Introduction
We are now moving out of Mark’s introduction to Jesus’ life and ministry, and getting into the story of his ministry. In verse 1 he introduced the theme of his writing – it is about the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; verses 2-8 presented John the Baptist who prepared the way for Jesus; verses 9-13 introduced us to Jesus as he is ordained and prepared for his ministry. Now the ministry begins. In our passage, verses 14-20 we hear Jesus speak for the first time. Let’s hear and learn from what he has to say.
His Preaching 14,15
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.
Herod had arrested John. He had taken his brother’s wife from him and married her. John, who seemed to have little fear of denouncing anybody’s sin, publicly spoke against the marriage. This did not sit well with Herod’s wife, who wanted him arrested and eventually would see to his death.
Mark’s only purpose here is to note that John’s ministry has been completed as the forerunner of Jesus, and now is the time for Jesus the Messiah to begin his work. What is the work that he does? He preaches. He goes back to his home territory in Galilee and proclaims the gospel or the good news.
How significant is this work? To the Jew reading Mark’s words, he would understand well what Mark is signifying. Listen to two passages from the prophet Isaiah, which look to the redemption the Messiah would bring.
7 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the LORD returns to Zion,
they will see it with their own eyes.
9 Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the LORD has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD will lay bare his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God (Isaiah 52:7-10).
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn (Isaiah 61:1,2).
Mark is showing that Jesus is the Anointed One (the literal meaning of Messiah) coming as was promised to proclaim the good news of redemption.
Thus Jesus says, The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. What time has come? The coming of the Messiah. What does the coming of the Messiah mean? That the kingdom of God is at hand. The Messiah, as every Jew knew, would restore God’s kingdom. And not merely restore, but he would establish the kingdom in its fullness and for eternity.
One such prophecy which filled the Jews with expectation is in the book of Daniel:
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed (Daniel 7:13,14).
They looked to the time when that Son of Man would appear to exert his authority, glory and sovereign power to establish his kingdom. They longed for his coming. What would it mean for them?
For one thing, it would mean peace: who proclaim peace (Isaiah 52:7). The fear of violence, of being captured or destroyed would end, because their Redeemer would deliver them and protect them.
It would mean joy:
8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the LORD returns to Zion,
they will see it with their own eyes.
9 Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the LORD has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem (Isaiah 52:8,9).
The coming of the Messiah with God’s kingdom wasn’t just an anxiety remedy. The Messiah’s proclamation was not, “You don’t have to worry anymore.” The coming of God’s kingdom meant joy because it meant redemption, not just protection. The land of Israel was captive and her people under bondage. The Jews didn’t just want to be safe; they wanted to be redeemed – delivered from captivity and lifted up; not just be freed, but be exalted. Their kingdom, which would be God’s kingdom, would be a kingdom to which all others streamed to and paid homage.
But there is another reason for which they anticipated the kingdom with joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes (Isaiah 52:8). Their joy is in the Lord. He will be in their midst, and they will see his redemption with their own eyes. What they now believe by faith, they will see and experience.
So when Jesus comes proclaiming The time has come. The kingdom of God is near, such words must have been thrilling. But those words meant something else as well. We’ve already talked about this when discussing John’s preaching and baptism. They knew this time to mean, as well, a day of judgment. Recall the words from Malachi 3:2-5:
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver…5 “So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty (3:2-5).
For that reason, Jesus’ hearers understood well his first word of exhortation – repent! If God’s kingdom was at hand, then they needed to prepare their hearts by turning from sin and to God. Remember, this is the kingdom of God – the holy God. If the Jews understood anything about God, they understood this, that he is holy.
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3).
All of the sacrificial system, indeed, all of the Law is predicated on this one principle – that God is holy, and that if we are to know him and be his people, then we must be holy as well.
Now, Jesus calls the people not only to repent; he also exhorts them to believe the good news! Repent for sin and believe good news seem to be contrasting exhortations. I can show the contrast better by going back to John the Baptist, as reported by Luke.
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (Luke 3:7-9).
The crowd then asks what they need to do. John tells them about some behavioral changes they need to make. Then, in responding to speculation over whether he might be the Messiah, he says this about the one to come: 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” After those sobering words, Luke concludes, 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.
Good news? What’s good news about being characterized as a “brood of vipers,” and then warned that the Messiah whom we are hoping for is going to burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire, if we don’t repent? What delight is there in being delivered from Roman authority only to come under a greater oppression? All the Romans really care about was that you don’t cause trouble and you pay your taxes. This Messiah and his God demand purity, holiness. How much peace and joy can there be in a kingdom that demands, as Jesus will say another time, that we be perfect?
I am going to leave you hanging there with that thought and take you to another curiosity. I had not thought about it before, but the exhortation to believe is somewhat odd. Think about it. John’s purpose was to call people to repentance to prepare them for the Messiah’s coming with the kingdom. He was the one who was supposed to get the people ready to receive their king. If anyone needed to exhort the people to believe, it should have been him. Once the Messiah has come, it should be clear to everyone who he is and the kingdom he is establishing.
Recall in our passage earlier that the promise of Isaiah is that Jerusalem – God’s people – would see the redemption of God. They would see this good news; it wouldn’t be something that slips in and out. But Jesus says to believe it. You don’t call people to believe what is clearly evident. If I had said to you the first Sunday after moving here, “I want you to believe that I, your pastor, have come,” you might have wondered if I, your pastor, shouldn’t go somewhere else!
When Jesus called his hearers to believe the good news of God’s kingdom being at hand, he knew that their expectations would not be met. Whatever hopes they might have had that he really was the Messiah, he knew would be tested and in many cases turned to scorn. Even John would raise questions about Jesus after his arrest. He sent his disciples to inquire, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3)
Jesus didn’t fit, and, for that matter, neither did his view of the kingdom of God – what it would be like and how we would get in it. The Messiah would come in power as a king. He might start off in the role of a prophet like John and Jesus, but before long he would display his power to deliver his people from bondage and establish the great kingdom that would be exalted above all others. There may be a purification time, a purging by trial of the sins that disqualify his people right now, but undoubtedly through perseverance in keeping the Law they would be purified.
But the kingdom that Jesus has in mind is a spiritual one that dwells in the hearts of God’s people, and the purification to take place is the one that he himself will undergo on behalf of his people. This is his good news. The redemption to take place is in the heart; it is a redemption from the bondage of sin. And it will come not through the Messiah battling an army of men, but through taking upon himself the sins of men.
His Calling 16-20
Mark does not tell us yet about Jesus’ reception. He simply goes on to Jesus’ recruitment of four of his disciples – Simon (Peter), Andrew, James and John.
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
Mark dispenses with the fuller story of how Jesus first met these men. Through our reading of Luke and John, we understand that he knew the men before this time. You can see what Mark is doing. He presents Jesus’ radical proclamation of the kingdom and adds to it his radical call to his disciples.
Consider the call: Come, follow me. A rabbi with a band of disciples is not unusual, but the relationship between Jesus and his disciples has two distinctive features. The first is that it was actually the disciples who chose the rabbi and not the teacher doing the calling, as was Jesus. Second, is the phrase follow me. Rabbis took trips and their disciples did “follow” them, but “to follow” is not used in any Jewish literature to describe the relationship of disciple to teacher. Evidently Jesus had more in mind than a teacher-student relationship.
When Jesus calls these men to follow him, he means literally for them to leave their family, homes and occupation. Mark brings that out with the depiction of James and John leaving their father in the middle of work. They were to attach themselves to him and make him their primary interest. They were to adhere to his teaching, believe him and in him, and go wherever he may lead them. This is not a call of “I hope if you have some time you might visit with me.” It’s a call of “Come give your life to me.”
Note what he calls them to: I will make you fishers of men. Jesus was more than a rabbi calling his disciples to a study of the Law. He was enlisting persons to carry out the work of the kingdom.
They are called to a task for the good of others. Jesus does not call them to become rulers of men in the kingdom, but fishers. They are to seek after men to save them, to bring them into the kingdom.
Jesus does not call them to be casters of nets, i.e. to merely spread the good news. They are to be fishers of men – the salvation of persons is to be their goal. He is not calling them to be teachers content with disseminating information. He is calling them to the business of catching fish, not the recreation of fishing. People, not religion, are to be their concern.
Lessons
What are some observations we can make? Consider this. As Jesus did not meet expectations then, so he does not now. Thus, always before each individual is the exhortation to push beyond our expectations of Jesus and believe him on his terms. The people of Jesus’ day believed in the Messiah who would save; they just didn’t believe Jesus met the qualifications. People of our day believe in Jesus in some form; they just don’t believe in a Messiah who saves.
And what is essential is to understand Jesus on his terms. Remember? We spoke of Mark’s intent. Throughout his gospel he will raise the question: Do you get it? Do you understand now who he is? The difficulty is not Jesus’ inability to match our expectations; it is our own inability to shed ourselves of the expectations that skew our understanding of him. This is the Son of God, the divine being who takes on flesh; the eternal God who dies; the Holy One who takes upon himself the sins of the world. This is the Glory of Israel who displays his glory through humble service. He is not easy to comprehend, and we must be careful not to perceive him through our preconceived filters.
He also doesn’t meet the expectations of those who would follow him. So many follow Jesus because of what they expect to get – good health, good family relations, victory over sins and weaknesses, good status, financial security… This list can go on because our expectations are many, and our frustrations are many. Christ came to bring the kingdom of God, and while there may be many benefits that accompany a life in that kingdom, there are just as many trials. To be sure, there is joy like Isaiah spoke of, but it is a joy founded on the glory of God, not the temporal pleasures of this life.
Let me close with an observation in Jesus’ call to his disciples. Our salvation can never be tied up to the nurture of our own souls. We are called into a kingdom to serve in that kingdom, and that kingdom work is to bring in all who would know the joy of the Lord. We have different gifts and different tasks, but still the same calling to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to whomever will listen and believe.
And it is good news indeed. The Son of God has come to heal the brokenhearted, to free the captives and prisoners, to comfort those who mourn – he has come to bring the kingdom of God.
