Last week at The Rock, Craig McClannahan encouraged us to really dig in to The Gospel of Mark, which we are studying through this semester. I am following him up this week by teaching through Mark 1:14-2:14 (gulp), and I have decided to take him up on the challenge.
Mark’s telling of the gospel is so rich in the language that is used, it could take us years to really plumb the depths of his writing (at the current pace we go through Rock teachings). We might be able to do a chapter justice if we have a hour-and-a-half or two-hour teaching a week. I thought I would use this blog as a way to “swirl the wine glass” a bit and reflect through Mark as I study it out, along with commentaries and expositions from great theologians from long ago. Here’s my first crack.
Mark 1:14-15
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The Good News, sent to men by God through Jesus. The Good News is this: That God’s Kingdom is here! This news, by itself, could be great news, or terrible news.
What are we to do in light of this? Repent (which is “an exceedingly poor rendering of the great word ‘metanoeita’”: which means to change your mind about the way you live, see the world, and see yourself. To regret your depravity and turn around from it.), and to believe (that is, to trust in, and rely on) this news. Jesus then clarifies that this is Good News (gospel), rather than bad news.
This is what Jesus came to earth to do. Proclaim God’s Good News to man. Not to teach us how to get along. Not to save the whales. Not to extol the merits of “natural living”. Not to smoke pot and philosophize about life.
Mark 1:16-20
16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
“make you become fishers of men” The way this is worded implies a gradual process of training. These men were young and stupid. Much like me. Jesus gets them early so he can train them.
Note the simple call and immediate responses of Jesus and these men. Jesus calls us very simply to “repent, believe, and follow”.
Notice their response. They immediately left their nets, father, business, livelihood, and followed Jesus. Why would they do that? What about Jesus would cause them to do this?
January 16, 2007 at 9:04 am
I really like the word “metanoeita” all of a sudden… how is it pronounced?
Something I was curious about is in “Feeling Dumb” Rob Bell talked about how each child is brought up to memorize the first five books and then if they were good enough they could go and memorize the entire hebrew bible and if they were the best of the best they could be some rabbi’s disciple. If they weren’t good enough at some point then they would go and learn their father’s trade. These men may have been those who had the passion, but never had the brains to become one of the “supermen of God” (our world equates intelligence the same way… sad).
January 16, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Finding myself challenged by the “immediately” action of these called men. Thanks for the post, Matt!
January 16, 2007 at 2:35 pm
You have to be careful to consider the context of the word “immediately” – Mark uses it about 40 different times (depending on the translation). As Craig said, Mark is very urgent in his writing, which was possibly to light a fire under a slow-moving culture. I’m not sure you can take it literally each time that it is used.
January 16, 2007 at 3:51 pm
According to my studies, Mark’s use of the word immediately reflects the audience he was writing for, which was primarily Roman.
The Romans were people of action and they were people with a strong sense of civic obligation. Therefore, Mark is the most action-packed of the four Gospels. Jesus does a lot of miracles, people are going here and there quickly, people are decisive. Jesus’ role as servant is clearly evident. For someone to “immediately” follow when faced with the truth would appeal to the Roman character.
That’s not to say Mark is marketing the Gospel or shading it. It’s just an emphasis he has. Like Pat, I think it would take some time to fully divest oneself of one’s responsibilities. Perhaps it means, they immediately began to take steps to divest themselves. Or it might mean they didn’t fully divest themselves but found a way to follow the Lord more closely, like a lay person finding ways to free up time to take Bible college classes or serve more in the local church or on mission trips.
January 17, 2007 at 6:05 am
008 Dust – Nooma
Rob has beautiful commentary on this passage where they drop and go with Jesus. Check out the clip at Nooma.com or even his chapter called Dust in Velvet Elvis. A very good, helpful perspective.