Bible Class: The Good News Calls For Change
Gospel of Mark • Sermon • Submitted
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Welcome
Welcome
[ Note small change ]
[ I have a big vision for this class: but I’ve gone over time twice ]
[ So I need to find the baseline for this class first so I can build the vision I have into this class ]
[ The baseline of this class is expository study ]
[ Discussion and apologetics build on this ]
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. 10 As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.” 12 Immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving him.
[ Explain why these two scenes are one episode: they’re part of the prologue (v.1-13) and they depict Jesus arriving when you would expect God to, they show his divine coronation / approval, and conflict with Satan ]
“In those days” (v.9): This construction is important to Mark’s gospel because it introduces a new phase in the story. And, in this case, it’s importance serves to introduce Jesus by linking him to John’s ministry so that we understand that this Jesus is the one whose way John came to prepare.
“Baptized” (v.9): Jesus’ baptism has challenged and stumped Christians and theologians alike for quite a long time.
Very clearly John’s baptism was for repentance:
5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
But Jesus is presented as one without sin:
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.
At least three things stand out about his baptism:
First, there seems to be some parallel by which his baptism is meant to identify Jesus with those he came to save:
5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
The parallel formulation here is significant: “the one” takes the place of “the many”. And, in this sense, Jesus does not divorce himself from the sins of his people, but is bound up with them in much the same was as Daniel linked himself in his intercessory prayers with the sins of his own people.
Second, his baptism serves as Jesus’ anointing:
8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
10 As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
John foretells of one coming after him. Jesus enters the scene and the Spirit from heaven descends upon him, anointing him with the Holy Spirit as the Lord’s Messiah.
“You are my Son” (v.11): As soon as John baptizes Jesus, the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descended upon him. This was crucial to Jesus’ story because it reveals him to be “the Messiah”, which means "the anointed one".
So this story tells how Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and marked out as God’s son.
And this scene enacts the Psalmists writing:
7 I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.
[ Go deeper into Psalm 2 ]
[ Questions ]
14 After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God: 15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
“After John was arrested” (v.14): Notice how Jesus picks the moment to act. As long as John was announcing the kingdom, Jesus waited patiently in the background. But when John is put into prison, this signals to him that it’s time to act.
“Proclaiming the good news of God” (v.14): So he came to the Galilean villages as a wandering prophet, not a stationary one like John: a messenger urgently telling people what was going on.
What was Jesus’ good news?
“The time is fulfilled” (v.15): First, everything God said he would do to bring about deliverance for the world has been fulfilled. God hasn’t left any of his promises undone. Everything is ready.
The idea is not simply that an allotted time has elapsed, but that the decisive moment has now arrived.
One of the reasons that the apostles and evangelists used the writings of the prophets so much was because their fulfillment demonstrated both God’s faithfulness and his power to accomplish what he said he would accomplish.
“The Kingdom of God has come near” (v.15): Second, God’s Kingdom has come near. This was the good news Israel had been long awaiting: their hope for messianic deliverance has come!
So let’s ask an important question:
How do you define the Kingdom of God?
20 When he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; 21 no one will say, ‘See here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
36 “My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”
17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
16 As he passed alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 “Follow me,” Jesus told them, “and I will make you fish for people.” 18 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 Going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat putting their nets in order. 20 Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
“Sea of Galilee” (v.16): There were many fishermen in Galilee. Josephus, who was both governor of Galilee and the great historian of the Jews, says that in his day there were 330 fishing boats.
People in Palestine rarely ate meat. So fish was an important staple in their diet. Usually the fish was salted because there was no means of transporting fresh fish, which would’ve been considered one of the greatest of all delicacies in big cities.
We see how important the fishing business was by the names of prominent towns on the lakeside: Bethsaida means House of Fish; Tarichaea means The Place of Salt-fish. The salt-fish industry was big business in Galilee.
“James and John” (v.19): Zebedee was a prosperous fisherman in Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. He was the husband of a woman named Salome and the father of the apostles James and John. He was in partnership with the brothers Andrew and Peter (Mark 1:16; Luke 5:10). We might assume that they were prosperous, not only because they owned a boat, but also because they had servants, and Salome contributed to Jesus’ support (Mark 15:40–41; Luke 8:2–3).
At this point we gain an important insight into Jesus’ ministry and life: it’s possible that Zebedee was Mary’s brother-in-law, thus Jesus’ uncle. If so, Jesus probably had known him, his sons James and John, and their friends Peter and Andrew for many years before he called them to be his followers.
How could we know this?
Three Gospels identify women present at the crucifixion. Matthew lists three: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons (Matt. 27:56); Mark also lists three: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Salome (Mark 15:40). John lists four: Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene (John 19:25). From these lists it appears more than reasonable that Salome, the mother of Zebedee’s sons, and Jesus’ mother’s sister are all the same person.
If so, this would make Salome and Zebedee Jesus’ aunt and uncle, and thus James and John his first cousins. Therefore, it’s quite possible that Jesus not only knew James and John from childhood, but quite possibly also Peter and Andrew as well.
And if this is true, then these disciples grew up knowing Jesus in the ordinary routines of life. He cultivated these relationships in daily life. But, though they knew him in the ordinary routines of life, they likely did not yet know who he was until John’s wilderness ministry began to shake people awake to what God was doing in their midst and they started hearing Jesus preach the Kingdom of God in Galilee.
You see? They knew Jesus. They knew him in a skewed way, yes, but they knew him. They saw his life. They felt the weight of what Jesus lived every day of his life and was just now beginning to announce openly. Now, as they were hearing his preaching, they were beginning to feel the burning conviction of God’s Kingdom.
When Jesus said “Follow me”, their response was a personal reaction to himself. And it’s for this very reason you and I are called to be the savor of Christ in this world:
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
People must begin to know him through us, and though, just like these disciples had known Jesus for so long without knowing who he really was, at the right time, when Jesus chooses to reveal himself to them, he might say “Come follow Me”, and suddenly, everything they have known about him through us opens their eyes so that they can personally answer him!
I affirm with all my heart that there is a place for evangelizing and sharing the gospel with strangers. This is often where, at the right time, after someone has, in some way, through some one, encountered Jesus and begun to know him, that Jesus comes to them to say “Follow me!”