The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel

 

 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel."

And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.  And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.  

Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.  And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit.  And he cried out, saying, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.  Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this?  What new doctrine is this?  For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him."  And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.

 

- Mark 1:14–28 

 

Yesterday, we started reading Mark's Gospel:  The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in the Prophets:  "Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You."  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the LORD; make His paths straight.'"  John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.  Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.   Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  And he preached, saying, "There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.  I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."  It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.  Then a voice came from heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.  And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.

 

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel."  In yesterday's reading and commentary, we read of the great preparation for Christ, and John the Baptist's role in the salvation plan of God.  My study Bible comments here that Mark's written emphasis on John being put in prison before Jesus begins preaching reveals that a key purpose of the old covenant -- to prepare the people for Christ -- had been completed (Galatians 4:1-5).  After Christ came, the time of preparation was fulfilled.  To repent, my study Bible explains, is to do a total "about face."  As we discussed in yesterday's commentary, in Greek the word for repent (μετανοέω) means literally to "change one's mind."  My study Bible says describes repentance as a radical change of one's spirit, mind, thought, and heart -- a complete reorientation to a life centered in Christ.

And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.  And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.  My study Bible reminds us that these first disciples had already heard the preaching of John the Baptist and were prepared to accept Christ immediately (see John 1:35-51).  Although illiterate and unlearned in religion, my study Bible says, these "people of the land" whom Jesus calls will be revealed at Pentecost to be the wisest of all.  Let us note that when Jesus says, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men," it is implied that for each of us, whatever place we begin with our faith, Christ will teach us a way to fulfill it with His purposes for us.  His words to the fishermen are divine poetry that teach us meaning and relevance for our own lives.

 

 Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.  My study Bible remarks that the word immediately occurs almost forty times in Mark's Gospel -- and nearly all of them before the Lord's entrance into Jerusalem.  It notes that the urgency and purpose as Christ journeys toward Jerusalem to fulfill His mission of redeeming the world helps make Mark's account not only the shortest but also the most direct of the four Gospels.  Also noteworthy is Christ's beginning to preach and heal on the Sabbath.  In a commentary on the parallel passage in St. Luke's Gospel (Luke 4:31), St. Ambrose of Milan comments that this is to show that "the new creation began where the old creation ceased." 

And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.   Here is another significant detail about Christ's teaching:  He does so as one having authority.   My study Bible comments that unlike the prophets of old and the teachers of His day who taught in the third person ("The Lord says"), Christ teaches in the first person ("I say to you").  See also Matthew 5.

Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit.  And he cried out, saying, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.  Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this?  What new doctrine is this?  For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him."  And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.  Mark's Gospel begins right from the start to give us elements of a spiritual battle that goes on unseen around us.  First we were told that the Holy Spirit "threw" Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, and to be with the wild beasts, and ministered to by angels (see yesterday's reading, above).   This introduced us immediately to these elements of an "unseen realm" within which Jesus plays a significant role, and which crucially affects us and our world.  Here the unclean spirit cries out, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  Jesus is recognized, even if the people are not yet widely aware of Him at this beginning of His public ministry (and certainly they do not know His identity as the Christ).   Jesus' response to this recognition and identification by the unclean spirit is to give a rebuke:  "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  In yet another understanding of the fulfillment of prophecy (and the Prophet's role in preparation for the coming of Christ), my study Bible comments that our Lord's refusal to fully disclose His identity as Messiah is foreseen by Isaiah (Isaiah 42:1-4).  It also lists various reasons for secrecy, which include:  first, the growing hostility of the Jewish leaders; second, the people's misunderstanding of the Messiah as an earthly, political leader; and finally, our Lord's desire to evoke genuine faith which is not based solely on marvelous signs.  

 

The question of Christ's authority will become central to the story of Jesus as we proceed forward and through His Passion and Resurrection.  We are told that He astonishes the people by teaching with authority, and not as the scribes.  If we really want to break this down, in purely worldly terms, Jesus does not even have the status of a scribe.  Indeed, He holds no position in the ranks of the religious authorities.  He is neither priest, nor scribe.  He does not belong to any of the ruling parties of the temple; He is neither Pharisee nor Sadducee, nor a member of the Levitical priesthood.  Although we are given genealogies establishing Christ's connections within Jewish spiritual history, none of this is apparently recognized during His lifetime.  Hence the great astonishment at His teaching with authority.  This will eventually gain Him more and more trouble with those who have authority within the religious establishment.  But for now, let us contemplate Christ, who seemingly bursts into public life with a kind of immediacy for the things which He will have to establish within a three-year span of His public ministry.  For centuries the prophets had prepared the world for the Christ, and His life has become for us the "center" of history.  Even Jesus will speak to the disciples of the things which must be accomplished in His ministry, when He says, "For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: 'And He was numbered with the transgressors.' For the things concerning Me have an end" (Luke 22:37).  Before that "end" there is the gospel to preach, there are disciples who will live with Him and train to be "like Him," there are things He must teach and preach and give to the world, and there are the encounters with the unseen world which will also tell us about Him and even about ourselves and our place in God's vision of salvation for which the Father has sent the Son.  This beginning of public ministry takes place in the appropriate time, the "time appointed by the father" (see Galatians 4:1-5).  That is, the appointed time in the purpose of God.  Jesus makes the announcement in today's reading:  "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel."  This particular Greek word for time (for there is another that is also translated as "time") is καιρὸς/kairos.   In Christian theological understanding, it has come to signify the opportune time for God to act, in the sense of a particular moment, or season, or period.  In our own lives, let us learn to recognize our own particular times when we must pay attention to God, to our faith, to our souls, so that we know what we are about, and to what we are immediately called. Jesus will tell His disciples, "Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is" (Mark 13:33).  Let us always do likewise, for we know that the kingdom of God is always at hand.