Mark 1:14-20
Our scripture this week begins with a good news, bad news situation. The good news is that Jesus has come to share the good news of God’s Kingdom soon to come. The bad news is that John the Baptist has been arrested. Why? Well, from the Mark text we don’t really know, but from other texts and historical notes John the Baptist was arrested for his political criticism of Herod Antipas, the current ruler over Galilee as a Roman client state.
Herod had been married, but while traveling to Rome he fell in love with his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias. According to Jewish law this amounted to incest, since his brother Philip was still alive. John the Baptist spoke out against this and most likely other inequities of Herod. Many scholars believe that Herod cared little about what John the Baptist thought of his marriage and was much more concerned about a political rebellion John may cause. It then seems to be both a foreshadow and a bit of irony that Mark mentions in same line of text John the Baptist’s arrest and Jesus proclaiming a new kingdom. Jesus is about to lead a great rebellion and build a following that will make what John the Baptist did seem trivial.
This text that follows Jesus proclamation of good news is the calling of his first disciples. In the Gospel of Mark, the first two disciples Jesus calls are Simon and Andrew while they are out fishing. He convinces them to toss their fishing nets aside and follow him. Next he recruits James and John. James and John are repairing their fishing nets but immediately abandon their project and everyone to follow Jesus. Mark again doesn’t offer much in terms of context, but what Mark seems to make clear is that the first disciples decided to follow Jesus without hesitation.
The disciples abandoning their responsibilities to follow a stranger would be considered scandalous in their culture, but I would think the same would be true for our culture. Imagine if you were at work today and a stranger came up to you to ask you to join them in a mission to change the world by nearly wrecking everything that society currently accepted. A word we would often use to describe this would be a cult. Is Christianity a cult? Well, yes it is if you go by the definition of what a cult is. A cult is a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister. People thought what the disciples and Jesus were doing was a definitely strange if not also sinister.
The only reason most people no longer consider Christianity a cult today is that we are no longer a small group of people and what was strange then is no longer strange now. However as we read this week’s passage let us not forget or look past how scandalous this must have been. It was more scandalous than a King marrying his brother’s wife while that brother was still alive! Let this week’s passage remind us that what we believe only became common because Jesus and a few disciples committed to being scandalous for the sake of the world and the gospel they wanted to share.
In God’s grip,
Pastor Chuck Church
If you are reading the Gospel of Mark with Pastor Chuck this year, below is a short and simple guide to doing so for this week:
Prayer: Heavenly Father, your words expose my innermost thoughts and desires. I am an open book before you when I read your book. May your truths work as I read of your holiness, truth, and love. May the power of your word be known in my life so that I might genuinely have the abundant life you came to give. Amen.
Read: Mark 1:14-20
Questions to guide your thinking:
Mark notes that Jesus came to Galilee to preach only after the arrest of John the Baptist, why do you think that is because it was obviously not to escape danger, but to walk into it?
John the Baptist had predicted the coming of one who would baptize with the Spirit (see the last two weeks’ readings) and “the time is fulfilled” (v.15a) indicates that Jesus’ ministry will bring about the age of salvation anticipated by that prediction. What do you believe Mark is suggesting about the power of the Holy Spirit in the new age of salvation?
How do you think the Holy Spirit influenced the first disciples to make the decision to leave everything and follow Jesus? How does the Holy Spirit influence us today to do the same?
The Old Testament references hooks and nets in generally a negative tone as something that God has used to ensnare people who deserve judgement (e.g. Jeremiah 16:16, Ezekiel 29:4-5, and Amos 4:2 are some examples), how does Andrew and Simon dropping their fishing nets to pick up “nets” to catch people differ here? What are Jesus and his disciples offering instead of judgement? Think judgement versus salvation.
