After an opening prayer, we focused on Mark 1:14-15. The “voice of one crying in the wilderness," John the Baptist (Mark 1:3), was now silenced by his arrest and being handed over as a prisoner to King Herod. Jesus Himself now began His public ministry after His baptism and 40 days of temptation by Satan. He comes into Galilee, in the northern part of Israel, and becomes God’s voice, proclaiming (heralding, announcing aloud) “the Gospel of God." This is the Good News that “the time has been fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand.” All the promises of God in the Old Testament are finally coming together in Jesus and the new Kingdom of God He brings, by His coming into the world and now drawing near to people by His preaching and teaching and saving action.
This is a decisive, opportune time predicted, for example, in Daniel 7:13-14 and 22-23. “The time came when the saints of God possessed the kingdom” - the everlasting kingdom of the 'Son of Man.'" This special word for a unique, decisive time occurs in a number of other places in the New Testament, too. See Matthew 26:18, when the time for Jesus’ last Passover with His disciples and His instituting the Lord’s Supper and His own arrest and suffering and death had come. It was the “right time” for Jesus to die for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). It was “the fullness of time” for Christ’s redeeming and uniting work (Galatians 4:4-5 and Ephesians 1:9-10).
“Repent and believe in the Gospel,” Jesus now said. Three times in Mark 1:1-15 the Gospel is proclaimed - in verse 1, as a theme for this book of Scripture, and again in verses 14 and 15. Believing in the Gospel really means believing in Jesus, above all. You could almost say, “Jesus = the Gospel.” Notice how He says of Himself, “for My sake and the Gospel’s” in both Mark 8:35 and Mark 10:29. Jesus is at the heart of the Gospel.
The timing of Jesus and His Good News and His plans is decisive for us, too, if we will only believe it. Too often, in difficult times, we worry and fuss and try to solve things on our own with our own expectations and timetable. See Psalm 31:12-16, which is also prophetic of Jesus. Both David and Jesus can say, “I trust in You, O Lord. I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hand.... Make Your face shine on Your servant; save me in Your steadfast love.” See also Psalm 25:1-7. David says twice that he “waits” for the Lord and His ways, and trusts in Him and His steadfast and forgiving love. See also 1 Peter 5:6-7, where we are encouraged to be humble “under the mighty hand of God, casting all of our anxieties on Him, because He does care for us.” “He will exalt us, lift us up, in His own good, proper time.” He knows best.
The Gospel of Jesus is good news intended for everyone, and so, in Mark1:16-20, we hear of Jesus beginning to call others to be His disciples. Many voices were needed to get the Good News out to others. We hear that Jesus chose and called four fishermen, two sets of brothers, to be His followers. There is some indication from other Scriptures that Jesus had met two of them before, but when Jesus spoke, the power of Jesus and His Word were at work. Twice we hear that “immediately” all four men responded when Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” “Follow Me,” Jesus said. He was the key to their lives and future, as he still is for us today. These four fishermen were now to become fishermen not for fish, but for people, calling them to follow and believe in the Good News of Jesus, as well.
Note also in Mark 1:20 that the father of James and John already has a good fishing business with “hired servants” in addition to his sons. If they left and followed Jesus, they would not leave their father in a desperate situation. He had other help. They were leaving behind a successful business and a pretty secure life, for an uncertain future for themselves, though.
Note as well that when Jesus called these disciples, He added one word that the other Gospel writers did not mention. He said, “I will make you become fishers of men.” The word “become” implies a growing and learning process. In fact, the disciples did not know it, but they had three years ahead of learning from Jesus and even more time later, as indicated in the Book of Acts, before they really went out regularly as “fishers of men." And even then, it was a continuing process of “becoming” what the Lord Jesus wished them to be.
Even in what He has already said, God is telling us through Mark that what we read in Mark is only the “beginning” of the Good News of Jesus (Mark 1:1). When Jesus says, “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15) the Greek verbs indicate that it could best be translated: “Keep on repenting and keep on believing in the Gospel” - as God works in us to have us “become” what he wants us to be. It is, in a sense, a lifelong process.
As I prepared for this podcast, I remembered how impatient I was at times in preparing to be a pastor many years ago. It was eight years of classes and training after high school. Wouldn’t it be better to have us out doing ministry work sooner? As I look back, I know that I was not fully prepared, even as a called and ordained pastor, for what I would deal with. And even now, after 47 years in ministry, I still am learning and growing and “becoming” the person God wants me to be - and still need to “keep on repenting and keep on believing” in my Savior. I still need that strengthening of my own faith, through God’s Word; and there are so many people who still need to hear the Good News of Jesus and His love for them, too. That is what what makes preparing and teaching a study like this so exciting, as I learn and relearn and learn more, as I share God’s Word with you. We are already saved and have the gift of eternal life simply by the gift of faith God has worked in us. But God has more for us to “become” and do in this life, in gratitude for His love for us in Jesus.
We see the power of Jesus and His Word again in Mark 1:21-22. Jesus went to a small town along the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, and very soon, immediately on the Sabbath Day, He entered a synagogue and was teaching. Jews began to have synagogues (places where people were led to gather with others for worship) while they were in captivity in Babylon. They could not go back to Israel, and the temple had been destroyed anyway. So, they did the best they could with these gatherings. Any group of 10 or more Jewish married men could organize a synagogue, and over time, a pattern for worship for the Sabbath was developed, much like our Christian liturgical services today. There was a reading from the 10 Commandments, prayer, a reading from the Law of Moses, a reading from the Prophets, singing the Word, some teaching by someone, and a benediction.
Jesus, as a Jew, followed the Sabbath (sundown Friday to Sundown Saturday) and came to the synagogue, where even visiting Jews like Jesus could be invited to teach. As Jesus taught, verse 22 tells us, the people “were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as One who had authority, and not as the scribes.” In those days, it is said that the scribes mainly compared the ideas of various famous rabbis with one another.
Rabbi so and so says this, but rabbi so and so says that. There were lots of opinions shared, but not always much clarity or certainty about what was taught or was really correct. How different the teaching of Jesus was. He taught the Word of God clearly and with certainty.
Jewish rabbis would also teach, and people would listen, and the people would gather around the rabbi they chose and picked and liked the best. Notice how different Jesus was. He did the choosing and calling of His own disciples, including Simon (later named Peter by Jesus) and Andrew and James and John, as we have already heard. He said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit” (John 15:16).
Already Jesus was teaching a very important Biblical principle. We are made God’s people and saved, not by our will and efforts, but by the gift and grace (undeserved love and favor) of God. (See 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, for example.) If you are a Lutheran, I would encourage you to read in your catechism Martin’s Luther’s explanation of the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed. He expresses this idea of Scripture so well. (If you are not a Lutheran or don’t have access to this, and want me to include these words in the next podcast, let me know.)
We will stop here, because the teaching of Jesus is interrupted in Mark 1:23-28 by a man with an unclean spirit. We will need to talk about what that means, as we continue our study and see even more clearly the authority of Jesus and His Word, as He casts out this evil spirit.
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