Repent and Believe

Our passage from last week, Mark 1:1-13, presented for us the beginning of the gospel. What did that look like? It looked like a locust-eating, repentance-preaching prophet preparing the way for Jesus Christ. In these verses, we get an inside view to who Jesus is. He is the Christ, the promised deliverer, the Son of God. He is the one loved by his Father and empowered by the Holy Spirit. All the hopes and dreams of the OT are wrapped up in this one man.

But so far, only we and the author know this. These first 13 verses set the stage for the drama that begins in verse 14. In our passage today, the curtain lifts, and a shock wave begins to expand over the sleepy villages of Galilee. Jesus and his kingdom have arrived, and the whole region quakes. Last week, we left Jesus in the wilderness with angels, Satan, and the wild animals. Out of this unlikely place, Jesus launches into in his public ministry in Galilee.

One more bit of introduction before we read our text. The gospel of Mark can be broken down into 3 sections by geography or location.
1:14-8:21- Galilee
8:22-10:52- Jesus heads to Jerusalem
11:1-16:8- Jerusalem
Jesus preaches and ministers around the northern region of Galilee, then soon heads to Jerusalem, where he will suffer for our sins

I have two parts to my sermon today. First, I want us to focus on Jesus, and how Mark presents him to us, and how the people react to him. Second, I want us to listen to the call to follow Jesus.

1. Focusing on Jesus

The summer before I went to college, I worked at a wire factory, running machines and organizing the warehouse. Each summer the factory would hold what they called a blow down. They would rent two industrial air compressors- the kind that operate jack hammers at construction sites. They would attach a few hoses, and then long pipes to the hoses, and we would go through the factory blowing down all the dust that had gathered on roof beams and ledges. As you would expect, we dressed in complete protective gear to do this.

In preparation for this big dusting project, we sealed off the doors to the office and break room. I was trying to tape plastic sheeting over the break room door, but the wall was dusty—no surprise there—and the tape would not stick. So, I found myself a static duster, like you would use at home, to dust the wall so the tape would stick. As I was doing this, a hardened woman named Bernie drove up on a forklift and said: “what in the world are you doing?!” Well, she didn’t say that, but pretty close. If you are about to unleash for force of 2 industrial strength air compressors to dust the factory, using a dinky static duster on the wall makes NO SENSE.
When we look at the actions of Jesus from earthly perspective, sometimes they make no sense. Why in the world would he do that?! But, in Mark, we begin to see that Jesus operates not for earthly values, but for otherworldly values. Jesus teaching and actions will often seem like a paradox.

Mark is full of paradoxes. The whole book is a paradox: the Son of God is fully revealed not in victory, but in suffering and death. Jesus is always surprising- how he reveals himself to us, how he works, and what he calls us to do. As we are introduced to Jesus, we are faced with quite a few paradoxes. I found 5 here in our passage.

A. The good news and the arrest of John
The arrest of John the Baptist is not just a side note. The whole countryside came to hear this guy. This was a BIG DEAL! Now John’s thrown in prison. The whole story is given to us in chapter 6, but that will have to wait. The good news had momentum and traction, now its primary spokesman (up to this point) is thrown in the slammer. That’s when Jesus begins to proclaim the gospel- the good news. As we will see unfolded for us, the gospel is given to us through suffering.

What is this good news? “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the gospel.”

We will look a little later at repentance and belief, but let’s look at the first part of the gospel. Jesus says- the time is fulfilled. The moment you have been all been waiting for has finally arrived! What God has promised; it’s here!

What’s here, then? The kingdom of God. It is at hand. The kingdom of God can be a confusing and controversial topic. Mention it in a room of biblical scholars, and you’ve dropped a theological hand grenade. Nobody’s going to win that one. We’ll talk more about the kingdom when we reach chapter 4, but for now, we will say- the rule of God has arrived with his promised deliverer. God is beginning to fulfill his purposes through his Messiah. Something big has come.

This awesome message is coupled with the suffering of John the Baptist. It will be very hard for people to see that only through the suffering and death of Jesus can God fulfill his promises to his people.

2. The kingdom and dirty fishermen
After Jesus launches into Galilee with bomb shell message, he recruits some smelly fishermen. Let’s not rip on fishermen. They were hard-working, and they provided a vital source of food for their communities. James and John and their father were doing well enough in their business to have a few hired men working for them. But they were still fishermen. It would be like Jesus called some plumbers to follow him. Man, we are grateful for plumbers, because civilized society wouldn’t work without them.
But when you hear a message of cosmic significance, plumbers and fishermen…well, they just don’t go together. That’s one of the reasons the figure of “Joe the Plumber” had political traction during the 2008 presidential election.

3. The fishermen and an unknown Lord
We learn from the other gospels, that Peter and Andrew, James and John, were acquainted with Jesus before they followed him. But in Mark we are not told about any previous relationship they had with Jesus. We can speculate about what they knew about Jesus, but Mark does not. These men drop everything and follow this man they did not know. Let’s face it, it’s like you are loading your car, getting ready to go deer hunting, and a guy in a truck screeches to a halt in front of you, and says- “Hey, get in, we’re going to hunt some people.” Folks, that’s called kidnapping and murder. This is strange! This does not first show the commitment of these first disciples, but the power of Jesus to bid people to do his will.

4. The demons and the authority of Jesus
Capernaum was a city just south of the Sea of Galilee, and often “home base” for Jesus as he ministered in Galilee. Peter’s house was there, and the customary synagogue where the Jews gathered for worship on the Sabbath. The events of verses 21-39 occur in a 24-hour period, from the morning of the Sabbath to the morning after.

It is clear that Jesus was known and respected somewhat, because he was allowed by the rulers of the synagogue to teach. What he teaches it does not say, but it was amazing. He had authority. The teaching of the scribes was like a book of all foot notes. They would amass opinions of different Jewish authorities. Jesus was not like this. He was his own authority, which soon completely unnerved the Jewish leaders.

It didn’t take long for one of the main characters in this story to make an appearance- Satan. Well, one of his demons. Mark uses demon and unclean spirit interchangeably in his book. And like the authority of his teaching, Jesus has authority over the dark forces of Satan: “be silent and come out of him!” And the spirit obeys.

The paradox is easy to recognize in this account- a demon is proclaiming who Jesus is, while the crowds around him are scratching their heads. It is an unclean spirit who points to the holiness, or purity of Jesus, the Son of God.

Not surprisingly, the news of what Jesus had done spreads like the news of free candy at a kindergarten. Jesus quickly makes his way to Simon’s house- what Peter is called until chapter 3. In contrast to the public and violent nature of Jesus casting out the demon, Jesus heals a sick women in her home. Her sickness doesn’t sound life-threatning, but her recovery is instantaneous. She is up and serving food to her guests.

The Sabbath began at sundown and ended at sundown. So they wouldn’t break the Sabbath commandments, the people waited until sundown to carry their sick friends and family to Jesus for healing.
Jesus did not just pull a fast one in the synagogue and in Simon’s house. No, he was able to heal everyone they brought to him, no matter what the disease. He was able to cast out all the demons- this was not a one-time occurrence.

5. Jesus’ popularity and his plan
I think it might be helpful to look at Jesus from public relations perspective. He is gaining in popularity. He has services that are very marketable. Instant healings, exorcisms, and an exciting message. There are so many ways we could market this, and spread the Jesus brand across Galilee and the Roman Empire. Except, look at what Jesus does.

-He does not permit the demons to speak, so they would not reveal who he was. What? Does Jesus want people to know who he is or not? We will see this pop up several times in Mark. The time is not yet right for people to know who Jesus is.

-He decides to focus on the least marketable of his services- his preaching. Many people can preach, but who can heal and cast out demons like this? Jesus begins to reveal to us the otherworldly nature of his purpose. His purpose is to proclaim the good news to the region. The casting out demons and healing are secondary to his purpose of proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God.

We also see the otherworldly nature of his plan, by his prayer. After a busy day of teaching and healing and casting out demons, he rises early to pray to this Father. Jesus is not just an itinerant preacher who heals people as he goes. He is the Son of God with a supernatural purpose.

2. Following Jesus
What I would like to do now, is to return to the beginning of our passage, and listen together to call to follow Jesus Christ.

A. Repent and believe
With this amazing message that Jesus gives about the kingdom of God, you would think that he would summon people to get moving and get involved in some action. But that is not where he starts. He starts with repentance. Repentance was the message of John the Baptist, and now it is the message of Jesus. The first thing Jesus asks people to do is to give something up. Jesus wants us to give up our sin, and to stop living for ourselves. Repentance is a change. To follow Jesus, we just give up the way we are living and live a different way.

Then, we are to believe his message. Again, not a call to action, but a call to trust. This is a call to trust what Jesus said is true. But as we continue in Mark, we find that it is a call to trust in his person. This message of repentant and belief in the gospel is the same message that Jesus offers us today. Jesus is has arrived. The time has come that God had promised, and we are to give up our sin and trust Jesus.

B. The fishermen’s example of discipleship
Another connection between Jesus’ message and his call of the fishermen is their response to his call. We find in their actions what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

1. A personal relationship with Jesus
Jesus does not call these fishermen to campaign for an ideal or to hand out flyers for the kingdom of God. He calls them to follow him. And they do immediately. In our day, we find all sorts of people huddled under the umbrella of Christianity. People who like tradition of Sunday service, Sunday dinner, and Christmas trees. People who like social action. People who like the moral system of Christianity to raise their children. People who use the teaching of Jesus to further their political agenda. In all this confusion, we’ve got to realize that the heart of Christianity is following Jesus Christ as our master. Not some image of Jesus we’ve dreamed up in our mind, but the Jesus portrayed for us in the pages of the NT.

2. A mission for Jesus
Jesus calls these men for a mission- to be fishers of men. Many of us have grown up hearing the term “fishers of men,” so it does not sound strange to us as it should. Fishing is not particularly good for the fish. They are trapped in a net or caught with a hook, and eaten. But the picture is more for the fishermen. Now they will seek people and tell them about Jesus and the good news. Following Jesus includes obeying the mission he has given us. The mission is to make disciples of all nations. To ignore this mission is to fail to follow Jesus.

3. A complete commitment
The call to follow Jesus is not something you can tack on to your life and continue on as normal. These men practically left everything to follow the call of Jesus: their livelihood and their family. We will read later in Mark and the other gospels of the disciple’s family members and their return to fishing at times. But Mark writes this account this way to grab our attention. Following Jesus means giving up everything to follow him and engage in his mission. Otherwise, we are not following Jesus, we are following ourselves.

There is much more to come about Jesus and following him in the gospel of Mark. But, I want to ask you- are you following Jesus? Do you have a personal relationship with him? Are you engaged in the mission he has given you? Are you willing to give up everything to follow him? It’s worth it.