Honest Sermons about the Gospel of Mark: Chapter 1

The clergy know that honesty about the Bible is risky

I was a preacher for nine years, so I do know a thing or two about sermons. And from my perspective now, I will offer my opinion on how honest sermons differ from those intended to keep the folks in the pews believing that Jesus was everything the church has claimed he was. An honest sermon requires that listeners be genuinely curious, and allow themselves to think critically. Preachers, who earn their livings promoting the faith, would prefer that their parishioners trust and accept their interpretations. Please don’t ask questions!
 
 
There is broad consensus among New Testament scholars that Mark’s gospel was the first to be written, probably some forty years after the death of Jesus. The name “Mark” was attached to it many years later by tradition; we have no idea who wrote it.  Matthew and Luke copied most of Mark’s text, and made changes as they saw fit. 
 
In each of the sixteen chapters in Mark’s gospel we can see things that preachers cherish, and use to reinforce the church’s message. But an honest sermon will point out items that are farfetched, blatantly false or exaggerated, and represent bad theology—in short, they are not worth believing.     
 
It is crucial to understand the original purpose of the gospels: they were written to promote the early Jesus cult, to persuade people to come on board, to believe its message about Jesus. Accurate history was the last thing on the minds of the gospel authors. Hence the importance of honest sermons to help people see what we’re dealing with in these documents. 
 
Let’s take a look at just nine dishonesty points in Mark 1, which warrant realistic explanations. 
 
Number 1: Old Testament “prophecies” do not mention Jesus specifically.
 
Mark’s gospel opens with a quote from ancient scripture—supposedly from Isaiah—intending to make the case that Jesus had been planned for centuries, and that John the Baptist was to announce his arrival. This hunt for texts was the habit of New Testament authors, but it would not be hard for any cult to brag: Hey, these verses are about our own holy hero! However, there is not a single text that says, “My messenger will be Jesus of Nazareth at a time when the Romans rule the world.” Why would the god who inspired the ancient texts have failed to make this clear? Why be so elusive about it? 
 
Number 2:  An exaggeration about John’s popularity.
 
We read at the opening of the gospel that John the Baptist suddenly appeared, offering a baptism for the “forgiveness of sins.” We are told nothing of his credentials—just that he fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy. How did people respond? “And the whole Judean region and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins” (Mark 1:5). This is an exaggeration based on no supporting evidence whatever. Moreover, the author wants his readers to believe that John was setting the tone for the cult hero who was about to appear. Note that his baptism was “for the forgiveness of sins.”  
 
Number 3: Was Jesus baptized so his sins could be forgiven? 
 
Is this an unrecognized mistake that the author of the gospel made? Jesus was baptized because he had sinned? The author of John’s gospel seems to have been horrified by this idea, and omitted any mention of Jesus being baptized. His perfect Jesus was one with god, and had been present at creation. An honest sermon will ask the devout to reflect on this.
 
Number 4: A voice from heaven proclaimed who Jesus was.

As soon as Jesus had been baptized, as he was coming out of the water, “And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased’” (Mark 1:11). When Matthew copied this text, he changed the wording; instead of “You are my Son,” he wrote “This is my Son…” (Matthew 3:17) No matter the pronoun, this was intended as clear proof that Jesus was god’s son: a voice from heaven announced it! There are two problems here:

(1)  This reflects the naïve view of the cosmos preserved in the Bible: god is just overhead, so he can be heard shouting from the sky. We know far too much about the universe to suppose this could have happened.
 
(2)  If this is a way god has chosen to get his message across to humans, why not use it more often—at crucial times throughout history? When thousands of Germans were gathered in stadiums to hear Adolph Hitler spews his hatreds, god could have shouted from the sky, “Don’t listen to this evil idiot! Get rid of him!” We can think of thousands of occasions when this kind of divine intervention could have saved countless lives, eliminated horrible suffering. Instead, theologians have spun countless arguments to explain god’s silence, his non-interventions, his mysterious ways. 

An honest sermon would alert listeners that this text about god shouting from the sky is not to be taken seriously. It is naïve fantasy. 

Number 5: Jesus tested by Satin and waited upon by angels.
 
Mark 1:12-13 is a giant step back into ancient superstitions that took the spiritual realm seriously. A spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness—for forty days (how tiresome: this is a parallel to the Israelites wandering in the desert for forty years)—where he was tested by Satan, and waited on by angels. When Matthew copied this text, he added nine verses in which he included the Jesus-Satan dialogue. Any critical thinker wants to know: Who was there taking notes? Honesty also requires that we wonder why a god would insist that his son be tested in such a way.  
 
Number 6:  The kingdom of god is not near—and never has been.

In Mark 1:15 we find this Jesus-script: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near [or at hand] repent, and believe in the good news.” Fast forward to Jesus-script we find at his trial. He promises those attending the trial that they will see him coming on the clouds of heaven (Mark 14:62). This is the main theme of Mark’s gospel, hence there is very little ethical teaching in this gospel. Matthew attempted to correct this defect by adding (inventing) the Sermon on the Mount. 

The kingdom-of-god message is a failure. The kingdom never arrived, resulting in huge embarrassments as Christians have endlessly predicted, into our own era, the arrival of Jesus on the clouds—any day now. Human history is an endless tale of wars, plagues, and suffering, hardly qualifying as the kingdom of god. John Loftus states the case correctly by titling his essay, At Best Jesus Was a Failed Apocalyptic Prophet, in his 2010 anthology, The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails. 

How did Mark get it so wrong? Maybe he was too much under the influence of the apostle Paul, who promised the church at Thessalonica that he himself would be alive to see their dead relatives rise to meet Jesus in the air, when he arrived on the clouds (I Thessalonians 4:13-17). No doubt about it: the kingdom was about to happen. See especially, Tom Dykstra’s 2012 book, Mark, Canonizer of Paul.   

Number 7:  Jesus gathers his first disciples.
 
In Mark 1:16-21 we find a depiction of the ideal response to a cult hero. While walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus spots four fishermen—Simon, Andrew, James and John—and asks them to follow him. They did so immediately. His only explanation is that he will make them “fishers of men.” There is no indication of curiosity on their part, no inclination to do any due diligence. Christian apologists may argue they tagged along immediately because Jesus had such a commanding presence. But it is just as likely that Mark was making a point about the loyalty that the early Jesus cult expected. Family should be left behind, divided loyalties were not accepted. Luke would add to the severity of this requirement with his famous hate-your-family rule, Luke 14:26.  
 
Number 8:  Jesus has power over demons.
 
In Mark 1:21-27 we read that Jesus went into a synagogue to teach, and one of those present was a man with an unclean spirit. That is, he was possessed by a demon residing in the spiritual realm, so he knew who Jesus was: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God” (v.24). Clearly, with this verse Mark assumed that Jesus’ credentials were firmly anchored. So, once again we’re back in the grip of ancient superstitions—similar to Jesus’ encounter earlier with Satan and angels. 
 
In an honest sermon, listeners will be challenged to show how this does not qualify as ancient superstition. For millennia humans have believed in angels and demons, witches and sorcerers, but we now live in a time when evils can be explained by natural causes—not spooks!    
 
Number 9: Jesus, by touch and voice command, gets rid of a skin disease. 
 
In Mark 1:40-45 we read that Jesus, again by touch and voice command, healed a man with a skin disease—because the man begged him to. The gospel author knew that his audience believed in magic, so why not bestow this power on Jesus? Naturally, this story begs the question: Why didn’t Jesus tour the countryside healing thousands of people of skin diseases?

If god has such power, why do skin diseases—or any diseases, for that matter—still exist? 
 
An honest sermon will urge people to wonder why their god is so negligent?  
 
In an article published on this blog a few days ago (2 Feb 2025), "Memoirs" of Earliest Christian Cultic Legends, Richard C. Miller made this very much on-target comment:

“We must, therefore, distinguish the earliest Christian exaltation of Jesus in community cultic storytelling and legend, from any claims of bona fide historical record. The Gospels were chock full of tropes and literary patterns drawn from Hellenistic and Jewish legend, myth, and folk-belief.” 

I will be discussing the other fifteen chapters in Mark, chock full of literary borrowings—which indeed can be seen as dishonest—in articles to come. 

In the meantime, I highly recommend an article that Richard Carrier published last July: All the Fantastical Things in the Gospel according to Mark. Quite correctly he describes Mark’s gospel  as a work of “wild fiction.”   
 
 

David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of two books, Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes, the first of which is Guessing About God (2023) and Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available. 
 
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
 
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.