According to Mark’s gospel, what was the main issue dividing Jesus from the leaders of Israel? The gospel of Mark is one of the four Gospels of the Bible. It is also the shortest. According to Wikipedia, “The Gospel according to Mark, also called the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, burial, and the discovery of his empty tomb.” According to Britannica, “Mark’s Gospel stresses the deeds, strength, and determination of Jesus in overcoming evil forces and defying the power of imperial Rome. Mark also emphasizes the Passion, predicting it as early as chapter 8 and devoting the final third of his Gospel (11–16) to the last week of Jesus’ life.”
According to Mark’s gospel, what was main issue dividing Jesus from the leaders of Israel? This main issue is envious fear which came from the leaders. The Israelite leaders had power over things that the Israelites do not have power over which made them powerful. However, after they saw what Jesus could do with the power He had (walk on water, heal blind, lame, paralyzed, sick, power over nature, power over demons, etc.), they became jealous and envious of His power, but they also grew fearful of His power. They thought He could destroy them in a second, which of course He could do, but it was not his plan. That is one of the reasons why they worked so hard to get people to kill him.
Because of Jesus’ power and authority, He attracted very large crowds wherever He went. Some of them came miles just to see him. These people began to recognize Jesus as their leader instead of the Israelite leaders. The idea of the Israelite leaders losing their power was very daunting and scary to them.
This power and authority that Jesus had that was given to him by God He gave to his disciples so that they could go spread the Gospel . This can be seen in Matthew 28:16-20 which is called the Great Commission. It says,
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The Israelite leaders saw this as a sign that Jesus was trying to expand his authority which they thought was a greater threat to their authority. The Israelite leaders saw Christ’s teaching’s as a threat to their authority when it was supposed to purify their society.
There were many reasons that divided Jesus from the leaders of Israel, and envious fear was one of them.