The reading
Mark 1:1-40
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in
the prophet Isaiah,‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your
way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of
the Lord, make his paths straight” ’,
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a
baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole
Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and
were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was
clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate
locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming
after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I
have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’
In those days Jesus
came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just
as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the
Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my
Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the
wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he
was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to
Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God has come near;* repent, and believe in the good news.’
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and
his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And
Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And
immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther,
he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat
mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father
Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
They went to
Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They
were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and
not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an
unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of
Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of
God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the
unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice,
came out of him.
They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another,
‘What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean
spirits, and they obey him.’ At once his fame began to spread throughout the
surrounding region of Galilee. As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered
the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law
was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took
her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to
serve them.
That evening, at
sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the
whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with
various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons
to speak, because they knew him.
In the morning, while
it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there
he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him,
they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go on to
the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that
is what I came out to do.’ And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the
message in their synagogues and casting out demons
The message
Today, we start a journey through the Gospel of Mark that
will take us from now until Easter Sunday, where we will hear Mark’s simple but
complicated telling of Jesus resurrection. Mark’s Gospel is probably the
earliest (written sometime between 20 and 30 years after Jesus resurrection) and
the shortest, least detailed of the 4 Gospels.
The book was meant to be read to an audience from start to finish in one
sitting as part of teaching, worship, and evangelism. The book is anonymous; there is no claim to
authorship in the work. For many centuries,
people attributed it to John Mark, a non-disciple who learned the faith and
stories of Jesus as a traveling companion of the disciple Peter. Today, many
scholars doubt this historic claim, preferring to say we have no idea who wrote
it. The author of Mark writes pretty
badly in Greek. The language is very
simple and there are problems with the grammar. It is clearly not his native
language. A lot of internal evidence
indicates that Mark was meant for Christians in Rome or at least someplace in
the non-Jewish world. Familiar words in
Aramaic, the spoken form of Hebrew in Jesus time, are translated into Greek, and
common Jewish practices are explained for people who do not know them. All this indicates that the author is writing
about Jesus to an audience that is not familiar with Jewish religion or life. The
idea that it was meant for Christians in Rome is supported since Christians
known in Rome are mentioned in the book and the time line matches when Peter
was there.
Mark is a very fast paced book. Jesus and his disciples move and work at a down
right crazy speed. In the original Greek
of Mark, the phrase “Kai Euthos”, meaning “and immediately” occurs every few
sentences. This morning, as we look at
the start of Mark’s good news about Jesus Christ, we get a good sense of this
frantic pace. In the first chapter
alone, we have the affirmation that Jesus birth is the fulfillment of God’s
promises through the prophets, the story of John the Baptist, the Baptism of
Jesus, the Holy Spirit descending from heaven and the voice of God declaring
“you are my son the beloved, with you I am well pleased”, the arrest and end of
John the Baptist’s public ministry, Jesus temptation in the wilderness, the
start of Jesus public ministry, the calling of the disciples, Jesus teaching in
the synagogue with authority and getting noticed, the restoration of life
through the casting out of demons, the healing of the sick, a break to pray and
then quickly moving on to other towns and places to do it all over again.
Obviously we cannot look at all of this in depth today but
we can look at what it means for our faith and life together. Mark
starts with the good news. The story of Jesus is news, something that happened
and it is good. The origin of the word “gospel” itself, comes from the Greek
work “Evangelion”, literally meaning “good news”. In the same way we tell
someone “I have good news for you, you have received an award, you got the job,
you passed the test”, Mark begins by telling people, I have good news for you,
God keeps God’s promises, In fulfillment of God’s word through the prophets, Jesus
Christ was born, suffered, died and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins
and healing of our world. Jesus beings his public ministry after he is
baptized, faces temptation in the desert and John the Baptist’s work is
completed. Only after these things does
Jesus make the announcement “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has
come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” This teaches us that our
faith life begins in Baptism, we will face times of trial, doubt and temptation
and that we are continuing in the work of those who have gone before us in
faith.
There are things that only Jesus can do. Jesus teaches with a
power and authority that only he has. No other person, priest or prophet can share
God’s word the same way. Jesus is also
the only one whose death and resurrection has redemptive power. No other death save us. There are many other things that Jesus does
but also empowers, teaches and invites others to do, much of God’s vision for
the world can be achieved by us. Jesus
sets the example and invites us to follow, he invites all of us to join in that
shared work. Jesus speaks in ways people
understand, telling a group of fishermen “follow me and I will make you fish
for people”. This verse is vital for us
to understand the inclusion of all people in God’s work and God’s kingdom. Many
of you are probably familiar with this scripture as translated in bibles like
the King James and Revised Standard “follow me and I will make you fishers of
men”. This was changed in more recent
translations from fishers of men to fishers of people. This was not some sort of political
correctness. It was changed to be more
accurate to Jesus meaning. The Greek word Jesus uses “anqrwpos” is masculine plural
but almost always used to refer to a group of men and women. This, along with Jesus calling of and
ministry to women and men, show us God’s desire to reach out to all with love.
Another part of today’s reading that indicates the radical
inclusion of all people is the type of fishing that Jesus first followers were
working at when he calls them. They were not fishing for fun with poles on a
quiet, rustic lake. They were commercial fishermen. This was their business,
their work. They were using heavy, wide nets with weights on them in the middle
of a crowded, competitive and hectic place.
Jesus call to evangelism, for them to become fishers of people, is not a
call to sit patiently and wait for people, it is to cast wide nets, tossing
God’s word and love out into the world with trust and seeing who gets caught up
in it. This is work that he teaches, trains, equips and prepares them to
do. Jesus also teaches his followers to
care for the world, to cast out demons, to welcome and restore life, to help people
by removing whatever stops them from experiencing. Jesus shows them the power
of God to interfere with, interrupt and change the world.
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