explicitly refer to himself as Son, but the idea is implicit in 12:6; 13:32. Although not frequently used, the title comes at crucial points in the narrative and obviously is an important one, perhaps the most important one. That the title appears near the beginning and end of the Gospel, bracketing the entire book so as to emphasize this truth to the readers/hearers, is especially significant. Although used of angels (Job 1:6), the nation Israel (Hos 11:1), and Davidic kings (2 Sam 7:14) in the Old Testament and of rulers, deliverers, and healers in the Greco-Roman world, Mark doubtless used it to refer to the unique relationship of Jesus to the only true God.

The very first sentence therefore evidences that Mark’s Gospel is more than a narrative of events. It is also a theology, primarily a Christology. Although the characters in the story struggle with Jesus’ identity, the readers/hearers know from the beginning that he is the promised Messiah and the very Son of God.

 James A. Brooks, Mark, vol. 23, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991), 38–39.

2-3절) 마가는 이 복음의 시작을 이사야의 예언의 성취라고 말한다. 이 예언은 사 40:3; 말 3:1에 이미 선포된 것이다. 특히 하나님께서 자신의 사자(천사)를 먼조 보내 준비한다라는 이 표현은 이미 출 23:20에 이미 선포된 내용을 말라기에서 3:1; 4:5-6에 기록한 내용이었다. 출애굽한 이스라엘이 약속의 땅을 차지하였지만 얼마지나지 않아 앗수르와 바벨론에게 멸망당해 버린다. 이후 이사야 선지자는 바벨론의 포로로부터 돌아와 회복될 것을 예언한다. 하지만 이 유다의 회복은 잠시, 주전 63년에 예루살렘은 로마에 의해서 다시 정복당하고 만다. 이러한 시대에 마가복음은 시작된다. 무자비한 헤롯에 의해서 새로운 성전이 건축중인 때였다. 

이렇게 또다시 로마의 지배하에 있던 때에 이사야와 말라기 선지자의 메시지가 선포되며 그분의 도래를 외치고 있는 것이다. 

- This reference to Isaiah, however, is not as simple and straightforward as it might first appear. In fact, the first part of Mark 1:2 does not come from Isaiah at all but from the Greek version of Exodus 23:20, where God promises to send an angelic messenger ahead of the twelve tribes to prepare the way for their entry into the Promised Land. Much later at the close of the prophetic era in Malachi 3:1 these words were used again to predict the appearance of another messenger whose task is to announce the coming of the Lord. And the last words of the book of Malachi (4:5–6) reveal that this messenger will be none other than Elijah, who did not die but was taken to be with God. In between the conquest of the Promised Land and the end of the prophetic era is the promise of Isaiah 40:3, quoted here in part in Mark 1:3, about a messenger who heralds the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon.

These opening verses depict in broad strokes the entire sweep of Israel’s history after the exodus. The messenger of Exodus 23:20 had come, and over a period of two hundred years the people of Israel had gained control of the land. They lost the land in a series of wars with Assyria and Babylon in the sixth, seventh and eighth centuries b.c. In 587 b.c. Jerusalem was completely destroyed, and Babylon became the new cultural center for the people of Judah. The messenger of Isaiah 40 had prophesied that the exiles would return from Babylon, that Jerusalem would be restored and that God would once again become the king and protector of Judah. This prophecy was one of several that encouraged the hope that God would restore the sovereignty of the royal house and extend the borders of Judah to the boundaries of the kingdom of David. In 538 b.c. the first exiles returned to Jerusalem, but the people of Judah did not regain their independence until 140 b.c. They lost it again in 63 b.c., when Jerusalem surrendered to Roman General Pompey. Yet by the end of that century the work of rebuilding Jerusalem was complete except for the construction of a new temple on the scale of the one Solomon had built.

As Mark’s Gospel opens, a grand, new temple funded by the ruthless Herod the Great was still under construction. The people of Judah were once again subject to a foreign power, and the temple was being built from the fortune of a king whose only passion was power. The great promise of the messenger of Isaiah 40 had yet to be realized, and the messenger of Malachi 3:1 had not appeared in any sense.

 Ronald J. Kernaghan, Mark, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2007), 29–30.

결국 광야에서 외치는 자의 소리는 구약의 엘리야로 대표되는 세례요한이다. 그의 선포는 “주의 길을 준비하라 그의 오실길을 곧게 하라”였다. 이처럼 이스라엘을 향한 복음, 구원의 메시지는 구약으로부터 지속적으로 선포된 것의 완성으로 나아가는 것이다. 

이제 드디어 하나님의 때, 카이로스가 임한 것이다.