Behold the Christ: Seeing Jesus Clearly

We explore why clarity about Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is the key to steady discipleship and how a sermon-shaped book, Behold the Christ, can help believers behold him rather than blur him. We share the pastoral burden, structure, and practical ways churches and groups can use it well.

• Why the question “Who do you say Jesus is?” matters most
• Why sequential exposition through Mark sharpens the vision of Christ
• how Mark 8’s two-stage healing mirrors discipleship growth
• what “behold” means in a distracted age
• the portrait of Jesus in Mark as servant, teacher, Son of Man, crucified King
• how the book is structured from sermons with reflection prompts
• use cases for church members, small groups, and pastors
• why clarity about Christ produces stability in life and ministry
• ordinary means of grace over novelty and trends
• practical steps to read Mark with the book open beside your Bible

You can search the books listed on Amazon. The title is Behold the Christ: Seeing Jesus Clearly in the Gospel of Mark. You can go to my website, pleasinggodministries.org, and find a link there to the book. I’ll list it in the show notes here. If you do read it, get your hands on it, and find it helpful, let me encourage you: share it with someone else. Consider leaving a review. It genuinely helps others to discover it as well.

Buy the book here.

Chapters

• 0:00 Who Do You Say Jesus Is
• 1:09 From Pulpit To Pages: Why The Book
• 3:15 Mark’s Fast-Paced Portrait Of Jesus
• 6:45 Seeing Dimly To Seeing Clearly
• 10:52 Behold: A Call To Slow Down
• 13:45 The Jesus Mark Shows Us
• 16:40 How The Book Is Built

Transcript

Jon: 0:07

Hi, and welcome back to the Pleasing God Podcast, a show focused on helping Christians to think biblically, engage practically, and live faithfully for the glory of God. I'm your host, Jonathan Sowell, and I want to open this episode with a thought. One of the most important questions a Christian can ask is not simply what do I believe, but rather, who do I believe Jesus to be? It is a fundamental question. Jesus asks this question in many of the synoptic gospels, especially in the Gospel of Mark, and he says, Who do people say that I am? The response from the disciples is that some say Elijah, some say a prophet, some say John the Baptist. And then Jesus turns that and he makes the question far more personal. And he says, But who do you say that I am? And that's the question that every person must grapple with. Who do you say that Jesus is? Well, in today's episode, I want to do something a little different. I want to talk about why I wrote a book. And I'm not talking necessarily in a promotional sense, but in a pastoral one. I just recently released a book titled Behold the Christ, Seeing Jesus Clearly in the Gospel of Mark. This didn't begin as a writing project or simply as a book. This work came as just the ordinary labors of preaching, week after week, through the Gospel of Mark in my local church. An endeavor that took 68 sermons over the course of almost two years. And so my goal today is not really to try to sell you something, but I want to invite you into the burden behind this project and behind this book that I wrote and to explain how I hope that it might serve the local church, not just mine, but maybe many, many Christians in the local church. When we think about the task of preaching, especially when there's a commitment to sequential expositional preaching, which is my conviction and it's my preferred and almost default mode. It's the steady diet of feeding the church through explaining the text, illustrating the text, applying the text, and moving on to the next text. We do this sequentially so that we see the kind of the whole argument of a particular book of scripture. In this case, it was the Gospel of Mark. I think every preaching series begins with a question. At least it did. That's what framed my teaching and my desire to bring the church through the action-packed story of the Gospel of Mark. And the question was simple. Do we really see Jesus clearly? For some the answer is yes, and for some the answer is maybe, and for some the answer is not really. And so this is what drove me to the Gospel of Mark, where we could see him clearly. So I chose this book because it is fast-paced, it's direct, and in some ways it's kind of unpolished. The Gospel of Mark confronts us with who Jesus is and not who we want him to be. From the very opening verse, Mark chapter 1, verse 1, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark differs in his opening. Matthew starts with a genealogy. Luke starts with a birth narrative. John starts in eternity past. And Mark says, right here, right now, Jesus is on the scene. And I want us now to grapple with this statement, the Son of God. And for the rest of his gospel, he is arguing and showing how Jesus is exactly who Mark claimed him to be and who Jesus claimed himself to be. So the reader and the careful reader of the Gospel of Mark has to reckon with Jesus the Christ. And so as I began preaching through the Gospel of Mark, a few things became increasingly clear to me. That the confusion about Christian living is often rooted in confusion about Christ Himself. There's a scene, there's a miracle scene in Mark chapter 8, where Jesus heals a blind man. And this is a strange miracle because when Jesus touches it for him the first time, it he can't fully see. His eyesight is partially restored. And if we were to read that text in isolation, we think, did Jesus what was going on here? Why didn't Jesus just heal him immediately like he did everybody else to the Gospel of Mark? What is this kind of progressive healing, progressive miracle? Does Jesus not have the power to heal this man? And the answer is of course he is. Of course he does. But what's happening there is an illustrative point of the greater situation that's happening with the disciples, and by virtue of them also, many Christians today, is that they can begin to see, but they don't necessarily see clear. And it's over the course of time and growing in discipleship that we begin to see Christ clearly. And so then the second part of the miracle, he restores the sight fully. And it's to show that the disciples were on this journey of seeing Christ clearly. And so are we, as we are to behold him, as we grow in grace, as we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, our desires to see Christ for who he is. So another thing that became increasingly clear to me is that weak discipleship often flows from a blurred vision of Jesus. Example, as the disciples were growing, strengthening in their faith, and also for the mod disciple in the modern church today. So I wrote this book out of a conviction that clarity about Christ produces stability in the Christian life. So why the title Behold the Christ? Well, I wanted it to sound rooted. The word behold, it has this intentionally old sounding, and that's on purpose. We don't need something new and trendy to set our gaze upon Jesus. The scriptures are filled with this term of behold, and it's a summons. Behold carries this idea of stop, wait, ponder, set your gaze upon. And actually, in the world that we live in, in a fast-paced society, constantly uh overflowing and overstimulated, doom scrolling, having so much information, just information overload on us all the time. Maybe something we need to do is just stop and behold. And so I started with this title of Behold, that we would consider carefully, that we would stop from our fast-paced lives, and we would sit down at the feet of Jesus and behold him as Mark gives him to us. So stop, look, and consider carefully. But I have no intention of asking readers to do anything new for Jesus in this book. Truly, the the aim is for readers to behold, to stop and to see Jesus as he truly is. Think about what the author of Hebrew says. As he's talking about the growth in our sanctification and how we need to lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely. And he doesn't say start some new practice or commit yourself to this asceticism or anything like that. He says, look to Jesus, looking to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. And so the call of this book, the call of the gospel of Mark is to behold the Christ and see him clearly. And what we will find in Mark is that he doesn't present a sentimental Christ. No, the themes and the Jesus you see in Mark is a suffering servant, a confrontational teacher, he's the sovereign son of man. We also see that he was despised and rejected, and ultimately he's a crucified king. So to behold the Christ is to allow the text of Scripture, not preference, not tradition, to define who he is. And I can say even on a personal level, the preaching and the writing of this book has been extremely formative. I would even say transformative in my own growth and love for Jesus, love for his word, his truth, and how he engages with sinners in this gospel. So, what is this book? What's the structure? What does it look like? Uh it doesn't read out like a prose or some straight narrative. It's a sermon-shaped exposition. Every uh chapter follows the chapters of the Gospel of Mark, and within each chapter of this book are subheadings, and all the subheadings are the titles of my sermons that I preach. So there's 67, 68 or so sermons that have been edited for the sake of readability in book form. My target audience for this book is for the church. Again, these were sermons preached to the local church for the health of the church, for the growth of the church. So Christians in the local church. This book flows out of pastoral ministry. I pray that as you read it, and if you do read it, you will feel the pastoral warmth and heart that is found in this book. It does not read like a technical commentary, but a one warm and pastoral. And it is Christ-centered, it is text-driven, and it is application-minded. So I wanted to take the preached word, give explanation to it in book form, and then write in application. Each section at the end of every sermon has a reflection and response so that you can sit and ponder on what was just read. Now it usually takes 40 minutes to sit and listen to a sermon. Well, these have been condensed down, so you could read through one of the individual sections in 10 minutes or so as you read carefully and slowly. And so, like I said, what this book is not is a technical academic commentary. I might reference the Greek language, I think once, as I saw fitting. So it's not thick. You don't have to go to seminary to be able to understand what's being written. It's written for everyday Christians in the church. But it's not a lightweight devotional book either. And very importantly, it is not a replacement for preaching and Bible reading. It is a companion for Bible reading. So my intent, if I was to draw up the scenario of how one would use this book, it's with the Gospel of Mark opened in one hand and behold the Christ opened in another. And I think the best way to do it, as I do with all my sermons, is I begin each sermon by reading the passage of Scripture out loud to the congregation. And then from there I move to the explanation, illustration, and application of that text. So with Bible open in one hand and this book open in another, it is meant to help us dive deeper into seeing Jesus through the Gospel of Mark. So who I had in mind when I was writing this, again, church members who want to want to study the scripture more deeply. This is also written with the accessibility to do a study in a small group. And for discipleship leaders, if they wanted to take a group of men or ladies or a mixed group and wanted to start a study on the gospel of Mark, this would be a wonderful resource for understanding and applying Mark with the lens of being Christ-centered and Christ-focused. It can also be a helpful resource for pastors and teachers who are desiring to just receive some further commentary on the text. Now, again, I don't get technical into necessarily much of the original languages, but it does have a bent towards application. And so if you're thinking through and you're preaching through the gospel of Mark, it can be one of many resources to help you just think carefully about the words of Christ and the words that Mark did pinned. And so as I've shared even earlier, but what this book did for me was it was very formative and transformative. And in many ways, it kind of reshaped my own discipleship. It helped me to grow as a preacher, to understand the point of the individual sections and how they tied together and the art of storytelling, because Mark tells a story, and bringing that to bear on the congregation was enjoyable, life-giving. If you preach the gospel of Mark well, the congregation should be on the edge of their seat as you are giving forth his message faithfully. Some of the other things, in my own life personally, going through the Gospel of Mark, it confronts your own expectations. Sometimes Jesus does something and you think, Wow, I wouldn't have expected that. He refers to the Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile woman, as a dog, and you think, wait a minute, that doesn't sound right. Well, that's explained in the book too. How does that work out? Some ways it exposes pride. I think of the account where James and John asked Jesus for glory. Permit us to sit at your right hand and to your left, they asked him. And how so many of us want greatness and status. But Jesus turns around and says, Greatness comes in service. Again, challenging expectation, exposing pride. It reorients our understanding of what greatness is. And that the path of greatness comes through suffering. And it is a call to faithfulness. So, to be completely honest, I think this book reflects not simply what I taught, but what the gospel of Mark taught me. And it reminds me that following Jesus is costly, but clarity about who he is makes that cost worth it. So I pray that this writing project will serve the church. And my prayer is simple. That it helps Christians to read the gospels more carefully, it strengthens confidence in Christ. It equips believers to disciple others faithfully. It supports pastors and teachers and their calling. And my ultimate prayer is that this book is treated as ordinary. It exists for the ordinary means of grace, for the reading of scripture, for the teaching of the word, for following Christ together in the local church. So if you're listening and you're thinking, man, maybe I haven't spent much time in the Gospel of Mark, or I haven't really thought too carefully about this, or maybe I'd like to explore more, and that this seems like it'd be a resource to help me in my walk with Christ. Or it might be something that might be of good service for your church. You can search the books listed on Amazon. The title is Behold the Christ, Seeing Jesus Clearly in the Gospel of Mark. You can go to my website, pleasinggodministries.org, and you can find a link there for the book. I'll list it in the show notes here. And if you do read it and you do get your hands on it and you find it helpful, let me encourage you, share it with someone else. Maybe think about using it in a group. If you can benefit, that means others can too. Consider leaving a review. It genuinely helps others to discover it as well. But my prayer more than anything else is that whether through this book or simply through any careful reading of scripture, that you would behold Christ more clearly, and that in doing so you would follow him more faithfully. Because, friends, Jesus is worth it. Jesus is worth all of our loyalty, all of our submission for who he is, what he's done as our Lord and our Savior, our King, the one who is returning to bring us home to where he is. So I want to thank you for listening to the Pleasing God Podcast. And before I close, I just want to let you know something that's happening going into the new year. This will be the last episode of 2025. Take a break for the holidays, Christmas, New Year's. But in 2026, we've launched an expansion of the podcast, and really it's now turned into pleasing God Ministries. We've opened the Pleasing God Press, which published this book, Behold the Christ. And so we'll talk more about some of these new reaches of ministry going into 2026. But you can find out information at pleasinggodministries.org. So on again, thank you for listening. And I want you to remember, 1 Thessalonians 4 3 this is the will of God, your sanctification.