We've officially moved on now from Colossians to Mark, beginning in Mark 1. It may not seem like much, but I find it exciting to think we all have read through one book of the Bible together. Praise God.
The opening of a book is crucial to understanding the whole thing (hence this post will be a little longer than normal so we can set up the rest of our reading). Mark is laying out in this first chapter many important themes that will carry significance throughout his biography of Jesus. I can't even come close to pointing out every one of them here—one (short!) commentary I looked at had forty pages on this chapter alone. Don't worry, I'll spare you all that.
The most crucial theme Mark emphasizes here is the subject of this whole blog: the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1:1). The word "gospel" occurs 12 times in the four gospels, half of which are in Mark (the shortest gospel), and half of the occurrences of "gospel" in Mark are in this chapter. In other words, Mark is really focused on the gospel here. And that comes through in who uses the word.
Mark says that Jesus proclaimed the gospel of God, "saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel'" (1:14-15). Jesus's announcement of the good news (gospel) was that the time had come (at last!), that God's kingdom was here. Maybe the question that comes to my mind comes to yours too: WHERE is the kingdom?
John the Baptist had come before, preparing the way for the kingdom (1:2-8), God himself had commissioned Jesus, declaring before many witnesses that this was His Son (1:9-11), Jesus had withstood the temptations to stray from his divine mission (1:12-13), and now he was preaching about the kingdom (1:14-15).
After Mark gives the definitive statement of Jesus's gospel message, he describes some of the first acts in his ministry, calling disciples to himself, healing many, casting out demons and preaching. Still, where is the kingdom?
God's kingdom—his righteous rule in the world—was standing there, in the flesh, giving a sermon (isn't it weird that God rules through the Word? Then again, he did create the universe with his Word too...). The fulfillment of the time was represented in Christ's arrival on earth. The kingdom's arrival was realized in Jesus's presence. God's promises were being fulfilled at that moment in the most seemingly unspectacular fashion imaginable.
Jesus's kingdom sermon is simple. God has done what he said he would, and you guys don't have anything to do with it. Jesus doesn't say, "the kingdom of God is almost here, you just have to work really hard to get it the rest of the way." God is the one who brings in his kingdom. Our response is simple: repent and believe.
Repenting means emptying myself of all the work I want to do for God. It means admitting that I have nothing to offer Him. It means accepting that what I have done is rebel against his rule in my life, and asking for God's forgiveness. Believing the good news means believing that God has done all that was needed. I don't make the news, I hear it reported—I am far too unimportant to create the news. Believing means lunging forward with body and soul in the direction that God is calling. It is not mere intellectual assent (though it involves that), but a "wholisitic" response of heart and mind moving where God calls.
There are divergences between God's call and my actions. The gospel of God's grace calls for my response of repentance and redirecting my steps toward Christ. And as we read through Mark, we'll get to see a little bit more what it looks like to walk after our Savior.
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