Thoughts for the Day

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God......*

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

* See v1-13 under 'Further Thoughts'.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Mark starts his, the first Gospel to be written, sometime around 80 CE, with an astounding claim. He is writing about Jesus who is, he says, the 'Christ' (Greek for 'Messiah'), and as well as being the 'Son of God'. Although desperate to get on with his account of the "beginning of the good news" he tells us nothing about the parents of Jesus or his birth, unlike Matthew and Luke's Gospels, but tells us of the work of John the Baptist in preparing the people for the Messiah; his baptism of the people (very odd since Jews were not normally baptised); the baptism of Jesus himself (even odder since we believe him to be sinless; and then the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. All this happens in just 13 verses, before Jesus begins his ministry.

For the last few days we have been looking at the 'Coming of the Messiah' through the Hebrew scriptures, and we can see that Mark is going to make the case for Jesus as the Messiah, but another it is another phrase that struck me as interesting. Jesus starts his ministry in Galilee saying "The Kingdom of God has come near". This reminded me of a children's story-book called 'The far away tree' by Enid Blyton. At the top of a magical tree there is a land, which changes every few days. so sometimes a certain country will be there and sometimes it is not!

The Kingdom of God is near to us when we draw near to God in prayer; when we listen to His word; and when we act out of love to help another person. The Kingdom of God came near to those first disciples when they left the safety of their work and families to follow an itinerant preacher who said to them "I will make you fish for people".

Heavenly Father,
we thank You for Mark's work
that was the earliest account
of the life and work of Your Son, Jesus,
who came as the promised Messiah
to save us from our sin,
and to draw us closer to You.
May we, as inheritors, of this promise
seek to study Mark's Gospel with diligence
and continue to grow in faith.
Amen.