You may have heard about the two guys from Texas, who came up to Alaska do some ice fishing. They landed in Anchorage, but didn’t bring any fishing gear. So before they did their ice fishing they stopped by a Wal-Mart to get some supplies. They asked the clerk if he had any ice picks and the clerk pointed them out on the shelf. Each of the Texans grabbed and ice pick and checked out. A short while later they returned and asked the clerk if he had any more ice picks. This time they each got two. A couple hours later they returned and told the clerk, “We’re going to need all the ice picks you have.” The clerk was somewhat shocked at the Texan’s request and asked, “Don’t you have a hole big enough to fish yet?” “Fish” the Texans replied. “We don’t even have the boat in the water yet.”
This morning in our Scripture we see that Jesus, leaves the wilderness, just outside the river Jordan and arrives at the sea of Galilee to start his ministry. Notice, Jesus does not enter into own ministry until John the Baptist is jailed, essentially put out of business. Remember, last week we saw that John was preparing the way for Jesus. The removal of John shows it is his time for Jesus to begin his ministry. John preaching was on what was to come, but now Jesus has come. John the Baptist’s ministry is like the deadline for your PFD, right? The message is very urgent before March 31st, - register by March 31st so you can receive your PFD in the fall. On March 31 there is a line a block long at the PFD office in downtown Anchorage, on April 1st, there is no interest no line, no concern, the deadline has passed. You know on July 5th, all the fourth of July nick knacks at the stores will be 50% off. The fourth will have come….Jesus, He is here, there is no more need for preparation, John the Baptist’s time has come, and gone. {Note to reader: PFD is Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend, paid out to each resident of the state of Alaska in October. The dividend has been running about $1000.00 per person give or take a few hundred}
We read in verse 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” John preached repentance of our sin, stop your sin and get back to your relationship with God; Like John, Jesus preaches repentance of our sin, but he wants more than repentance, he wants our faith – “believe the good news”. Jesus takes things a step further because He is the solution that John was pointing to. When we read verse 15, we may assume the emphasis is on belief, but surprisingly belief is not what is emphasized, the emphasis is on the nearness of the kingdom of God. The emphasis is on the kingdom, the emphasis is on God’s initiative in bringing healing to our lives.
The kingdom of God is near in two ways here in Mark: First it is drawn near spatially with the person of Jesus walking among the people, and second the proclamation is veiled, so that it is not obvious, it like it is in a different dimension, standing right next to you, but you are completely unaware of its real meaning. And so, Jesus is seen a just another man for the kingdom of God is so close at hand that the people could reach out and touch it, but they remain unaware. So Jesus tag teams John the Baptist, bringing John’s message of repentance combining with it a message of repentance and belief - and then, by his very presence Jesus walks out of the wilderness and brings the kingdom into existence. Notice that the kingdom exist whether it is seen or not, whether it is acknowledged or not, whether one agrees with it or not – there it is. There is no debate, no opinions are sought after, Jesus, Mark says, makes the kingdom near….What the coming kingdom demands of us is this: decisive action – you must repent AND believe; It is only through repentance that a person can participate in the kingdom when it breaks forth. Do you see that in verse15? Repent and believe. See it there in black and white?…..well, it may be in red and white in some bibles. We see right here, and then reinforced throughout the gospel that Jesus becomes the way by which people enter the kingdom of God. In other words – repent, believe, follow - Jesus – sets the stage for the confrontation of the gospel radical exclusivity. How? First Jesus is presented as “the way” which means, the way, not one way among other ways and second, If I do not repent, believe and follow Jesus – I am not a disciple of Christ. I must stop, turn around, change who I am and go through faith, through the person of Jesus Christ and if I do not, if I do not, I am lost. Period.
This is not a message of radical inclusion. The message of radical inclusion says, everyone, no matter who you are, or what you hold dear, are acceptable in the eyes of God, without any qualifications. The gospel of radical inclusion produces an ethic of tolerant affirmation, that is, inclusion without qualification: whatever is cool with you, is cool with me, because we are all brothers and sisters of the world. No, this is not the message of Jesus. Jesus demands a decision, he demands that we see the sin in our life, quit justifying it and repent of it – He then demands that we believe in him – which means, in true biblical terms, belief in no other…and that my friends is confrontive, exclusive, and does not play well with our popular society. It makes people uncomfortable, we don’t want to offend anyone, I mean if we did insist on living what Mark is talking about here, we might actually confront the sin in our life, and in the life of those we live and work with – how uncomfortable would that be!
Now understand clearly that Jesus doesn’t turn anyone away, he invites all to come to him, however they are an whatever they have doe in their life, but because of the demands that Jesus makes right here in verse 15, people exclude themselves.
I was at a conference years ago, and I found myself in this pastor’s small group discussion, a bunch of these old guys. The conversation turned to the subject of Jesus being the exclusive way to salvation (which by the way, is sound orthodox theology, clear biblical interpretation handed down for 2000 years and what the denomination of this church believes; it is what those who are ordained to being a pastor in this denomination say they believe when they are ordained). Imagine my surprise when I was the only pastor out of the six in the group who believed that Jesus was the only way to salvation. We had an increasingly heated “discussion” where they didn’t take it very well that I accused them of being out of touch and questioned their biblical knowledge. The discussion came to a head when I pulled out my bible and asked them, any one of those pastors, to show me in the bible, English, Hebrew or Greek, where it says, or even alludes to the fact that other religions are a viable way to God,(and yes Hinduism was known about in the Roman world). The discussion abruptly ended and they all got up and left. Why did they leave?….I mean, besides myself being annoying; they left because all of their reasons and arguments about other ways to God aside from Jesus, cannot, cannot be supported biblically. Within the pages of this book, that kind of thinking cannot be found. The bible you hold in you hands supports one exclusive thought: Jesus is the way, there is no other way.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is exclusive because conditions must be met to be apart of the communion. Repent / believe / follow. Jesus is confrontive, just by being who he is. (we will see this again in verse 27 later) Remember, we as Christians gain our understanding of who Jesus is, not from philosophy, speculation or the linking of moral principles, but by the word of God. The Bible, the revealed Word of God defines who Jesus is for us. If we refuse to let the Bible teach us who Jesus is, then we get up and walk away from the Gospel, and all the theological self justification, personal opinions of life, and all the good thoughts, acts of kindness, sincerity, peace and love will not move us into the kingdom of God; only repentance / belief / following can do that. Now it may strike you as an obvious thing that where we find out about who Jesus is, is from the Bible, but the truth is, the knowledge that many people have about Jesus – they did not receive from the bible, but from other sources.
So Mark in brief short hand presents Jesus as the way through to salvation with the conditions of repentance and belief. With this setting the stage, Jesus starts to gather disciples and of course, he chooses fishermen. Fishermen are the obvious choice, so obvious that 1/3 of the disciples are fishermen. Usually when we look at this passage we see the phrase 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” As an evangelistic image, one of gathering men together for salvation, parallel to the image given of the harvesting of wheat. But Jesus isn’t picking the disciples because they understand harvesting; Jesus picks fishermen because they know about cost.
You may have heard about the two guys from Florida came up last year for fishing on the Kenai River and returned home with only one fish. They obviously didn’t know what they were doing. On the flight out of Alaska the first guy says to the second guy, "The way I figure it, that fish cost us over $2500 a piece". "Well," said the other one, "At that price it’s a good thing we didn’t catch any more."
The term Mark uses in verse 17 for “fishers” implies throwing of a net. Here in Alaska it is like set netting or dip netting. This seems to imply harvesting, but as I mentioned before, it is not about harvesting - fishing here, is about divine judgment. Jesus is gathering people to gather, yes, but the gathering is for judgment. His call is for men to come forth to gather people for the eschatological judgment, that is the culmination of all things. By using the term fishing, He extends, not an invitation to a party, but He extends a demand for repentance. It is a confrontation to humanity with God’s decisive action – if one responds with faith, then they follow with the character of salvation; If one responds with rejection, then they walk away with the character of judgment. Jesus brings good news, for those who believe, and we will see as we work our way through Mark – Jesus brings judgment upon those who refuse to believe.
When these ancient fishermen caught a fish, they weren’t doing the fish a favor, they were going bring it to market. When I yank a nice King Salmon out of the water – I am not doing the fish a favor- I am going to eat it. If I get that baby in the boat, it is all over, say your prayers fish, it is judgment time. It is the same thing, when later, the disciples confront others with the gospel, it is all over, either you repent / believe / follow, or you bring judgment upon yourself by refusing to believe. That is a fisher of men.
Have you had this experience? You are telling someone from the lower 48 about the 80 pound king salmon some guy caught or the 400 pound halibuts that people keep bringing up or the 25 inch trout you pulled in the other day…and they refuse to believe you. Doesn’t that just drive you nuts? They may even call you a liar. In their sorry world, fish only get that big in their imaginations. As Alaskans, it is like the gospel for us, we know it is true, we believe it and this is good news for us as God has blessed us with large fish and tightly packed freezers. But for those who don’t believe, it is like the gospel also, but instead of blessing, it is judgment upon them, by rejecting the gospel they are condemned to live in the world of tiny fish and spacious freezers. Repent, believe, follow and we have blessings, reject……
Notice in verses 16-20 Jesus doesn’t give them a calendar. He doesn’t give them an agenda, He doesn’t say, “Hey guys, why don’t you try this out for a while, just to see if you like it”. There is no time element involved, why? Their response is an eternal one. They just drop their nets and go. Just like the widow and Elijah a few weeks back – one moment there is no real faith, just a person living a regular life and then in a split second, faith floods over them and they are never the same again. There it is, right before us verses 16-20, two great moments faith, found in everyday routine work. One moment I’m a regular guy, I blink, and the next moment I’m a fisher of men. Also notice, he doesn’t tell them what will happen with their lives, he doesn’t even tell them what will happen the next day. Jesus just says, follow me, because living in faith is not knowing what will happen next.
"The curious thing about fishing is you never want to go home. If you catch anything, you can’t stop. If you don’t catch anything, you hate to leave in case something might bite."
It wasn’t easy for these men to just walk away from their life of fishing, but no kidding, it is better than fishing. These guys are not weekend fishermen either, they are professionals who have this form of livelihood down. In fact how things usually worked was, a father had an established business that his sons took over when he passed away. So they do not just leave a job, they leave a family tradition, and that is hard to walk away from.
Now the sea of Galilee is about twelve miles long, and six miles across. It is a good size lake, but small enough that wherever you are on the lake you can see the shore. The fish in the lake are not much by Alaska standards. I was in Tiberias last year and they had places that would grill up these fish...let’s just say the chum salmon beats it by a mile. (note to reader: chum salmon are the worst type of salmon and in Alaska most people will only use them as dog food). But a job is a job, and the point isn’t that the fish were great to eat, but that the fish were pulled in for judgment.
Jesus is not looking for supporters is He? We’ll be there to cheer you on Jesus. We’ll vote for you and we’ll even talk about you and how great you are. We’ll be your biggest fans. No, Jesus is looking for followers. His call, for these men, and for us, is a call to discipleship, and in Hebrew culture a disciple breaks all ties to follow. In verses19-20 Mark stresses the sovereignty in Jesus’ call. It is not just let’s walk together, it stresses His authority. He speaks with such authority that people must just stop what they are doing, and go – all prior claims lose validity. They are now selected to share in the gathering of God’s people. Do you hear that, in our lives all prior claims lose validity when we give our life over to Jesus – that means, you will be able to break free from whatever has a hold on you – through the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus has such authority that one phrase springs people to belief in a split second, but his authority extends well beyond that. As Jesus goes to town, we see again his authority – He is not just another man with a helpful message – He is something more and that something more in confrontive in nature. Capernaum was most likely the town where all these fishermen lived so everyone would know them. In verses 21-22 we see that the people are amazed at his teaching. Now this is not because he did not have a formal theological education, these people didn’t know who Jesus was or his background. They knew the fishermen, but not Jesus. They are amazed at his teaching because it is clear to them when he speaks, that he actually believes what he says. When Jesus speaks he knows what he is talking about – it is not just theory with Jesus – it is real life.
Then comes the moment when Jesus displays His full power, verses 23-24, with the demonic man. This demonic man is not offering a testimony of who Jesus is, no, he senses Jesus is a threat to his very existence, his language is laden with defense and resistance, he tries to disarm Jesus. The spirit speaks through the man in the plural to indicate that there is more than one spirit involved, but one spirit does all the speaking, so the text refers to one evil spirit. First the spirit says– you have no business with us, by saying this he means business with us…at this moment. Second, he offers a declaration, you have come to destroy us, by this he acknowledges Jesus’ authority and third, by saying it knows who Jesus is, we see that it understands clearly the significance of Jesus authority. What we see is this: By how Mark creates this passage, it appears that the demonic man identifies with the congregation, which he is apart of, and speaks from their perspective, saying what everyone was thinking, but unable to say. He is not happy to see Jesus, and neither are those in the congregation. Again, this is not a confession of belief, but an attempt to gain control of Jesus in way of the day by using precise name of spirit to gain mastery over it. Those involved in the occult still use this technique today believing that if they have knowledge of the full name of a spirit, they can then attempt to gain control over the spirit.
Jesus then utters only a few words, no technique, no spells, incantations, or rituals – just a few words – and the demons are gone. The people, they sense that what they have seen, is just the beginning, and they are disturbed. This is significant as, you would think that their reaction would be joy and excitement, but what we see when we look at these words in the original Greek is that the reaction of the people is not joy, but alarm. The astonishment conveys real alarm, it is clear that it is not awe and wonder. When they say in verse 27 “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” They are suspicious of Jesus, in fact, they believe He may bring them harm. It shows an awareness of the disturbing character of his presence.
This brings us back full circle in this passage. Jesus by his very presence is disturbing to certain people, while others are instantly attracted to him. This is because Jesus, and the gospel by the very nature of who and what they are, are confrontive and exclusive. When Jesus calls fishermen to be his first disciples calls them as people who will bring judgment, who gather people and confront them with a decision about the authority of Jesus in their lives. For people must make a decisive decision they must repent, believe and follow….and so must we.
Up to this point in your life have you felt that the invitation Jesus offers to you is to get in line behind him and be whoever you are – or – have you seen Jesus’ invitation as a confrontation to the sin that is in your life and your following as a willingness to deal with that sin?
