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 

 

 In yesterday's reading, we started 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."  My study Bible tells us that Mark's written emphasis on John being put in prison before Jesus begins preaching reveals that a key purpose of the old covenant -- preparing the people for Christ -- had been completed (Galatians 4:1-5).   As Christ has come, the time of preparation was fulfilled.  My study Bible explains that to repent is to do a total "about-face."  We noted in yesterday's reading that in Greek this word literally means to "change one's mind."   This is a radical change of one's spirit, mind, thought, and heart.  My study Bible calls it a complete reorientation to a life centered in Christ.  Let us also add that this is a lifelong process.   Just as the stories of the Bible indicate, our faith is a journey; Christ is "the way" (from a word that means "road" in Greek).  Our faith is always called to grow and deepen; we are always called to bear fruits worthy of repentance, the spiritual fruit of faith (Galatians 5:22-23).

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.   If we look at the Gospel of John, we know that these first disciples had already heard the preaching of John the Baptist (John 1:35-50).  They were thus prepared to accept Christ immediately.  Although they were illiterate and unlearned in religion, my study Bible explains, these "people of the land" whom Jesus calls will be revealed at Pentecost to be the wisest of all.

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.  My study Bible points out that the word immediately occurs nearly forty times in Mark's Gospel, and nearly all of these occur before the Lord's entrance into Jerusalem.  This sense of urgency and purpose as Christ journeys toward Jerusalem to fulfill His mission of redeeming the world helps make Mark's Gospel not only the shortest, but also the most direct of the four Gospels.  

If we look closely at the text of today's reading, we see an element which is not necessarily obvious but it teaches us something important.  Jesus begins His ministry, taking up from where the last and greatest in the line of the Old Testament type prophets, John the Baptist, has come preparing people for this Kingdom (see yesterday's reading, above).  At that time, Jesus declares to all, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel."  Again, as explained in our commentary from yesterday, "gospel" (εὐαγγέλιον/evangelion), literally meaning "good news," was a quite commonly known term in the empire of Christ's time, in the Greek that formed the lingua franca, or international language of His time.  It was the title for the various missives sent across the empire by the Emperor, setting out plans and policies or declaring news of victorious battles.  So when Christ teaches to believe in the gospel, it is emphasizing this sense of a kingdom which is at hand, present to the people.  This is not the kingdom of Herod and his descendants, nor the empire of Caesar, but the kingdom of God -- which remains to us present and at hand (Matthew 18:20; Luke 17:20-21).  This kingdom is present with Christ, for as St. Paul taught the Athenians about the "unknown god," Jesus Christ, "He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being" (see Acts 17:26-28).   But, if we read a little further, we see that, similarly to the kingdoms of the world, this Kingdom also has its battles with an enemy (see the parable of the Wheat and the Tares).  But this is a spiritual battleground.  Jesus' first act after calling disciples and entering the synagogue to preach, is to encounter an unclean spirit.  The spirit challenges Christ, informing us about this battle and Christ's spiritual authority, "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!"   The people respond, astonished at this evidence of what is unseen, "What is this?  What new doctrine is this?  For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him."  Our faith does depend upon understanding that we are always in a kind of a struggle, just as Christ's testing in the wilderness for forty days did as the first act of the Spirit after His Baptism (again, see yesterday's reading, above).  So we must not be dismayed or disheartened in the times when we go through our own struggles with faith, when our common assumptions and ways of thinking, or the hurtful things of this world, come to challenge us.  Just as the Crucifixion remains the greatest paradox of transfiguration by Christ's ministry and presence, with the figure of the Cross being the sign of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:30), so we should remember that we are taught we each have our own unique cross to bear into the world, and this is always an element of our lives.  The work of faith is to transfigure this world, with the presence of the kingdom of God, which is always "at hand."   Through our own lives of faith as His disciples, suffering becomes transfigured with meaning when challenges are met with the help that is always spiritually present to us even if we feel alone.  For the Cross means that the power of Resurrection is present and with us, despite the darkness (John 1:5).  This is the mystery of the kingdom of God and God's grace.  Let us call on the resources we have and look to His light.  Modern life seems to challenge us with expectations of easy happiness, guaranteed through some sort of acquisition of material goods, or new inventions -- perhaps a new identity, a new change in our appearance.  But the wisdom of our faith teaches us something much greater than such a limited, and misleading perspective.  It gives us what is eternal and abiding, and therefore true.  But it calls us into a dynamic that will involve every aspect of life, "in which we live and move and have our being."  That is the kingdom of God, always at hand.