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b'Who is Jesus? This is the question Mark wants his audience to wrestle with. Throughout his account of Jesus\\u2019 life, Mark shows different people, including Jesus\\u2019 disciples, as they wrestle with the same question: Who is Jesus?\\nMark illustrates how people didn\\u2019t really know who Jesus was. They figured out He was the Messiah, the Son of God who came to rescue them, but they thought that meant He would rescue them from the oppression of their Roman rulers. They expected Him to lead them in a political uprising, taking back their land in glorious victory.\\nThey failed to realize that, in the kingdom of God, glorious victory comes only through humble self-sacrifice. Jesus, the promised Messiah, would indeed gain victory over evil, sin, and death, but only by becoming the Suffering Servant the prophet Isaiah predicted in Isaiah 53. Jesus\\u2019 followers expected Him to become King, but they didn\\u2019t expect His coronation to happen on a cross.\\nThis surprising truth was both a comfort and a challenge to Mark\\u2019s audience, who were primarily Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians probably experiencing some level of persecution. It\\u2019s a challenge because, if we follow a Suffering Servant King, then we can expect to suffer also. If Jesus gave up every part of Himself for us, it\\u2019s fitting that we daily give up every part of ourselves for Him.\\nBut this challenge comes with a comfort. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, we see Jesus extending love to the marginalized\\u2014to people who are suffering. Mark shows us Jesus is deeply, personally acquainted with our suffering. He knows our hurts, and He hurts with us. He cares about us so deeply that, in Mark, we see Him take our sin and suffering into Himself on the cross. And we see Him defeat suffering and death by resurrecting from the dead. The Suffering Servant is infinitely stronger than suffering. So, tell me, who is Jesus? \\u2022 Taylor Eising\\n\\u2022 Are you ever surprised by how Jesus\\u2014King of the universe\\u2014came, or what He did? \\n\\u2022 When you\\u2019re suffering, how could it be comforting to know that Jesus knows your hurts? \\n\\u2022 What does it look like to live, by the Holy Spirit, in the loving humility Jesus demonstrated? \\n\\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d Mark 10:45 (NLT)\\n\\xa0\\nRead Verses:\\nIsaiah 56:1-8; 58:1-14; Luke 1:1-4; 1 Timothy 3:16'